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 |
INTRODUCTION
Since my return to Northern Cyprus recently from an overseas assignment, the press has been dominated by the property snowball which has turned into an avalanche – yet another twist in Greek Cypriot campaigning to halt the economic development of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
My concern is that the TRNC government appears to be getting sucked into the rhetoric of the property propaganda instead of embarking on a counter-propaganda measure, which it should have done many years ago, in bringing the attention of the world to the years of persecution of the Turkish Cypriots by the Greek Cypriots, robbing them of their properties and in many cases of whole villages - that led to the justified intervention of Turkey in 1974, as one of the three guarantors (the other two being Great Britain and Greece) of the independence and of the constitution of The Republic of Cyprus which was established in 1960. Since then, the island has been partitioned segregating the two ethnically different people – much the same as NATO and its allies did in the former Republic of Yugoslavia in separating the Moslem Bosnians from the Christian Serbs for exactly the same atrocities committed against human beings - be it on a different scale.
Israel has recently built the largest museum depicting the atrocities by the Nazis, to 6 million Jews during the Second World War. Russia has just celebrated its 60th anniversary of its defeat of the Germans in the same war. In both cases world leaders were invited to take part in the ceremonies. Some fifty nation’s leaders attended Moscow for the Red Square celebrations on the 9th of May 2005 including, for the first time, the President of the United States.
For years and years, the Greek Cypriot administration posted ugly pictures at the Ledra Palace border for crimes apparently perpetrated by the Turks in 1974. The purpose of the Cyprus Chronicles is to demonstrate that the “Cyprus problem” did not start in 1974 but in 1958. The next few days will follow, in chronological order, the events that led to the partitioning of the island in 1974.
In 1974, the Greek National Security forces stationed in Cyprus staged a coup detat against the president, Archbishop Makarios, effectively putting into action the Akritas Plan (annihilation of the Turkish Cypriots) before turning onto the Turkish Cypriots. In the process, three Turkish Cypriots villages were turned into mass graves. This crime was committed in the presence of the United Nations based on the island and who, at a later date, exhumed the bodies of the Turkish Cypriot victims thus committing their names to the UN archives.
Today, unlike the Israelis and the Russians, there is no commemoration or remembrance of the suffering of those villagers whilst the Greek Cypriots are declaring more national holidays and erecting statues in honour of their fallen “freedom” fighters otherwise known as EOKA terrorists who indiscriminately murdered British servicemen, their wives and children in the fifties. Unfortunately, these facts are not known by the British tourists that have helped shape the economy of the south through tourism and trade whilst unjust embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriots have hampered their progress and any international recognition despite archived UN knowledge of the Greek Cypriot atrocities.
In 1878, in agreement with the Ottoman Government, Britain leased the island effectively ending 308 years of Ottoman reign. In 1914, when Turkey sided with Germany, Britain annexed Cyprus and assumed sovereignty until by the end of the fifties she realized that holding onto Cyprus on her own was proving to be impossible.
In 1955 the Greek Cypriots formed EOKA which embarked on a campaign of terror and subversion obsessed by the Cyprus Church’s desire for ENOSIS (Union of Cyprus with Greece). Some of the founder members headed by Colonel Grivas were Antonis Yeoryiades, Polikarpos Yorgacis, Paskalidis, Clerides and Tasos Papadopulos (the current president of the Greek Cypriot Administration). EOKA’s resort to violence in order to rid the island of its colonial rulers, the British, resulted in the murders of innocent non-combatants and introduced into the political life of Cyprus a habit of violence which manifested until the division of the island in 1974.
In 1958 EOKA had publicly threatened to “hit indiscriminately at every English person” and was soon followed by attacks on English women. This culminated in the shooting of the wives of two British sergeants when they were shopping in Varosha, the Greek quarter of Gazi Mağusa (Famagusta); one died, the other was seriously wounded.
The foregoing developments culminated in seeking a solution through the UN for the granting of independence for the two communities. Finally, on the 11th of February 1959 the London and Zurich agreements were signed thus leading to the formation of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960.
However, the Greek Cypriot aspirations for ENOSIS lived on and shortly after the declaration of the Republic of Cyprus, the Greek Cypriots wanted 13 amendments to the Constitution which would have effectively reduced the Turkish Cypriots to second class citizens. On 21st December 1963, the Greek Cypriots embarked on an island wide terror campaign against the Turkish Cypriots.
THE CYPRUS CHRONICLES – Part Two
1958 – 1974
My earliest and most vivid memory following the indiscriminate bombing and shooting by Greek Cypriots against the Turkish Cypriots, following the island wide campaign on the 21st of December 1963, was that of the brutal slaying of Dr. Nihat İlhan’s family.
