These are the reasons why there were Greek troops in Cyprus:
The First Cyprus Crisis
In the night from 20 to 21 December 1963, a car carrying weapons for Turkish Cypriots in the Omorfita, a district of Nicosia – where armed resistance was organized – was halted on a police roadblock. After a few minutes a large crowd, mainly consisting of Turkish Cypriots, assembled nearby and the situation heated up, resulting in exchange of fire in which one policeman and two Turks were killed. This mini-uprising of Turkish Cypriots ended by Christmas of the same year, but there more skirmishes followed, as since that time Turkey began systematically organising and arming students and men younger than 30 into small units, equipped with personal weapons, bazookas and mortars. Several loads of food and ammunition were shipped from Turkey to Cyprus during the following winter, mainly by small boats and by night, which were landing in the Kokkina area.
http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_454.shtmlThe GCs were merely defending their island as it was evident that Kokkina was a
major national threat to Cypriot Sovereignty, due to TMT weapon smuggling:
GR Wrote:
Had you done your homework you would’ve known that the Kokkina enclave was in fact a TMT forces enclave, which had a sea port that regularly received arms and other supplies from Turkish boats that fuelled the TC armed uprisings all over the island, and ultimately making it vital for Turkey’s goal of partition on Cyprus by providing her with a safe beachhead for a military ground invasion.
The fact that the TAF conducted the first aerial bombings on Cyprus as a result of the Kokkina threat by opposing forces is further concrete evidence of the importance of Kokkina for Turkey because had Kokkina fallen the entire Turkish ulterior motive for Cyprus would’ve fallen to pieces.
Therefore, the RoC government was correct in its evaluation that the Kokkina point was a major national threat and had to go! After all, the major population of Cyprus was an 82% overwhelming majority of Greek Cypriots that the Kokkina point was directly threatening.
So in order to defend the Kokkina beachhead, the TAF bombs Cyprus using these aircraft:
THK F-100 Super Sabres were very active over Cyprus in 1964. This artwork, reconstructed from several photographs showing different Turkish "Huns" in the 1960s, depicts one of F-100D in service with the THK at the time. The THK received also a sizeable batch of F-100Cs, but only from 1970 onwards. (Artwork by Tom Cooper) http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_454.shtmlThey had dropped over 750lbs (340kg) of bombs and napalm:
Turkish jets had dropped 750lbs (340 kg) of bombs and napalm on their strongholds in north-west Cyprus.
"The whole area is on fire," said a spokesman for the Cypriot government.
"We cannot estimate casualties but there must be hundreds. Whole villages have been wiped out."
They also accused the Turkish government of landing troops on the north-west coast of the island.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 037898.stmThose Greek troops which numbered 10,000, where bought in to resist the planned Turkish invasion which would have annexed and partitioned part of the island. What is important is to understand that in 1964, Cypriots had the perfect opportunity to declare ENOSIS. With so many Greek troops on the ground, there would have been no chance for Turkey to launch a successful invasion. But ENOSIS was NEVER declared, which means that the ideal of ENOSIS was abandoned shortly after independence.
The Greek Troops were not bought to Cyprus to declare ENOSIS. Their purpose was to offer
security and
protection to the GCs from
TMT attack and TAF napalm bombings.All along, the TMT ideal of
TAKSIM continued.
"Thus the aim of partition, camouflaged by Turkish propaganda as `federation,' was relentlessly pursued regardless of loss of human life and the human misery created.
Two progressive-thinking, London-educated Turkish barristers who spoke against partition were killed outright by these same Turkish gangs.
Turkish Cypriots who favoured compromise or a close relationship between the two ethnic communities were targets of TMT violence.
On December 23, 1963, Turkish gangs also moved through the Armenian quarter of Nicosia and forced the inhabitants at gunpoint to leave their houses, shops, church, school and clubs to make room for more Turks.
In addition to the hostile environment that was created by combatants on both sides, there was a second factor that led to the polarization of both communities: with a view toward partition, the Turks withdrew from predominantly Greek areas and evicted Greeks from areas where Turks were in the majority. In a single week over 600 families, two-thirds of them Greek, left their homes, and many Turks who left Greek areas did so under intense pressure from Turkish separatists.
Turkish Cypriots who favoured compromise or a close relationship between the two ethnic communities were targets of TMT violence. Turks caught smoking Greek cigarettes or visiting Greek shops were beaten, and Turkish gangs forced some Turkish Cypriots to resign from Greek Cypriot trade unions. In Limassol, a Turkish Cypriot owner of a restaurant popular with Greeks was threatened and later murdered by the TMT. Two progressive-thinking, London-educated Turkish barristers who spoke against partition were killed outright by these same Turkish gangs.
Turkish extremists forced several thousand Turkish peasants to abandon their farms and animals and move into an overcrowded Turkish enclave in Nicosia. "Thus the aim of partition, camouflaged by Turkish propaganda as `federation,' was relentlessly pursued regardless of loss of human life and the human misery created. However, this so-called `first phase' of the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey only partly succeeded, since well over half of its brethren refused to obey instructions to abandon their homes for the predetermined enclaves" (The Making of Modern Cyprus, Panteli). On December 23, 1963, Turkish gangs also moved through the Armenian quarter of Nicosia and forced the inhabitants at gunpoint to leave their houses, shops, church, school and clubs to make room for more Turks.
http://www.ahmp.org/MedByp2.html[/quote]
Furthermore, the Greek troops were immediately withdrawn when the UN stationed a peacekeeping force (UNFICYP) to protect GCs from TMT seperatists.
