CURRENT AFFAIRS

I am an Anglo-Greek-Cypriot, real name Papadopoulos. My father was Greek-Cypriot, my mother English. I was born in London in 1945, and never visited the island until 1977 (three years after it was divided into two separate states). My parents separated in 1951, and I never learnt to speak Greek. I therefore do not feel I have been indoctrinated by Greek propaganda about Cyprus, especially as my experience of certainly the Greek part of the island is of a hotbed of misogyny, homophobia, religious and racial hatred. Not a place I plan to retire to!

Twentyeight years ago, in July 1974, Cyprus was invaded. The popular myth is that it was invaded by Turkey. This is a lie; it was invaded first by Greece. The fascist Greek junta then in power in Athens had taken control of the supposedly Cypriot National Guard, and they engineered a coup to depose the president of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios. They replaced him with Nicos Sampson, a puppet ruler who was supposed to clear the way for Enosis, the Greek-Cypriots’ long cherished goal of union with Greece. In the 1950s the Greek-Cypriots, thru the EOKA terrorist movement, had fought the British with the aim of annexing the island to mainland Greece.

Ever since independence from the British in 1960, and long before, the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus had been in conflict. Although the 1960 independent Republic of Cyprus nominally had a Greek-Cypriot President and a Turkish-Cypriot Vice-President, the Turkish-Cypriot community was increasingly marginalized and persecuted, forced into ghettoes by Greek-Cypriot violence and ethnic cleansing. In 1970 the Turkish-Cypriots, feeling powerless in the Greek dominated House of Representatives, set up their own unofficial chamber in the north.

After the Greek invasion of July 1974 the Turkish-Cypriot community feared for their very lives. With the EOKA terrorist Nicos Sampson and the fascist Greek junta ruling Cyprus, the Turkish-Cypriot community feared they would be massacred or forced to escape to Turkey in the ethnic cleansing designed to annex Cyprus to Greece. At the very least they would have been herded into their ghettoes, and robbed of what little political representation they had. The Greek-Cypriots, Greece and Sampson were determined to make Cyprus a wholly Greek island, united with mainland Greece.

Archbishop Makarios, previously a supporter of Enosis or union with Greece, enjoyed his status as President of an independent country. Immediately before the Sampson coup he was therefore not willing to accept the fascist junta in Greece taking over the Cypriot National Guard. At the same time, Makarios maintained relations with, among others, the Soviet Union. The Communist Party in Cyprus was also very strong.

My father, who always had pictures of Makarios and EOKA terrorist General Grivas in his Hampstead flat, one each side of the mantelpiece, suddenly had the picture of Makarios removed in a Stalinist-type effort to re-label him a non-person. Grivas and Makarios had once fought the British colonialists to join the island to Greece; now Makarios had apparently abandoned that aim. In July 1974 my father labeled Archbishop Makarios a ‘Communist’, and presumably a ‘traitor’.

The Greek junta in Athens, and its potential Cypriot puppet president Nicos Sampson, obviously had similar ideas. Archbishop Makarios’ palace in Nicosia was bombed and shelled in an attempt to assassinate him during the coup, but somehow he escaped. He went into exile and appeared before the United Nations Assembly in New York and told the world that Greece had invaded Cyprus. People seem to have conveniently forgotten this speech from the first President of an independent Cyprus.

Britain, with two huge military bases on the island and thousands of troops, was supposed to guarantee the independence of Cyprus. The UN also had many peace-keeping troops on the island. After the Greek invasion of July 1974 and the installation of their puppet Sampson, Turkey appealed to Britain and the UN to act to protect the 1960 Constitution and the independence of Cyprus. Turkey’s appeals were ignored.

Britain, with thousands of troops on the spot, did nothing. The UN, also with troops on the island, did nothing. The USA did nothing. Turkish-Cypriots faced exile, annihilation or a servile existence as a persecuted minority in the enlarged fascist Greek state, which now included Cyprus.

After its appeals to Britain and the world were ignored, Turkey sent in troops to provide a safe haven in the north of Cyprus for the Turkish-Cypriot population. They made no attempt to take over the whole island, which had been Turkish until the British took over in the 19^th century (centuries before the island, 40 miles off the coast of Turkey, had been Greek, although much closer geographically to Turkey than to Greece.)

The Turks did not even attempt to take over the whole of Nicosia, the capital. They occupied about 37% of the island, essentially the northeast, and northern Nicosia. The Greek government did not send in troops – the fascist junta fell soon after the Turkish intervention. The Greek-Cypriots under their mainland Greek officers in the Cypriot National Guard put up very little resistance to the Turks.

Huge transfers of populations took place following the Greek inspired coup and the Turkish intervention which followed. Greek-Cypriots fled south and Turkish-Cypriots fled north. Since 1974 the island has been divided with Turkish-Cypriots living in what is now the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Greek-Cypriots living in the Republic of Cyprus, which is Greek in all but name. You will never see a Turkish flag flying in the southern Republic of Cyprus, it no longer has a Turkish-Cypriot Vice-President or Turkish politicians in parliament, and very few if any Turkish-Cypriots live in or can even legally visit the Republic of Cyprus. On the other hand, mainland Greek flags are very much in evidence everywhere in the Republic of Cyprus, and fly alongside the 'neutral' white, yellow and green flag of the nominally 'bicommunal' Republic of Cyprus, long ethnically cleansed of Turkish-Cypriots.

Similarly in the north you will never see a Greek flag or even the flag of the supposedly independent Republic of Cyprus. They have their own red on white Turkish-Cypriot flag, incorporating two bars and the Moslem crescent and star, and the white on red Turkish crescent and star flag is also much in evidence. It is true that many settlers from mainland Turkey now live in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and Turkey still has thousands of troops in the TRNC. The mainland settlers have caused some resentment among Turkish-Cypriots, who feel outnumbered, but better swamped by friendly Turkish people than the Greek-Cypriots who persecuted them for years. A few Greek-Cypriots, mainly elderly, still live on the extreme northeastern peninsular in the Turkish-Cypriot part of the island.

Denktash, once Vice-President of the Republic of Cyprus, is now the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (originally known as the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus immediately after the events of 1974). I have visited both the TFSC (in 1977) and the TRNC in the 1990s. I have also visited the Republic of Cyprus several times, and also the one village in the UN buffer zone where both Turks and Greeks still live segregated lives together near the Dhekelia British Sovereign Base.

(A TRNC checkpoint north of this bicommunal village, at Pergamos, is closed to foreigners, but it is possible for Turkish-Cypriots to cross both ways. There were no other checkpoints to stop them entering the Republic of Cyprus when I drove to the checkpoint and chatted to the TRNC border guard and back to Larnaca. Contrary to Greek-Cypriot propaganda, the TRNC is NOT a prison camp with sealed borders like the old GDR - East Germany. The fences and walls are just to protect the Turkish-Cypriots from the Greeks.)

I feel Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriots have had a very raw deal. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and its President remain unrecognized by every country in the world apart from Turkey. Meanwhile, the Greek-Cypriot Republic of Cyprus is feted and recognized as the legitimate government of the whole island, as though the events of 1974 never happened. The Greek-Cypriot Republic of Cyprus is even expecting to join the European Union in the next wave of expansion. This cannot be allowed to happen. A racist state born of a fascist-inspired coup by the Greek generals, which only has control over the southwestern part of the island, cannot possibly join the EU as representative of the whole island of Cyprus. This is why the UN is trying to make a last-ditch effort to persuade the two sides to come to a solution so the island as a whole can enter the EU.

