The heavy and loud Greek propaganda blames Turkish Cypriots for the destruction of Christian monuments with in the territories of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus but this one sided and in the majority of the cases, deceiving Greek propaganda never mentions the Ottoman or Turkish monuments destroyed by the Greeks.
In 1963 the Greek/Greek Cypriot ambition to achieve Enosis (the union of Cyprus with Greece), culminated in a terrible onslaught, with much bloodshed, on the unarmed Turkish Cypriot people, depriving them of their fundamental human rights, left thousands of them dead, wounded, missing and uprooted from their homes.
An important aspect of these attacks was the deliberate destruction of over 100 mosques, shrines and other precious Ottoman and Islamic antiquities. This took place in 103 towns and villages which the Turkish Cypriots were forced to abandon.
The persecution of Moslem Turks of Cyprus between 1963-1974, was put to an end after the rightful intervention of Turkey on 20 July 1974, in accordance with the Treaty of Guarantee.
The Greek Cypriot administration has, since 1963, been trying to eradicate all traces of the Turkish-Muslim heritage of Cyprus. During the period 1963-1974, called as the “Dark era” by the Turkish Cypriots, mosques, shrines and other holy sites scattered all over the island were destroyed.
Especially on March 9, 1964 the mosque called Cami-i Cedid (New Mosque) of Paphos, situated in the very centre of the town, built in 1902 by the Turkish Cypriots living in Paphos district was first bundled and burned to death and later grounded by a bulldozer.
The area, once the mosque was piously standing, converted to a car park and the new enlarged avenue named as “9th March Avenue”, on the memory of the destruction day.
The Turkish cemetery near by is under very poor condition with almost all the graveyards destroyed and gravestones broken to the size of a palm. This graveyard probably will face the same fate.
Mr. Van der Werff, General Rapporteur of the Sub-Committee on the Architectural and Artistic Heritage of the Committee on Culture and Education of the Council of Europe, who visited the island of Cyprus with a delegation of experts to study the situation regarding cultural property both in the North and the South, reported in paragraph 5.3 of his report, which was published as a document of the Council of Europe on 2 July 1989 (AS/CULT/AA(41)1) that “We saw no churches destroyed, though St. George in Limnia (in the North) was listed as such.”
The report further states that “We noted with regret the complete destruction of the main mosque in Paphos (in the South).
The whole area has since been flattened to give way for a widened road junction and a car park. There is no memorial to the existence of the mosque. Below the road a Turkish bath complex remains hidden in rubble and vegetation awaiting restoration. The Turkish cemetery nearby St. Sophia Mouttalos mosque is dilapidated.”
More recently, Ms. Vlasta Stepova, a Council of Europe Rapporteur on Cultural Heritage, who visited both sides of the island in November 2000, also confirmed that there is no “vandalism of cultural monuments” in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
The very famous historical mosques, called Ömeriye and Bayraktar, named after the heroes of 1570 conquest of the town of Nicosia, experienced severe attacks of Greeks during the “Dark era”.
Greek Cypriots tried to knock down these two mosques by installing time regulated bombs, tried to burn down by repeated arson attacks but they resisted to survive. Now these beautiful shrines are disintegrating and left to die due to total neglect as the others.
The conflict in Cyprus did not begin in mid 1950’s but began with an idea called Enosis, unification of Cyprus with Greece.
This idea was seeded in Cyprus as early as 1879, when the British allowed Greeks to settle on the island in “patriotic communities.” Soon after, Greek patriotism flourished in the island and sneaked into churches and schools. The actual roots of Cyprus problem goes back as far as to late 1800’s but not 1974.
Since early 1900’s, the Greek Cypriots were geared for Enosis and opposed to the coexistence of Turkish Cypriots.
In 1959 the motherlands of both people and Britain provided Cyprus with a constitution that was not only agreed upon by all parties, but also provided for the existence of a Republic, where Turks and Greeks would have equal rights and a say over their own people.
Most people talk about Greek Cypriot sufferings as a result of the coup d’etat that overthrew Makarios and from Turkey’s intervention, but it seems they have no idea about the Turkish Cypriots sufferings.
Their knowledge is in lack of the period prior to the 1974 intervention, where the Greek Cypriots were orchestrating genocidal policies against Turkish Cypriots over a period of eleven years, starting from 1963.
