Cyprus Intercommunal violence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intercommunal violence during the Cyprus conflict
Date 1963 to 1974 Location Island of Cyprus Result Coup inspired by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 topples Cypriot President and attempts to unite island with Greece. Turkish intervention then invasion of the north and the de facto partition of the island. Casus belli Constitutional breakdown
Combatants
Greek Cypriots Aided by Hellenic Republic	Turkish Cypriots Aided by Republic of Turkey
Strength
30,000[1]	5,000[2]

Cyprus Intercommunal violence refers to periods of inter-ethnic conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots on the island of Cyprus from 1963 to 1974.

Contents 1 Background 2 Enosis and Taksim 3 First signs of intercommunal conflict 4 The Republic of Cyprus 5 1963 Constitutional breakdown 6 Intercommunal violence 7 Greek Coup 8 See also 9 External links 10 Notes

[edit] Background

Main article: Cyprus under the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus brought about radical changes in the demographics of the island. A new ethnic element appeared, the Turks. The population of Cyprus, overwhelmingly Greek at the time had now a new ruler the Ottomans. The island of Cyprus was then annexed by Britain in 1914 from the Ottoman Empire, following the latters decision to join the First World War on the side of the Central Powers. Soon afterwards, it offered the island to Constantine I of Greece on condition that Greece join the war on the side of the British. Although the offer was supported by Eleftherios Venizelos, the Greek prime minister, it was rejected by the King, who wished to keep Greece out of the war. The offer therefore lapsed. After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the new Turkish government formally recognized Britain's ownership of Cyprus. As the majority population on the island, Greek Cypriots believed it their natural right to unite the island with Greece, as many of the Aegean islands had done following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In 1931 in demand for Enosis riots broke out in Cyprus due to resentment against the British administration. The British suppressed the riots, abolished the legislative council in Cyprus, and banned all political parties. At the end of the Second World War Britain rejected fresh demands for enosis, offering concessions on home rule, or self-government, instead.^[3] In August 1954 Greece, which had previously avoided involvement in Cyprus because of its alliance with Britain, unsuccessfully sought to have the question of Cyprus’s status brought before the United Nations General Assembly. In the subsequent UN discussions, Turkey announced that it opposed a union of Cyprus with Greece and declared that if Britain withdrew from the island, Cyprus should revert to Turkey.^[3]

[edit] Enosis and Taksim

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis prompted an armed underground campaign against colonialism by a movement of Greek Cypriots known as the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA,which was led by the Greek commander George Grivas and systematically targeted British colonial authorities.^[3] One of the effects of the EOKA campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition), the fact that the Turks were a small minority was to be according to Nihat Erim should be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that the Greek Cypriots cease to be the majority^{[citation needed]}. When Erim visited Cyprus, as the Turkish representative, he was advised by John Harding (the then Governor of Colonialism) that Turkey should send educated Turks as emigrants in Cyprus.^[4]

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities exist and sidestepped her former claim that “the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects” [1]. In doing so Turkey aimed that self determination of two to-be equal communities would in effect lead into de jure partition of the island Taksim, justifiable to the international community against the will of the overwhelming population of the island, the Greeks. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.^[5]

[edit] First signs of intercommunal conflict

The first signs of intercommunal conflict on the island appeared when the British conscripted Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus. Arif Hasan Tahsin a Turkish Cypriot that joined the Colonial police and eventually rose as the number two in hierarchy of the Turkish Cypriots in his book ^[6] notes: "It is a fact that the Turks fought against Greek Cypriots not just because they wanted Enosis". EOKA would target colonial authorities including police men. Both British and Turkish police men would die in exchange of fire. The eventual death of Turkish Cypriot policemen were met with anti-Greek riots by the Turkish community while the British authorities would remained passive. Greek stores and neighborhoods would be burned and Greek civilians would be injured or killed. Such events createed chaos and brought the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.^[7]

On the 22nd of October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27th and 28th of January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan rejected partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

In June 1958 the British prime Minister Harold Macmillan was expected to proposed a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development the Turks created fierce riots in Nicosia aiming to promote the idea that Greeks and Turks could not live together and therefore any plan that would promote that would not be viable, instead partition would be the only viable solution. This violence soon to be followed by bombing, Greek Cypriots deaths and looting of Greek owned stores and houses resulted in Greeks and Turks started to evade mixed populated villages that the respective were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of segregation of the two communities.^[8]. On the 7th of June 1958 a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On June 26th 1984 the then Turkish Cypriot Leader, Rauf Denktaş, admited on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension ^[9].

On the 27th of January 1958 riots by Turkish Cypriots forced the British Colonial soldiers to open fire against the Turkish crowd, and for the first time intervene against the atrocities. The events continued until the next day. During the events Arif Tahsin met Rauf Denktaş and asked: "For God sake give the order for the killings to stop". Denktaş replied : "TThese killings are usefull, with these our voices will be heard" ^[10] By 1958 signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both signs, with Turkish Cypriots now forming Volkan, later known as the TMT paramilitary group as a means of promoting partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menteres plan. TMT would also target Turkish Cypriots and then blame the Greek Cypriots for the killing and also accuse the British Colonial rule that effective measures are not taken to protect the Turkish minority.

