Magnus wrote:denizaksulu wrote:
Had you bothered to read any of my past posts you would have in inkling where I stand.
After the attempted take over of Cyprus by the Greek junta (read Coup) Very rightly so Turkey intervened after having no success with Britain. I was very apprehensive about the whole thing but saw it as a necessary thing to do. It was welcomed by many, perhaps even by some Greek Cypriots as it put to stop the endless killing spree among the GC and G factions. Whatever happened afterwards was sad. The Turkish army now faced the joint forces of G and GC, coupists and opponents which resulted in the eventual division of the island. I am in no position to deny that the above mentioned attrocities never took place. I abhor all civilian casualties, ransacking and looting of private homes , religious buildings, businesses etc. I have seen many looted churches and cursed those responsible with tears in my eyes. I also do not approve of the 'dispossession of GCs of their properties. Matters should have never come to this.
Now Magnus, you be man enough and admit to the wrong doings of your side - whichever side that is. I am talking about the murders and rapes committed against TCs. Thank you.
At last! An excellent contribution!
First of all, let me say that I completely denounce any and all wrongdoings carried out against any innocent TCs by Greek and GC extremists and self-interested groups. I am not so naive as to think that 'our side' did not contain some very unpleasant individuals as their actions against their fellow GCs are enough to convince me.
Now to bring this back to topic, I am wondering if you (or other TCs on the forum) were aware of the atrocities being carried out by the Turkish army? Surely with some of the villages being of mixed composition, many TCs will have witnessed what happened.
Also, do you know of any reason why the Turkish army did not simply focus on their objective (to restore peace) and just stop the fighting but rather chose to commit such atrocities?
I understand your point about how they 'faced the joint forces of G and GC, coupists and opponents' but I don't understand why they took the time to carry out the attacks on innocent civilians. Also, when they attacked and dropped napalm on villages, how did they know that they wouldn't harm the people they were there to help (TCs)?
Personally, I was not aware of any of the above mentioned atrocities by the Turkish army. Only much later we began to hear rumours that not everything was hunky-dory.
To the straight thinking TC the events after the 'Intervention' are very puzzling. I visited Cyprus within a year of 1974 to find out about my relatives who had been refugees from the south. Some had been given GC houses to live in. All furniture and libraries were intact in 'his' house. In the GC library I came across a Greek dictionary. I was browsing through it and was told that I ought to put it back as the 'authorities' would shoot them. I did not know whether tot ake them seriously, but he added that he was told there would be peace soon and that everybody would be returning to their original homes. What changed after that? The politicians have a lot to answer for. At some stage negotiations broke down and here we find ourselves in this mess and the division was made permanent.