Cyprus-Forum.com

[insan]

It is interesting to note that advocates of the system of Proportional
Representation have quoted with approval the Cyprus Constitution. Thus
the late Earl Grey in an article in the Nineteenth Century, wrote as follows :
" At the end of 1882 it was decided to give Cyprus representative institutions.
A legislative council was created in which there were twelve members to be
elected by the people. But the census taken in 1881 revealed the fact that
one-quarter of the people were Mahomedan and three-quarters non-Mahome-
dan. Now, wishing to secure fair representation, what did the Government
do ? Did they divide the island into twelve districts each returning one
member ? No ; they knew that such a course would be grossly unfair to the
Mahomedans, w^ho, although they were one-quarter of the whole, would be,
of course, out-voted in every constituency, and practically disfranchized.
So the Government decided that three of the members should be elected by
the Mahomedan and nine by the non-Mahomedan inhabitants. . . . Now
it is difficult to understand why, if it is desirable to secure the general repre-
sentation of the people of Cyprus, it should not be equally desirable to obtain
the general representation of the people of the United Kingdom." It should
be gratifying to the Cypriot to And his Constitution cited by a prominent
Englishman as a model which the United Kingdom would do well to follow I



98 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE

We are able to substantiate by many proofs that during the
long period in which we had the opportunity we have constantly
endeavoured to support goodwill and justice, holding all
classes on an equal footing in our proceedings without distinc-
tion of creed or faith, and to shield and protect the sufferers
from wrong. While at the time of the change of the adminis-
tration of the island we knew we were losing a Government
of our own faith we willingly submitted to Her Britannic
Majesty's rule, and took refuge under the equitableness and
graciousness of Her Government, so well known to the whole
world, without paying any attention and without attaching
the least importance to the constant incitement and instiga-
tions of our Christian compatriots. We have never raised
complaints against the Government under any pretext what-
ever, but have always been the first to accept and comply with
all the orders and inhibitions, whether of a heavy or light
nature, made by the Government, and have zealously applied
ourselves to the speedy observance and carrying out of the
same ; and this we believe is a fact well known to the central
authorities. Nevertheless, whilst we expected to be publicly
rewarded for our zealous services in the past, and especially
in consideration of our official rights above referred to, it is
proposed that the Greek community whose thoughts and inten-
tions of oppressing and vexing us are made manifest under all
circumstances, and in every one of their acts, who have con-
stantly made all sorts of complaints (against the Government),
and whose endless cries of ' We want the Hellenic Govern-
ment for our rulers,' are still echoing from the heights of heaven,
should all at once be granted a privilege which they have never
possessed in the past, and which they can claim on no ground
of present grievance. Our Christian compatriots would have
hardly expected to acquire the proposed privilege even after
the lapse of a thousand years had, God forbid, the island been
ceded to the Hellenic Government. Such being the case, can
this indulgence be considered justifiable or approved by the
world ?

http://www.archive.org/stream/cyprusund ... c_djvu.txt

[insan]

On national grounds the case is stronger. The people
inhabiting the island when the Egyptians invaded and conquered
it, and when the Phoenicians colonized it, were, as has been
shown, in all probability of Javanian or Ionian origin, and
repeated immigrations from Greece took place before the
Christian era. The present Greek-speaking population is of
mixed blood, and contains in its veins the blood of all the
nations which from time to time conquered and colonized it.
But that the Greek element has proved by far the strongest
and most enduring is beyond doubt : the Greek tongue has
alone survived, and with it the Greek traditions have descended,
and have obliterated all others. The Greek-speaking inhabit-
ants have learnt through their language to venerate the
memory of ancient Greece and the glories of the Greek age,
and to regard themselves as the lineal descendants of the race
of heroes, philosophers and sculptors whose matchless con-
tribution to modern civilization is recognized by the whole
world.

http://www.archive.org/stream/cyprusund ... c_djvu.txt

[insan]

The annexation of the island by Great Britain on the out-
break of war with Turkey in 19 14 caused an important change
in the situation, and left England free to do with Cyprus what
she would. The following year Cyprus was offered to Greece
on certain conditions. The offer was refused, and lapsed. But
the incident showed that England was prepared to recognize
that on national grounds the claims put forward by the Greek-
speaking Cypriots that the island should be united with Greece
were not considered unjustifiable. Yet there remains the fact
that a^uartfr of^nepopulation of the island consists of Turks

