hi guys
i thought i would start a new thread on a new forum concerning the actual events that lead up to the turkish intervention, some of you might have read this on the cyprus44 forum, i thought i would post this on here for people who have not read it on their
ok here goes

These are official views of both governments on the events of july and august 74 you will see how the greek side jumped from independence in 1960 to the events of July 20 skipping the history of enforced turkish cypriot enclaves (1964-74) and the coup against Makarios.

also the greek cypriots claim that the cyprus problem was caused by the landing of turkish troops in 1974 and if they would withdraw, the problem would been solved. This is a totally wrong the problem began in the 50's & 60's and the landing of turkish troops was the consequence not the cause of the problem
even greek cypriot people wanted turkey help In her memoirs greek cypriot MP rina katselli, said on the 16th July 74 Is Makarios alive Is he dead, The Makarios supporters arrested, the EOKA-B supporters freed i did not shed a tear, why should i? Did the stupidity and fanaticism deserve a tear? There are some who beg Turkey to intervene. They prefer the intervention of Turkey." 18th July 74 my God! everyone is frozen with fear the old man who asked for the body of his son was shot on the spot the tortures and executions at the central prison everyone is frozen with horror nothing is sacred to these people, and they call themselves Greeks! we must not keep that name any longer

ok firstly the view of the greek cypriot government

The Turkish army invaded Cyprus on 20 July 1974.
Turkey announced that the invasion was a "peace-keeping operation" to restore the constitutional order disrupted when a Greek military coup overthrew the Cyprus government. Turkey claimed she was acting in compliance with the terms of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee.
The invading forces landed off the northern coast of the island around Kyrenia. By the time a cease fire was agreed three days later, Turkish troops held 3% of the territory of Cyprus. Five thousand Greek Cypriots had fled their homes.
Following the invasion, the junta which was in power in Greece at the time, collapsed and Mr Constantine Karamanlis was recalled from self-imposed exile in Paris to form a new government. In Cyprus, Nicos Samson, the man whom the junta had set up as President, surrendered power to the President of the House of Representatives, Mr Glafcos Clerides, pending the return of the island's constitutionally elected President, Archbishop Makarios, who had fled abroad to escape being killed during the coup.

Two unproductive conferences in Geneva followed, the first between Britain, Greece and Turkey and the second with the additional attendance of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot representatives. Throughout this time Turkish troops steadily expanded their area of control.
On 14 August, despite the fact that talks were still being held in Geneva and just as agreement was about to be reached, the Turkish army mounted a second full-scale offensive, thereby belying Turkey's original pretext that it was invading in order to restore constitutional order, in view of the fact that constitutional order had already been restored.
By the end of the offensive, Turkey increased its hold to include the booming tourist resort of Famagusta and the rich citrus-growing area of Morphou. All in all 37% of the area of Cyprus came under Turkish military occupation, an area Turkey still holds today, despite international condemnation.

The advance halted on a line which was almost precisely the one proposed by Turkey as the demarcation of partition in 1965. This line has come to be known as the Attila line, named after the military codename "Attila" which Turkey gave to the invasion operation, thereby identifying it with the chieftain of the Huns known as "the scourge of God".
As a result, 200.000 Greek Cypriots were made refugees in their own country and 70% of the economic potential of Cyprus came under military occupation. Moreover, thousands of people, including civilians, were killed or ill-treated by the Turkish invaders.
There are still 1.619 Greek Cypriots missing as a result of the Turkish invasion, many of whom were held in Turkish custody. Following the invasion the Turkish government embarked on a policy of bringing in large numbers of Anatolian settlers into the occupied areas, while at the same time systematically expelling the legal Greek Cypriot inhabitants from their homes. Currently about 500 mostly elderly people remain enclaved in the occupied area.
On 1 November 1974, the UN General Assembly unanimously passed the first of countless resolutions calling all states to respect the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and non-alignment of the Republic of Cyprus. It urged the speedy withdrawal of all foreign troops, the continuation of intercommunal talks and that urgent efforts be taken to ensure the safe return of refugees to their homes.

The Turkish invasion and subsequent occupation resulted in the following:
About 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus - i.e. the northern part of the island, where 70% of its natural resources are concentrated - is under Turkish occupation.
200.000 Greek Cypriots - one third of the population - have been displaced from the occupied northern sector where they had constituted 80% of the inhabitants.
The population of Greek and Turkish Cypriots, who for 300 years had lived together intermingled throughout the island, was now artificially separated.

The ascertainment of the fate of the missing persons is still pending.
By the end of 1974 about 12,000 people were enclaved in their occupied villages living under conditions of oppression, harassment and deprivation. Less than 500 Greek Cypriots and 173 Maronites remain (June 1998 figures).