During this notorious period, 103 Turkish Cypriot villages were completely destroyed and hundreds of Turkish Cypriots massacred and buried in mass graves by the Greek Cypriots.
Under the Akritas Plan, which it’s drafting was completed as early as 1961, the Greek Cypriots sought to annihilate the entire Turkish Cypriot population on Cyprus and accordingly attacks to Turkish Cypriots started on December 20, 1963. This atrocious night is known as “Bloody Christmas”, in Turkish Cypriot history and over 600 innocent Turkish Cypriot men, women, and children were ruthlessly slaughtered in one single night[1].
As a result of such grave human rights abuses, the Turkish Cypriots were forced to withdraw into small enclaves, almost 60,000 Turkish Cypriots left their homes, belongings, memories and sheltered in safe areas to save their lives. In these enclaves their fundamental human rights were severely restricted and they lived out their lives as refugees within their own country. They had no access to most of life’s basic necessities, had no political representation, and were exposed to constant violence and harassment regulated by the Greek Cypriot leadership.
The goal of the Greek Cypriot leadership under Makarios, was to force all Turkish Cypriots off of the island, either by brute force or by implementation of inhuman living conditions.
But the pace of Makarios for ethnic cleansing of Turkish Cypriots was not fast enough for the Junta Generals in Greece and this led to the Greek Cypriot National Guards overthrowing Makarios in a coup d’etat on July 15, 1974, under the command of Greek officers and support of Greek troops from Greece.
From this point onwards, things changed dramatically in the island. Turkey had to intervene to save the lives of Turkish Cypriots, as the speed of the genocide would get accelerated, after the declaration of “Cyprus Hellenic Republic” in July 16, 1974, by the notorious human butcher Nichos Sampson, a right wing Greek operative, installed by the Greek junta as the president to the unilaterally declared new republic.
It is a solid fact that the Turkish Cypriots had been struggling for ages to live in peace in the island but instead, forced by their adversaries to rely on the armed forces and get cohered to their motherland Turkey.
Historically, and particularly since 1961, Greece has systemati-cally pursued a deliberate policy of colonizing and annexing Cyprus (a process they term “Enosis”), due to which 60,000 Turkish Cypriots were forced to leave their homes, memories and belongings in 1964 after the fierce attacks of Greek militia and a further 60,000 in 1974, as the outcome of the notorious coup d’etat against Archbishop Makarios III, staged by Greek generals in Greece.
This is being done in order to change the demographic structure of the island, to control and adulterate the 1960 Treaty of Establish-ment of the Republic of Cyprus. Such attempts at consolidating the transformation of Cyprus’s demographic character continued even after the events of 1974.
Under international law mass transfers by another country of its own civilian population into territories outside its boundaries to change demographic structure is illegal. Greece sent over its own population to the island of Cyprus in the early 1900s, and more consistently since 1961.
Weeks before the parliamentary elections held on May 21, 2006 on the Greek Cypriot side, Greek Cypriot Interior Minister Andreas Hristu announced the election areas and the number of voters.
According to the announcement the number of ballot centers was 1,300 and election areas six, defined as Paphos, Limasol, Larnaca, Nicosia, Famagusta and Kyrenia.
In this particular election, for the first time since 1963, Turkish Cypriots settled in southern Cyprus and registered on the electoral roll were allowed to use their votes.
The crucial part of the announcement was the number of the ad-ditional voters. It revealed a dramatic increase of 30,000 on top of the existing 470,000 voters, with the new total topping 500,000.
When the backgrounds of these 500,000 voters were analyzed, a stunning outcome surfaced, clearly revealing the number of Greek set-tlers clandestinely accumulated on the island since 1961.
The breakdown of “Greek settlers” in this electoral list of 500,000 is approximately as follows:
Pontus Greek Cypriots: 60,000 – 70,000
Citizens of the former Soviet Republic: 30,000
Christians who fled Lebanon: 15,000 – 20,000
Immigrants from Greece: 100,000
Asylum seeker Kurds: 2,500 – 3,000
Asylum seeker citizens from third countries: 9,500
Total of “Greek settlers in Cyprus”: approximately 230,000
According to the existing but unpublished Greek Cabinet Decision of 1964, any Greek citizen who has done his military service in Cyprus or served in the Greek National Army (Ethniki Fruro) automatically becomes a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus (Greek Cyprus).