Dr. İlhan, studied medicine in America and returned to Turkey in mid 1963. He was then seconded to Cyprus as a military doctor. Some two-and-a-half months after his secondment, he brought his wife Mürüvet Hanım and his three sons, Murat, Kutsi and Hakan to Lefkoşa where he put them into a single storey house next door to another Turkish Cypriot family for safety.
Dr İlhan had left the house on the 18th of December but following the start of the troubles, he stayed away treating wounded people in different locations. That was the last time that he saw his family. On the evening of 24th December 1963, Mürüvet Hanım dresses the children in their pyjamas, as usual, in readiness for bed.
Later that evening Mürüvet Hanım hears murmurings in Greek outside the house and promptly puts the children into the bath tub and the old land lady who happened to be with them together with her sister and five month old baby was pushed into the toilet room adjacent to the bathroom out of fear. She then stepped into the bath tub and huddled her children. Within minutes, the front door was smashed down and the EOKA terrorists stepped in firing automatic and semi-automatic sub-machine guns indiscriminately at the occupants of the house killing all. It took two days for the bodies to be reached due to local gun battles and Dr. İlhan wasn’t informed until the 28th of December. Today, the doctor is 80 years old and still cherishes the memories of his young family that was so brutally taken away from him. He has never been back to Cyprus to date for the pain is too deep.
Earlier in the year, President Makarios had embarked on a series of speeches effectively declaring that he was going to revise the Constitution even if it meant that he would realize this acting unilaterally. The situation on the island was already explosive and one alarmed Greek Foreign Minister Panayiotis Pipinellis, warned President Makarios that if he wanted to have the Constitution revised then he should do so by going through the proper channels of diplomatic operations. Not only did President Makarios ignore the sound advice of the Greek Foreign Minister but by mid August 1963 he also announced the abolition of the Treaty of Guarantee. All this with total disregard to what the Turkish Cypriots might have to say. Further, he argued and publicly stated that the Greek Cypriots would consider any constitutional change an internal matter and that they would not recognize the right of intervention on the part of the guaranteeing powers. President Makarios stated that “Turkish intervention and the use of violence would constitute aggression against Cyprus, and the United Nations will be appealed to”.
Turkey, as one of the Power’s of Guarantee, had warned that it would not agree to any amendment, or the removal of any part, of the Agreements. Nevertheless, President Makarios defiantly continued in the same vein and in a sermon in Paralimni on the 3rd of November 1963 he asked “What is our desire?” and promptly replied that “we have proclaimed it many times: our union with Motherland Greece. What will our reply be if such a solution is made difficult, and if some think compromises are required, or that something be given in return? NO is the reply, and the struggle will continue until complete fulfillment”.
Following the above statement, President Makarios, at the end of November 1963, announced the thirteen amendments that he wished to implement to the Constitution. The amendments that he demanded are as follows;
1. The right of veto of the President and the Vice-President to be abandoned
2. The Vice-President to deputise for the President in case of his temporary absence or incapacity to perform his duties
3. The Greek President of the House of Representatives and the Turkish Vice-President to be elected by the House as a whole and not by the Greek or Turkish members respectively
4. The Vice-President of the House of Representatives to deputise for the President of the House in case of his temporary absence or incapacity to perform his duties
5. The constitutional provisions regarding separate majorities for enactment of certain laws by the House of Representatives to be abolished
6. Unified municipalities to be established
7. The administration of justice to be unified
8. The division of the Security Forces into Police and Gendarmerie to be abolished
9. The numerical strength of the Security Forces and of the Defence Forces to be determined by a Law
10. The proportion of the participation of Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the composition of the Public Service and the Forces of the Republic to be modified in proportion to the ratio of the population of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots
11. The number of the members of the Public Service Commission to be reduced from 10 to 5
12. All decisions of the Public Service Commission to be taken by simple majority
13. The Communal Chambers to be abolished and a new system to be devised. (Should the Turkish Community, however, desire to retain its Chamber, such a course to be open to it).
The resultant effect of the foregoing removed from the Turkish Cypriots the following:
• The power of veto vested in the Turkish Cypriot Vice-President in regard to both legislation and decisions of the Council of Ministers on foreign affairs, defence and security;
• The power of the Turkish members of the legislature to block legislation on elections, municipalities and taxation;
• The separate Turkish municipalities
• The 70:30 ratio in the public services and the 60:40 ratio in the armed forces;
• The power of the Turkish members of the Public Service Commission to refer to the Supreme Constitutional Court disputed choices between a Greek or a Turk to fill a particular vacancy;
• The Supreme Constitutional Court (as a result of unifying the administration of justice);
• The Communal Chambers, while grudgingly allowing the Turks to keep theirs if they wanted to; (what effect this would have on the financing of communal services, particularly education, is not clear; it might mean that the Turks would have to continue paying for their communal services out of communal funds, while the whole cost of the Greek communal services would be transferred to the central Budget).