35,000 Turkish soldiers, armed with the latest weapons and supported by land and sea, are stationed in the occupied area, making it, according to the UN Secretary-General, "one of the most militarised regions of the world".

Over 90.000 Turks have been brought over from Turkey to colonise the occupied area thus changing the demography of the island and controlling the political situation.

The "Attila line" ("Operation Attila" was the code-name Turkey gave to the invasion of Cyprus) artificially divides the island and its people and prevents Cypriots from moving freely throughout their country.

In an effort to consolidate the de facto situation, the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" was unilaterally declared in 1983 in the occupied area, a pseudostate recognised only by Turkey and entirely dependent on it.
According to Turkish-Cypriot newspapers, over one third of Turkish Cypriots emigrated from the occupied area between 1974-1995 because of the economic, social and moral deprivation which prevails there. As a result the Turkish Cypriots who remain are today outnumbered by the Turkish troops together with the colonists.

The illegal regime in the occupied area is deliberately and methodically trying to eradicate every trace of a 9.000 year old cultural and historical heritage. All Greek place-names have been replaced by Turkish ones. Churches, monuments, cemeteries and archaeological sites have been destroyed, desecrated or looted.

ok now the turkish cypriot government view and also TRUE facts and quotes from external sources

In 1971 General Grivas returned to Cyprus to form EOKA-B, 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 (Quoted in "New Cyprus" May 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 but the Turks are against it. We shall impose our will. We are strong and we shall do so."

Greek Invasion
By 15th July 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 "President." On 22nd July Washington Star News reported: "Bodies littered the streets and there were mass burials... People told by Makarios to lay down their guns were shot by the National Guard."
Turkish Cypriots appealed to the Guarantor powers for help, but only Turkey was willing to make any effective response. The Greek newspaper Eleftherotipia published an interview with Nicos Sampson on 26th February 1981 in which he said "Had Turkey not intervened I would not only have proclaimed ENOSIS - I would have annihilated the Turks in Cyprus."

In his book "The Way the Wind Blows" former British Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home said "I was convinced that if Archbishop Makarios could not bring himself to treat the Turkish Cypriots as human beings he was inviting the invasion and partition of the island."

US Under-Secretary of State, George Ball, said "Makarios central interest was to block off Turkish intervention so that he and his Greek Cypriots could go on happily massacring Turkish Cypriots"

"Turkish Cypriots, who had suffered from physical attacks since 1963, called on the guarantor powers to prevent a Greek conquest of the island. When Britain did nothing Turkey invaded Cyprus and occupied its northern part." (Daily Telegraph 15.8.96)

Turkey (at that time led by the Social Democrat Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit) sent troops to Cyprus on 20th July 1974.
"On 20th July 1974 Turkey intervened under Article IV of the Treaty of Guarantee" - (UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office doc. CPS/75. Jan., 1987).

"Turkey exercised its right of intervention in accordance with Article IV of the Guarantee Treaty of 1960." (Resolution 573, Standing Committee of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, 29th July 1974).

The 1976 UK House of Commons Select Committee on Cyprus found (HC 331 1975/76 para.22), that Turkey had proposed joint Anglo-Turkish action under the Treaty of Guarantee. On 14th August 1974 (Daily Telegraph 15th August) Prime Minister Ecevit confirmed that he had indeed traveled to London to urge Anglo-Turkish intervention. However the then Labour Government in Britain refused to take any effective action, even though they had troops and aircraft available in their Sovereign Bases in Cyprus.
They argued that Britain was under no duty to take military action, but Article II provided that Britain would guarantee the state of affairs established by the 1960 Constitution, which it manifestly failed to do. The Select Committee concluded that "Britain had a legal right to intervene, she had a moral obligation to intervene. She did not intervene for reasons which the (Labour) Government refuses to give."

During the fighting with Turkish troops between 20th July and 16th August 1974 many Greek Cypriots died in combat. So far as possible their bodies were recovered and identified by Turkish forces. There were very few deaths of Greek Cypriots civilians.
The balance of probabilities is therefore that of those Greek Cypriots still listed as missing most were killed during the Sampson coup of 15th - 20th July 1974, and that others died in combat. Some are in mass graves such as those described by Father Papatsestos, and the remainder have no known grave. Those killed in the fighting with the Turkish army would not have died if the Greek Cypriots and Greece had not tried to annihilate the Turkish Cypriots and annex the island to Greece, and the blame for their deaths must rest firmly upon their own leadership.

