Expatkiwi wrote:Oracle, there were GC extremists who targeted Turkish Cypriots. Surely you don't condone that...
I think you are getting confused again.....
First signs of intercommunal Violence
The first signs of intercommunal conflict on the island appeared when the British conscripted Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus. Arif Hasan Tahsin a Turkish Cypriot that joined the Colonial police, a member of TMT and eventually rose as the number two in hierarchy of the Turkish Cypriots in his book: "It is a fact that the Turks fought against Greek Cypriots not just because they wanted Enosis". EOKA would target colonial authorities including police men. Both British and Turkish police men would die in exchange of fire. The eventual death of Turkish Cypriot policemen were met with anti-Greek riots by the Turkish community while the British authorities remained passive. Greek stores and neighborhoods would be burned and Greek civilians would be injured or killed. Such events created chaos and brought the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On the 22nd of October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27th and 28th of January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan rejected partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In June 1958 the British prime Minister Harold Macmillan was expected to proposed a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development the Turks created fierce riots in Nicosia aiming to promote the idea that Greeks and Turks could not live together and therefore any plan that would promote that would not be viable, instead partition would be the only viable solution. This violence soon to be followed by bombing, Greek Cypriots deaths and looting of Greek owned stores and houses resulted in Greeks and Turks started to evade mixed populated villages that the respective were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of segregation of the two communities. On the 7th of June 1958 a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On June 26 1984 the then Turkish Cypriot Leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On the 27th of January 1958 riots by Turkish Cypriots forced the British Colonial soldiers to open fire against the Turkish crowd, and for the first time intervene against the atrocities. The events continued until the next day. During the events Arif Tahsin met Rauf Denktaş and asked: "For God sake give the order for the killings to stop". Denktaş replied : "These killings are useful, with these our voices will be heard". By 1958 signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with Turkish Cypriots now forming Volkan, later known as the TMT paramilitary group as a means of promoting partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menteres plan. TMT would also target Turkish Cypriots and then blame the Greek Cypriots for the killing and also accuse the British Colonial rule that effective measures were not taken to protect the Turkish minority.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Expat, you need to do some more research!
Even your mate DonkTosh has a better grasp of the facts than you do!