For years one Greek regiment and two battalions of Greek Com-mandos were deployed on the island and thousands of Greek officers served in the Greek Cypriot National Guard. These privates and army officers, who change every two years, have, since 1964, automatically become citizens.
Most Greek Cypriots go to study in Greece, get married and return to Cyprus. Their partners also immediately become citizens.
The Pontus Greeks (Pontii) and citizens of the former Soviet re-publics were made citizens soon after they settled on the island from 1974 and 1982, respectively.
Opening their arms to the wealthy Christians who fled the war in Lebanon, the Greek Cypriots also made them citizens. Furthermore, according to EU norms, Kurds and citizens from third countries who seek asylum automatically become citizens.
Why are only Turkish Cypriots consistently blamed for bringing in 40,000 settlers from Turkey, while the Greek Cypriots are not, although they have given citizenship to 230,000 non-Greek Cypriots and dramatically changed the demographic structure of the island?
References :
Simerini, Greek Cypriot Newspaper, April 30, 2006; Mahi, Greek Cypriot Newspaper, Sept. 20, 2006; Simerini, Greek Cypriot Newspaper, Nov. 28, 2006; Politis, Greek Cypriot Newspaper Jan. 14, 2007; Politis, Greek Cypriot Newspa-per, Feb. 6, 2007
Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have offi-cially protested the presence of 1,000 Greek mercenaries from mainland Greece in southern Greek Cyprus.
The official number of troops from mainland Greece deployed in south Cyprus is 6,000. The number of Greek mercenaries, who portray themselves as local Cypriots and dress as Greek national guardsmen (Ethniki Fruro) is 1,000. Of course, this Greek trick staged recently on the island of Cyprus, is not the first one.
Not long after the inter-communal clashes, enflamed by the Greek Cypriots on Dec. 21, 1963 in June of the following year, the House of Representatives, functioning with only its Greek Cypriot members, after expelling Turkish MPs with brutal force from the Parliament, passed a bill that established a National Guard, to which all Cypriot Greek males between the ages of 18 and fifty-nine were liable for compulsory service. The right of Cypriots to bear arms was then limited to this Greek-only National Guard and to the Greek-only police.
Invited by Makarios, Gen. Grivas returned to Cyprus in June to assume command of the National Guard; the purpose of the new law was to curb the proliferation of irregular Greek Cypriot bands and bring them under control in an organization to be commanded by the notorious Grivas. Around end of June 1964, Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots charged that large numbers of Greek regular troops were being clandestinely infiltrated into the island of Cyprus, to lend some professionalism to the Greek-only National Guard.
Grivas and the National Guard reacted to Turkish pressure by initiating patrols into Turkish Cypriot enclaves. Patrols surrounded two villages, Ayios Theodhoros (Boğaziçi) and Kophinou (Köfünye), about twenty-five kilometers southwest of Larnaca, and began sending in heavily armed patrols. Fighting broke out, and by the time the National Guards withdrew, 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey issued an ultimatum and threatened to intervene in force to protect the Turkish Cypriots.
After heavy diplomatic protests and pressures, in June of 1967 Grivas and 10,000 of the Greek troops from mainland Greece were forced to evacuate the island.
In 1971 Gen. Grivas returned to Cyprus to form EOKA-B (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston [Greek for National Organization of Cypriot Fighters]), which was again committed to making Cyprus a wholly Greek island and annexing it to Greece.
In a speech to the Greek Cypriot armed forces (as quoted in “New Cyprus,” May of 1987), Grivas said: “The Greek forces from Greece have come to Cyprus in order to impose the will of the Greeks of Cyprus upon the Turks. We want enosis (union) but the Turks are against it. We shall impose our will. We are strong and we shall do so.”
By July 15, 1974 a powerful force of mainland Greek troops had assembled in Cyprus and with their backing the Greek Cypriot National Guard overthrew Makarios and installed Nicos Sampson as acting president.
The Turkish Cypriots appealed to the guarantor powers — Turkey, Greece and England — for help, but only Turkey was willing to make any effective response. After only four days, on July 19, 1974, while addressing the UN Security Council, Archbishop Makarios III accused Greece of having invaded Cyprus.
