THE CYPRUS CHRONICLES 1958 – 1974
By Altan Houssein

| Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten | Part Eleven | Part Twelve | Part Thirteen |

Part Four 1958 – 1974

Part Four continues with the Cyprus Chronicles designed to inform our readers of the so called “Cyprus Problem” which actually started with the Greek Cypriots desire for “ENOΣIΣ” (ENOSIS – the unification of Cyprus, as a Greek island, with Greece) going back to 1958. In 1960, following pressure from the Greek Cypriots, the island was granted independence by the British Colonial rulers. By 1963, armed Greek Cypriot insurgents ousted their Turkish Cypriot partners from the Government thus giving rise to the “Cyprus Problem” which continued until their final attempt to rid the island of Turkish Cypriots with heightened use of brute force in 1974.

The Cyprus Chronicles is the story of chronological events based on documented facts mostly of which can be verified by independent sources such as the UN archives as well as the British and international media such as the Evening Standard, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Scotsman, Daily Mirror, Daily Herald, The Times, Toronto Daily Star, New York Herald Tribune, Irish Times, Observer, Cyprus Mail and many more.

Despite Resolution 186 passed by the UN Security Council on the 4th of March 1964 calling for a ceasefire on the island and the fact that the Turkish navy was imminently to set sail to Cyprus, the Greek Cypriots defiantly continued with their mandate to rid the island of Turkish Cypriots. The solution to the non-intervention by the Turks came with the formation of the UN Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP).

On the 16th of March 1964 the first UN Peacekeeping Forces arrived from Canada followed by the Finnish, Swedish, Irish, British and Danish contingency. By the 27th of March, the force officially became operational. This effectively kept the Turks from an immediate intervention. Archbishop Makarios was pleased at the outcome for he could now take the struggle into the next phase. This enabled him to seek military support from Greece and in a secret meeting in Greece between George Papandreou and himself in April 1964, Makarios secured military aid from Greece in the form of some 20,000 armed Greek officers and men which steadily and secretly arrived on the island in order to prevent the Turks from landing on the island. By mid-summer the landing of Greek troops was complete.

In the meantime Makarios had approached the Egyptian Government and secured the purchase of weapons. These would arrive “before dawn each day” as reported by Newsweek’s Cyprus correspondent, through Limassol “as the great iron doors of the port of Limassol are slammed shut. Turkish Cypriot dockers are sent home. United Nations guards are barred. A few hours later, the doors swing open and covered lorries, weaving on heavily overloaded springs, roar out of the port and head northwards towards the Troodos mountains.” This was a very frightening period for us as the media was dominated by these stories yet it was allowed to continue unabated by the UN or any other international body who knew all well  that this build-up of arms was taking place on a daily basis. From Greece arrived 25 pounder artillery, 110mm field pieces and anti-aircraft weapons. The weapons were distributed from the old mental hospital of Lefkoşa.

Under the heading of “Russian Arms in Cyprus” The People newspaper published on the 31st of May 1964 that “Russia is supplying heavy armaments – including field guns and armoured cars – to Cyprus, at the request of the Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios. They are being smuggled in at night under the noses of the UN peacekeeping force, in Egyptian ships. And they come from dumps built up by the Soviet Union at Britain’s old base in the Suez Canal Zone. Mr. Kruschev approved the shipments during his recent visit to Egypt for the opening of the Aswan High Dam. The equipment is now hidden in caves and remote farmhouses throughout the island. It is to be brought out in a final dramatic offensive designed to sweep away all Turkish strong-points and take control of the whole island in defiance of the United Nations.”

The West feared another Cuba. Makarios had purchased from the USSR four destroyers at £60,000.00 each. The Times newspaper in an editorial under the heading of “Political Recklessness” published on the 15th of April 1964 stated that “It would be taken to mean that the whole Greek community from Archbishop Makarios downwards, is back in the old track of trying to achieve ENOSIS by force. It would, rightly or wrongly, be assumed that Greek cooperation with the United Nations was at an end and that the Turkish community was to be crushed or, better still, expelled.”

The arms build-up was further compounded by the enactment of the National Guard Law in June 1964. This was to provide compulsory military service for Greek Cypriots, which was against Article 129 of the Cyprus Constitution but was also generally in violation of Part VIII of the Constitution.