There can never be a solution whilst the world maintains its lop-sided view of the events of 1974, and refuses to recognize that Cyprus, like Germany and Vietnam before it, and present-day Korea and Ireland, is divided and represented by two governments. Both states must be recognized before progress can be made.

There are various possible solutions to the problem once both Cypriot republics are put on an even footing, with universal recognition and UN membership. They can continue to exist and join the EU separately as independent republics. In this case EU open internal borders would gradually break down the barriers between the two communities, as there would once again be freedom of movement between the two halves of the island as in the rest of the EU.

The solution favored by the TRNC President Denktash is a sort of federal republic, with separate Greek and Turkish Cypriot entities, sharing certain government functions.

The third possibility is annexation of the Republic of Cyprus by Greece, and incorporation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus into mainlandTurkey.

Whichever solution is chosen, the end result will be essentially the same once Turkey, Greece and the whole island of Cyprus are members of the EU with full representation for both ethnic communities. The barriers between the two sides would become less physical because the internal borders of the EU are porous. Just as you can cross freely between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, there would be free movement across the present Cypriot ‘Green Line’ which runs right thru the capital and the island, patrolled by UN troops with a mined no-man’s land buffer zone in between the two republics. If the two Germanies can unite, surely the two Cypriot republics can, because their inhabitants are remarkably similar. Only language, nationality and religion divide them, but their culture is almost identical, and both Greece and Turkey are members of NATO.

Here lies the crux of the matter. Much has been left unsaid about the tragic events of 1974. The truth is hidden away in secret files which still have not been made public, but it is as plain as a pikestaff to anybody with an ounce of common sense. This is a scenario of what must have really happened in 1974:

NATO colluded in the Greek-inspired coup by the fascist junta in Athens to rid Cyprus of President Makarios whom the USA, Britain and NATO saw as being too pro-Soviet. They may well have feared Makarios would allow the Soviets to establish some sort of military base on the island, and the Soviets had to be denied access to the Mediterranean. Britain and USA were happy for fascist Greece to do their dirty work for them and rid the island of Makarios.

When Makarios survived the coup, NATO, Britain and the USA were in no hurry to use force to restore him as the legitimate President of Cyprus. They probably knew, as did Greece, that Turkey had no other option but to intervene to protect the Turkish-Cypriot community. This is why Britain, with thousands of troops on the spot, did nothing when first Greece then Turkey invaded Cyprus in July 1974. This is also why the USA and NATO did not use their own troops or try to get the UN Security Council to send in an international military force to restore the integrity and independence of Cyprus.

Britain in particular was extremely happy to let Turkey be the scapegoat for the physical division of the island, a solution to the Cyprus problem long favored by the British. Finally, in 1974, the British got what they had long wanted and proposed – the division of Cyprus into not two, but three separate zones: the Greek-Cypriot Republic of Cyprus, the Turkish-Cypriot TFSC and later TRNC, and the two huge British Sovereign Bases which are virtually UK colonies, only nominally part of the RoC. British authority and law applies in these Sovereign Base areas.

The Greek-Cypriots and Greece itself also fully realized Turkey would be forced to intervene to create a safe haven for its people; that is why they put up little resistance when Turkey sent in troops to occupy the northeastern part of the island. Maybe they took more territory than was anticipated, but why did they not take over the whole island, or at least the whole of Nicosia?

To take over the whole of Cyprus would have been problematical because of the British troops stationed in the Sovereign Bases. But the fact that Greece did not send in its own troops, and the Greek-Cypriot National Guard put up very little resistance to the Turkish intervention suggests some sort of nod and a wink deal was arranged beforehand within NATO. Greece would be allowed to annex the southern part of Cyprus, and Turkey could annex the northern part. Britain, NATO and the UN would do nothing to stop them. Greece and Turkey, and their respective Cypriot populations, would not try to maintain control of the whole island.

Greece and the Greek-Cypriots let Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriots take over the northeastern part of the island because it was part of the secret deal which would allow the Greek-Cypriots to have an ethnically pure state allied, or united, with mainland Greece. Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriots were no doubt similarly assured they would be allowed an ethnically pure northeastern republic, and that Greece would not send in its troops to stop them providing this safe haven for the Turkish-Cypriot population.

Turkey probably took rather more territory than had been previously allocated to them, hence the outrage of the Greek-Cypriots. But essentially both sides got what they wanted, though the Greek-Cypriots were robbed of the jewel in the crown, the seaside resort of Famagusta, which probably wasn’t part of the original deal. The Turkish-Cypriots, however, made no attempt to profit financially from the seizure of Famagusta by promoting it as a tourist resort, and it remains a ghost town, frozen in 1974 with no inhabitants but the Turkish military. In any final settlement probably Famagusta would be returned to the Greek-Cypriots in return for recognition of the Turkish-Cypriot state; indeed perhaps that is why it was taken, as a bargaining chip.

Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriots have been made into the villains of the piece; fall guys for a plot to get rid of Makarios at all costs and annex the island to Greece, then ruled by the fascist junta, even if it meant dividing the island and incorporating only part of it into the Greek state. Britain, the USA and NATO must have conspired in this Greek plot or it could easily have been nipped in the bud – Britain could have used its troops on the island to depose Sampson and restore the legitimate government of Cyprus before Turkey felt forced to take unilateral action.

So now we must look to the future. In London, where there is a huge Greek and Turkish Cypriot population, the two communities live harmoniously side-by-side. In Cyprus a whole generation has grown up never visiting the other side, and never meeting a member of the other community. Hatred has been indoctrinated into each ethnic group from childhood. The other side are seen just as invaders, mass murderers, descrators of religious buildings, rapists – all the usual propaganda of war.

The one uplifting exception I saw was Greek and Turkish Cypriots waving and chatting to each other by the old Nicosia city walls near one of the gates; the Turks behind a wire fence at the top of the wall and the Greeks below. More recently a joint Greek and Turkish team of workmen repaired the ancient city wall together at this border point after it had been damaged. These are good omens for the future of Cyprus.

The truth is that both sides are ordinary people who want to live in peace. As in all violent conflicts, both sides have committed atrocities in the past. I have visited both sides and spoken to members of each community; they both have a right to live in peace and security – the Turkish-Cypriots must never again become a vulnerable minority ethnic group in a Greek-dominated state. Both Greek and Turkish Cypriots must have their own autonomous states, recognized by the EU, UN and all countries of the world. But members of both communities must be free to travel all over the island and see each other as people, as fellow Cypriots and fellow Europeans, citizens of an enlarged European Union.

April 30th 2004: In an island-wide referendum on the Annan plan to reunite Cyprus withiin a federation of Greek and Turkish Cypriot states prior to joining the European Union on May 1st, Turkish-Cypriots voted in favor but the Greek-Cypriots rejected the proposal. Ironically this means the Greek-Cypriots will now be 'rewarded' with membership of the EU for voting No to the reunification plan, and they have also vetoed Turkish-Cypriot membership of the EU. Although this result was perfectly predictable - the Greek-Cypriots were promised EU membership even if they rejected reunification - it does change the whole world outlook on Cyprus.

