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[Get Real!]

The January 1950 “Referendum for ENOSIS” under Makarios II

Allowing common sense to prevail we know that…

The British, who were well established and in charge of Cyprus at the time, would have NEVER allowed an island-wide democratic referendum to take place that would jeopardize their stay, so the Greek Orthodox Church took the initiative and conducted what was in fact an UNOFFICIAL PETITION in favor of ENOSIS so there was not even a choice for the people.

It was so unofficial, that not even Greece took it seriously and rejected to greet a Greek Orthodox delegation that attempted to present the Greek government with the results.

The results boasted by the church reached 95..97% “in favor” (depending on source), but they could have NEVER been determined with any level of accuracy, as nobody bothered to check who did not attend, who was against, who was not allowed to vote that did, and multitudes of other important factors that a contemporary democratic vote would not have ignored, and no foreign observers were invited.

Overall, and by today’s standards, this was nothing but an unofficial, disorganized, poorly conducted, and undemocratic, propaganda stunt by the Greek Orthodox Church.

Below you’ll find quotes of text from a variety of websites, referring to this event, and of a varying degree of factual accuracy, but by reading them all the jigsaw puzzle starts to come together…

Between 15th - 22nd of January of 1950, with the initiative of the Churchs in Cyprus, the referendum for union with Greece was conducted. 95.7% of the population went to the churches and signed the referendum.

http://www.geocities.com/helleniccyprus/eoka.html

January 15: The Church of Cyprus organises a referendum as to the future status of the island colony. 97% of all participants vote for Enosis with Greece.

http://wiki.phantis.com/index.php/1950

In 1950 the Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly (96 per cent) decided by referendum that Cyprus should be united with Greece. The prime Minister of Greece Nicolaos Plastiras, however, declined to meet a very high level delegation from Cyprus, which was going to hand over to him the official results of the referendum.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.ph ... 1&cat_id=1

In January 1950, moving swiftly to pre-empt this initiative, the ethnarchy organised its own plebiscite, held in churches across the island, to which AKEL rallied. The result left little doubt about popular sentiment: 96 per cent of Greek Cypriots – that is, 80 per cent of the population of the island – voted for Enosis.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n08/print/ande01_.html

In 1948 the bishop of Citium of Cyprus, Mihail Mouskos, began to organize support for enosis through the Church of Cyprus to exclude communist influence and to restore the temporal power of the church. In January 1950 the British authorities refused his request for a referendum on enosis. Yet when the church hierarchy polled the Greek community, 95.7 percent favored union with Greece.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761 ... yprus.html

The movement of Greek Cypriots that advocated union [enosis] with Greece gained momentum in 1950, when an unofficial referendum for self-determination showed that 96% of the Greek
population favoured enosis.

http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/ ... /cy_en.pdf

Regards, GR.

[Gabira]

Overall, and by today’s standards, this was nothing but an unofficial, disorganized, poorly conducted, and undemocratic, propaganda stunt by the Greek Orthodox Church.

So what's new with the way the Greek Orthodox Church operates ?

Has anything changed ?

By today's standards ... You are now an expert in defining today's standards too

Sadly you and your cronies are a direct by product and reflection of the Church in which you so conveniently attempt to "defame" for your bipolarised mentality and unwarranted "cause".

It's everyone elses fault except the GC's and suddenly the inspiring Greek Orthodox Church is to blame for the whole cause of ENOSIS ... the Church that suddenly is no representation of the 97% of GC's who begged for ENOSIS ... how convenient

ENOSIS was just a figment in everyones imagination because the Church was undemocratic in it's ways in which it conducted a referendum...great stuff GR. We're really clutching at straws now

Good to see that you have acknowledged the GC provocations of the real birth of the unrest between "Cypriots" before the formation of TMT in the later years. Some may even consider that the Church was the cause for the birth of TMT at the time ... now that's food for thought

[DT.]

I disagree with both posts.

TMT= Moullaes Foniades.

[Get Real!]

Overall, and by today’s standards, this was nothing but an unofficial, disorganized, poorly conducted, and undemocratic, propaganda stunt by the Greek Orthodox Church.

So what's new with the way the Greek Orthodox Church operates ?

Has anything changed ?

By today's standards ... You are now an expert in defining today's standards too

Sadly you and your cronies are a direct by product and reflection of the Church in which you so conveniently attempt to "defame" for your bipolarised mentality and unwarranted "cause".

