Cyprus-Forum.com

[chiave]

Article from http://www.threemonkeysonline.com

Rain in August. Cyprus, the UN, and the death of Archbishop Makarios - a personal recollection.


As a young officer in the Irish Army, in 1972, Tom Brace found himself a few feet away from world leaders, as they searched for a solution on the divided Island

http://www.threemonkeysonline.com/threemon_articleMakarios_Waldheim_Cyprus.htm

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[Piratis]

Makarios was a great leader. It is not easy to find such leaders.

He did several mistakes of course, and he was by no means perfect.

But lets not forget that he was the first president of a country that has not been independent for centuries and democracy was something very new. Add to that the complex situation in Cyprus with the Enosis (union with Greece) supporters, the taksim (partition) supporters, and the conflicting foreign interests, and what you have is something extremely difficult to handle.

Under these circumstances I believe the ones that judge Makarios in a negative way are very unfair to say the least.

[erolz]

Makarios was a great leader. It is not easy to find such leaders.

If Makarios was a great leader then I shudder to think what the state of Cyprus would have been under an average or mediocre leader. Sunk to the bottom of the sea maybe?

Judge solely on the 'results' of what happened to the RoC under his 'great' leadership, I find it incredible that anyone can consider him a 'great leader'? Do you really believe than under anyone elses' leadership the RoC would have been in a worse state than it was in when his leadership ended?

[Piratis]

Erolz, what if you run a business in the most efficient way and then I come and kill you and burn down whatever you created. Does this means you didn't manage your business well?

Because Makarios didn't manage to stop the crimes of some others that I mention above this doesn't mean he was not a great leader.

This is what Johnson, the president of US said to the Greek ambassador some years before the invasion:

Fuck your parliament and your constitution. America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea. Greece is a flea. If these two fleas continue itching the elephant, they may just get whacked by the elephant's trunk, whacked good....If your prime minister gives me talk about democracy, parliament and constitutions, he, his parliament and his constitution may not last very long

A great leader, no matter how great, can not transform a flea into an elephant.

He made mistakes, yes, but lets face it: The fate of Cyprus was (and continues to be) very important for some "elephants" to let the leader of a "flea" to form it the way he wanted.

[MicAtCyp]

Erol not only those days but perhaps until today, anyone who would question the "greatness" of Makarios he was and is automatically labeled a "Grivas" and an "Eoka B" supporter. One thing I can assure you is that if Makarios was alive today he would still be elected with 97% of the vote!!! That much was (and would still be) the political matureness of the GCs.... Democracy started maturing in the free areas long after his death in 1977. I agree that Makarios was a good man, but I totally disagree that he was the right person to take political decisions. Unfortunately however it seems that Makarios was afraid to abandon the Presidency because maybe fanatics would then get the power.And beleive me the situation would be much worse for the TCs if that happened.

Insan asked me a few days ago if I learn something as to why in 1972 Makarios did not go ahead with signing the agreement in which both Clerides and Denktash finally ended up agreeing on everything.
Well brother last Sunday I met a man around 60 y.o who was trying to become a politician but failed to be elected in the parliament in the end.He told me that Makarios was so hesitant of everything, that he came to a point of getting afraid that "even an ice-cream would have fire inside".He was constantly accused that he signed the Zurich agreements and betrayed the Enosis cause, so the signing of an agreement to end up the Cyprus issue and finalise its destiny as an independent state, would most propably label him a traitor for ever and perhaps trigger a an open confrontation with the nationalists and fanatics. Until then he always had excuses that "the agreements were just an intermediate step towards Enosis". That is why he did not finally go ahead with those agreements.

My opinion was that Makarios got trapped in a position he could not escape, and instead of preparing the ground for moderate Politicians to take over after him, he was simply doing nothing other than letting all his hopes on God.
Thats very typical of the priests, i.e to rely on God to take decisions for them.Do you know that its 5 years now that our Archibishop is incompedent from Altzheimer disease and the priests cannot decide to change their constitution to elect a new head of the church? The just wait from God to clear up the way to them ...