The fact is it is now the Greek-Cypriots who have voted for a divided Cyprus, confirming that they prefer the status quo to accommodating the Turkish-Cypriots in a unified Republic. The EU and other countries are furious with the Greek-Cypriots for this betrayal, and will give the Turkish-Cypriots most of the advantages of EU membership because of their vote in favor of reunification. It can only be a matter of time before the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus is universally recognized and gains entry to the EU, either on its own, along with Turkey or in a future reunified Cypriot republic.

The Greek-Cypriots have at last revealed to the world what bigots they are. They never did want an independent Cyprus, only union with Greece. They are now claiming voting No in the referendum has given them this in all but name. They are quite happy to have the southern part of the island wholly Greek, and since they were promised EU membership however they voted they had little incentive to vote Yes to reunification. They are, however, in for a shock as the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus gains legitimacy in the eyes of the world, whilst the Greek Republic of Cyprus becomes something or a pariah state in the EU.

What is never mentioned is that if Greek-Cypriot refugees could return to the North and reclaim their former land and homes, Turkish-Cypriots could return to the South and do the same. Could this be another reason Greek-Cypriots voted No? Everywhere you go in Greek Cyprus you'll see abandoned Turkish villages, mosques and homes. The Greek-Cypriots, by and large, don't want them back - they want an ethnically pure Greek-Cypriot state. They may get a shock when EU citizens from outside Cyprus - Poles, Hungarians, Lithuanians as well as Western Europeans - decide to make their homes in Greek Cyprus. And once Turkey joins the EU, the Greeks won't be able to stop them moving to Greek-Cyprus either, should they want to.

Cyprus is an island with many prejudices, such as racism, mysogony, religious intolerance and rampant homophobia, which EU membership will not tolerate. The Cypriots had better get their act together if they don't want to be hauled before the European Courts over and over again.

I am a Greek Cypriot and have read your incorrect and preposterous views and beliefs on the Greek Cypriots and their ways. You say you are part Greek Cypriot. I laugh at that comment and let me say on behalf of all Greek Cypriots you are an insult and disgrace to a loving and proud race. Your views are very pro-communist and if you say what you have about your father, it proves that he was a patriot and had his country at heart, and I'm sure if he has read or aware of your views that he would be greatly ashamed of you.

Lastly, to prove how incorrect your points are, the Turkish Cypriots are mainly to blame for the cause of the Greek Cypriot anger towards them, because when my uncles were out fighting for Independence from Britain, the Turkish Cypriots were leaking information to British Military and thus giving away position and tactics. leading to the killings of such heroes like Grigoris Afxentiou and Evagoras Palikaridis. After reading your article I have come to the conclusion that you are as anti-Greek as most Turks are and I'm ashamed to even think you are a Greek Cypriot. I would like you to apologise to your father on my behalf and just to let him know there are still patriotic Cypriots in this world that love their land are not influenced by British or American views as are you. You are a traitor and are "Selling your own mother" to please you Anglo-American peers.

Tony

Tony, I much appreciate you posting my letter and hope that you continue to do so.

You are once again gravely mistaken Tony, as EOKA's target was for independence from Britain and not for ENOSIS with Greece, that campaign was EOKA B. Why else would Britain leave Cyprus and ultimately gain their independence in 1960? I think you need to do some more reading on your history my friend. I am not denying what you are saying about the 'ethnic cleansing' of Turkish Cypriots but am simply stating the different timeline of events. I am very frustrated about your constant involvement of Nikos Sampson as a 'puppet ruler' because the fact of the matter was that after the Great General Grivas died, and Archbishop Makarios was overthrown, Sampson was put in charge for a mere 8 days before he stepped down due to the invasion. So I do feel it is incorrect to keep calling it 'Sampsons Coup'.

Furthermore, to counter your defence of the Turkish Cypriots, I think you are correct in thinking that they are unrecognised and second class citizens and are plainly a minority in Cyprus, as are the British living in other countries like Spain and America. I am deeply confused how people would think the Island is rightfully part Turkish community. The fact of the matter is I am not adverse to thinking that Turkish Cypriots are a minority in Cyprus and are citizens of Cyprus, but for them to claim their own 'puppet' government is preposterous. That is like the Greeks and Cypriots in the UK proclaiming an area in North London as the Greek Republic of North London. Finally, you say that too have visited the 'self-proclaimed' TRNC!! If you have you will see how the invasions has barely helped the Turkish Cypriot community for it is a fortress of drugs and mafia ruling. I would like to refer you to the TMT which still to this day have caused thousands of lives and reign fear into the Turkish Cypriot by threats either to vote in accordance to their leader, Rauf Denktash, or with the moving of drugs and illegal money.

The first inter-communal violence in the recent history of Cyprus was, in fact, caused by T.M.T. This was the result of a policy of hate cultivated by the Turkish Cypriot leadership and it aimed at persuading world public opinion that Turkish Cypriots could not co-exist with Greek Cypriots and, therefore, partition in one form or another was necessary. On 12 June 1958 eight innocent and unarmed Greek Cypriot civilians from Kondemenos village were murdered by T.M.T. terrorists near the Turkish populated village of Geunyli. To finish, I am deeply wound up about the facts that you say that the Greek Cypriots rejected the Anan Plan because they want annexation with Greece. I am a 'TRUE' Greek Cypriot unlike yourself and refused, together with most of the population of my loving country, to sell our motherland in a cheap deal with a 'thief' like Turkey and its self proclaimed Cypriots. I refuse to sell my flag, which was designed by a Turkish Cypriot incidentally, and I refuse to sell my Hellenic National Anthem in order to buy back what is already mine.

Regards, Anthony Georgiou

Anthony,

I never knew the difference between EOKA and EOKA B, so thanks for this information.

I think the trouble is, although the Sampson coup was short-lived (thanks, as you point out, to the Turkish intervention), this and the desire of many Greek-Cypriots for Enosis, have made the Turkish-Cypriots very wary indeed. I know some Turkish-Cypriots from where I work. It is sad that neither side in Cyprus trusts the other one, but this is because of the history of the island, much of it quite recent. I also know that things are far from perfect in the TRNC, and there is much resentment about Turkish settlers from the mainland, for instance. There are also no doubt mafia connexions - the thing about being a pariah state recognized by no country but Turkey means it is a haven for criminals beyond the reach of international law.

This is why it would be good if they could come up with a plan to re-unite the island which is acceptable to both sides. Of course the Turkish-Cypriots are a minority in Cyprus, but minorities also have rights. It is high time to legitimize the situation in Cyprus in an agreement which respects the rights of both communities.

You talk about the Turkish Cypriots claiming a 'puppet government' of their own being preposterous, but the Greek Cypriots once had a puppet government, the Sampson one which admittedly only lasted a few days thanks to Turkey intervening as you say, and also because the coup plotters failed to kill Makarios when they shelled/bombed the Presidential Palace in Nicosia. The TRNC is only a 'puppet' of Turkey insomuch as Turkish soldiers from the mainland protect it - there are free elections in the North and the people there decide their own government, just as the people in the South do. How else would they have gone against Denktash's advice and voted for the Annan plan to reunite the island? Turkish Cypriots, like many Greek Cypriots, have had enough of the complete division of the island. This is why border restrictions have been eased, and travel between the two states by Greek/Turkish Cypriots is now possible.