It's everyone elses fault except the GC's and suddenly the inspiring Greek Orthodox Church is to blame for the whole cause of ENOSIS ... the Church that suddenly is no representation of the 97% of GC's who begged for ENOSIS ... how convenient

ENOSIS was just a figment in everyones imagination because the Church was undemocratic in it's ways in which it conducted a referendum...great stuff GR. We're really clutching at straws now

Good to see that you have acknowledged the GC provocations of the real birth of the unrest between "Cypriots" before the formation of TMT in the later years. Some may even consider that the Church was the cause for the birth of TMT at the time ... now that's food for thought

You need to grow up and stop seeing every thread as your “opportunity” to post your random emotional feelings, suspicions, assumptions, and similar pitiful mumbo-jumbo.

If you have nothing constructive and ON-TOPIC to say then post nothing at all.

[Talisker]

The January 1950 “Referendum for ENOSIS” under Makarios II

Allowing common sense to prevail we know that…

The British, who were well established and in charge of Cyprus at the time, would have NEVER allowed an island-wide democratic referendum to take place that would jeopardize their stay, so the Greek Orthodox Church took the initiative and conducted what was in fact an UNOFFICIAL PETITION in favor of ENOSIS so there was not even a choice for the people.

It was so unofficial, that not even Greece took it seriously and rejected to greet a Greek Orthodox delegation that attempted to present the Greek government with the results.

The results boasted by the church reached 95..97% “in favor” (depending on source), but they could have NEVER been determined with any level of accuracy, as nobody bothered to check who did not attend, who was against, who was not allowed to vote that did, and multitudes of other important factors that a contemporary democratic vote would not have ignored, and no foreign observers were invited.

Overall, and by today’s standards, this was nothing but an unofficial, disorganized, poorly conducted, and undemocratic, propaganda stunt by the Greek Orthodox Church.

Below you’ll find quotes of text from a variety of websites, referring to this event, and of a varying degree of factual accuracy, but by reading them all the jigsaw puzzle starts to come together…

Between 15th - 22nd of January of 1950, with the initiative of the Churchs in Cyprus, the referendum for union with Greece was conducted. 95.7% of the population went to the churches and signed the referendum.

http://www.geocities.com/helleniccyprus/eoka.html

January 15: The Church of Cyprus organises a referendum as to the future status of the island colony. 97% of all participants vote for Enosis with Greece.

http://wiki.phantis.com/index.php/1950

In 1950 the Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly (96 per cent) decided by referendum that Cyprus should be united with Greece. The prime Minister of Greece Nicolaos Plastiras, however, declined to meet a very high level delegation from Cyprus, which was going to hand over to him the official results of the referendum.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.ph ... 1&cat_id=1

In January 1950, moving swiftly to pre-empt this initiative, the ethnarchy organised its own plebiscite, held in churches across the island, to which AKEL rallied. The result left little doubt about popular sentiment: 96 per cent of Greek Cypriots – that is, 80 per cent of the population of the island – voted for Enosis.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n08/print/ande01_.html

In 1948 the bishop of Citium of Cyprus, Mihail Mouskos, began to organize support for enosis through the Church of Cyprus to exclude communist influence and to restore the temporal power of the church. In January 1950 the British authorities refused his request for a referendum on enosis. Yet when the [b]church hierarchy polled the Greek community, 95.7 percent favored union with Greece[/b].

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761 ... yprus.html

The movement of Greek Cypriots that advocated union [enosis] with Greece gained momentum in 1950, when an unofficial referendum for self-determination showed that 96% of the Greek
population favoured enosis.

http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/ ... /cy_en.pdf

Regards, GR.

Yes, but in another thread you wrote the following regarding this referendum:

First, you need to get your facts right. In 1950 under Makarios II and not Makarios III (the later president), the Orthodox Church conducted a referendum of church-goers to present to the British as evidence against colonialism. It was NOT an island-wide democratic referendum of all citizens so let’s clear that one up.

Most of the references you provide refer to the Greek Cypriot population, and none of them refer to 'church-goers', a term you chose to use to try to downplay the significance of this referendum. So, be careful how you try to twist information when it does not suit your political purposes! I think you just scored an own goal!

I fully accept that the referendum was organised in order to purvey a clear message to the British, but if the GCs had been thinking more broadly about this in 1950 they would have seen that this also provided a message for TCs, Turks, too. And has been used by these communities as one of the excuses for their actions since.

Anyway, the point is that ENOSIS is not on the agenda now, but this unfortunate historical referendum has provided GCs with a problem ever since. Times have changed, maybe the Greece/Cyprus relationship is not so important now, but I wanted to understand that more fully, hence the thread I started yesterday.

