Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

Cyprus Problem did not started from 1974......Displacement of the Cypriots began from 1964 up to 74....where there was no Turkish army present in Cyprus soil......


Intercommunal violence in 1964:
More than 20,000 Turkish Cypriots displaced
• Intercommunal violence and assault of Turkish Cypriot villages by Greek paramilitaries from December 1963 toAugust 1964 forced more than 20,000 Turkish Cypriots and a few hundred Greek Cypriots to abandon their properties
• Most of the movements seem to have been spontaneous, but in some cases people were reportedly ordered to leave and were prevented from returning to government-controlled areas by the Turkish paramilitaries
• Cypriot Armenians, who numbered 3,378 in 1960, were forced to leave the Turkish part of Nicosia

[halil]

Kyle, December 1997, pp. 11-12:
"On 21 December 1963 a street brawl in a Turkish quarter in Nicosia between a Turkish Cypriot crowd and [Greek Cypriot Minister of the Interior] Yorgadjis's plain-clothes special constables was followed immediately by a major Greek Cypriot attack by the various paramilitary forces against the Turks in Nicosia and in Larnaca. Although the TMT [Turkish Defence Organization] and Turkey's military contingent organized the defence of the Turkish Cypriot community, and there were acts of retaliation directed at the Greek Cypriots, there is no doubt that the main victims of the numerous incidents that took place during the next few months were Turks. Some 700 Turkish Cypriot hostages men, women and children, were seized in the northern suburbs of Nicosia. The mixed suburb of Omorphita suffered the most from an independent gang of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nixos Sampson who made a full assault on the Turkish Cypriot population. During the first half of 1964, fighting continued to flare up between neighbouring villages: 191 Turkish Cypriots and 133 Greeks were known to have been killed while it was claimed 209 Turks and 41 Greeks were missing and could also be presumed dead. There was much looting and destruction of Turkish villages. Some 20,000 refugees fled, many taking refuge in Kyrenia and Nicosia. Food medical supplies had to be shipped in from Turkey. Twenty-four wholly Turkish villages and Turkish houses in 72 mixed villages were abandoned. Most of the moves seem to have been spontaneous, but in some cases the people were ordered to leave and, once villagers had moved, the Turkish paramilitaries, now much expanded in numbers and known simply as 'the Fighters', ensured they did not return to government-controlled areas. The necessary basis for partition was being established.".........................

[halil]

Kyle, December 1997, pp. 14-15:
"Half or more of the Turkish Cypriot community was now compressed into disconnected enclaves on the island. These fragments were loosely organized into groups of villages and sub-regions where full-time 'Fighters' units were stationed, and where Turkey Army were posted; and into seven regions, mostly based on the Turkish quarters in the towns, where civil government was controlled by district officers and the 'Fighters' were commanded by Turkish army colonels. […]

The Cyprus Government imposed an economic blockade against the enclaves, which was soon modified under UN and Red Cross/Red Crescent pressures to let in quotas of food. Later, the passage of specific 'strategic materials' was prohibited; this was a large and growing list which severely affected economic activity. There was some passage and commerce between Greek and Turkish areas but this was subject to much delay, tedious searches and -sometimes - instances of kidnapping and hostage-taking. This was perhaps inevitable when the two communities were on a permanent war footing; however, even then this atmosphere did not prevail everywhere. The UN was continually engaged in negotiations to secure Turkish Cypriot 'freedom of movement' without needless molestation, and to mediate complicated local arrangements about police patrols.

[halil]

On 21 April 1967 democracy was overthrown in Greece, bringing to power a group of colonels, some of whom had experience of serving in Cyprus. […]
Relations with Makarios, who did not fancy a union with a military dictatorship or its Cyprus intrigues, became increasingly strained. Makarios began cutting the budget of the National Guard and building up his own paramilitary force, the Tactical Reserve, and became more amenable to UN suggestions for easing tension. Roadblocks, for example, were removed from outside the Turkish quarters of Paphos and Limassol, and Turkish Cypriots were allowed to buy 'strategic materials'.
[…]
in March 1968, the last economic restrictions were withdrawn from the Turkish enclaves - a gesture which was not reciprocated by the Turkish Cypriots who continued to maintain their roadblocks in order to bar Greek Cypriots who continued to maintain their roadblocks in order to bar Greek Cypriots from their enclaves."

