Cyprus-Forum.com

[eracles]

There must be loads of good stuff in here, not read it yet, but check this out for example, this is mentions of cyprus in july 1974 in parliament
:
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/sear ... nth=1974-7

Also seems go back quite far....here's a link to a report on some Nicosia Riots in 1957...
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lord ... 01P0-00322

Just posting this for anybody wanting to conduct their own research into the cyprus problem.

[eracles]

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/comm ... 34P0-05557
wow - from 1920!

CYPRUS.
1518

§ 62. Major BARNES

asked the Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Cypriotes have been officially notified to the effect that the British Government refuse to permit the union of Cyprus with Greece; whether there is an unanimous desire on the part of the Greek islanders, who form the immense majority of the population, for union with the motherland; and, if so, why the British Government has acted in a manner contrary to the principle of self-determination?

§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Lieut.-Colonel Amery)

By direction of the Secretary of State, I informed the Cyprus deputation, on 26th October, that His Majesty's Government were not prepared to assent to the union of Cyprus with Greece. His Majesty's Government is not aware that there is any unanimous desire on the part of the Greek population to change their present allegiance under which they have attained unexampled prosperity; but even if it were otherwise, account would 1519 have to be taken of the views of the large Turkish minority, who would be violently opposed to the union of the island with Greece.

§ Mr. T. P. O'CONNOR

May I ask my hon. and gallant Friend whether it is not the fact that ever since the occupation of this island by the British authorities protests have been made continuously from every section of the population, except a comparatively small minority of Mohammedans in the island; and whether there is any justification whatever for the idea that the Greek Government, which has already a large body of Mohammedan subjects under its control, would treat the minority in Cyprus in any spirit but that of justice and equality?

§ Mr. ORMSBY-GORE

Is there any reason to suppose that any large proportion of the Cypriote population is satisfied with British rule?

§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERY

The minority is a very considerable one. It amounts to something like 25 per cent. of the whole population. I am afraid I cannot say with any certainty whether protests have been received ever since 1878, and I should be very doubtful of that statement. Certainly none of the information we have indicates any general dissatisfaction with British rule, or that the movement in favour of union with Greece extends to more than the limited minority I have mentioned.

§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHY

Was not an understanding arrived at with M. Venizelos that in the case of Greece entering into the War she should have Cyprus?

§ Colonel YATE

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Cypriotes have no racial affinity whatever with the Greeks, that Cyprus has never been under Greece since the dawn of history, and that there are, therefore, no grounds for joining them to Greece?

§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERY

As to the first part of the question, only an anthropologist could decide; as to the second part, Cyprus was never historically part of Greece.

HC Deb 15 November 1920 vol 134 cc1518-9

[eracles]

wow...lots of discussions in the early 20s laid bare on union with Greece

Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHY

I wish to say a few words with regard to the Island of Cyprus. I want to ask the Under-Secretary whether the Government have any fixed policy with regard to that island? A good many people look upon the retention of Cyprus as a crime after all that has happened since 1914. [An HON. MEMBER: "Why?"] Because the small Moslem minority there have declared for incorporation with the people of Greece. We have been fighting a war for the protection of small nationalities and self-determination, and surely that principle cannot be denied in this case. Many men left their work and were killed in the War on the strength of pledges-given by hon. Gentlemen opposite in regard to this principle. If we had had any regard for honour or consistency we should have long ago handed Cyprus back to Greece. I am not myself pro-Hellene, and I wish the Government had been more active in opposition to the Greek policy which has done so much harm, but I think in regard to Cyprus they have right on their side.

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/comm ... 56P0-03591

[T_C]

OMG This is going to entertain me for days!

Thanks eracles.

[Magnus]

Oh they finally got them online! Fantastic! I used to go and read the printed ones. The joys of the modern age eh?

[T_C]

To appreciate the obduracy of Archbishop Makarios one must appreciate the standards of the Orthodox Church in Cyprus. Enosis has been fostered by a Church whose standards are those of mediæval Europe. It has established almost a monopoly control of secondary education and has been busy implanting in the younger generation an outlook the lamentable consequences of which are visible to-day, when teachers are caught laying mines with their students.

In 1953 Archbishop Makarios declared in Church: We shall accept support from every hand,—even from dirty hands. He also said: We are prepared to accept assistance from East and West in our efforts to break from our imperialist masters. And what are the principles of this Church which claims to stand for freedom? It denies freedom of thought to its own followers, even on secular questions. It owns immensely valuable property and some 50,000 acres of land in Cyprus. It lets its land on lease for two or three years, and the tenant has no security of tenure unless he complies with the temporal and spiritual dictation of the Church.