It should also be remembered, however, that even now the Republic of Cyprus is entirely Greek-Cypriot. Were it to win back the trust of Turkish Cypriots, entice large numbers back into Southern Cyprus and allow them to elect their own MPs to the Republic of Cyprus Parliament, then it could legitimately claim to represent the whole island and be a truly multi-ethnic Republic. I see no sign of that at the moment. Are Turkish Cypriots even allowed to settle in the Republic of Cyprus? My Turkish Cypriot friends tell me they are not allowed to do so. The Greek mainland, it is true, doesn't have an army occupying Southern Cyprus, but there is a strong Greek-Cypriot National Guard. Also, you have the British soldiers which, however inactive they have been in the past, probably deter a Turkish invasion of the South were it ever to be contemplated. The British bases are no doubt one reason why the Turkish army never tried to invade any further South in 1974. That and the likelihood that all the events of 1974 were plotted beforehand by NATO with the connivance of Greece, USA and UK, possibly even Turkey, to get rid of Makarios. I don't believe the full truth of the events of 1974 has come out yet - I'm pretty sure it was all a NATO conspiracy against Makarios. I'm sure Greece knew full well that by organizing the Sampson coup, a Turkish invasion of the North was inevitable. The British knew it too, and this is why they did nothing to stop either event. It was all planned beforehand within NATO. All countries involved in the events of 1974 were and still are NATO members.

As I tried to explain in my article, there is at present no government in Cyprus which represents a multi-ethnic community, not since the events of 1974. We have to try to get back to that situation, even if it means a federation of two states, one Turkish-Cypriot and one Greek-Cypriot. You can't tell me that the Republic of Cyprus is a genuine multi-ethnic community since 1974 - I've only ever seen Greek and Cypriot flags, never Turkish ones. Where are all the Turkish MPs, where is the Turkish Vice-President, where is the Turkish-Cypriot population? They have all fled to the North for safety. As I say, they distrust the Greek-Cypriots, and the Greek-Cypriots distrust the Turks. It is very sad, but you have to try to resolve the situation somehow. Trouble is, does either side really WANT to resolve it? Do Greek and Turkish Cypriots really want to be re-united in a multi-ethnic community? If you do want a reunited island, then both sides have to make compromises. You can't have a pure Hellenic state in Cyprus unless the Turkish Cypriots also have a Turkish state. So a federation seems the best solution.

The only other solutions I can see are a continuation of the status quo, with two completely separate Cypriot states, or another stab at a 1960 type bi-communal Constitution, but is there enough trust on both sides to make that work? It never worked in the past, so seems a non-starter. It would involve both communities mixing together again and thinking of themselves as Cypriots first, and Turkish/Greek second. It would mean abandoning Hellenic anthems and flags in favor of purely Cypriot ones, or else accepting that if you keep your Hellenic symbols the Turkish Cypriots have a right to keep their's too. This would probably mean three Cypriot national anthems, and three flags flying across the island - the Greek flag, the Turkish flag and the Cypriot flag. Or possibly 5 flags - Greek mainland, Turkish mainland, Cypriot federation, Greek Cypriot state, Turkish Cypriot state. Only the Cypriots can work out a solution, perhaps with help from the UN and other countries.

There is a fourth possible solution to the Cypriot problem. A negotiated settlement in which the South becomes part of Greece (Enosis), and the North becomes part of Turkey. The border between Greece and Turkey would then run right thru the island, and thru its capital Nicosia. Whatever solution is finally agreed upon, the Turkish Cypriots would probably have to give up Famagusta and some other land, and the British should be told to give up their Sovereign bases too. What have these British bases ever done for Cypriots, Greek or Turkish? The British soldiers sat there and did nothing when first the Sampson coup overthrew the Makarios government, and then Turkey invaded the North. If the British want bases in Cyprus, let them lease them from the Cypriot government(s). Why should British law rule in these Sovereign bases? British soldiers on the island should be subject to Cypriot courts and Cypriot laws, at least when Cypriot civilians are involved. Only incidents between British soldiers should be resolved by British military courts.

I hope this discussion helps us understand each other a bit more, and that similar discussions between Greek and Turkish Cypriots can ultimately lead to a solution to the Cyprus problem. There were wrongs and atrocities on both sides, and the distrust this has caused is very difficult to overcome. Greek Cypriots lost lives, homes and land in the North, but Turkish Cypriots lost lives, land and homes in the South too. Any solution to the Cypriot problem must take account of claims on both sides.

I wish you all the best,

Tony

*****

Dear Tony

My name is Andreas and like yourself I am a Greek Cypriot although I live in England. Like Antony I have read your one sided and wrong view on what has and is happening in Cyprus.

You are very mistaken on not most but all things, as Nicos Sampson was only put in Cyprus as a peace-keeper as they had no president at the time due to the Praksikopima (the fights between the left side supporting Makarios and the right side supporting Grivas and ENOSIS). This battle was to overthrow the president, and yes many Turkish Cypriots were killed, but vice versa, you forgot to say how many Greeks were killed by the English in 1955-1959 as they fought for their freedom after England promised freedom to Cyprus if they would help them in World War 2, which Cypriots gladly agreed to and many lost their lives.

You also forgot about the many who lost their lives in battles between Turkish Cypriots who disagreed with Greek Cypriots, because otherwise they
got along fine if you ask anyone. Many where killed as Antony said, such as the 8 civilians from Kondemeno after the English were in battle with Greeks. Turkish people found it in themselves to kill, brutally may I add, 8 people from my village and a few were my family.

You also forgot to say that in 1974 during the brutal invasion from Turkey, the Turkish army raped old women, killed all people young and old, took
young kids and turned them into Turkish civilians. Now may I say you forgot the true facts: that is what a Third World country would do.

After the war, apart from a few churches, many were looted and all icons and mosaics that were in the churches were sold to other Christian countries. Churches were turned into sleeping camps for soldiers such in my village of Kondemeno, or into toilets or even into mosques. The only few churches which are still standing you have to pay to go into as they are museums, although everything to do with the Turkish people in South Cyprus is still there and kept for people. I know this because I have been to check for myself. May I say my dad was 16 during the war in 1974 and on many occasions the Turkish military tried to kill him, his parents and his younger brothers and sisters.

Yes it is true we Greek Cypriots voted No to the Annan plan, but you forget to add that under this plan as soon as the clock hit 12 Turkish Cypriots could get their houses back and compensation for the money they lost over the years, but the Greeks had to wait 5 years to return to their homes and only after 25 years would they get their compensation, when our grandparents will be dead and parents too old to think about all the money, maybe dead as well, and the third generation will not even care about it any more. Also in the plan the Turks get to keep about 25% of the land they stole.

May I finish by saying to you don't have to show a passport when you travel from Washington to New York but in Cyprus to go from South side to the North side you have to show a passport and give money for it to go into Mr Talat's (fake president of fake TRNC) pocket and you are a foreigner in your own country.

You have been bought up to think bad about your own country, but that is how many Americans are. People call Greeks terrorists for going to war with England for freedom, but when USA and England go to war with Afghanistan, Iraq and now Iran they are not terrorists. I am a TRUE GREEK AND YOU ARE JUST A FAKE GREEK. U ARE A DISGRACE TO CYPRUS.

THANK YOU ANDREAS.

Dear Andreas,

The Cyprus posting on my Website has been there for years, yet now I am suddenly getting a reaction from you and others. This is good, as the whole purpose of the Website, on various subjects, is to get debates going. I just wish some Turkish Cypriots would join the debate, and people with no connexion with Cyprus whatsoever for an unbiased view.

