Oracle wrote:insan wrote:wyoming cowboy wrote:sure it can but the tc and turkey are using the argument that it was an ethnic conflict which it wasnt, Cyprus has not used the cold war argument and keeps falling into the turk trap that a bizonal federation is needed to preserve the survival of the tc......if the cold war argument is used more effectively then the occupation of Cyprus becomes as antiquated as the Berlin Wall.
So, what about Cretan and Rhodesian Turks that had no chance to "create a problem" and most of them had to left the islands they inhabitted for 100s of years?
Why didn't the cold war affect the strategically important island Crete or Rhodes and cause a conflict there similar to Cyprus problem?
There are still many Turks in Rhodes. As for Crete, they left for Turkey. Nice decision!
The Land Forces on Crete 1897/98
Crete (Greek: Kriti, Turkish: Kirid, Italian: Candia) one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea was in the last half of the 19th century an area of permanent troubles. The majority of inhabitants were of the Christian religion and rebelled against the Muslim minority which was supported by the local Ottoman government. After the great mutiny in 1866/67 the major powers advised the Ottoman Sultan to pass the authority over Crete to Greece to avoid any further bloody hostilities. The Ottoman government however refused but gave extensive autonomy and granted amnesty for the rebels. But the situation between the hostile members of the different religions didn't calm down especially because the Greek authorities permanently sent money, weapons and agitators to the island, ignoring the international agreement of 1869. Again In 1878 a major mutiny had to be put down by the legal Ottoman authorities under Mutkhtar Pasha, followed by more concessions to local self government in 1879 and again in 1889. This was good for the local people but of course not satisfying for the Greek government. They continued to stir the thorny situation by supporting the rebels with money and weapons. Again a critical point was reached when the Greek government started to transport armed soldiers of fortune to Crete in 1896 to support a new mutiny against the local government.
In January 1897 the whole island was on fire, the majority (about 60%) of the inhabitants started to fight and kill the Muslim minority with the dedicated goal of joining Crete to the Greek Kingdom - a war between the Ottoman Empire and Greece was imminent. On the 15th of February 1897 2000 Greek soldiers, commanded by Colonel Vassos, landed at Crete to proclaim the union with Greece. In this situation the European major powers agreed to calm down the situation by blockading the island with ships to prohibit any troop transports, from whom ever, to Crete. Also an international peace force landed and took over control of several important places and ending any hostilities. Especially Russia, France and Italy were interested in weakening the Ottoman Empire and so they enforced their troublesome compromise to appoint the Greek Prince George as commissioner-ruler (Harmostes) of Crete but leave the island under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Sultan. The gendarmerie was newly formed under Italian control and the small local militia was put under control of foreign, mainly British, officers.
No wonder that such a compromise against more than 30% of the inhabitants who were of Muslim religion and defacto deprived of their rights, could not work. After more mutinies, the largest in 1905, huge numbers of Cretan Muslims fled to the Ottoman mainland and at the end Crete became a part of the Greek Kingdom in 1913.
http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/troopscreta.htm
Had TCs not resisted by collaborating with Brits and Turkey, they would have shared the same fate of the Cretan Turks... So, before the cold war almost no TCs would have left in Cyprus... GR would have born in a Greek island and been a proud Hellene...