Added to this, Greece sent Colonel George Grivas, a ruthless Greek Cypriot from the Greek army and former EOKA founder, secretly returned to Cyprus together with a number of Greek men in order to assist in the Greek Cypriot armed forces. We knew that this meant a further deterioration of events on the island. Grivas landed at his birth place Trikomo near Famagusta. He then embarked on an island-wide tour inflaming the cause for Enosis. As well as recruiting young eager nationalists he took over command of Makarios’s National Guard as well as the Greek Cypriot police force.

It is significant to note at this juncture that the Americans worried about possible Russian influence and the spread of communism on the island had come up with an alternative plan called the Acheson Plan. Under this plan it was proposed that Cyprus be united with Greece conditional on Turkey receiving a part of Western Thrace and the island of Castellorizon, a Greek island lying between Turkey and Cyprus. The plan made allowances for compensation to Turkish Cypriots who wished to emigrate. Furthermore, for those remaining there would be so called “safe-enclaves” and that Turkey would receive a military base on Cyprus. This plan was effectively to be the creation of a double-enosis situation and that Cyprus would be controlled by NATO Allies.

On the 4th of July 1964, Grivas and the Greek National Guard General Karayiannis were both invited to Athens for a briefing of the American plan. They were both led to believe that Enosis might be declared in August. Furthermore they were both warned by the Greek Government that they should not embark on any activity in Cyprus that might jeopardize the forthcoming negotiations.

No sooner than arriving in Cyprus, Grivas went on the rampage attacking Erenköy (Kokkina) west of Yeşilırmak (Limnitis) with the approval of Makarios. The reason sighted for this attack being that it was the only Turkish held coastal settlement to which arms were brought in from Turkey. As usual the UN was left useless having been overrun by the Greek forces. The defendants at Erenköy against the might of the professional Greek army were a mere handful of 500 lightly armed Turkish Cypriot University students who were studying in Turkey – my father’s brother who passed away recently, Ertan Erkal was one such volunteer amongst well known great veterans like “Jimmy Keço” who until recently ran the famous Grapevine in Girne. All these young students were banned by the Greek Cypriot administration from returning to the island in the first place.

The events surrounding the attack on Erenköy were relayed to the Turkish Government who sent in four F-100 fighter jets in support of the students. They flew over the area as it was reported that Greek patrol boats were shelling Erenköy from the sea despite protestations from the UN. Rockets were fired into the sea but the attacks continued. There was a news blackout by both the Greeks and the UN. Pleads for a cease-fire by the Turkish Government and the UN were futile – Makarios continued regardless. Continued attacks on the students at Erenköy were met by further Turkish flights this time firing on Greek targets killing a few Greeks as they fled.

Makarios was said to be enraged by the Turkish attacks and announced on state radio that unprovoked indiscriminate attacks by the Turkish air force had left “thousands” of innocent Greeks dead. The Prime Minister of Greece warned Makarios to cease all acts of force against the Turkish Cypriots in the north. Makarios’s response was that all Greek Cypriots would “fight to the death” and on the 9th of August the Greek Cypriots renewed their onslaught against the Turkish Cypriots. Turkish jets returned and destroyed most armoured cars and gun sites in the vicinity of Polis, Limni, Kato Pyrgos, Alevga, Pomos, Pekhi Ammos and Erenköy.

Erenköy remains a Turkish Cypriot enclave to date thanks to those who defended her against all odds.

The same afternoon Makarios warned through an American journalist that unless the Turkish attacks were called off that he would order the destruction of every Turkish village on the island. This alarmed the UN since such action would inevitably provoke Turkey into landing in force. Under such circumstances the UN had no option but to prepare for the full withdrawal of its forces. Turkish jets continued unabated to pound Greek military sites and with the imminent withdrawal threats by the UN, Makarios backed down and a cease-fire was agreed by both sides.

   
THE CYPRUS CHRONICLES – Part Five 1958 – 1974

Part Five continues with the Cyprus Chronicles designed to inform our readers of the “Cyprus Problem” which actually started with the Greek Cypriots desire for “ENOΣIΣ” (ENOSIS – the unification of Cyprus, as a Greek island, with Greece) going back to 1958. In 1960, following pressure from the Greek Cypriots, the island was granted independence by the British Colonial rulers. By 1963, armed Greek Cypriot insurgents ousted their Turkish Cypriot partners from the Government thus giving rise to the “Cyprus Problem” which continued until their final attempt to rid the island of all Turkish Cypriots with heightened use of brute force in 1974 following a coup d’ètat by the Greeks against Archbishop Makarios.

