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Union with Greece
Enosis, union with Greece which would have taken place had
Greece accepted the British offer in 1915, now become an issue
of paramount importance to the local people. An issue that
was encouraged by the Orthodox Church, resulting in ferocious
riots in 1931 when Government House was burnt to the ground.
After the rebellion had been crushed, the local voice of
the people was silenced by the abolition of the Legislative
Council. World war II saw an estimated 30,000 Cypriots fighting
in the British forces with great loyalty and fervour. At the
end of the war the call for Enosis was renewed. A plebiscite
engineered by Archbishop Makarios in 1950 showed 96 per cent
of Greek Cypriots in favour of Enosis. However it is doubtful
, even if the voting percentage was accurate, that the majority
of Cypriots knew what they were woting for.
EOKA and Armed Struggle
They did not want any nore colonial rule, and the offer of
a new constitution triggered to start of the armed offensive
by EOKA (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters) led by
George Grivas against continuing British rule. This battle
for self-rule started in April 1955 with the b lessing of
the Archbishop Makarios.
The request for Enosis was outlawed and Makarios was exiled
to the Seychelles in June 1956. His exile was brief and he
was allowing to return to Cyprus in 1957.
Greece applied in 1957 and 1958 to the United Nations to
grant the right to self-government. The Turkish Cypriot minority,
had not been considered of any importance by the Greek Cypriot
majortity in their plans for the island, which resulted in
Turkey calling for the participation of the island.
| An eventual solution was formulated in the Treaty
of Zurich, by by which time Grivas and his EOKA
rebels had conducted a mission of massacre and terror
resulting in a death toll in excess of 500. |
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The London Accord granting independence to Cyprus was signed
on 19th February 1959 by Makarios, Dr Fazil Küçük
(on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot Community), and the Prime
Minister of Great Britain, Greece and Turkey. The aggrement
was constructed in such a way as to provide safeguards protecting
the minority Turkish Cypriot community, including powers of
intervention to Britain, Turkey and Greece.
The Truth Obscured
The Republic of Cyprus became an actuality in August 1960,
also joining the United Nations and the British Commonwealth.
So much propaganda has been written about the Cyprus problem
that at times it becomes very difficult to seperate fact from
fabrication. In particular the period from independence in
1960 to the Turkish armed forces intervention of 1974, has
suffered from distorted half-truths being spread by the media.
The simple facts are thus: the constitution frovide for a
Greek President and Turkish Vice President, each with supposed
powers to veto government decisions. This in fact did not
happen because of the majority being firmly in favour of the
Greeks. The civil service also employed a majority of Greeks.
The balance in government and civil service being seventy
to thirty per cent, armed forces and police sixty to forty
per cent. There was no agreed structure for the army and Makarios
decided there should be no armed forces on Cyprus. The legislation
vote in the Cyprus House of Representatives required separate
majorities from the Greek and Turkish members and the system
proved unwieldy and impossible to administer effectively because
an honest, simple democracy with majority rule would have
had the end result of no voice for the Turkish people.
Towards the end of 1963 Grivas strengthened his pursuit of
ENOSIS and heavily criticised Makarios and his government,
provoking the EOKA rebels into action which he hoped would
achieve the ultimate goal of complete union with Greece. Just
before Christmas 1963 (it must be remembered that Christmas
is the most important of the Christian festivals, celebrating
as it does, the birth of Christ who came into the world to
save it from evil), armed Greeks made a foray into the mostly
Turkish suburb of Omorphita (now Küçük Kaymakli)
in Nicosia and opened fire on the Turkish inhabitants. They
killed, captured and then tortured anyone who could not escape.
This included the old, children and women.
The turkish people took up arms to defend themselves and
formed enclaves in which they could be as secure as possible.
The british set up a buffer zone dividing the city but this
attempt to keep the two sides apart proved largely unsuccessful.
In March 1964 the UN troops took over with no better result.
Makarios had renounced the conditions of the London Accord
making it clear that he intended to pursue the cause of total
self rule for Greek Cypriots which would end almost certainly
with Enosis. Considerable pressure was applied by the other
two guarantor powers with the result that Makarios withdrew
his announcment in a radio broadcast. It made little difference,
as the Greeks continued in their attempts to crush and exterminate
the Turks. If they couldn’t kill them then they would
blockade the enclaves and cut off their supplies resulting
in widespread hardship.
Continuing armed conflict forced Turkey to threaten military
reprisal which was stalled by the military coup in Greece.
Now Enosis suddenly became less attractive. There followed
a sharp increase in the economy of Cyprus as the island became
a favourite holiday destination and the building of new hotels
and the development of seaside resorts underwent a major boost.
Grivas returned to Cyprus in 1974 with the intention
of heading the armed forces and EOKA-B, but died suddenly
of a heart attack. Makrarios was re-elected as President after
he renounced the call for Enosis and demanded the withdrawal
of mainland Greek officers. This provoked the National Guards
into storming the Presidential Palace in Nicosia. Makarios
escaped the attempted military coup, which had been supported
by the junta in Greece, and Turkey felt it had the right to
intervene to prevent further bloodshed.
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