Cyprus-Forum.com

[Get Real!]

A candid message to British ex-servicemen of Cyprus…

It’s by no accident that Colonization was condemned by the UN and became internationally illegal in 1960, something that British politicians would’ve known about from way back in 1955; as the issue sat in the UN agenda for a few years, yet the British saw fit to exert their military authority on Cypriots right to the last minute in 1959!

Furthermore, Cyprus was under no obligation whatsoever to grant Britain any bases and should’ve had her entire territory returned in accordance with UN resolution 1514 (XV):

“The aspirations of the peoples of the Territories to achieve self-determination, and the international community's perception that United Nations Charter principles were being too slowly applied, led to the United Nations General Assembly's proclamation on 14 December 1960 of the “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples - resolution 1514 (XV).””

http://www.un.org/Depts/dpi/decolonizat ... ration.htm

The main UN Decolonization page can be found here…

http://www.un.org/Depts/dpi/decolonization/main.htm


I now ask you British ex-servicemen of Cyprus, what business did you and your comrades have in Cyprus so many hundreds of miles away from home, if not to impose your will on others?

If everyone would just stay PUT in their own homeland then half the world’s problems would be gone… but no! Some of us foolishly like to think that we have the “magic formula” to apply to others so they can be streamlined into our way of thinking and living despite the fact that our own house is an absolute mess! Even to this day, the US/UK still embark on colonialist adventures in the Middle East and elsewhere, oblivious to the UN Charter which they approved and signed!

Finally, much has been written about the 1955..59 events on Cyprus mostly by the British and Cypriots, but I encourage you all to read the following US government publication written in 2006, for an independent analysis on the events:

NB: Page 24 is where “Case Study Cyprus” begins from…

“TRAINING INDIGENOUS FORCES IN COUNTERINSURGENCY: A TALE OF TWO INSURGENCIES”

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.ar ... PUB648.pdf


Today, the average British ex-serviceman of Cyprus is around 75 years old, and many will no doubt have children and grandchildren to enjoy. If anything, at 75 it’s a time for reconciliation with your loved ones, but most importantly with God, but it’s certainly NOT a time to dig up old wounds about another time and another place so far away from home…


Regards, GR.


PS: Gregoris Afxentiou, the 29 year-old second-in-command of the EOKA movement, became a legendary figure to both his people and even some British! The ballad below was written by an anonymous English poet and appeared in the London "Tribune", on March 8th, 1957:

“Come out, come out, young Gregory, there’s guns all round your cave.
The sun’s rising over the mountains and you've only one life to save.

Your price is paid, young Gregory, while you sleep deep underground
For the man that brings the soldiers shall have five thousand pound.

Can't you hear their officer calling? He speaks your language plain,
So lift your hands and meet him and you'll see the sun again

Five men lay down together five men last night were brave,
But four went to daylight and one stayed in the cave

You're alone, young Gregory, your friends have gone from you,
They chose a life in prison and you may choose it too.

Come in, come in, he shouted, for I am but one man,
One man and his gun are waiting, come fetch me if you can.

They are sixty in the daylight and one in the dark within
But the one will not surrender and the sixty daren't go in.

So the guns begin to crackle and fast the bullets fly
And the sun young Gregory cannot see is noon-high in the sky

You bleed, you bleed, young Gregory now come out without shame,
A wounded man may save his life and there'll be none to blame.

But still young Gregory's shooting and the soldiers have no rest
And the hours pass ill darkness and the sun goes to the west.

Machine-guns go to fetch him, grenades are next to try,
Tear-gas is sent to blind him, the man who will not die.
Then the petrol barrels lumber out of the soldiers’ sight,
And the bullets set them burning and the cave is blazing bright,

But still the gun is speaking and the sixty hear the one
And the light is grey with evening and the battle is not done.

Now the engineers are busy, they lay their charge and train,
And the sixty men stand silent who need not shoot again,

And dynamite and petrol are piled among the rocks,
For when the hounds are wearied all's fair to kill a fox.

And the village on the hilltop is shaken with the din,
And when the cave is silent the sixty men go in.

Then the Governor came to tell them how bravely they had done,
for the regiment gained new honor when sixty men killed one.

But when brother speaks to brother and father to his son,
In the memory of his people young Gregory Lives on.”

[MrH]

I wonder what Britain is planning next?

Is Britain prepared to leave the island of Cyprus?

I am shocked as to how the two British bases are still in existence in Cyprus after so many years, after Cyprus' EU entry and whether their removal will now be a part of the plan being discussed between Christofias and Talat?

Britain has always been able to maneuver around Cyprus' turbulent history. Turkey called upon Britain twice from July 15th 1974 to July 20th 1974 - what did Britain do - nothing. And now we are in this mess.

The Greek Cypriots are clearly too soft to throw out the British from their GC Controlled ROC, perhaps that's the main root of the Cyprus problem?