The Cyprus Chronicles is the story, in chronological order, of events based on documented facts all of which can be verified by independent sources such as the UN archives as well as the British and international media such as the Evening Standard, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Scotsman, Daily Mirror, Daily Herald, The Times, Toronto Daily Star, New York Herald Tribune, Irish Times, Observer, Cyprus Mail and many more.

Following the Erenköy incident and the declaration of ceasefire by both sides on the 9th of August 1964, Makarios seemingly the injured party rather than the aggressor, sent the following telegram to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in London:

“..the Turkish Government has carried out unprovoked and indiscriminate attacks by military aircraft against villages and towns on the north coast of Cyprus killing and wounding many women and children…I appeal to your Majesty that you may exert all your influence to put an end to these grave acts of aggression of the Turkish Government.”

Almost simultaneously and as he had done earlier in the year, Makarios turned to the USSR and United Arab Republic for military help. This alarmed the British but their fears turned out to be unfounded since the USSR Government knew better than to step into a potential minefield thus confronting the Turks and the West. For his part, Makarios had to accept and go along with the Security Council’s ceasefire as it became apparent that Moscow was not going to send them the military aid that he had asked for. Frustrated, Makarios turned to an alternative tactic – Erenköy was cut off from all food supplies. On the west of the island Paphos was subjected to the same measures. Inevitably this action was to endanger the delicate cease-fire that had held for at least four days.

The Turkish Government apparently became frustrated at the lack of UN assistance in lifting the blockades. As a counter-measure, the Turks threatened to deport all Greek citizens from Turkey as reported by The Guardian in its publication dated 14th August 1964: “A Turkish Government spokesman today predicted that all Greek citizens living in Turkey and enjoying special privileges would be deported if the Greek Government did not change its “limitless” support for President Makarios of Cyprus.

Turkish public opinion could not tolerate these foreigners living in a privileged position in Turkey “when thousands of Turks are being blockaded and left without water in Cyprus,” the spokesman told a press conference.”

Under diplomatic pressure from Britain whilst talks were taking place in Geneva, Makarios agreed to lift the blockade. This was to be island wide and as of the 18th of August fuel and food was allowed to reach all Turkish Cypriots. However, Makarios had another card up his sleeve – no stockpiling of food and fuel would be allowed thus the Turkish Cypriots were put on rations for fear that if fighting flared up then it would take the Greeks much longer to defeat the Turkish Cypriots. At the time I was nine years old in Larnaka and a “municipality” bakery was set up almost next door to our house where I would go everyday to pick up our allowance of bread albeit less than half the size of a normal village loaf that we buy today. UN trucks used to deliver limited number of sacks of flour to this bakery.

The “lifting” of the blockade wasn’t for the love of the Turkish Cypriots but mostly because the Greek Cypriots were losing global sympathy for their isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. Much the same as is happening today.

On the 15th of August, the USSR unexpectedly responded to Makarios’s earlier request for military aid declaring that “if foreign armed invasion occurs on the territory of the Republic, the Soviet Union will render aid to the Republic of Cyprus in defence of its freedom and independence from foreign intervention, and is ready now to begin talks on this matter.” Such a move would have been in violence of Paragraph 4 of the Security Council Resolution that was adopted on the 9th of August specifically prohibiting Soviet military aid to Cyprus.

Khrushchev, however, delivered a public speech in defiance of the Security Council the following day, declaring that the Turkish air attacks on Cyprus were part of an ‘imperialist plot’, led by the US and the UK. Furthermore, the Greek Cypriot relationship with the USSR continued to grow whilst faltering against the West. During the remaining part of 1964 whilst the US and the West were searching for the best possible solution to the Cyprus problem, the Greek Cypriots were sending high-level delegations to Moscow and the United Arab Republic. Trade between the USSR and Cyprus increased considerably including the supply of complicated military machinery. In addition to this, the Greek Cypriots would continue to do similar business with the United Arab Emirates via Egypt and all parties including the Afro-Asian nations were expected to support Greek Cypriot policies on the island.

