Cyprus-Forum.com

[Hermes]

During the 1950s and 1960s the Turkish Cypriot terrorist organization, the TMT, murdered a number of prominent Turkish Cypriots. These include the following:

Ahmad Sadi,Director of the Turkish office of the Pancyprian Workers federation.
Fazil Onder,chief editor of the weekly newspaper “Inkilapci”.
Ahmet Yahya of the progressive Turkish Cypriot Athletic cultural centre.
Hasan Ali of the Pancyprian labour federation.
Ahmet Ibrahim and Arif Hulusi Barudi, for expressing pro-coexistence views.
Dervis Ali Kavazoglu, unionist in favour of peaceful coexistence.

These people were not, to my knowledge, advocating union with Greece, so why were they murdered? The only common link I can find is they were murdered because they advocated peaceful co-existence of the communities. So the question is: why did the TMT want to kill Turkish Cypriots who wanted to strive for peaceful co-existence?

Answers please on a postcard...

[Hermes]

This is VP's answer from another thread:

Why were your eoka terrorists killing or beating up innocent GCs for not supporting union with Greece?

A fair point. To which I replied:

Greek Cypriots suspected of being allied to the colonial forces and those believed to be informants were targeted. After the struggle it was also suggested that some GCs were targeted for their political affiliations. AKEL and EOKA veteran fighters have both been outspoken on this issue.

A fair reply to a fair point I think. I then asked:

So do you think the TMT were killing TC activists because they wanted union with Greece? It's just that you claim that the TMT and Turkish Cypriots were opposed to those who wanted enosis.

I will look out for his reply and keep you all informed.

[B25]

To all, please suffix the word 'Terrorists' after the term TMT, to correctly identify this criminal terrorist illegal organisation from thurkey that many TCs including and especially Birkturk were involved in.

Thanks. So from now on it's: 'TMT TERRORISTS'

[Hermes]

And here is VP's reply:

Just as there were GCs that opposed or held differing views from the eoka terrorists and were killed there were also TCs who also had differing views to that of TMT who were targeted, this does not mean they supported enosis.

Thank you, VP. So the TMT terrorists were killing people for reasons OTHER than they supported enosis or union with Greece. And these reasons could only be that their victims didn't support the TMT's aims of partition and division. In order to further this aim they murdered innocent TC activists who advocated peaceful co-existence. This is a correct interpretation, don't you think?

[kimon07]

During the 1950s and 1960s the Turkish Cypriot terrorist organization, the TMT, murdered a number of prominent Turkish Cypriots. These include the following:

Answers please

And the naswer is: TAXIM![/b]

[b]The Turkish Terrorist Organisation T.M.T.

http://www.google.com/search?q=tmt+terr ... 1I7RNRN_en

"...Dr Kuchuk, again writing in his daily Hatkin Sesi, confirms that from 1957 he was in touch with Riza Vuruskan, the Turkish officer who led and founded TMT; first to help the British and then to fight against the Greeks and the Turkish Cypriot radicals. Dr Kuchuk recalled, on Vuruskan’s death in 1979, that in the 1950s he used to go to Ankara very frequently. During one of these visits, the late Prime Minister of Turkey, Adnan Menderes, introduced Riza Vuruskan to me . . Later on I met him at the office of a lieutenant general and talked with him there. During our meeting it was decided that Vuruskan should come to Cyprus as ‘civilian adviser’. He arrived in Cyprus under an assumed name.
Mr Denktash has also given his reminiscences of that period, in which he admitted for the first time what had long been suspected – that he had been among the founders of TMT:
Everybody thought 1 was the leader but I was not. I was political adviser. Immediately after forming it I handed it over. It was a good mask because even the British and American intelligence thought I was the man who decided everything. I was not. The leaders were former army officers from Turkey. [The Times. 20 January 1978]"

"...5. Though the Turkish Cypriot terrorist group Volkan was founded in 1955, and carried out many lethal attacks on civilians, very few members of it were ever tried, let alone punished by the British crown.
In contrast, numerous supporters of the Greek Cypriot EOKA were hanged and hundreds more imprisoned. The British trained an exclusively Turkish mobile reserve to combat EOKA and employed many more Turks in the police and auxiliary forces. Members of these echelons were involved with Volkan, which later changed its name to the Turkish Defence Force or TMT. In a celebrated case in 1958, a Turk, Sergeant Tuna, was convicted of possessing bombs and ammunition by a British court. The good sergeant, unlike his Greek counterparts, was allowed bail in his own recognizance and left immediately for Turkey.".