* Correspondence relating to the Affairs of Cj'prus. — C. 3396 (1908).



i64 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE

who have been established there for centuries, who have owned
and tilled a large portion of the soil, and who have been con-
sistently loyal to the British regime ever since the occupation
in 1878, and who are bitterly hostile to the mere idea of becom-
ing subject to Greek domination. This minority has its rights,
and is entitled to a voice in the selection of the Government
under which it desires to live. The Turks in Cyprus have
repeatedly protested against any idea of handing the island
over to the Greek Government, and have declared that such an
action would " bring about their ruin." * They have resisted
in the Legislative Council and elsewhere any measure tending
in their opinion in the remotest or most indirect way to sub-
stitute Greek for British domination. The Greek community
has never denied the existence amongst the Turks in Cyprus
of the strongest feelings in regard to this matter, but they
assert that, since the Moslem element forms a comparatively
small portion of the population, it has no right to interfere with
the political aspirations of the majority. Their attitude is
expressed in the following words used in the Memorial to Mr.
Winston Churchill already quoted : —

" The recognition and fulfilment of the historical national
right of the Cyprus Hellenes, the small Mahomedan minority
might disapprove, actuated, no doubt, by religious rather than
racial feeling : but its numerical existence in the island is not
so strong as to entitle it to dispose of the national fate of this
most Hellenic island, nor can it be alleged that its real activity
in civilizing and economical progress is possessed of any signi-
ficance. Trade, Science, Arts, Letters, Industry, and every
work connected with mental or economical progress are almost
exclusively exercised by the Cyprus Hellenes.

"It would be a great injustice to the cohabiting majority
and a flagrant denial of the sacred right of nationahties, were
it hampered by a small alien minority from its highest national
rights and the fulfilment of its great mission. The Mahomedan

* Telegram from Turkish notables to the High Commissioner, April 12,
1881. — Parliamentary Paper C. 2930.



THE HELLENIC IDEA 165

minority will not be prejudiced by follomng the national fate
of the Hellenic majority ; but, on the contrary, ^vill in a good
many respects be benefited, as the Hellenic race has practically
exhibited a remarkable religious tolerance and a tendency to
communicate its own blessings to the foreign races, from the
remotest years up to to-day, as in Thessaly, Epirus, Crete, and
elsewhere."

http://www.archive.org/stream/cyprusund ... c_djvu.txt

[insan]

It has been asserted that the Cypriot would prefer to live
under the domination of a rich Power rather than under that
of a small and poor one. Mr. Chamberlain used this argument
in a speech made in the House of Commons in 1902, and the
following reply was made by the Greek deputies in a Memorial,
already quoted, dealing with the speech in question : —

" What has above all affected most deeply the Greek popu-
lation of Cyprus is the statement made by you in Parliament
to the effect that the cession of Cyprus to Greece would not
meet with our general approval, and further that most of us
would prefer to be governed by a rich Government than be
annexed to a poor State.

" This latter insinuation has touched the most sensitive
chord of the heart of the Greek Cypriotes, who felt themselves
offended to the inmost, as the casting of a doubt on the genuine
and general aspirations of the Greek Cypriotes for their union
with Mother Greece constitutes the greatest insult against
them. It was, therefore, but natural that as soon as the
Greek population of Cyprus took cognizance of the statement
made by you officially in Parliament, they rose in one body in



THE HELLENIC IDEA 167

order to protest strongly and declare for the thousandth time
in the presence of the whole civilized world that their ardent
and inextinguishable desire is to be united with Greece, in
the same way as it is the desire of the whole enthralled
Hellenism. And we beg to submit on our behalf and on behalf
of every educated Cypriote that we heard this insinuation with
the same equanimity as one who would hear his own individu-
ality doubted by another. Should the authorities like to put
to the test this genuine desire, they have but to ask the opinion
of the Greek people of Cyprus and they will get as many
affirmative replies as there are Greek Cypriotes in the island.

[insan]

" You are aware, we hope, that as soon as the Turkish flag
was hauled down and the English flag hoisted up in its stead,
the late Archbishop of Cyprus, vSophronius, in greeting the
English Governor, said :

" ' We accept the change of Government inasmuch as we
trust that Great Britain will help Cyprus, as it did the Ionian
Islands, to be united with Mother Greece, with which it is
nationally connected.'



i68 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE

" These words have been said on behalf of the whole Greek
population of Cyprus through their primate immediately after
the occupation, and ever since the same population has never
lost an opportunity to declare openly that neither the riches
of their protectrix dazzles them nor the poverty of Greece
frightens them, but that their only wish and their only dream
is their union with Greece, which they anticipate as soon as
possible from the great and magnanimous English nation."