On the part of the West, the rest of the year would be devoted to somehow finding a workable solution to the Cyprus problem but by now they had almost unanimously reached the conclusion that perhaps Enosis was the best solution provided that it could be worked out between the two warring factions – Turkish and Greek Cypriots. The British Ministry of Defence wrote the following letter to the Foreign Office on the 11th of December 1964:

“In the meantime, we cannot afford to alienate the Turks by creating the impression that we are preparing to do a deal with the Makarios administration. Turkey is indispensable for our air flights. It would be better for us to have Turkish co-operation and no Akrotiri than vice versa. We must not let them down badly over the Cyprus issue. The most obvious way of letting them down at this stage would be to weaken in the face of Kyprianou’s threat and admit that the existing Cyprus Treaties were capable of being abrogated at the behest of a majority in the United Nations, without Turkish agreement. The sanctity of treaties is the only respectable weapon left in the Turkish armoury, and they would not easily forgive us for casting it away.

We recognize that, if we make no moves towards the Greek Cypriots, and if, as a result, they see us as the fly in their independence ointment, there must be a risk that they will turn on us after the United Nations debate, and deliberately make life as difficult as possible for us in the bases and the Republic. At worst, this might entail the evacuation of the British families and the maintenance of the Bases in a condition of siege. We would rather take that risk than buy temporary Greek Cypriot favours at the cost of alienating Turkey at the present time”. By the 16th of December 1964, the Foreign Office informed the Ministry of Defence that the Cyprus treaties would continue to exist.

On the same day across the pond, the newly elected British Foreign Secretary met his Turkish counterpart in the NATO building where he informed him that the British Government had decided to continue their support to UNFICYP for a further four months. UNFICYP is still here 41 years later! The Turkish Foreign Secretary on his half reiterated the Turkish position, that being partition or double-Enosis or a federal solution specifically designed to separate the two ethnically different people by physically rearranging the population. He went on to assure the British Foreign Secretary that whatever the end result the British Bases would be unaffected.

Thus came the end of one year since the beginning of the hostilities and much pain suffered unnecessarily by the Turkish Cypriots but with no solution in sight. However, there was always hope in the Turkish Cypriots hearts that all would somehow turn out to be okay in the new year and that everyone could go back to their jobs and get on with their lives that had been so cruelly disrupted on the eve of Christmas a year earlier. Like my father, many new graduates from universities in London had return to serve their country with their newly acquired skills but alas their dreams and expectations would only turn into the most miserable nightmare that they could ever have imagined.

At least, for the time being, the bloodshed had stopped. 

THE CYPRUS CHRONICLES – Part Six 1958 – 1974

Part Six continues with the Cyprus Chronicles designed to inform our readers of the “Cyprus Problem” which actually started with the Greek Cypriots desire for “ENOΣIΣ” (ENOSIS – the unification of Cyprus, as a Greek island, with Greece) going back to 1958. In 1960, following pressure from the Greek Cypriots, the island was granted independence by the British Colonial rulers. By 1963, armed Greek Cypriot insurgents ousted their Turkish Cypriot partners from the Government thus giving rise to the “Cyprus Problem” which continued until their final attempt to rid the island of all Turkish Cypriots with heightened use of brute force in 1974 following a coup d’ètat by the Greeks against Archbishop Makarios.

The Cyprus Chronicles is the story, in chronological order, of events based on documented facts all of which can be verified by independent sources such as the UN archives as well as the British and international media including the Evening Standard, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Scotsman, Daily Mirror, Daily Herald, The Times, Toronto Daily Star, New York Herald Tribune, Irish Times, Observer, Cyprus Mail and many more.

During my on going search for significant dates and events for the Cyprus Chronicles I came across what probably amounts to one of the most significant letters ever addressed to the President of United Nations Security Council, by our former President Rauf R. Denktaş on the 24th of February 1964. He was then the President of the Turkish Communal Chamber of Cyprus. Never has a more sincerely desperate letter highlighting the plight of a community facing genocide ever been lodged with the UN Security Council for open declaration to the members of the Security Council:-

“Your Excellency,

Greek Cypriot insistence on recognition of the integrity and sovereignty of Cyprus by the Security Council is a trick for finding the untenable excuse to argue that the Treaty of Guarantee is non-effective with the intention of getting a free license to continue the massacre of the Turks under the umbrella of the United Nations.