In brief, the amendments weakened the Constitution of all the provisions which were of fundamental importance to the Turkish Cypriots and which formed the foundation on which they relied to protect them from becoming second class citizens.
Unfortunately for the Turkish Cypriots, the British High Commissioner at the time of President Makarios’ announcement of the amendments, Sir Arthur Clark, evidently supported and encouraged the President’s actions as “an act of great statesmanship” – an allegation that has never been denied by Great Britain to date. Naturally this added weight to the Greek Cypriots for their presentation of the proposals as moderate and unobjectionable.
At this juncture, it is important to understand and make reference to the precise terms of the commitment with which Britain and the two other guarantor powers, namely, Turkey and Greece, had accepted in the Treaty of Guarantee:-
ARTICLE I: The Republic of Cyprus undertakes to ensure the maintenance of its independence, territorial integrity and security, as well as respect for its Constitution. It undertakes not to participate, in whole or in part, in any political or economic union with any State whatsoever. It accordingly declares prohibited any activity likely to promote, directly or indirectly, either union with any other State or partition of the island.
ARTICLE II: Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, taken note of the undertakings of the Republic of Cyprus set out in Article I of the present Treaty, recognise and guarantee the independence, territorial integrity and security of the Republic of Cyprus, and also the state of affairs established by the Basic Articles of its Constitution.
Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom likewise undertake to prohibit, so far as concerns them, any activity aimed at promoting, directly or indirectly, either union of Cyprus with any other State or partition of the island.
ARTICLE IV: In the event of a breach of the provisions of the present Treaty, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom undertake to consult together with respect to the representations or measures necessary to ensure observance of those provisions.
In so far as common or concerted action may not prove possible, each of the three guaranteeing Powers reserve the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the present Treaty.
THE CYPRUS CHRONICLES – Part Three 1958 – 1974
Following the start of hostilities in December 1963, many Turkish Cypriots were taken as hostages by the Greek Cypriots. I remember people going to work being abducted not to be seen for a long time if ever again. Torturing hostages became the norm. The removal of finger nails was standard practice in order to inflict maximum pain.
On 31st December 1963, the Commonwealth Relations Secretary, Duncan Sandys, secured the release of many Turkish hostages held by the Greek Cypriots. However, when the Turkish hostages returned to the Turkish quarter of Lefkoşa, the Turkish leadership discovered that there were 150 men missing, presumed murdered.
On the 1st of January 1964, Cyprus radio announced that President Makarios had abrogated the Cyprus Treaties. The president had sent telegrams to every head of state globally informing them of his actions and asking for their moral support.
In the first ten days of the beginning of the hostilities some 30,000 Turkish Cypriots were forcefully evicted from their homes. In all, 103 Turkish Cypriot villages were abandoned and the remaining properties set alight by the Greek Cypriots. Today there is no reference made to these losses by the TRNC government in the current property war.
Turkish Cypriots freedom of movement was curtailed and we remained in our enclaves. We were not allowed to purchase essential materials for our every day needs. Turkish Cypriot villagers were denied permission to buy building materials such as cement and were refused permission to sink boreholes needed for watering their orchards. I remember the endless abductions of the Turkish Cypriots who dared to venture out of their enclaves. All post arriving on the island was in the possession of the Greek Cypriots. At Christmas, my mother’s (She happens to be English) sister had sent us a Christmas hamper and when my father dared to go to the Greek Cypriot post office in Larnaka he was arrested and detained for many hours by the Greek Cypriot police for no apparent reason. But that was life, no Turkish Cypriot was ever able to move without some sort of harassment.
We were warned by Greek Cypriots using loud hailers that if we did not like this form of treatment or life that we should leave the island. Indeed many of our neighbours fearing for their lives and out of economic depravation resorted to emigrating to the UK, Australia, Turkey, Canada and America. Those who remained hoped that a quick solution was around the corner and merely wanted to return to their jobs and former way of life – to their villages. Unfortunately this was not to happen and the situation got worse with economic refugees living on handouts from Turkey. Even getting a loaf of bread became a nightmare for the Greek Cypriots refused the purchase of flour. The UN Secretary General verified this in a report to the Security Council that owing to the expulsion of all the Turkish Cypriots from salaried work in the state and the exodus of Turkish Cypriot refugees from rural and other areas to safe enclaves and due to the loss of income from agriculture and other sources of income “approximately half of the Turkish Cypriot population” were forced to depend on relief provided by the Turkish Cypriot Communal Chamber and the Turkish Red Crescent.