In July 1998, the Greek Cypriot administration requested S-300 missiles for the island. The S-300 missiles were ordered from Russia and an initial payment was given. Parts of the radar system arrived on the island and members of the Greek Cypriot Armed Forces were sent to Russia for training. Again, after loud protests and reactions, the final destination of the S-300 missiles were changed and placed on one of the Greek islands.
Now it is again the Greeks sending mercenary soldiers from Greece to southern Cyprus. It is time to blame Greece for its hostile operations in the island, which always lead to crises and inter-communal friction.
The conflict in Cyprus has been ongoing for the past 52 years. Yet still there seems to be no sign of a settlement and no hope for one as well. Cyprus became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1571 and more than 300 years later, it was leased to Britain by Turkey with the agreement that Cyprus was to be returned to Turkey when Britain no longer wanted it. Britain ruled Cyprus as a protectorate until 1914, when Turkey sided with Germany in the Great War. Britain then an-nexed Cyprus and assumed sovereignty, ruling it as a colony until 1960 when it became an independent republic.
Although Cyprus has historically never been part of any Greek state, the population of Cyprus was changed dramatically by the Brit-ish once Cyprus became a Crown Colony. The British began to allow Greeks to settle in Cyprus and communities were set up in Greece to encourage people to move to the island of Cyprus. Greek Cypriots be-came a majority on the island of Cyprus and remain so today.
Around mid 1950s Britain decided to hand sovereignty over to the inhabitants of the island. Her decision was to transfer sovereignty jointly to the Turkish and Greek Cypriot peoples, for the “creation of an independent, partnership state in Cyprus.”
It was on this basis that the constitution of 1960 was negotiated and the Treaties of Guarantee, Alliance and Establishment were fina-lized. It was at this point that the Republic of Cyprus came into being as an independent partnership state.
The agreements that were made were based on equality and partnership between the two people in the independence and sove-reignty of the island. The 1960 constitution required joint presence and effective participation on both sides in all organs of the state to be le-gitimate. Neither community had the right to rule other the other, nor could one of the communities claim to govern the other. The aim of the basic articles of both the constitution and the subsequent treaties was to safeguard the rights of the two peoples as equals.
It was hoped that the two peoples of the island and their new partners would be able to live peacefully together under this new polit-ical partnership. It soon became obvious that this was not going to be possible. It became clear that the Greek Cypriots and Greece did not intend to abide by the constitution. They did not give up their ambition for the annexation of the island to Greece, and the Greek Cypriot lea-dership sought to unlawfully bring around constitutional changes. In effect, this would negate the “partnership” status of the Turkish Cy-priots and clear the way for annexation with a Turkish minority. The only way that the Greek Cypriots could achieve their aims was to de-stroy the legitimate order, by the use of force, and to overtake the joint-state. The rule of law collapsed on the island in 1963 as a result of a ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court of Cyprus.
The Turkish Cypriots took the Greek Cypriots to court because the Greek Cypriots refused to obey the mandatory provision of separate municipalities for the two communities. The court ruled against the Greek Cypriots, and as expected they ignored the courts’ ruling.
After this the Greeks tried to get eight basic articles of the 1960 Agreement abolished. These articles were there to protect the Turkish Cypriots, and so by removing them the Turkish Cypriots would be re-duced to a minority subject to control by the Greek Cypriots. Christmas 1963 saw Greek Cypriot militia attack Turkish Cypriot communities across the island killing many men, women and children. Around 270 mosques, shrines and other places of worship were desecrated. The constitution became unworkable, because of the refusal on the part of the Greek Cypriots to fulfill the obligations to which they had agreed. The bi-national republic which was imagined by the Treaties ceased to exist after December 1963. The Greek Cypriot wing of the “partnership” State took over the title of the “Government of Cyprus” and the Turkish Cypriots, who had never accepted the seizure of power, set up a Turkish administration to run their own affairs. In the end, the Greek Cypriot state was internationally recognized under the title of the “Government of Cyprus,” was brought into the EU, and the Turkish Cypriots were forced in 1985 to unilaterally declare their own administration under the name of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” which still is not recognized.
The two main peoples on Cyprus, the Turks and the Greeks, share no common language besides English, no common religion and no common literature, nor do they, except on the surface, share any common culture, from the past until the present. A “United Cyprus” is a utopian idea that has no hope of realization.