There is nothing whatever to show that the Cypriot
peasantry is discontented under British rule : on the contrary,
there is every evidence that the reverse is the case. On the
other hand, it would be futile to deny that the educated Greeks
in the island are sentimentally enthusiastic with regard to
their Hellenic aspirations, and find a ready support amongst
their co-religionists in the towns and villages. Opinion amongst
the former is divided as to the benefits which they think
would accrue if the British were replaced by a Greek administra-
tion. Some candidly admit that they believe that the material
prosperity of the island would be adversely affected by the
change, although they consider that the moral and spiritual
results would more than compensate for any such material
disabiHty. Other more sanguine enthusiasts maintain that
the island can never fulfil its destiny under alien domination :
that it would be more economically administered if Greek were
the sole official language and if the Government were carried
on by Cypriot officials, with perhaps a few Greek officials
filling some of the higher posts.

[insan]

The objections to the present rSgime thus stated are very
clear, and a remedy would not be far to seek if the population
of Cyprus were racially homogeneous. Unfortunately, how-
ever, as we have seen, a quarter of the population is neither
Greek nor Christian, but Turkish and Moslem, and thus
separated from the remainder by the most marked difference
in race and creed. The hostility of the Moslem Turk towards
Greek domination is infinitely more deep-seated than any
feeling of the Greek Christians towards British rule. It has
already been remarked that the Turkish community has been
unflinchingly loyal to the British administration since the
occupation, and even since war broke ont between the Otto-
man Empire and England the Turks in Cyprus, although
naturally sympathizing with the struggles of their compatriots
outside the island, have remained loyal and law-abiding sub-
jects of the British Empire. It is mainly because of the fierce
objections of the Turkish community in Cyprus to be placed
under Greeks that the principal Government posts in the island
have been filled by Englishmen ; and it is the existence of
nearly sixty thousand Turks — now British subjects — in the
island which constitutes a serious factor in the consideration
of any scheme for handing Cyprus over to the Hellenic Govern-
ment.

[insan]

This proclamation was subsequently replaced by another
extending to all Ottoman subjects resident in Cyprus on
November 5, 1914, whether born in the island or not, the status
of British subjects, but providing that any Ottoman subject
desirous of retaining his Ottoman nationality should, within
one month of the date of the proclamation, submit in writing
to the High Commissioner a statement declaring such desire,
in which case he would be permitted to retain his nationality,
but would be required to leave the island within a specified
time. There is some ambiguity attached to the exact mean-
ing of the word " resident," and care will be necessary that the
advantages of British nationality are not obtained by the terms
of this proclamation by Syrians and other Ottoman subjects
who were temporarily resident in Cyprus on the date of annexa-
tion, though having no real connection with the island.

The annexation of the island was hailed with delight by the
Christian community, who welcomed the final disappearance
from the island of Turkish sovereignty. The Turkish element
received the news with Oriental resignation ; the majority
of the Turks in fact disapproved whole-heartedly of the policy
which had led the Ottoman Government to join Germany and
Austria in the war, and accepted without demur their new-
status as British subjects. Only about a dozen Ottoman sub-
jects made application to retain their nationality, and these
were all either temporary residents from Ottoman territory
or visitors to the island : no Cypriot Ottoman subjects appHed,
and all therefore became British subjects.

[Oracle]

The little cut-and paste fantasy fairy has been busy gathering snippets to feed its pseudo-intelligence again ...

Just as well you have 20 computers tuned to Googling

Your milk-frothing machine seems to be overflowing .....

[insan]

The little cut-and paste fantasy fairy has been busy gathering snippets to feed its pseudo-intelligence again ...

Just as well you have 20 computers tuned to Googling

Your milk-frothing machine seems to be overflowing .....

It's far better than feeding my brain with Gene Rossides propaganda galimatias that is what u have done so far.

[Get Real!]

Knowledge is power! Get it!

So how long do we have to wait before this “power” is unleashed onto the forum because so far you’ve been nothing but a disappointing barf bag!