by Bananiot » Sun Apr 24, 2005 12:02 am
Let me start with the end note:
“PS: I stated before and I repeat again that I do not agree with the approach taken by the authors of the Akritas plan, in order to promote changes to the constitution. I accept changes were necessary but could have been achieved with patience and consultations with the TC community and not unilaterally.”
The Akritas Plan had little to do with the attempted changes of the Constitution. It had to do with the attempt to crush any efforts of the TC community to resist enosis. The TC’s knew that the London Zurich agreements had put a halt to enosis but they also knew that the Greek Cypriot leadership would seek a way to bring enosis back to the forefront.
It is well known that both the GC and the TC leadership considered the London-Zurich Agreements as a stepping stone for the final act. Enosis, for the GC leadership and taksim, for the TC leadership. Both sides started, in total secrecy, to take measures to promote their aims. In 1957 TMT was formed and received arms directly from Turkey (Deniz etc)
The GC side was also getting ready, politically and militarily for the next step. The National Organisation of Cypriots was secretly formed by Makarios and his close associates. Yiorgadzis was elected (here you can laugh) its leader uder the pseudonym Akritas. The Organisation, as it came to be known, worked out the political and the military preparations for achieving enosis, the original aim of the EOKA struggle. The Akritas Plan was issued under total secrecy in 1963. Regarding the way the Organisation recruited members, Klerides, in his “My deposition” claims that this was easy for Yorkadjis, because he was an area leader of EOKA and he knew personally many EOKA members. So he formed a paramilitary body made up of trusted individuals. Because Yorkadjis kept leftists out of his paramilitary body, the socialist Lyssarides duly obliged, forming another paramilitary body and then Sampson followed suit with his own paramilitary body. Makarios gave his blessing for all paramilitarists, because he wanted to keep Yorkadjis at bay. The training of the Akritas Organisation took place quite regularly and Klerides says in his book that a three day exercise took place at Troodos where the command post was the presidential residence. Besides Yorkadjis, the leadership of Akritas consisted of Klerides, Nikos Koshis and Tassos Papadopoulos. Later, Spyros Kyprianou was elected (laugh again) to the leadership.
A number of orders issued by the leadership of Akritas targeted high school students. In one of them the students were told that they should maintain their psychological strength and maintain high THE TECHNICAL LEVEL (meaning of course the use of guns). When the time comes, the order continued, we should be ready for the final act, for the final victory. We have the means to win.
The letter Papadopoulos sent to the American Ambassador in 1964 proves beyond doubt that the Plan did include a methodology for the physical extinction of the Turkish Cypriots. Papadopoulos said in the letter: “We have the PLAN and the MEANS to clean up all the Turkish Cypriots in 1 hour and 45 minutes”. The PLAN was of course the Akritas Plan and the MEANS, the thousands of paramilitary recruits.
Now, does anyone seriously expect that the actual written plan would list the details of how the cleaning up would be performed? Remember, the plan was directed at a wide spectrum of young persons as a rule that needed to be recruited. So, it was conveniently stated that “we are not for bloodshed but would retaliate if provoked”. This is normal propaganda for the attacker. Have you ever heard of a Ministry of Attack? Even the 3rd Richt had a Ministry of Defence.
So, atrocities were committed in the period of 1963 – 1967. Innocent people were killed from both communities by paramilitary organizations with agendas for the destruction of Cyprus. Papadopoulos has claimed that not a single TC was killed during this period. Well, here is the liar you are all looking for.
Makarios Droushiotis asks the following question: “A question which concerns all who research the 1960-74 period of Cypriot history is, why does the political leadership continue to cover these crimes and why there is no serious effort to separate the state from the parastate, and the few criminals from the whole of the population, since silence is tantamount to admission of guilt and serves the divisive policies of Denktash.
This silence has much to do with the enormous responsibilities for the destruction of Cyprus which weigh down the shoulders of a whole generation of politicians, who are in power until today. Because there can be no catharsis, unless this is accompanied by the apportionment of responsibility and the removal of persons from positions of authority. For the same reason, the period 1970-1974, during which the second part of the undermining of the state was carried out, and which concluded with the great crime of 1974, was also struck off the history of Cyprus.
The truth about the period 1959-1974 remains obscured under an opaque veil, which covers all the political errors, the culpabilities, and even the crimes which have been committed. So in Cyprus only the acceptable is remembered: That is, EOKA and the Turkish invasion, which stand for good and evil, legend and treason, white and black. Anything outside of these is considered unpatriotic and of service to the enemy's propaganda. Occasionally, it is considered as treason, or agency of foreign interests... This peculiar patriotism, which has imposed its views in Cyprus, is expressed by the same people who are responsible for all the evil which has befallen this island during the last fifty years.