The Treaty of Guarantee fully and effectively guarantees and secures the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Cyprus and the basic constitutional rights of its inhabitants. Why do the Greeks want to get rid of this Treaty? The answer is clear: They want to do away with this Treaty because it prevents them from doing to us what they have been doing since 21 December 1963, i.e. to take away our constitutional rights by brute force and violence; it prevents them from treating us as underdogs and obliges them to respect the rule of law, human dignity and equal treatment of their fellow men in equity and justice. This the Greeks have refused to do for the last three years; when they realized that they could not get their way by intrigue and subversive activities, they did not fail to use the mass killing of Turks as a means of getting their way, viz. political subjugation of the Turks by usurping their constitutional rights. With this object in view Turks have been attacked and killed since 21 December 1963, under the war cry of enosis. We have suffered in matter of two months more than 800 Turkish dead or wounded (mostly women, children and old men) and Turkish property worth more than 6 million pounds sterling has been ruthlessly destroyed. One fourth of the Turkish population are on the move as refugees or out of work due to the conditions created by the Greeks. An illegal and unconstitutional Greek Cypriot army is being formed and arms of all types are being imported into Cyprus in order to arm this army of 20,000 to 30,000 Greeks. The pretext of doing so is the threat of Turkish invasion (!) but the real purpose is to annihilate the Turkish community after getting a free license so to do from the Security Council.

Today in Cyprus all human rights have been trampled upon by the Greek authorities: genocide of Turks is in full swing; the principle of justice, of rule of law, humanity, equality have all been denied to the Turks, and the Constitution as well as the International Treaty which brought about Cyprus have been willfully and wickedly ignored. It is the people who have done or condoned all these acts and have not hesitated to resort to genocide who are before the Security Council today claiming to be victims of a situation, when they themselves have deliberately brought about this situation with a view to annihilating the Turks of Cyprus while the world is invited to look on and do nothing because, as they put it: ‘this is an internal affair of Cyprus and anyone who tries to intervene and stop the massacre albeit under a Treaty recognized by the United Nations is guilty of aggression.’ I am firmly convinced that neither you nor the Security Council will endorse such conduct by the Greek Cypriots or will give them the free license to massacre the Turks by acceding to their request. Any wording of your resolution which can in any way and by any stretch of the imagination be interpreted as a side-stepping or abrogation of the Treaty of Guarantee will be so used by the Greek Cypriots and they will thus be encouraged to attack the Turkish Community, which is outnumbered four to one, under the authority of the Security Council.

The Greek Cypriot delegation pretends to agree to the necessity of an international peace-keeping force. The Treaty of Guarantee provides for such a force. Why do they object to the increase in number of Greek and Turkish contingencies in Cyprus who could effectively secure peace in the island jointly with the British? Why prolong the debate while innocent Turkish lives are being lost in Cyprus?”

The estimate of damage done to Turkish Cypriot property as mentioned in the foregoing letter was for a period of just two months between December 1963 and February 1964. The damage to Turkish Cypriot property through direct and malicious attacks, forceful eviction and in revenue lost through economic embargoes up to 1974 alone runs into several billion pounds sterling. How is anyone ever going to compensate the losses of the Turkish Cypriots – if ever?

Denktaş clearly advised the Security Council in the penultimate paragraph of his letter to the dangers of the wording of any resolution that would be open to misinterpretation. Resolution 186 which was declared by the Security Council on the 4th of March 1964 did exactly what was feared by using the word ‘the government’ of Cyprus which was by then made up of Makarios and his Greek Cypriot henchmen. They were effectively seen by the whole world as the legitimate Government of Cyprus. Neither Turkey nor the Turkish Cypriots have ever forgiven themselves for accepting such a naïve mistake. For this very same reason Turkey has to be extra vigilant in the wording of the Ankara Protocol because another mistake like this will endorse the Republic of Cyprus as the legitimate government over the whole of the island once again which will forever seal the fate of the Turkish Republic of Cyprus. Turkey will thus be forced to suspend any trade deals with the TRNC and will have to open up all its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels who are desperate for a share in the transportation of Caspian oil to the west from the port of Iskenderun (south-east Turkey).

Such actions by the Security Council begs the question of the credibility of the whole UN organization. In my opinion the UN as a useful organization has outlived its usefulness and needs to be replaced by some sort of a rapid reaction force that is able to mobilize swiftly and use force against aggressors such as we have seen in Cyprus and in other troubled regions. In the earlier parts of the Cyprus Chronicles I was able to demonstrate the incompetence of the UN with many recent examples. The same applies to the European Union.