The Church exercises all the power of superstition and blackmail over a susceptible and ignorant rural population. In baptism, in marriage, in divorce, in burial and in the use of excommunication as as political weapon, it holds men's souls, as well as their property, in complete thrall. Its hold on the people is that of both landlord and priest. It has also plotted, in conspiracy with Greece, to strengthen its hold by dominating the minds of the young. All teachers in secondary schools recognised by the Greek Ministry of Education receive pensions from the Greek Government, whether they are Greeks or Cypriots who are British subjects, but those entitled to pensions must produce satisfactory certificates from the eccleciastical 1293 authorities in Cyprus before they can draw their pensions.

The managers of the campaign of violence, chief among whom was Makarios, threatened teachers who were disinclined to become their accomplices with the loss of their pensions. The teachers are either Greeks or Greek Cypriots trained in Greek universities, and Cypriot educational certificates qualify for Greek university education. How long will it be before the Colonial Office appreciate these things?

We have had this situation over education in Malaya, with Chinese schools staffed by men sent from China, with a curriculum that was settled not in Malaya but in China. We saw the same thing with Jomo Kenyatta schools in Kenya—for years they had a free run in preaching sedition to the young of Kenya. Now we have a similar situation in Cyprus.

The Archbishop is Ethnark of the Ethnarchy Council, and this body dominates all the Orthodox Church members of the Legislative Council. In the days when the noble Earl, Lord Swinton, was Secretary of State for the Colonies, he made it clear that the Church's activities in the political field would not be tolerated, and the chief offender, the Bishop of Paphos, gave a full undertaking, filed in court, never to offend again. But in 1947, with mistaken tolerance, the British repealed the law whereby the appointment of the Archbishops had to be approved by the Governor, and from then on they have exploited the position for seditious ends. I suggest that it would be a good thing if the British Government imposed a ban on the Church's participation in politics and reorganised the educational system so as to break this vicious link with Greece, so that the Cyprus Government could be master in its own house.

I feel that I ought to say something about the vital interest of Turkey in the fate of Cyprus, and of how, because of the clash between Turkey and Greece, the Cyprus question corrodes the future of N.A.T.O., and even throws a shadow on the Baghdad Pact. It is also a lamentable fact that the Cyprus question has become a political issue in Greece between the Government and the Opposition. The Opposition are trying to make political capital out of the charge that the Government are not being "tough" enough on the Cyprus issue, so 1294 that the Government are forced into a position which they might not otherwise have taken. All the time there is an attempt by the Opposition to create an atmosphere in which reasonable discussion between the countries concerned becomes impossible.

It cannot be too often repeated that Cyprus is an off shore island of Turkey, the mainland home of 25 million Turks, whereas the mainland of Greece is 700 miles away. The Treaty of Lausanne was signed in 1923 for the purpose of ending the futile bloodshed and tragedy in the relations between Greece and Turkey. The cession of sovereignty over Cyprus by Turkey to the United Kingdom was bound up with the balance of many other settlements of the time. Cyprus had then been under Turkish sovereignty since 1571—for 352 years. Greece has no claim, modern or ancient, to sovereignty over Cyprus. That, too, cannot be too often repeated in this connection. That is why the idea was evolved of disguising this claim to sovereignty under the cry for self-determination—the popular modern cry—and then forcing the Enosis policy upon the Cypriots by incessant propaganda and, finally, by the campaign of blackmail, murder and violence of every kind.

The fate of Cyprus (this is elementary history) has always been linked with that of Asia Minor—for 2,400 years, back to the days of Alexander the Macedonian. It is of vital importance to the defence of Turkey that Cyprus should never fall into hostile hands. I listened with interest to the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, saying that the hydrogen bomb had altered everything to-day. Whether he is right or wrong, I feel that that view is premature, though I know there is a tendency to-day to solve all difficult questions of this kind by saying that the hydrogen bomb has altered everything. If the country which holds all the Western approaches to Turkey is also given control of Cyprus, which controls the southern approaches to Turkey, then it has Turkey encircled. No country can be expected to submit to this fate without a fight. The present population of Cyprus is half a million, and of these 100,000 are Turkish in origin, language and culture. In past history, the predominance of the Greek Orthodox faith and the Greek dialect has not always been as it is to-day in Cyprus. There are 1295 386,000 people in Cyprus to-day who speak the Greek dialect. The ethnic composition has varied considerably over the centuries.

However, to return to the present composition, 42 per cent. of the land in Cyprus belongs to Turks, who are predominantly farmers, and, in addition, the religious foundations belonging to the Turkish population have been valued by the official authorities in Cyprus at over 28 million dollars. But Makarios does not admit any right of the Turks to be heard or to take part in negotiations. My Lords, if this new and convenient cry of "Self-determination" is a principle which must override all else, why do we condemn Hitler's action in the Sudetenland and at Dantzig? Why is Austria forbidden to think of any union with Germany? Take the case of the Aaland Islands, between Sweden and Finland. These Islands have a Swedish population, and in a plebiscite in 1919 90 per cent. of the population voted to join Sweden. In spite of this, the League of Nations decided to reject the claim for self-determination and to recognise the sovereignty of Finland on geographic, strategic and other grounds.