In July 1974, after the first phase of the Turkish intervention, an international conference was held at Geneva between Turkey, Greece and Britain. It was agreed that Greek and Greek Cypriot forces would leave all the Turkish Cypriot enclaves, but showing their customary disregard for international agreements they proceeded instead to murder almost the entire civilian population of six Turkish Cypriot enclaves in both the north and south of the island, and despite the presence in Cyprus of UN troops.
It is argued that even if the first phase of the Turkish intervention was legal the extension of the area under Turkish control in the second phase from 14th August to 16th August 1974 was illegal. The German newspaper Die Zeit wrote on 30th August 1974 "the massacre of Turkish Cypriots in Paphos and Famagusta is the proof of how justified the Turkish were to undertake their (August) intervention".

More Massacres of Turkish Cypriots
In the village of Tokhni on 14th August 1974 all the Turkish Cypriot men between the ages of 13 and 74, except for eighteen who managed to escape, were taken away and shot. (Times, Guardian, 21st August)

In Zyyi on the same day all the Turkish-Cypriot men aged between 19 and 38 were taken away by Greek-Cypriots and were never seen again. On the same day Greek-Cypriots opened fire in the Turkish-Cypriot neighbourhood of Paphos killing men, women, and children indiscriminately. On 23rd July 1974 the Washington Post reported "In a Greek raid on a small Turkish village near Limassol 36 people out of a population of 200 were killed. The Greeks said that they had been given orders to kill the inhabitants of the Turkish villages before the Turkish forces arrived." (See also Times, Guardian, 23rd July).

"The Greeks began to shell the Turkish quarter on Saturday, refugees said. Kazan DerviÕs, a Turkish Cypriot girl aged 15, said she had been staying with her uncle. The (Greek Cypriot) National Guard came into the Turkish sector and shooting began. She saw her uncle and other relatives taken away as prisoners, and later heard her uncle had been shot." (Times 23.7.74)
Before my uncle was taken away by the soldiers, he shouted to me to run away. I ran to the streets, and the soldiers were shooting all the time. I went into a house and I saw a woman being attacked by soldiers. They were raping her. Then they shot her in front of my eyes. I ran away again and Turkish Cypriot men and women looked after me. They were escaping as well. They broke holes in the sides of houses, so we could get away without going into the streets. There were lots of women and children screaming, and soldiers were firing at us all the time."



On 28th July the New York Times reported that 14 Turkish-Cypriot men had been shot in Alaminos. On 24th July 1974 "France Soir" reported "The Greeks burned Turkish mosques and set fire to Turkish homes in the villages around Famagusta. Defenceless Turkish villagers who have no weapons live in an atmosphere of terror and they evacuate their homes and go and live in tere a shame to humanity."
On 22nd July Turkish Prime Minister Ecevit called upon the UN to "stop the genocide of Turkish-Cypriots" and declared "Turkey has accepted a cease-fire, but will not allow Turkish-Cypriots to be massacred" (Times 23rd July). At the beginning of the Second Geneva Conference he said "A solution which is not based on geographical separation will not work. It is out of the question for us to entrust the safety of the Turkish Cypriots to the Greeks, who cannot even rule themselves. The areas around the Turkish forces are being mined, and the Turkish Cypriot villages are still under siege."

The UK House of Commons Select Committee on Cyprus reported in 1976 "the second phase of military operations was inevitable in the view of your committee as the position reached by Turkish forces at the time of the first ceasefire was untenable militarily"

Sir Anthony Kershaw MP explained the situation as follows in his speech on 23rd October 1990:
"In order to protect the Turkish Cypriots, Turkey intervened in exercise of her rights under article 4 of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. No one has ever suggested that was illegal but they have gone on to say that the continuing use of troops, not to restore the 1960 Constitution but to enforce partition was illegal.
But does this not ignore the reality of the situation? In law it is said that the Turks were invoking the Guarantee; but to say that they were obliged to work for no result except the restoration of the 1960 Constitution is absurd. That Constitution had ceased to exist. The reconciliation of the law with the actual political situation, or indeed with ordinary common sense, was becoming more difficult. The Turks came to protect the lives of the Turkish Cypriots and they had good reason to know that the restoration of the 1960 Constitution was not the way to do that. The only way to do that was with troops on the ground."