Early 1965 continued with the West still believing that a modified form of enosis was probably the best solution for Cyprus. However, whichever way or whatever formula was submitted to the Greek Cypriots for the modified form of enosis was always rejected as unacceptable or unworkable.

In the meantime, Turkey felt that both its NATO allies and the West on the whole, were not giving it the support it expected as one of the guarantor powers under the 1960 Treaties other than the US always standing in the way of a Turkish landing in order to protect the Turkish Cypriots. Whilst negotiations were seemingly being carried out at every level, the Greek Cypriots were still imposing rations and embargoes on the Turkish Cypriots including the restriction of freedom of movement between enclaves.

Turkey seemingly unhappy with the West’s intransigence decided to forge a new friendship with its neighbours notably with the USSR. The steadily improving relationship between Turkey and the USSR gave rise to concern within NATO, the US and Britain who could not afford to alienate Turkey for she was always vital in the interests of the West where security was concerned. The USSR, however, continued shipments of arms to the Greek Cypriot administration such as surface to air missiles. This was still being perpetrated under the nose of the UN Forces in Cyprus and the rest of the world.

To complicate matters further, Makarios decided that he would alter the electoral bills even though the Security Council and Britain protested to such an alteration which would categorically reject any Turkish Cypriot from participating in elections. Even though Makarios was warned that this would contravene Resolution 186, he went on to pass the bill on the 23rd of July 1965.     
To be continued.

THE CYPRUS CHRONICLES – Part Seven 1958 – 1974

Part Seven continues with the Cyprus Chronicles designed to inform our readers of the “Cyprus Problem” which actually started with the Greek Cypriots desire for “ENOΣIΣ” (ENOSIS – the unification of Cyprus, as a Greek island, with Greece) going back to 1958. In 1960, following pressure from the Greek Cypriots, the island was granted independence by the British Colonial rulers. By 1963, armed Greek Cypriot insurgents ousted their Turkish Cypriot partners from the Government thus giving rise to the “Cyprus Problem” which continued until their final attempt to rid the island of all Turkish Cypriots with heightened use of brute force in 1974 following a coup d’ètat by the Greeks against Archbishop Makarios.

The Cyprus Chronicles is the story, in chronological order, of events based on documented facts all of which can be verified by independent sources such as the UN archives as well as the British and international media including the Evening Standard, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Scotsman, Daily Mirror, Daily Herald, The Times, Toronto Daily Star, New York Herald Tribune, Irish Times, Observer, Cyprus Mail and many more.

The Greek Government also vehemently rejected any support for the new electoral bill that had been passed by Makarios but Makarios was able to keep this quiet in Cyprus since the he had nothing to fear from them due to the political crisis in Greece. In his usual belligerent tone he warned US, Britain and Turkey not to interfere within Cyprus’ internal affairs. Nobody would be more provoked by such an action than Turkey for she was always forced to face unconstitutional changes in Cyprus by Makarios which was slowly but surely eroding away any rights that the Turkish Cypriots had. The passing of the new electoral bill was one such powerful example.

For all the protestations and calls for a Security Council meeting by Turkey, she was always met with fickle excuses as to why such a meeting should not be held – with the British it was always concerns over the British Sovereign Bases in Cyprus. However, the situation was obviously serious enough that the Security Council had to convene a meeting on the 5th of August 1965, five days after which a second resolution, Resolution Number 207 (10th August 1965), in support of Resolution 186, was passed reiterating that the Cyprus Treaties were still valid in their original form and at the same time serving to acknowledge that the Greek Cypriots were in breach of Resolution 186. This timely action served to prevent Turkey from intervening militarily in Cyprus. Surprisingly, the Russian representative at the Security Council fell in line with the rest of the United Nations representatives in supporting Resolution 207 without vetoing against nor abstaining much to the Greek Cypriots annoyance.

Furthermore, The Greek Cypriots were to be infuriated once again shortly after the Security Council’s passing of Resolution 207, when in a joint declaration on the 19th of August 1965, by the Russians and Turkey, that Russia supported Turkey’s policy on Cyprus.