By the beginning of 1964 it was quite obvious that the Greek Cypriots had completely violated the Cyprus Treaties thus sending warnings to the Guarantor Powers to exercise their right of intervention under Articles I, II and IV as mentioned in Part Two of the Cyprus Chronicles. However, Britain chose not to intervene and argues to date that the right of intervention was “discretionary”. In reality, Britain feared of a campaign against the Sovereign Base Areas.
By now Turkey started to amass troops in Iskenderun in order to exercise her rights of intervention as one of the guarantors of the Cyprus Treaty. However, in order to resolve the situation in Cyprus, all the parties concerned were called to London for what has become to be known as the London Conference, in the January of 1964, in order to find a peaceful solution rather than resort to a military operation. Turkey backed off as the Americans also became involved in search for a peaceful solution. At first Britain asked the Americans to send troops to Cyprus as part of a NATO peace-keeping force. President Makarios immediately refused any such deployment of troops on the island preferring to go through the Security Council where he had gained the sympathy and support of such nations as the USSR and the UAR (United Arab Republic). In the meantime, the slaughter of Turkish Cypriots continued. On 11th February 1964 the Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Küçük sent a telegram to heads of state protesting of the “Mass killing” of Turkish Cypriots and expressed the sorrow of his community in face of such “inhuman tragic events”. Many Turkish Cypriots had died in Limassol as the result of the bombardment of the Turkish quarter by Greek Cypriots who had launched an all-out attack.
Britain and the Makarios regime appealed to the Security Council of the UN on 15th February 1964 for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem following the failure of the London Conference to bring about an end to the hostilities. On the 4th of March the UN Security Council passed Resolution No. 186. It referred to the relevant provisions of the UN Charter, specifically Article 2, paragraph 4 which states: “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity, or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations” and called upon all member states “to refrain any action, or threat of action, likely to worsen the situation in the Sovereign Republic of Cyprus, or to endanger the international peace”. It asked the ‘Government of Cyprus, which had the responsibility for the maintenance and restoration of law and order, to take all additional measures necessary to stop the violence and bloodshed in Cyprus”. Furthermore, it recommended the creation, “with the consent of the Government of Cyprus” of a UN Peace Force on the island. The “Force” would periodically report to the Security Council.
President Makarios declared this a major diplomatic success and on the 15th of March stated “We have secured a resolution in the first phase of our struggle in the international field. Turkey cannot, in future, threaten intervention in Cyprus invoking the Treaty of Guarantee”. NATO peace-keeping forces would not be coming to Cyprus. The UN had effectively recognized the “Government of Cyprus” only composed of President Makarios and his Greek Cypriot administration thus rewarding the Greek Cypriot administration for the usurpation of the Constitution by force. The “Government” was recognized as that of the whole island. No wonder Denktaş became distraught after the resolution went through for Turkey’s acceptance of the definition of “Government” legitimized Makarios’ regime as the only government of Cyprus in the eyes of the international community. This very resolution continues to mock the politics of this island today resulting in the UN support of Greek Cypriot embargoes on the TRNC, endorsed by international organizations such as the European Union, which has seriously damaged the economy of Northern Cyprus.
Greek Cypriot attacks continued against the Turkish Cypriots. On 5th March, over 200 Greek irregulars attacked several villages provoking further island wide fighting. At Ktima fifteen Turkish Cypriots were murdered and thirty-four were unaccounted for, presumed killed and twenty two wounded. Estimated damage to property was in excess of two million pounds sterling. To date none of these properties have been compensated by the Greek Cypriot administration.
In late March, Greek Cypriots armed to the teeth with sub-machine guns, Bazookas and mortars, attacked the village of Gaziveren (near the town of Güzelyurt) killing six men and demanding the surrender of the village. When the village refused to capitulate the fighting intensified and other villages were also attacked.
In New York the Security Council went into session whilst the US Sixth Fleet moved towards Cyprus. Soviet submarines were sighted within the territory of Cyprus waters and in Iskenderun, eastern Turkey, Turkish carriers waited at anchor for the signal to sail. Despite all this activity, the Greek Cypriots intensified their aggression not taking a blind notice of the cease fire announced by the UN with the passing of Resolution 186.
To be continued.
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