"...It was only when Turks put on British uniforms to oppose a popular movement that they were shot at by Greeks. And even after that, it took some time before people resorted to the final obscenity of killing people just because they were Greek or Turkish".

http://truthaboutturks.wordpress.com/20 ... -enclaves/

See Also

TMT incited anti-Greek riots and tried to force Turkish Cypriot workers to establish separate trade unions.

Murder, arson and intimidation were the means that TMT used in order to prove that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together. The victims were trade unionists, journalists and ordinary Turkish Cypriots who resisted TMT's call.

After the signing of the Zurich and London Agreements in 1959, which led to the independence of Cyprus, TMT continued its clandestine activities in the cause of dividing Cyprus, and was to continue until 1984 as Mr Ozgur was to
reveal.

In October, 1959, seven months after the signing of the agreements on Cyprus independence, the British mine-sweeper HMS Burmaston intercepted the Turkish
boat "Deniz" as it was attempting to deliver a shipment of arms to TMT in Cyprus.

Despite TMT terrorism, the mass of Greek and Turkish Cypriots citizens entered hopefully into the period of independence.
http://www.hellas.org/cyprus/tmt.htm

[Get Real!]

Why did the TMT murder Turkish Cypriots?

For the same reason EOKA B murdered Greek Cypriots!

Treason is the betrayal of one’s country because of allegiance to a foreign country.

[Lordo]

Hermes, I would have thought you would know the answer already but as you do not let me explain. In fact TMT killed TCs because they were against their ideology of Double Taksim. Which is the same ideology that Eoka had. The problem started when Makarios decided to stop supporting double taksim and was striving for single Enosis with Greece. As to Kavazoglu or any other TC who were Akel members their death warrants were signed when Akel cowardly joined Enosis movement. Thankfully they realised their mistake in 1990 and retracted that policy however they do owe an apology to those who perished for being Akel members TC or GC.

Assuming that there were a few more TCs killed then you have already mentioned, because my friends father was also killed and is not on your list, let us assume that may be 20 TCs were killed at this time.

How do you explain 148 that Eoka killed? Were they all traitors?

[Hermes]

Why did the TMT murder Turkish Cypriots?

For the same reason EOKA B murdered Greek Cypriots!

Treason is the betrayal of one’s country because of allegiance to a foreign country.

Thank you, GR. The TMT terrorists are the Turkish Cypriot equivalent of the reviled thugs EOKA B. So when Birkibrisli says that the TMT terrorists are regarded by most TCs as the TC's "saviours", what is he talking about? I thought they were no better than thugs, psychopaths and proxies of the Turkish government. How could they be the "saviours" of the TCs?

[Hermes]

Hermes, I would have thought you would know the answer already but as you do not let me explain. In fact TMT killed TCs because they were against their ideology of Double Taksim. Which is the same ideology that Eoka had. The problem started when Makarios decided to stop supporting double taksim and was striving for single Enosis with Greece. As to Kavazoglu or any other TC who were Akel members their death warrants were signed when Akel cowardly joined Enosis movement. Thankfully they realised their mistake in 1990 and retracted that policy however they do owe an apology to those who perished for being Akel members TC or GC.

Assuming that there were a few more TCs killed then you have already mentioned, because my friends father was also killed and is not on your list, let us assume that may be 20 TCs were killed at this time.

How do you explain 148 that Eoka killed? Were they all traitors?

Not at all. Some were undoubtedly killed for their political affiliation. Akel maintain this. The Eoka veterans dispute it. It is a hotly contested issue. But I'm under no illusions that GCs were killed for their leftist leanings. As for the Eoka B thugs, they were clearly targeting leftist GCs in 74 and were little better than psychopaths and thugs.

[kimon07]

Spelling Corrections
And the answer is: [b]TAKSIM![/b]