Why aren't there any British bases in Northern Cyprus? And please, do not say that it's because it's not recognised as that's just an excuse.

[EricSeans]

GR wrote: "I now ask you British ex-servicemen of Cyprus, what business did you and your comrades have in Cyprus so many hundreds of miles away from home, if not to impose your will on others?"

If you asked the average ex-squaddie that question you may not get much of an answer. About 80% of them were teenagers drafted into the army straight from school or civilian life. They weren't paid to think and most probably couldn't have placed Cyprus on the map or name her capital. Most Brits (and almost all Americans) probably still can't. All they knew was they were being sent by the Queen to face up to Johnny Foreigner in some hot and dusty place, be it Indonesia, Malaya, Aden, Kenya - or Cyprus. Wherever in the world you end up you just stick by your mates, keep your head down and get on with the job, as anyone who ever wore uniform will know.

Very good ballad, BTW. Emotional stuff. Gregory should rightly be held up as an exemplary hero and brave fighter by Cypriot and Brit alike.

[Oracle]

GR wrote: "I now ask you British ex-servicemen of Cyprus, what business did you and your comrades have in Cyprus so many hundreds of miles away from home, if not to impose your will on others?"

If you asked the average ex-squaddie that question you may not get much of an answer. About 80% of them were teenagers drafted into the army straight from school or civilian life. They weren't paid to think and most probably couldn't have placed Cyprus on the map or name her capital. Most Brits (and almost all Americans) probably still can't. All they knew was they were being sent by the Queen to face up to Johnny Foreigner in some hot and dusty place, be it Indonesia, Malaya, Aden, Kenya - or Cyprus. Wherever in the world you end up you just stick by your mates, keep your head down and get on with the job, as anyone who ever wore uniform will know.

Very good ballad, BTW. Emotional stuff. Gregory should rightly be held up as an exemplary hero and brave fighter by Cypriot and Brit alike.

Good point Eric ... but if they were so "ignorant" of the duties they performed ... why honour them in Cyprus, which to them was just another "foreign" country?

Surely they would serve a better reminder back in the UK ... about how wrong is forcing innocents, to kill.

[RichardB]

GR wrote: "I now ask you British ex-servicemen of Cyprus, what business did you and your comrades have in Cyprus so many hundreds of miles away from home, if not to impose your will on others?"

If you asked the average ex-squaddie that question you may not get much of an answer. About 80% of them were teenagers drafted into the army straight from school or civilian life. They weren't paid to think and most probably couldn't have placed Cyprus on the map or name her capital. Most Brits (and almost all Americans) probably still can't. All they knew was they were being sent by the Queen to face up to Johnny Foreigner in some hot and dusty place, be it Indonesia, Malaya, Aden, Kenya - or Cyprus. Wherever in the world you end up you just stick by your mates, keep your head down and get on with the job, as anyone who ever wore uniform will know.

Very good ballad, BTW. Emotional stuff. Gregory should rightly be held up as an exemplary hero and brave fighter by Cypriot and Brit alike.

Good point Eric ... but if they were so "ignorant" of the duties they performed ... why honour them in Cyprus, which to them was just another "foreign" country?

Surely they would serve a better reminder back in the UK ... about how wrong is forcing innocents, to kill.

A very good thread

I must say that I would agree with the points made by Eric

I will add some of my own points later (footie calls)

Re the memorial ...There should be no memorial on the Island until Cyprus is free from ALL the tyranny that has blighted this Island

[YFred]

One fascist poem deserves another

Stop wayfarer! Unbeknownst to you this ground
You come and tread on, is where an epoch lies;
Bend down and lend your ear, for this silent mound
Is the place where the heart of a nation sighs.

To the left of this deserted shadeless lane
The Anatolian slope now observe you well;
For liberty and honour, it is, in pain,
Where wounded Mehmet laid down his life and fell.

This very mound, when violently shook the land,
When the last bit of earth passed from hand to hand,
And when Mehmet drowned the enemy in flood,
Is the spot where he added his own pure blood.

Think, the consecrated blood and flesh and bone
That make up this mound, is where a whole nation,
After a harsh and pitiless war, alone
Tasted the joy of freedom with elation.

Just to balance things out you understand.

[The Cypriot]

Re the memorial ...There should be no memorial on the Island until Cyprus is free from ALL the tyranny that has blighted this Island

Spoken like a true Cypriot. Mashalla.

[DT.]

“Come out, come out, young Gregory, there’s guns all round your cave.
The sun’s rising over the mountains and you've only one life to save.

Your price is paid, young Gregory, while you sleep deep underground
For the man that brings the soldiers shall have five thousand pound.

Can't you hear their officer calling? He speaks your language plain,
So lift your hands and meet him and you'll see the sun again

Five men lay down together five men last night were brave,
But four went to daylight and one stayed in the cave

You're alone, young Gregory, your friends have gone from you,
They chose a life in prison and you may choose it too.