Later in the same month, as if a deliberately calculated provocative action to test the resolve of the United Nations, Makarios declared that there would be a new constitution and a ‘Charter of Minority Rights’ which they proposed to submit to the United Nations. As on previous occasions of flagrant Greek Cypriot provocation, this led to Turkey amassing its military and naval ships once again at the Turkish port of Iskenderun in the south eastern flank of the Mediterranean. As a warning to the Greek Cypriots, Turkish jets flew over Cyprus sending a resounding message that the Turks meant business if the Greek Cypriot administration continued with eroding the Turkish Cypriot’s constitutional rights in Cyprus. Trouble flared up in the Famagusta area resulting in the Security Council extending UNFICYP’s mandate in Cyprus for a further three months taking it into the first quarter of 1966.

1966 began with Turkey calling for the restoration of the constitutional order. Turkey went on to reiterate that enosis was an unacceptable solution either in full or in part with territorial concessions. She further explained to Britain that the Cyprus question was not about territorial concessions nor that the Cyprus issue could ever be settled based on such an assumption. Furthermore, Turkey explained that if any attempt were made to declare unilateral enosis, that she would resist it with all her strength, whatever the consequences. She would equally resist any further aggression against the Turks in Cyprus, and any attempt to establish fait accompli to their detriment. Turkey would never accept the rights granted unilaterally by Makarios to the Turkish Cypriots as a ‘minority’. A settlement could only be achieved on the basis of the recognition that there were two communities in Cyprus, and that some sort of federal solution must be established to safeguard the rights of the Turkish community. The call for the recognition that there were two separate communities on the island was not only recognized by Turkey but in principle also by Britain. The stance held by Turkey then still stands firm today.

On a visit by Makarios to Greece on the 28th of January 1966, for talks with the Greek Government over the Cyprus issue, he was quoted as saying that the Cyprus Government was considering “for further restoration of tranquility and peaceful conditions” on the island, and of the “willingness of the Cypriot Government to confer with the representatives of the Turkish minorities over its rights”. Two days after this “satisfactory” announcement by Makarios on the to the Greek Government, he made a speech to the Greek public in Athens, on the 2nd of February 1966 - the anniversary of the Enosis Plebiscite of 1950 - announcing: “The Cyprus leadership is doing its utmost in order to shorten the way to Enosis. We shall overcome the difficulties and impediments with patience, perseverance, courage and determination, and we shall reach the desired goal. In 1950 as the head of the Office of Ethnarch, the honour of organizing the Enosis Plebiscite was bestowed upon me. Today as the responsible leader of the Cyprus people I consider that plebiscite as my own will. With the help of God, I believe, I shall fulfill this will completely.” Once again, a most provocative statement causing serious concerns in the Turkish Government as this amounted to a universal declaration of annexation of the island of Cyprus by Greece.

Inevitably, this caused concerns within the UN, US and the British who had thought that Athens had changed its stance on the Cyprus issue in favour of a negotiated settlement with Ankara. It appeared that a solution to the Cyprus problem was no nearer. One of the reasons sighted for this outcome was that unlike the deposed previous government of Greece under Papandreou who were serious in wishing to resolve the Cyprus issue through dialogue with Turkey, the current government of Greece was indifferent to the extent that in its weakness it could neither impose their views on Makarios nor deal with the resistance of their own people to unpopular decisions.

In the meantime, Makarios continued in strengthening his resolve by launching a number of public interviews and speeches. In a statement to London’s ITN television network on the 15th of June 1966 he said that “The demand for Enosis is based on the democratic principle of self-determination……Enosis is the right of the people.” A month later on the 17th of July 1966 Greek Cypriot administration spokesman, Spyros Kyprianou delivered the following statement through the Greek Cypriot PIO (Public Information Office) press release:-

“The national leadership, which voices the wishes of all of the people, is not prepared to accept any compromise solution adulterating the people’s national restoration. The Cyprus people want union with Greece. The Greek Cypriot people will continue to struggle having as their standard the Greek flag, Greek virtues and Greek ideals.” How much of this really stands today is debatable but following EU accession of the Greek Cypriot administration, the Greek flag remains on the island of Cyprus perhaps endorsing the EU’s acceptance of a back door victory for enosis.

The situation in Cyprus began to deteriorate again by the middle of September 1966 as a result of the murder of three Turkish Cypriots. Turkish Cypriot villages were again forced into seclusion. Matters worsened further with the discovery of a shipment of Czech arms to the Makarios administration, in which Glafcos Clerides (later elected president of the Greek Cypriot administration) had been implicated.   

To be continued.