First of all, you seem under the impression I'm Greek-American. This is not the case, I was born in England (London) and live here like you. I have no time for the US and British invasion of Iraq, and have been on demonstrations against it. I am also against their action in Afghanistan. All peacekeeping or actions to protect human rights should be undertaken by a UN security force if necessary. That includes any action necessary in the past or future in Cyprus. So it would have been far better if the UN had acted in 1974, than have Turkey invade after the 1974 Sampson coup with all the problems which followed.

I am sure that in Cyprus, as in other places where wars and civil unrest occurs, there were atrocities committed by all sides. This includes the Turks, the British and the Greeks where Cyprus is concerned. But you overstate your case when you claim the Turkish army 'killed all people young and old' and then say in the same sentence 'they took young kids and turned them into Turkish civilians'. If they killed everybody, how could they turn the children into Turkish civilians? And what about all the Greek refugees who fled to the South - clearly they weren't all killed.

However they were in great danger, I can see that. But answer me this, because no Greek person, including my father, has been able to: Where have all the Turkish Cypriots gone who once lived in the South? Why are they no longer there? What made them flee to the 'safe haven' of North Cyprus? There can only be one answer - they fled for their very lives, the same as the Greek refugees fled South. My father told lies. When I first visited the island in 1977 and visited the then Turkish Federated State of Cyprus by crossing the Green Line with my British passport, I chatted to Turkish Cypriots, as I did in the 1990s when I visited the TRNC from Turkey, and found them very friendly. My father claimed that the Wall in Nicosia was just like the Berlin Wall, and that Turkish soldiers would shoot Turkish Cypriots trying to escape to Southern Nicosia and South Cyprus, but the Greek Cypriots would 'welcome them with open arms' if they could escape. When I asked why all the Turkish Cypriots fled North in 1974 and abandoned their villages in the South if they were 'welcome with open arms' by the Greeks, he couldn't answer me. Clearly ethnic cleansing took place on both sides, and Greeks in the North were forced to flee South for their lives, and Turks in the South were forced to flee North for their lives.

Things have improved since then. I visited the British base area of Dhekelia in 1998 after attending my father's funeral, and the village in that Sovereign base area where Greek and Turkish Cypriots still live together. It was an uplifting experience. I then drove North to the border with the TRNC, got out of my hired car, walked up to the border post and chatted to a TRNC border guard. He wouldn't let me thru as this is not an authorized entry point for non-Turkish Cypriots, but as I chatted to him he waved thru loads of Turkish Cypriots visiting the South. There were no further checkpoints, so there was nothing to stop them traveling where they wanted in the Republic of Cyprus. None of them seemed to want to stay there though (or more probably, were not allowed to by the Greek Cypriot authorities), and a steady stream of Turkish Cypriot cars were also heading the other way back to North Cyprus. I understand Greek Cypriots can now visit the North too, via the crossing in Nicosia. OK, you have to show a passport and have certain papers, but not so long ago you couldn't visit the North at all.

If you had a negotiated settlement reuniting the island, things would be even better. But I agree the terms must be right for both sides. From what you say, it seems it was the terms for relocation for Turks and Greeks and the time period for compensation which made the Greek Cypriots reject the Annan plan. But some solution must be found, and one which ensures the Turkish Cypriots are not once again swamped by Greek Cypriots and made into a powerless minority again. At the moment their main problem is being swamped by Turkish settlers from the mainland, and this has caused resentment. Perhaps there could be a quota for so many Greeks per year to move North, and so many Turks per year to move South. Compensation for lost land should not be delayed - it should be paid to both communities at the same time. Famagusta should be handed back to the Greek state in any federal solution. There should be no restrictions on travel thruout the island for Greek or Turkish Cypriots. Perhaps it is time to start drawing up a new plan for reunification, improving on the Annan plan.

Please don't tell me all the wrongs were on the Turkish side in this bi-communal unrest. As for the British, well they should get out of Cyprus. They have never helped Cypriots, neither the Greeks nor the Turks. They sat in their bases and did nothing when the independence of Cyprus was violated in 1974 first when the Greek colonels in the Athens junta organized the Sampson coup against Makarios, and then by the Turkish invasion of the North. The UN also did nothing, and NATO did nothing. All this makes me suspect the whole thing was a NATO conspiracy, with Turkey as a convenient scapegoat for the division of the island which was an inevitable result of the Sampson coup.

You claim Sampson was a peacemaker, but the Turkish Cypriots certainly didn't see it like that. Nor did Makarios who told the UN General Assembly that 'Greece has invaded Cyprus'. He was still the elected President of Cyprus when the coup took place and they bombed his Presidential Palace. Nominally at least, Rauf Denktash was still the Vice President of the Republic of Cyprus. Though I understand the Turkish Cypriot community felt powerless in the Greek Cypriot dominated Parliament, and had largely withdrawn from it and started to set up their own institutions in the North even before the Turkish army invaded.

Don't talk to me about the British. Not only did they commit atrocities everywhere they went (they invented concentration camps), they left a bloody mess everywhere too. All the troubles in India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Ireland/Iraq/Palestine/Israel/Cyprus were caused, or made worse, by the British and the mess they left behind after their colonial rule. They drew lines on maps dividing up countries, they created artificial countries sometimes displacing local populations (Israel, Iraq, Pakistan for instance). They left whole nations unrecognized and split between two rival states (such as Kashmir). Hardly anywhere did they leave a stable government, certainly not in Cyprus, or in Israel/Palestine or the Indian sub-continent. Nor in Ireland.

When I visited the TRNC I was taken round a Greek Orthodox church, Bellapais Abbey near Kyrenia. It was intact, but perhaps was preserved for tourists. When the island is reunited, and if Greeks start to go back to the North and Turks to the South, I'm sure churches and mosques can be reopened, even if they've been vandalized or converted to other uses since then. You say the mosques are still intact in the South, and I saw several from a distance. But in other countries mosques have been converted into churches - I saw one in Spain converted into a Catholic Church. So this doesn't just happen in North Cyprus. They can be converted back again if necessary.

Then you raise the passport question. You wouldn't need a passport if the Annan plan had been accepted, and a federal Cypriot republic had joined the EU. Eventually passports will be abolished for all travel within the European Union. In any case there are many countries where you need passports to travel from one part of the country to another. In the old Soviet Union you needed a passport to travel from one part of the country to another, when Germany was divided you needed a passport to travel from the FRG (West) to the GDR (East) and vice versa, if indeed you were allowed to travel at all (a lot of Germans were NOT allowed to travel to the other Germany of course.) You needed a passport to travel from South to North Vietnam, and vice versa. Korea is also divided, as is Ireland. Cyprus is by no means unique in this respect. India was once all one country, now you need passports to travel to Pakistan and Bangladesh - once all part of India. I look forward to the day when we have less borders and less restrictions on travel, which is why I am in favor of a federal European Union with passports abolished for travel within it.

You mention the USA, but as I said I don't live there. However if the South had won the War Between The States you WOULD need a passport to travel from Washington DC to the suburb of Arlington, Virginia across the river as it would be in another country - the Confederate States of America.

Anyway, back to the Cyprus problem. I hope it can be resolved soon. The division of the island has gone on too long, but both communities must be happy with the reunification plans, and feel safe. A EU or UN force could replace the Turkish soldiers in the North, and indeed the British in the South.