[halil]

Kyle, December 1997, p. 33:


Displacement of the Cypriot Armenians"

At the time of independence the Cypriot Armenians, who then numbered 3,378, were mainly living in the Turkish part of Nicosia near the ceasefire line and possessed a sixteenth-century monastery with 700 acres nearby. At the close of 1963, when the Constitution collapsed, they found themselves forced to move over to the south. The Government gave them land on which they build their churches and schools."

PRIO, 22 November 2006:
"As a result of the events of 1963–64 and 1974, a significant number of property owners from both communities became dispossessed."

[halil]

European Commission of Human Rights, 10 July 1976, paras. 185-196:
"Findings of the European Commission of Human Rights
I. General
Since it is common knowledge that the overwhelming majority of the Greek Cypriot population from the northern area has been displaced as a consequence of the Turkish military action in 1974 the Commission does not consider that specific evidence corroborating this is needed. As regards the number of persons affected, the Commission accepts as credible the figures mentioned by witness Iacovou i.e. about 182,000 displaced Greek Cypriots in September 1975.
II. Movements of persons provoked by the military action of Turkey
The Commission considers that the evidence before it shows that the vast majority of displaced Greek Cypriots left the north of Cyprus as direct consequence of the military action of Turkey.
Many fled during the first phase of this operation [20-22 July 1974] from the areas where actual fighting took place, or from areas considered to be in danger of becoming the theatre of military operations. There then developed in the Greek Cypriot population a sentiment of fear and horror about the reported conduct of the Turkish troops - a sentiment convincingly described by witness Odysseos and Kaniklides who came from places as far apart as Morphou and Famagusta - and, during the second phase of the military action [14-16 August 1974], whole areas were evacuated by their Greek Cypriot residents before the Turkish army reached them.
[…]
The Commission was not able to establish the exact figure of persons who fled. It assumed, however, that they were more than 170,000 since all other categories of displaced persons together make up only a few thousand out of the above-mentioned total of 182,000.
III. Measures of displacement not directly connected with the Turkish military action in the phases of actual fighting
The commission considers that the evidence before it establishes that a large number of Greek Cypriots who remained in the north of Cyprus after the arrival of the Turkish troops were uprooted from their normal surroundings and temporarily subjected to various measures of displacement.
(a) Evictions from houses and transportation to other places within the north of Cyprus
The range of these measures included the eviction of Greek Cypriots from houses including their own houses, the assembling of them at certain places, forcible excursions to other places where they were held for periods ranging from several hours to several days, and their transfer to prisons, detention centres or other detention places.
Such measures were not only described in a considerable number of individual statements, some of them corroborating each other, including statements made orally to the Commission's Delegation in Cyprus. They were also confirmed in reports of the United Nations and of the International Committee of the Red Cross which leave no doubt as to their correctness.

[halil]

(b) Expulsion across the demarcation line
The Commission finds it established that there was an organised operation for the expulsion of the remaining civilian population of some villages in the Kyrenia district (Trimithui, Ayios Georgios, Karmi) to the south of Cyprus by driving them in buses to the green line at the Ledra Palace Hoter in Nicosia on 2 August 1974. Several persons gave the Commission's Delegation a detailed description of these events, which were also confirmed in written statements submitted to the Commission. Moreover, witness Soulioti saw the arrival of these expellees and arranged their accommodation, and a UN report based on UNFICYP sources apparently concerns the same events although no places or names are mentioned.
Taking into account its above finding, the Commission finds strong indications that the other group expulsions mentioned by witness Soulioti also happened in the way described. This concerns, in particular the alleged expulsion of persons from the Karpasia area in June 1975, which was also mentioned by a number of other witnesses. The Commission's Delegation saw a film of persons who stated that they were expelled in June 1975, and they were also given a copy of an official letter to the ICRC in Nicosia protesting against these expulsions. However, the Commission has been unable to establish whether applications for transfer to the south were made by a number of these persons and, if so, whether such applications were made voluntarily.
With regard to other group expulsions, especially those during the second phase of the Turkish military operation, the Commission disposes only of hearsay evidence.