On the other hand, the Enosis movement in Cyprus is, in essence, a conspiracy by a small and militant minority, maintained by threat, intimidation, terror and cold-blooded murder, including the slaughter of women and children. These are the people that we are asked to meet now and to let bygones be bygones. Even if we did let bygones be bygones, what is the probability of their behaviour in the future?

The chief objective has not been the British or the Turks, but those Greek Cypriots who are not in favour of Greek annexation. Nothing has been considered too immoral, too shameful or too cowardly. Archbishop Makarios and his Church have for years used the threat and the practice of excommunication, the refusal of marriage rights, of the baptism of children and of Christian burial as weapons in eliminating opposition. Their organisation has murdered a greater number of Greek Cypriots than it has of British and Turks combined. The victims have included eminent personalities in the community. Some murders have taken place in a monastery and in a church during a religious service without evoking any protest from the 1296 officiating priest or from Archbishop Makarios. As the Turkish Ambassador said on February 18 of this year, when speaking to the Committee of the United Nations: What kind of national movement is this that exterminates its own children? What kind of liberal, ideological aspiraton for self-determination is this that asserts itself by terrorising and murdering those who are supposed to express their free will?

We all know about the plebiscite carefully organised under Archbishop Makarios in 1950, when two books were placed in the churches and the people were gathered in by special messengers: the priests urged them in, and they were made to come, and in public every citizen had to write either in one book or the other. In one book it said: "I am in favour of annexation by Greece." In the other it said: "I am not in favour." Funnily enough, 95 per cent. of the population voted in favour. I can only say that I express my great admiration for the 5 per cent. who risked their lives by voting against it. I can think of countries where the vote is 99.99 per cent. in those circumstances.

There is no time to go into detail about the part played by the Greek Government. Greek Army Colonel Grivas was seconded for this grim work. Appalling vilification of Turkey is going on every day and every week in the Greek press and radio. In face of this, how can any idea of a Greek guarantee to Turkish Cypriots be taken as worth anything at all? On May 15, 1956, Colonel Grivas, in his proclamation threatening Greek Cypriots if his boycott was not obeyed by them, said, amongst other things: When water and fire become intimate friends and when Hell and Paradise unite, then and then only shall we be the sincere friends of the Turks. Perhaps, my Lords, the strangely sentimental attitude towards Greece of some of our leading politicians and public men is a hangover from a classical education. The glory that was Greece has not been enhanced by this discreditable modern affair of Cyprus.

So I come back, in conclusion, to where I began. What can the Government hope to build but disappointment, disillusionment and moral defeat on the shifting sands of such a misjudgment of the character of Archbishop Makarios? I, personally, deplore this tendency to 1297 trade in old principles in exchange for beautiful, glossy, chromium-plated expediency. The Archbishop is quite unrepentant. Whatever may have been the wisdom of locking him up in the first place, instead of just banishing him from Cyprus, I suggest that such action should have been taken much earlier, and, that having been done, it was unwise to release him until E.O.K.A. was finally crushed or until he made his unequivocal public renunciation of violence, which he has so pointedly failed to do. The timing of Government action seems to me to have been wrong at all crucial stages in this matter.

I should like to conclude by quoting a passage from the Christian World of August 30, 1956, which, incidentally, was also quoted to the United Nations at their meeting in February of this year. The paper said: There was always hope of a peaceful and agreed settlement of the whole question of Cyprus. Yet while discussing these matters over the conference table, the Archbishop was secretly planning acts of violence and murder against the nationals of the Power which was treating him with respect and courtesy as a recognised plenipotentiary. My Lords, I sincerely hope that history is not going to repeat itself. Is there any more that can be said? I hope that Her Majesty's Government will stand firm in their refusal to allow the Archbishop to return to Cyprus; that they will continue to take all necessary measures to stamp out terrorism in the island; that they will continue to try to negotiate a peaceful settlement on the basis of the Radcliffe Report, with or without the help of N.A.T.O., and, lastly, that they will deny to Archbishop Makarios the facilities for wrecking such negotiations.

I agree with every word that was said by the noble Lord, Lord Lloyd, this afternoon, and I see, with other noble Lords, that the only final end to this tragic business will be partition. It is not an end which any of us would wish to see, but if matters take their present tendency that is the inevitable end. The man who has it within his power immediately to change the atmosphere of the whole thing is Archbishop Makarios himself, by a few simple words of repentance or regret—call it what name you like. I personally deplore this tendency to say that the next move is up to the British Government and to 1298 appeal to us to do what does not lie within our power to do.

[T_C]

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lord ... 02P0-03077

[eracles]

pah...nice one TC - not even denktash claimed a 44% land ownership - but the good thing about hansard is you can always find some old fool saying one thing or another. and then highlight it in bold

What amazes me is how much cyprus used to get discussed. hope you're enjoying it

[T_C]

I most definately am eracles. It's like Heat magazine.

[tessintrnc]

Very interesting...........