Turkish and Greek Cypriots seem to get on OK in London. I went to a Greek-Cypriot wedding of one of my cousin's children a few years ago, and found myself sitting next to a Turkish Cypriot. I hope one day soon Turkish and Greek Cypriots in Cyprus can be on friendly terms, and put in the past the terrible atrocities which were committed between the two communities, and by the British colonialists.

I feel this discussion is helping - and I am sorry about your family members who suffered in the past. This happens in all wars I'm afraid, which is why I am a pacifist. By this I mean all policing actions should be by a UN security force, not by unilateral military actions which harm civilians and kill people indiscriminately.

I now understand a little better why Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan plan. If it gave Turkish Cypriots their homes back immediately along with compensation, and Greek Cypriots had to wait up to 25 years, this was wrong. But at the same time, I can see the Turkish Cypriots, being a smaller population, didn't want to be overwhelmed by the Greek Cypriots. There was no danger of the Greek Cypriots being overwhelmed by the smaller Turkish Cypriot population, even with the Turkish mainland settlers living in the North.

A new plan needs to be drawn up acceptable to both sides. In a reunification deal, I personally can see nothing wrong with the Turkish Cypriots being granted a state of 25% of the land area in a unified federal Cypriot Republic. I thought the Turkish Cypriots made up more than 30% of the Cypriot population? Under this arrangement the Greek Cypriots would hold on to 75% of the land area, at least if they kicked out the British in their so-called Sovereign bases!

I wish you all the best,

Tony

*****

Hello again Tony,

I feel it is important to start by saying, contrary to your statement saying that your friends say Turkish Cypriots are not allowed to live on the Greek side, that yes there are Turkish Cypriots living in the free-side of the island, and have been living there since the invasion in 1974. There is no discrimination or abuse towards these individuals, but I do not feel it would be the same for Greek Cypriots. I would also like to immediately rubbish your accusation that there is no multi-ethnicity, and I quote, "You can't tell me that the Republic of Cyprus is a genuine multi-ethnic community since 1974", there is to this day multi-ethnicity in the form of the political group AKEL. Although I am against this political group which is head of the Parliament, they represent a Greek-Turkish Cypriot community and are for the reunification of Cyprus. You constantly go on that there are no Turkish Cypriots in government but may I remind you that when Cyprus was declared an independent state, the government was made up of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots, but the Turkish Cypriot MP's are the ones that indecently left parliaments, maybe this was because of the hidden 'Taksim' movement that was occurring that I am sure you are not aware of. You talk about us Greek Cypriots wanting ENOSIS with Greece and ethnic purity, but there were also Turkish movements such as TMT and the call for 'Taksim' that were the same outcome, (division of Greek and Turkish Cypriots). Taksim became the slogan which was used by the increasingly militant Turkish Cypriots which was the call for partition from Greek Cypriots, similar to ENOSIS.

I do feel that it is difficult for someone like you that has no real connections with your Cypriot background to talk passionately as well as rationally about the topic in question, but I do feel it is good to discuss it. I myself support a right-wing political party, DISY, and I am very proud of my Hellenic background and culture. Although in my own mind together with my family we voted NO to the Annan plan, we would have benefited greatly because we have land and other assets in many places in occupied Famagusta. My granddad, on my mother's side, has many assets that will make my family very wealthy were the island to be reunified, as the land has not been built on and a lot of the assets are in my mother's name. That has not however resulted in the "Selling out" of mine and my family beliefs in order to gain finances or power, because as I have said before I do not need to buy back what is already mine and I'm not prepared to sell my country along with its flag and its National anthem, which brings me to my next point. I do feel that even Turkish Cypriots knew they were a minority living in a majority Greek Cypriot society. So I ask you, why else would they have accepted a GREEK National Anthem, the same as Greece's, as well as a Greek Cypriot President???

I would further like to answer the question you asked Andreas, "Where have all the Turkish Cypriots gone who once used to live in the south", that's an easy question, most of them live in the UK and Germany. The fact of the matter there are very few Turkish Cypriots living in the Turkish Occupied part of Cyprus, and it is mostly inhabited by mainland Turks brought by Denktash in order to populate the mutilated North. And you talk of a 'safe haven' referring to the self proclaimed TRNC, WHAT SAFE HAVEN?? Filled with drug lords and criminals, and I'm not referring to the Turkish Cypriot public. I have no animosity towards the Turkish Cypriot people, as I also have many friends who are Turkish Cypriot. How can a 'safe haven' be safe when the government itself is mafia-infiltrated? I have been to the North to visit my family's home town of Varosi, in Ammochostos (Famagusta) as well as other towns and villages which my family has assets in, and the place looks as it did in 1974. I think that even though it is an unrecognised state, it is in an appalling state and cannot even be categorised as a third world state, and to be fair our muggish government at the moment, run by left wing communists, until recently was paying the electricity bill for the occupied north. Unfortunately though there is one topic I am not certain about the outcome of and that is the future of my Island. For those who know me they will know that I am a through and through Hellene and I love my country, this is also because I am 1/4 Greek too and feel a certain obligation in keeping all my heritage together. I am pro-nationalist but in know way racist or pro-discriminative, but I do admit, as do most people, that I prefer and love my own more than other races/cultures. If I was a soldier back in the struggle between EOKA and EOKA B I would have to be honest and say I would be in favour of ENOSIS, plainly because I would have been against the Turks. I used to live in Cyprus for 6 years and growing up there we were taught to think of the Turk as the Enemy and a rapist which was also helped by having a huge family who had far right views and a hand in EOKA and EOKA B in the past. Today that is not the case with the schools, although there is the existence of a Hellenic Cyprus. Since moving to the UK I have made some Turkish Cypriot friends and although my views and opinion are made clear to those friends, we can still have a mature conversation about it all.

Many people ask me why I am so passionate about this topic. Simply I am very patriotic and a true Greek is a one with passion and determination and will get his point over whatever the consequence. As I have said before, the only puzzle I cannot put together is how the Cyprus situation can be resolved.

Look forward to your reply,

Anthony

Dear Anthony,

Many thanks for your very frank latest email, in which you admit you would have been in favor of Enosis. I have also met rightwing Turks who have similar feelings about the North of the island, in relation to mainland Turkey of course. I do feel we are getting somewhere in this debate. I am so glad you have made some Turkish Cypriot friends in UK. You put your finger on it when you say that in Cyprus, especially in the decades of complete separation of the two communities after the events of 1974, the two sides grew up to hate each other. Greeks only saw the Turkish side as rapists, murderers and invaders, and no doubt Turkish Cypriots had similar feelings about the other side. I was living in the house of a Greek-Cypriot family in my father's village during my stay in 1977. Their eldest son, Andreas, had just done his National Service in the Greek-Cypriot National Guard. The only Turks and Turkish-Cypriots he had ever seen in the previous three years were thru the eyesight of an army rifle, and they were looking back at him thru the gunsight of a rifle. How can you foster friendship in such circumstances? But I was cheered on a later visit to Nicosia to see Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots waving and shouting friendly greetings to each other near the gate by the Green Line. The Turkish Cypriots could then come right up the the wire fence on top of the wall by the gate and wave to the Greek Cypriots in the street below. Now they can actually visit each other, which is a great improvement.