[halil]

(c) Negotiated transfer of prisoners and detainees including those detained in Turkey
The fact that several thousand Greek Cypriot prisoners and detainees, including those detained in Turkey, became displaced as a consequence of their transfer and release to the south of Cyprus under the provisions of the Geneva Declaration [of the Foreign Ministers of Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom of 30 July 1974] and various intercommunal agreements is common knowledge.
The Commission has not fully investigated to which extent these persons had an option to return to their homes in the north of Cyprus. It observes that the permission for the return of 20% of the prisoners from Turkey to their homes in the north of Cyprus could only be achieved with difficulties, but one could assume in the circumstances that the remainder of this group of prisoners were persons who had actually opted for their release to the south. On the other hand it appears from the testimony of witness Perkettis that prisoners were not asked where they wanted to be released.
With regard to persons who had been detained in detention centres in the north of Cyprus, the Commission finds it established that they were virtually barred from returning to their homes in the north of Cyprus. Only very few of them were released in the north. This is recorded in public documents of the United Nations. Moreover, the statements made by UNHCR and ICRC representatives at the intercommunal meeting of 7 February 1975, the record of which the Commission accepts as correct, indicate the will of these persons to remain in the areas under Turkish control was broken by the conditions imposed on them. Mr. Zuger expressly stated, 'They want to go south because they are not allowed to go back to their homes.'
In addition, some witnesses conveyed their impression that the detention centres were a special device for the evacuation of the Greek Cypriot population from the north of Cyprus.[…] In the light of the above the Commission finds a strong indication that evacuation of the Greek Cypriot population was a purpose of the detention centres."
The Commission concluded that, by the refusal to allow the return of more than 170,000 Greek Cypriot refugees to their homes in the north of Cyprus, Turkey violated Art. 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Commission confirmed again the existence of this violation in 1983 and 1999.
The Commission also concluded in 1976 that, by the eviction of Greek Cypriots from houses, including their own homes, by their transportation to other places within the north of Cyprus, of by their deportation across the demarcation line, Turkey equally violated Art. 8 of the Convention.

Displacement continues as a result of population transfer agreement and human rights violations (1975-2003)
• Following talks held between the representatives of the two communities in Vienna in 1975, Turkish Cypriots remaining in the south were allowed to leave for the north
• 10,000 Greek Cypriots who had stayed in the north could either stay and enjoy full minority rights or leave.

[Piratis]

First a note on Halil's posts: He doesn't post direct links to the sources because what he posts is Turkish propaganda and showing his sources would reveile this.

The cause of displacement was the partition aim of the Turks. The aim was for all TCs to move to the north part of the island while the Greek Cypriots and all other Cypriots forced to the south. Nobody would be displaced if not for the partition aim of the Turks.

The aim of the TCs and Turkey from the 1950s was partition, where they would take for themselves the north part of Cyprus and force Greek Cypriots to the south.

The inter-communal conflict that was initiated by the TCs in 1958 and the invasion of 1974 were both part of the execution of the partition plan, where the TCs would gain in the north twice as much from what they left behind. The TC minority of 18% illegally took control of the 37% of the island and this is exactly what they wanted.

On the other hand, the Greek Cypriots that have 1000s of years of history on this island have deep attachment to their villages and towns and they never wanted to leave from them. They were forced to leave at gun point by the Turkish invaders, and they were never allowed to return.

This is why the Greek Cypriots are the ones who want everybody to return to their own homes. The TCs continue to want partition and this is why there are still refugees in Cyprus.

The Turks ethnically cleansed 100s of thousands of people with the aim to forcefully Turkify the north part of Cyprus.

[Lordo]

can you please explain to us what was the purpose of the 10,000 strong greek army in cyprus.

What did tassos papdobullos mean when he said if turkish ships are seen 12 miles out at sea, by the time they land there will be no turkish cypriots left to save.

you really have to stop all this propaganda and blame everything on turkey. in 1973 there was an agreement between clerides and dengtash.
1. all 13 points of the constitution asked for by makarios
2. power of the turkish cypriots reduced to 20%
3. unified local authorities.

both turkey and dengtash as well as clerides agreed with the agreement. the only person that did not agree with it was makarios.

why.