"Turkey intervened to protect the lives and property of the Turkish-Cypriots, and to its credit it has done just that. In the 12 years since, there have been no killings and no massacres" Lord Willis (Lab.) House of Lords 17th December 1986 (Hansard, col.223)

ok guys now you have read both views on the problem of cyprus what one sounds like sense and what one is patchy made up no back up from external sources!!!
i have a copy of a article on 28th February 1976 in the greek cypriot press Father Papatsestos said: "It is a rather hard thing to say, but it is true that the Turkish intervention saved us from a merciless internecine war. The Sampson regime had prepared a list of all Makarios supporters, and they would have slaughtered them all." Many of the people saved by Turkey are members of the present Greek Cypriot leadership
Now this is coming from one of the biggest priests in the greek cypriot church and he has no reason to lie does he!!!!

sorry about the long posts i find these quotes very educational for people who want to learn of the history of cyprus and the problems everyone had faced
Both of these views are true statements from the Republic of Cyprus Public Information Office and the Government of Turkey Foreign Ministry office
regards to all
ukturk

Thanks ukturk
That was very informative and an extremely good read.

hi suntanman
im glad you found my thread informative, and hope it made you understand a bit more on the situation the turkish cypriots had to go through especially with the greek propaganda which most of the world listen to!!!!!
if you need any more info on history, politics or just general info please dont hesitate in contacting or posting me
regards
ukturk

p.s what i will do over the next few weeks i will start to transfer most of my posts that i posted on cyprus44 on to this forum so all newbies and experianced posters can read it

ukturk
I don't normally get involved with political discussions, please don't think I am burying my head in the sand, but it is not one of my strong subjects. It was interesting to read the events pre 74.
On a lighter note, you must be a very quick typist, I made good use of the original northcyprusforum.com but found that if you spend too long on a message you will be 'timed out' and have to start all over again
regards

hi suntanman
to tell you the truth i try to stay clear of discussions concerning politics and religion, turkish and cypriot history love talking about that, and also helping out people with my knowledge of cyprus
i am actually a fast typer but i had previously typed and posted this subject on cyprus44 so i just copied it and pasted it, the first time i had typed the thread i had sore finger's!!!! so i was not going do it again
regards to you and all
ukturk

p.s like i said if you need any info on anything conerning cyprus please dont hesitate

Hello ukturk.
I agree with suntanman, your post is very interesting, and like you say, it all started way before the Turkish invasion, I served in Cyprus, from the end of 1955 to the beginning of1957, I was stationed at Kantara, and a lot of the time our job was trying to protect Turkish villages from EOKA, I don't know if I spell it right, but one of the villages we used to protect was "Komi Kebir" like I say, I don't know if that is the right spelling, I apologize if it is not, we used to guard the police station there, so you are right it started back in the 50s, as a British soldier serving there , all I can say is, we had absolutely no problems from the Turks, only the Greeks where doing the ambushing and killing, as for the British attitude to the invasion , I cannot understand the government of the time not getting involved, as it turned out years later, we done exactly the same thing in the Falklands, for exactly the same reason.

hi highlander
thank you for you kind words!!!!
so good to hear from someone that was actually there and experianced it first hand, and i know from my grandparents and parents stories that the british army tried to protect the turks, also when the british government put turkish people to police the streets with the british army they were getting abused, killed by the eoka terrorists from greece with the help from the brainwashed greek cypriots that were getting fed bull from greece
shall i tell you why the british government did not get involved and let turks get murdered because like you know serving your country it was not in the empire's best interest and also from the first world war and second, greece had a close relationship with britain, i would go as far as they were best buddies, so britain did not want to upset greece but on the other hand they did not say or do nothing when much later turkey interviened according to the treaty they had signed, this interventaion was not illegal and before turkey did go in they were pleading with britain to do something and they kept on refusing, and when turkey did go in, all they said was for turkey not to go near their soverign bases otherwise there would be trouble, so in my eyes it only suits britain to get involved in something when it benifits them like your example of the falklands
regards
ukturk

Hello again ukturk,
in the last year, I have managed to get back in touch with a few of my old army mates, who served in Cyprus, one now in Australia, I grew up with this man, we played as kids, and went into the army on the same day,we where only parted when he was injured in an ambush, none of us have been back to Cyprus since we left in January 1957, but he is returning home to Scotland for the first time in 33years, to attend a wedding, and he was wondering if he would be able to visit Northern Cyprus on the way back to Britain, and if he could, would he be free to tour Northern Cyprus to show his wife some of the places where we served, and go back to where our lorry was blown up.
Also I am with a group called "Cyp Vets," all men who served between 1955 and 1959, we would like to raise a memorial to the British troops who died during the conflict with EOKA, But we are having trouble getting permission from the British government, like you say, I think they still don't want to upset the Greeks, and they, don't want to give permission either, we where hoping to have it erected in the British military cemetery, David Carter, who I believe writes for a Turkish Cypriot newspaper, fought the British government to get the names and military numbers of those killed released, they told him there where no records, of the men killed in Cyprus, but he has uncovered most of the 400+, numbers ranks and names, and place of death, of those killed in the four years of the conflict. I hope to return myself, if we manage to get permission to raise the monument, but there is no way I will stay in the Greek side of the Island, I hope to be able to stay in the north and travel to where ever we get permission to put the monument.