Come in, come in, he shouted, for I am but one man,
One man and his gun are waiting, come fetch me if you can.

They are sixty in the daylight and one in the dark within
But the one will not surrender and the sixty daren't go in.

So the guns begin to crackle and fast the bullets fly
And the sun young Gregory cannot see is noon-high in the sky

You bleed, you bleed, young Gregory now come out without shame,
A wounded man may save his life and there'll be none to blame.

But still young Gregory's shooting and the soldiers have no rest
And the hours pass ill darkness and the sun goes to the west.

Machine-guns go to fetch him, grenades are next to try,
Tear-gas is sent to blind him, the man who will not die.
Then the petrol barrels lumber out of the soldiers’ sight,
And the bullets set them burning and the cave is blazing bright,

But still the gun is speaking and the sixty hear the one
And the light is grey with evening and the battle is not done.

Now the engineers are busy, they lay their charge and train,
And the sixty men stand silent who need not shoot again,

And dynamite and petrol are piled among the rocks,
For when the hounds are wearied all's fair to kill a fox.

And the village on the hilltop is shaken with the din,
And when the cave is silent the sixty men go in.

Then the Governor came to tell them how bravely they had done,
for the regiment gained new honor when sixty men killed one.

But when brother speaks to brother and father to his son,
In the memory of his people young Gregory Lives on.”

Fantastic ballad GR, well done for finding it.

[EricSeans]

GR wrote: "I now ask you British ex-servicemen of Cyprus, what business did you and your comrades have in Cyprus so many hundreds of miles away from home, if not to impose your will on others?"

If you asked the average ex-squaddie that question you may not get much of an answer. About 80% of them were teenagers drafted into the army straight from school or civilian life. They weren't paid to think and most probably couldn't have placed Cyprus on the map or name her capital. Most Brits (and almost all Americans) probably still can't. All they knew was they were being sent by the Queen to face up to Johnny Foreigner in some hot and dusty place, be it Indonesia, Malaya, Aden, Kenya - or Cyprus. Wherever in the world you end up you just stick by your mates, keep your head down and get on with the job, as anyone who ever wore uniform will know.

Very good ballad, BTW. Emotional stuff. Gregory should rightly be held up as an exemplary hero and brave fighter by Cypriot and Brit alike.

Good point Eric ... but if they were so "ignorant" of the duties they performed ... why honour them in Cyprus, which to them was just another "foreign" country?

Surely they would serve a better reminder back in the UK ... about how wrong is forcing innocents, to kill.

Oracle,

Good question. Perhaps one explanation is that after the fighting is over and the hand of friendship has been extended and accepted, the former military power feels able to carry out the ancient tradition of burying or commemorating their soldiers close to where they fell without offending the host country. This would be especially true of a Commonwealth country where a feeling of family and kinship has existed.

Of course, In the real world this is an internet forum and we can all be somewhat obsessive about our personal crusades, but with my first paragraph I was thinking about people I knew who died on active service and all the remembrance parades I have attended. I can't remember a single one where hate for a former enemy raised its ugly head.

[Oracle]

GR wrote: "I now ask you British ex-servicemen of Cyprus, what business did you and your comrades have in Cyprus so many hundreds of miles away from home, if not to impose your will on others?"

If you asked the average ex-squaddie that question you may not get much of an answer. About 80% of them were teenagers drafted into the army straight from school or civilian life. They weren't paid to think and most probably couldn't have placed Cyprus on the map or name her capital. Most Brits (and almost all Americans) probably still can't. All they knew was they were being sent by the Queen to face up to Johnny Foreigner in some hot and dusty place, be it Indonesia, Malaya, Aden, Kenya - or Cyprus. Wherever in the world you end up you just stick by your mates, keep your head down and get on with the job, as anyone who ever wore uniform will know.

Very good ballad, BTW. Emotional stuff. Gregory should rightly be held up as an exemplary hero and brave fighter by Cypriot and Brit alike.

Good point Eric ... but if they were so "ignorant" of the duties they performed ... why honour them in Cyprus, which to them was just another "foreign" country?

Surely they would serve a better reminder back in the UK ... about how wrong is forcing innocents, to kill.

Oracle,

Good question. Perhaps one explanation is that after the fighting is over and the hand of friendship has been extended and accepted, the former military power feels able to carry out the ancient tradition of burying or commemorating their soldiers close to where they fell without offending the host country. This would be especially true of a Commonwealth country where a feeling of family and kinship has existed.

Of course, In the real world this is an internet forum and we can all be somewhat obsessive about our personal crusades, but with my first paragraph I was thinking about people I knew who died on active service and all the remembrance parades I have attended. I can't remember a single one where hate for a former enemy raised its ugly head.

Same here ... and no one hates those "innocents" ... only the people who now capitalise on this loss to continue their colonialist crusade.

Used and abused in life ... now sadly used and abused in death .....