[edit] The Republic of Cyprus

Right after the EOKA campaign began British Colonialism was successful in turning the Cyprus issue from a British Colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted back stage influence to Adnan Menderes government, so that Turkey becomes active in Cyprus. For the British the attempt had a twofold objective. On one hand the EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, on the other hand Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British Colonial claims over the island and the island would remain under the British.^[11] The Turish Cypriot leadership at the time, visited Adnan Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cyriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of Enosis Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British Colony. Later when the Turkish Cypriots visited the British minister of foreign affairs and requested Cyprus remain as a British Colony, the Minister replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey its former owner"^[12].

The EOKA campaign forced British Colonialism to end and discuss the future of Cyprus with its people. On the 11th of February 1959 the Zurich agreements were signed. Eight months after the agreements, specifically on the 18th of October 1959 the Turkish ship Deniz was caught transferring weapons and ammunitions to the Turkish Cypriots on the island. According to testimonies of high ranking officers of TMT, five thousand Turkish Cypriots that had earlier being trained in Turkey secretly received weapons on different occasions before the ship was caught. TMT did not dissolve but was supplied with weapons.

TMT has been accused by the Republic of Cyprus of numerous acts of terrorism and the murders of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots [2]. AVRUPA (Turkish Cypriot newspaper) reports that “Ahmet Muzuffer Gurkan was shot dead by a hit-man of the TMT organization. It says that the hit-man, H.C., (full name not given) served the TMT until 1974 as commander of a squad. It reports that H.C died in 1984 in a hospital in Famagusta from excess use of alcohol and cirrhosis. However, adds the paper, H.C during his last days in hospital confessed the crime he had committed to a male nurse at the hospital”. At the time Rauf Denktaş had declared that Polycarpos Georgadjis, the then Interior Minister of the Cyprus Republic ordered the lawyer's killing.

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, it soon became apparent to Greek Cypriots that enosis was extremely unlikely, with Makarios's objective now turning to independence.^[13]

Britain thus resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cypriot state. In 1959 all involved parties signed the Zurich agreements: Britain, Turkey and Greece as well the natural Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an important veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich accords were also supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that union or secession with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene should this be violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island whilst the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

On August 15, 1960, the Republic of Cyprus was proclaimed.

[edit] 1963 Constitutional breakdown

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 that Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position.^[14] Makarios went on to propose thirteen amendments to the constitution, which according to the historian Keith Kyle had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour.^[15] Both Presidents would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The discovery of the Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Policarpos Yorgadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to lay the foundations for Cyprus’s union with Greece. The plan stipulated an organised attack on Turkish Cypriots should they show signs of resistance to the measures, stating “In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible.”^[16] Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence, with Makarios going as far to describe independence as "a step on the road to enosis".^[17] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

[edit] Intercommunal violence

On 21 December 1963, a Turkish Cypriot crowd clashed with the plainclothes special constables of Yorgadjis. Almost immediately an organised attack by Greek Cypriot paramilitaries was launched upon Turkish Cypriots in Nicosia and Larnaca. Though the TMT - now charged with defending the Turkish Cypriots - committed a number of acts of retaliation, Kyle notes “there is no doubt that the main victims of the numerous incidents that took place during the next few months were Turks”.^[18] 700 Turkish hostages, including women and children, were taken from the northern suburbs of Nicosia. Nikos Sampson led a group of Greek Cypriot irregulars into the mixed suburb of Omorphita and massacred the Turkish Cypriot population indiscriminately.^[19] By 1964, 193 Turkish Cypriots and 133 Greek Cypriots were killed, with a further 209 Turks and 41 Greeks missing, presumed dead.

Approximately 20,000 Turkish Cypriots fled their villages to live in enclaves, much of their homes subsequently being looted.^[20] As Professor Clement Dodd notes, referring to the majority of the Turkish Cypriot population “They had, of necessity, to relocate themselves in about 3 per cent of the land they owned, estimated at about 34 per cent of Cyprus. Many left the country in those years to seek living in Britain, Australia and Turkey, and elsewhere, with active encouragement by Greek Cypriots.”^[21] Dodd's estimate would mean that about 118,000 people were crammed into a space of less than 95 square kilometres.

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets became visible over Nicosia, but were dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot still persisted, particularly in Limmasol. Concerned at the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript based army entitled the National Guard. A general from Greece would take charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus.^[22] Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, providing them with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease.^[23][24] The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries ammasing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former Secretary of State, and UN appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard as well as the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organization of the Greek forces.

The situation had worsensed in 1967, when a military junta had overthrown the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship, nor in triggering a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup. Grivas escalated the conflict when his armed units began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot encalves of Ayios Theodhoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots. By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed.^[25] Turkey replied with an ultimatum for Grivas to be removed from the island, along with the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance as well as lifting the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves. Grivas resigned his position and 12,000 Greek troops were duly withdrawn, with Makarios now attempting to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, as well as creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."^[26]

[edit] Greek Coup

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an ‘attainable solution’, many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspirations for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece. Makarios was branded a traitor to the cause by Grivas and in 1971 made a clandestine return to the island. On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agonistan B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s. The Junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle, and directed funds to Grivas to carry out a number of terrorist attacks as well as fund a propaganda campaign through the creation pro-enosis newspapers. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, with its officer class dominated by mainland by Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

[edit] See also

• Cyprus dispute
• History of the Ottoman Empire

[edit] External links

• Cyprus-Conflict.net An independent and comprehensive website dedicated to the Cyprus conflict, containing a detailed narrative as well as documents, reports and eye-witness accounts.
• Library of Congress Cyprus Country Study Detailed information on Cyprus, covering the various phases of the Cyprus conflict.

[edit] Notes