Of course Cypriots wanted their freedom, and freedom for the case of Cyprus meant Cyprus being part of the free Greek Republic like all other Greek islands. I am still waiting for a reasonable answer to the question what was exactly the difference between Cyprus (the biggest Greek island) and Crete (the 2nd biggest), Rhodes (the 3rd biggest) or any other of the 100s of Greek islands.
http://www.anesi.com/rmap1.jpg
The Greek Republic as it exists today was not formed in a single day, but over a period of several decades as more and more Greek territories were liberated. The first Greek State was formed right after the revolution of 1821, and the last territory to be liberated with Rhodes and several other islands in 1947.
If it was left up to the Cypriots, Cyprus would be part of the very first Greek Republic, and there wouldn't be any need for any enosis (union) later on. The only reason that this didn't happen is that the foreign oppressors, the Turks, denied this right to the Cypriot people and continued to occupy our island.
During the Greek War of Independence in 1821, the Ottoman authorities feared that Greek Cypriots would rebel again. Archbishop Kyprianos, a powerful leader who worked to improve the education of Greek Cypriot children, was accused of plotting against the government. Kyprianos, his bishops, and hundreds of priests and important laymen were arrested and summarily hanged or decapitated on July 9, 1821.
We are not living in the era of city-states anymore. Territories unite together to form bigger, stronger countries that can be more able to defend themselves from foreign aggressors. And since the vast majority of the population of this island is Greek, it made perfect sense to be part of the Greek Republic, along all other Greek islands.
Of course we do not expect the Turks to admit that Cyprus is a Greek island. They have been trying to de-Hellenize our island since they first came here, by butchering Cypriots by the 10s of thousands, importing Turkish Settlers and discriminating against us, trying to force people to become Muslims and subsequently "Turks".
And the "independence" they are talking about now is not a true independence either, but just their way of isolating Cyprus so it will be easier for them to continue to exploit and control our island for their own benefit.
The Turks ruled Cyprus for 300+ years and allowing Cyprus to be independent never crossed their mind. They didn't even think of independence in the 50s, since they were busy promoting the annihilation of the majority of Cypriots from half of their island so they could achieve partition. It was Makarios who first proposed independence as a compromise. But Makarios of course meant a true independence, as it exists in all other countries, that would allow the Cypriot people to democratically rule their own island, and not this joke of "independence" that they forced on us in 1960 with military bases, foreign troops, "guarantors" and the upgrading of their minority with gains on our expense.