[Bananiot]

Makarios died in early August 1977. He can be judged with the benefit of hindsight. He was not a great leader. He is responsible, admittedly not the sole one, for our predicament. His political decisions are all flowed with amazing grave mistakes.

He made his first political mistake as soon as he was elected Archbishop in 1950. He insisted that Greece take a recourse to the UN and internationalise the Cyprus issue. Plastiras met Makarios in 1951 for the first time and told him fairly and squarely,

"if you came to my humble dwellings and ask me as a soldier to fight for Cyprus, I would do so without hesitation. But, you come to the office of the Prime Minister of Greece and you ask me to burn Greece without helping Cyprus. Your Beautitude, cool down ..."

Plastiras was succeeded by Sophoklis Venizelos and in 1952, Makarios warned him;

"if you insist not to take the Cyprus issue to the UN, I will report you to the Greek people"

In 1952 Makarios "reported" Venizelos and the opposition parties (for the 1st time in Greek politics government and opposition amazingly agree). He said in an interviwe that the government of Greece is unpatriotic. In a huge rally in Nicosia on 28 June 1953 (he loved to speak in rallies) Makarios urged the new Prime Minister Papagos to take the issue to the UN and blackmailed the greek leadership that he would get the eastern block and the non-alligned involved in the issue.

In September 1954 Papagos gave in to the populist rhetorics of Makarios and on September 16 he made a recourse to the UN. That was the begining of the end for Cyprus.

No, Makarios was no great leader. He was a populist nationalist who managed to destroy Cyprus with his antiques. He had no political realism and vision and the fact that he was a priest does not absolve him of responsibilities. He was loved by his people, no doubt, but populist leaders are loved as a rule by their people, it is much more difficult to be a pragmatic politician in the Middle East, isn't it?

[erolz]

Erolz, what if you run a business in the most efficient way and then I come and kill you and burn down whatever you created. Does this means you didn't manage your business well?

You can compare running a state with running a business, but can not accept that 'democratic' principles are consistent within a state and within the EU? Bizzare!

If I was in charge of running a business and that business ended up burnt to the ground, then yes I would find claims that I was a 'great leader' very strange indeed. If I was also directly involved in inciting others to want to burn my business down and involved in the burning of other peoples business as well then the claim would be even more strange to me. A great leader would have been one that avoided the buring down of the business.

Because Makarios didn't manage to stop the crimes of some others that I mention above this doesn't mean he was not a great leader.

So if he is not to be judged on what happend to Cyprus under his leadership then how is he to be judged? On what criteria are you judging him to have been a 'great leader'?

A great leader, no matter how great, can not transform a flea into an elephant.

Maybe not but a great leader would have managed to avoid being 'swatted' by the elephant - not provoked the swatting at every opportunity.

[Piratis]

If I was in charge of running a business and that business ended up burnt to the ground, then yes I would find claims that I was a 'great leader' very strange indeed. If I was also directly involved in inciting others to want to burn my business down and involved in the burning of other peoples business as well then the claim would be even more strange to me. A great leader would have been one that avoided the buring down of the business.

So, if your business is burnt down it is your fault, right?
Ok, I keep this, just remember that you said it.

[erolz]

So, if your business is burnt down it is your fault, right?
Ok, I keep this, just remember that you said it.

How about you explain to me on what criteria you judge Makraios to have been a 'great leader' if you do not use the state of the RoC after 17 years of his leadership as a relevant criteria?

[MicAtCyp]

Crazy Napoleon also got the title of a Great. Napoleon the Great!! However he delivered half the France he received.
Perhaps we should issue some titles here.Makarios the Great, Grivas the Great, Denktash the Greatest . They all delivered half a country. What do you thinK? He, he he.