Regards,
Talisker

[Eric dayi]

Between 15th - 22nd of January of 1950, with the initiative of the Churchs in Cyprus, the referendum for union with Greece was conducted. 95.7% of the population went to the churches and signed the referendum.

http://www.geocities.com/helleniccyprus/eoka.html

January 15: The Church of Cyprus organises a referendum as to the future status of the island colony. 97% of all participants vote for Enosis with Greece.

http://wiki.phantis.com/index.php/1950

In 1950 the Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly (96 per cent) decided by referendum that Cyprus should be united with Greece. The prime Minister of Greece Nicolaos Plastiras, however, declined to meet a very high level delegation from Cyprus, which was going to hand over to him the official results of the referendum.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.ph ... 1&cat_id=1

In January 1950, moving swiftly to pre-empt this initiative, the ethnarchy organised its own plebiscite, held in churches across the island, to which AKEL rallied. The result left little doubt about popular sentiment: 96 per cent of Greek Cypriots – that is, 80 per cent of the population of the island – voted for Enosis.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n08/print/ande01_.html

In 1948 the bishop of Citium of Cyprus, Mihail Mouskos, began to organize support for enosis through the Church of Cyprus to exclude communist influence and to restore the temporal power of the church. In January 1950 the British authorities refused his request for a referendum on enosis. Yet when the church hierarchy polled the Greek community, 95.7 percent favored union with Greece.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761 ... yprus.html

The movement of Greek Cypriots that advocated union [enosis] with Greece gained momentum in 1950, when an unofficial referendum for self-determination showed that 96% of the Greek
population favoured enosis.

http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/ ... /cy_en.pdf

Regards, GR.

Well done GR, you've again proven your ability to try and lie with another attempt to try and lie.

"church-goers", isn't that what you claimed and opened this thread to prove your claim?

Excellent GR, you've just answered the question I asked in the other thread, it's not your Greek/GC friends who are lying.

[Nikitas]

You are all judging an event of the 50s, while memories of WWII were still fresh, with standards of the 21ist century.

From 1930 till 1942 the use of the Greek flag and the national anthem were outlawed by the British following the riots of 1930 (or was it 1931?). Then the war came, Greece fought the Italians and Churchill made that speech about heroes fighting like Greeks etc and Cypriots were encouraged to remember their Greek roots.

One fifth of London firefighters during the war were GCs, while Cypriots in Cyprus volunteered for service with the British. My father volunteered and was an officer in the Royal Navy. The total number of volunteers was about 30 000.

So it was the British who rekindled Greek nationalism in the 40s and they let the idea of Enosis take root.

It is impossible to gauge Enosis as amovement without reference to these prior events.

[Get Real!]

Talisker and Eric,

Please observe the important details of the conflicting quotes to be found all over the Internet because they all mean different things… ie:

“95.7% of the population”

“97% of all participants”

“80 per cent of the population of the island”

It appears that everyone just writes up whatever they want with no regard for accuracy, that’s why I posted them here for you all to see.

The questions that need to be answered about this "vote" are as follows…

1. How do you extract a percentage figure, such as 96%, out of a petition? Petitions can only ever be 100% because the participants are never offered a choice!

2. How did the Church manage to conduct any form of credible island-wide “voting” survey from which to extract any meaningful statistics, given that the British who were in control of the island did not assist them and were even against this?

[Eric dayi]

You are all judging an event of the 50s, while memories of WWII were still fresh, with standards of the 21ist century.

From 1930 till 1942 the use of the Greek flag and the national anthem were outlawed by the British following the riots of 1930 (or was it 1931?). Then the war came, Greece fought the Italians and Churchill made that speech about heroes fighting like Greeks etc and Cypriots were encouraged to remember their Greek roots.

One fifth of London firefighters during the war were GCs, while Cypriots in Cyprus volunteered for service with the British. My father volunteered and was an officer in the Royal Navy. The total number of volunteers was about 30 000.

So it was the British who rekindled Greek nationalism in the 40s and they let the idea of Enosis take root.

It is impossible to gauge Enosis as amovement without reference to these prior events.

Nikitas, you are forgetting that it is the Greeks and GCs who proudly and to back up their ENOSIS dream are the ones who tell us "96% of Cypriots" voted for ENOSIS".

This claim does not only prove GR wrong, as he so kindly proved himself above, but also proves that who ever makes that claim believes the only the GCs are "Cypriots" as the TCs are not included in that percentage.

So, Churchill makes one speech and the GCs become jealous and want to become Greeks to share the glory of the Greek nation and start a genocide war against us TCs. Thanks for that, it's good to know for future reference.

[Gabira]

2. How did the Church manage to conduct any form of credible island-wide “voting” survey from which to extract any meaningful statistics, given that the British who were in control of the island did not assist them and were even against this?

Stop writing in riddles GR and get to the point for God's sake

Is the Greek Orthodox Church credible or not