I know there were Turkish Cypriots who wanted union with Turkey, as well as Greek-Cypriots, like yourself, who wanted Enosis. This is also the problem with Northern Ireland of course - some of the population want union with the UK, the rest want Union with the Republic of Ireland. These are all impossible situations to resolve without compromise on both sides.

I'm glad to hear there are some Turkish Cypriots who have been living in the Republic of Cyprus since 1974. There are also some Greek Cypriots, mainly elderly, still living in the North - mainly in the peninsular in the Northeast of the country. I can't say there is no discrimination against them, I just don't know, but at any rate they decided to stay and were allowed to do so.

All I know of AKEL is that it encompasses the Communist Party of Cyprus. I should therefore imagine, being a leftwing party, that they would be internationalist and more aware of the views of Turkish Cypriots, as well as being in favor of reunification.

I am aware that the Turkish Cypriot politicians started withdrawing from the Parliament before 1974, and said so in a recent reply to Andreas. I can't say what the reasons for this were for sure, but suspect it was because they felt powerless with the permanent Greek majority in parliament. Did the 1960 Constitution give the Turkish Cypriots a veto over policy? If not, it was a bad Constitution, as the minority Turkish Cypriot population had very little power. But I can understand the Greek Cypriots would not want a minority ethnic group to have a veto over policies, which is probably why the 1960 Constitution was doomed to failure. It was just the same in Northern Ireland, where Loyalists (Protestants loyal to the UK) had complete power, and Republicans (Catholics loyal to the Republic of Ireland) had no power and felt they were discriminated against. The Ulster Constabulary were dominated by Loyalists, and no doubt the Cypriot police and National Guard were dominated by the majority population, as was the parliament. Something needs to be worked out satisfactory to both sides, and a federated Cypriot republic seems the best solution if this can be worked out.

I take your point about many Turkish Cypriots moving to UK and Germany rather than stay in North Cyprus, though many do still live in the TRNC. It was a safe haven inasmuch as many feared for their lives if they stayed in the Greek-Cypriot dominated Republic of Cyprus in the South, certainly in 1974 and immediately afterwards. Otherwise they would never have fled either to the North of the island, or to UK and Germany. Though it has to be said, many Greek Cypriots also live in the UK, so the fact is many Cypriots prefer to live in UK for various reasons than in either Cypriot republic. My father came here before the Second World War, followed by many of his relations. He and some others went back to Cyprus decades later. But if the Republic of Cyprus is such a multi-ethnic community, why haven't more Turkish Cypriots moved back there, either from the TRNC area or from the UK? When Turkish Cypriots do choose to return to Cyprus from the UK, they tend to head for the TRNC.

I can't help feeling there is a lot of hypocrisy around this whole argument about Enosis, the Taksim movement as you call it, and the lip-service both sides pay to multi-ethnicity. I think the Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations were naturally traumatized by the terrible events of 1974, but in the 32 years since then have come to value the separation of the two communities. In all but name you have achieved Enosis, and they have achieved union with Turkey. You have an almost pure ethnic Greek state covering most of Cyprus, they have an almost pure Turkish state in the North - rather too big, it needs to be whittled down more to the size of the Turkish Cypriot population. I think it suits both sides quite well to have this separation, otherwise they'd have come up with an acceptable reunification plan long ago. So the Greeks blame the Turks for the division, and the Turks blame the Greeks, but secretly pehaps they don't really want reunification. At least until fairly recently. The fact that the Annan plan was accepted by a majority in the North suggests they do want some sort of reunification, in a federal Cyprus. I hope the terms can be altered so the Greek Cypriots can be happy with a future plan for reunification.

Yes, you are right. It is difficult for me, having never lived in Cyprus, and having few connexions with my Greek relatives (I don't even speak Greek), to identify with the Greek Cypriot position. I am really an outsider, not least due to the fact that my father's family come from the Paphos area which was really unaffected by the Turkish invasion, apart from taking in some refugees from the North. All my father lost was some land around Kyrenia.

I am absolutely appalled at the revelation, which is news to me, that the Turkish Cypriots under the 1960 Constitution had to accept a Greek National Anthem, identical with that of Greece. If this is true, no wonder they felt alienated. Cyprus should have had a new anthem, just as it had a new flag. The Greek Cypriot President with a Turkish Cypriot Vice President seems fair enough to me, because the Greeks were the majority population. Just so long as the rights of the minority Turkish Cypriot population were protected. Clearly they felt they weren't before 1974, and after the events of 1974 many of them fled to UK or to North Cyprus. So I don't think it is true to say they 'accepted' the situation before that. If they did, they wouldn't have withdrawn their MPs frrom the parliament and set up their own institutions in the North, even before 1974.

As I said to Andreas, the TRNC is a pariah state, unrecognized by any country but Turkey, which is why it is a haven for the mafia and criminals. They are beyond the reach of international law. Legitimizing the situation by reunification in a federal Cypriot republic inside the EU would help to end this situation in the North. As to Famagusta and the area around there being undeveloped since 1974, I believe this is a deliberate policy by the TRNC authorities because they know they will eventually have to hand this area back to Greek Cyprus. This is why they have made no attempt to develop Famagusta into a tourist town again. In fact, it is a ghost town frozen in 1974. It was taken as a bargaining chip, I believe, to be eventually handed back to the Greek Cypriots in exchange for recognition of a smaller Turkish Cypriot state in the North. I am sure in any eventual reunification, the Famagusta area will be handed back to the Greek Cypriot federal entity. The rest of the TRNC is, I'm sure, more developed. At least the areas I saw around Kyrenia, Bellapais and in North Nicosia looked fine to me.

The settlers in the North from mainland Turkey are a problem, I agree. This needs to be addressed in any future settlement. They may need to return to Turkey and make the lands/homes they occupy available to Cypriots again, whether Greek or Turkish. This question cannot be ignored, as it affects both Cypriot communities. The Turkish army in the North must also return to Turkey, to be replaced by a Cypriot security force, probably backed up by an EU or UN security force. I'd like to see the British leave the South as well - they've never done anything for either the Greek or Turkish Cypriots. They sat and twiddled their thumbs all thru the events of 1974. It was because of this inactivity of the British, supposed defenders of the independence of Cyprus, which gave Turkey the excuse to invade the North.

As an outsider, I can't tell you how the Cyprus problem can be resolved. I can only give you my opinion, that some sort of federal Cypriot Republic is probably the best solution, with most, if not all, Turkish settlers in the North expelled, with free travel for Greek and Turkish Cypriots thruout the island (i.e. no passport controls), with compensation for lost lives and land on both sides paid out to both communities at the same time, and with yearly quotas for Greek and Turkish Cypriots to be able to move back to their old villages/areas in the other sector if they wish. Exactly how this is done it is up to Cypriots to decide, with help from the UN and other international organizations. Some mechanism needs to be introduced to prevent the Turkish Cypriot entity being overwhelmed by Greek Cypriots, if not in numbers, in political power. Perhaps within this Turkish Cypriot entity, whatever its eventual size, the Turkish Cypriot population would have the final veto, and within the much larger Greek Cypriot entity the Greek Cypriots would have the final veto. I'm sure a solution can be worked out, but it requires effort, and above all, the will on both sides to come up with an acceptable solution both communities can live with.

Tony Papard

*****

Dear Tony

Thank you for answering. I just want to say why do you say that it was a Sampson coup as he wasn't a president or a dictator, just in place to keep peace? Also the only reason us Greeks went to war was to overthrow the president that I will never like and some of Cyprus will never like:
Makarios.

Also you ask how were people transferred from being Greeks to Turkish. They were if they were found alone, if they were found with their parents they were killed. If Turkey wanted to keep peace on the island what I ask all Turkish people and what they can not answer is: if they came for peace why were so many people killed and still 1619 missing and nobody knows were they are? I believe they are slaves in detention camps in Turkey.

In the human rights law it says that everyone should be entitled to their homes. Well it has been 31 yrs and Greek people are still waiting to return
like my whole family from my father's side. Also the reason why the Turkish people fled to the North and never stayed in the South was because
they knew they would find a nice home and a business. Easy way to gain money I think.

Although Turkish people are welcome with open arms in the south side, as every day 8,000 Turkish Cypriots come over to the south side to work for
Greeks, they then go back to our homes in the North.

Also as Cyprus is in the EU nearly all the Turkish Cypriots who have come over to the south side have gotten a Greek/European passport only to go into other countries and the Turkish military is very angry. Also the Greek government has said to all the Turkish Cypriots who lost their homes
they may get a new home or their own home back and the government will fix it up for them as they have lost it for 31 yrs. Many of them want to come back. Well I have to say when they had the chance to stay they went to the north side to gain our homes and now they want their old homes now it will be fixed up only because they will sell it and go back to the north side. So the people who became refugees 31yrs ago will become refugees again.

You say Britain did nothing during the war but if you know your history in 1973 there was a secret document which had plans with England helping Turkey to capture Cyprus, and they did. USA and England helped by giving weapons and in the war helped Turkey invade, even blocking Greece getting to the island as they did in 1963 when Greece came and Turkey left straight away. They also gave their aeroplanes to the Turks and Greeks did not shoot them thinking they were English training planes, then soon saw the Turkish army coming down by parachute.

Just to say, you say you want a solution in Cyprus because it will be right. The only way there will be a solution is when the Turkish army leave Cyprus and the land is given back. Then they can talk about the government of the island and about the money.

Thank you. Andreas (Hope you have a nice Easter.)

Dear Andreas,

I have just written a long reply to Anthony, now posted on the site with his latest email. Thanks for your latest one, which I find very interesting.

Makarios was for years the hero of the Greek Cypriot people and loved by them. My father had a picture of Makarios one side of his mantelpiece in London, and Grivas' picture on the other side. In 1974 during the Sampson period and after, the picture of Makarios disappeared. When I asked him why, he said that Makarios was a Communist. So you and Anthony would have agreed with my father on these events, which you describe as a 'war to overthrow the president that I will never like and some of Cyprus will never like, Makarios'. Whether you describe the Sampson era as a coup, a war, or whatever, and whether Sampson is described as a president, a dictator, a puppet ruler or a peacekeeper, the fact is Makarios was overthrown, and this gave Turkey the excuse to invade the North. Anyone could see this would be the inevitable result of the overthrow of the Makarios government, unless some outside force such as the UN or UK stepped in very quickly to restore stability and protect local populations.

Your revelation of the secret document from 1973 about British complicity in plans for Turkey to invade comes as no real surprise to me. As I have written time and time again, it is perfectly obvious that the British were implicated in the events of 1974. Probably USA and NATO were implicated too. Why else would Britain, with thousands of troops permanently stationed on the island, sit and do nothing when first Makarios was overthrown, and then Turkey invaded the North? Because NATO also saw Makarios as, if not Communist, pro-Soviet, and were possibly afraid he might lease a naval base to the Soviets on Cyprus. Of course this was a NATO conspiracy right from the start, but it went wrong when Makarios survived alive to later become President again until his death a few years later. I'm sure the deal, worked out within NATO, was that Sampson would declare Enosis, Turkey would be allowed to invade the North (but not Famagusta - this was outside the original conspiracy and was taken as a bargaining chip when things started to go wrong), and the British soldiers would sit in their bases and do nothing to stop the Greeks or the Turks. Indeed, as you say, the British may actually have encouraged and helped the events of 1974. The full truth may never be known.

As to the actions of the Turkish army, they may have called themselves 'peacemakers' but, as in similar operations elsewhere, atrocities always occur in these situations. The British and Americans claim they went into Iraq, not only to find and destroy the non-existent 'weapons of mass destruction', but to overthrow a cruel dictator and bring human rights and peace to the region. Tell that to the families of the estimated over 100,000 Iraqi civilians and others so far killed by American/British bombing and shelling and by the terrorist activity which never existed in that country before the British/American invasion. Tell that to the Iraqis tortured and imprisoned without trial by the British and Americans. This sort of thing has happened time and time again, certainly thruout the latter half of the 20th century. Hungarians died when the Soviets went in in 1956 to 'protect the Hungarian revolution', similarly in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and when the Americans went into Vietnam in the 1960s. I don't know how many Turkish Cypriots died during the events of 1974, but I find it hard to believe they all fled North just to grab abandoned Greek Cypriot homes when they already had homes in the South. They fled to the North, UK and other places because they feared for their lives, or were just fed up with being a powerless minority in a Greek-Cypriot dominated country. Anthony tells me they even had to put up with the National Anthem of Greece as the National Anthem of Cyprus! No wonder they fled the South at the first opportunity, especially in the confusion of 1974 when Enosis looked a real possibility.

Many people have been expelled from their homes in various countries, not least the Palestinians when Israel was established in 1948, and in the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank in 1967 and in later years. It has happened in other places too, and is a violation of human rights. But human rights were violated on both sides in the events of 1974 in Cyprus, and as you say, 32 years later it is time something was done about it. This can only come about by negotiation and a settlement agreeable to both sides. If it is decided Turkish Cypriots can't claim their old homes back just to sell them and continue to live in the North, then the same restriction should apply to Greek Cypriots. Personally I can't see why they would want to do that if Turkish and Greek Cypriots were paid compensation for homes they lost if they didn't wish to return to them.

I agree the Turkish army needs to leave Cyprus in any settlement, to be replaced by a EU/UN security force perhaps, and that Turkish mainland settlers, or the majority of them, need to be made to return to mainland Turkey and make the homes/land they occupy available to both Greek and Turkish Cypriots in any final settlement.

But nothing will happen unless and until both Greek and Turkish Cypriots want it to happen, and work hard to make it happen.

Even though I'm not a Christian, but a non-religious Survivalist (an atheist/agnostic who believes we survive death), I wish A Happy Easter to you too. (Does the Orthodox Easter coincide with the non-Orthodox one this year?)

Tony

After going to your website I was really astonished at your views. Firstly I
think you should be really proud of your Dad being Cypriot and get the
disgusting Turkish flag off your website.

As for your views on Grivas and Nicos Sampson, they are the greatest people
alive and its people like them make me proud of being Cypriot. Nothing worse
than someone swings to the wrong side.

I will post your comments on the relevant page on the Website. All I can say is I totally disagree with you, but you already know that. By the way, Grivas is certainly no longer alive, not sure about Sampson.

I most certainly will not remove the flag of the TRNC off the Webpage. This Republic has at least as much legitimacy, in my book, as the Greek Republic of Cyprus. At least until the Greek-Cypriots join their Turkish-Cypriot compatriots in voting for reunification of the island. Even then, both federated states of the united republic may wish to retain their own flags.