What is Cyprus?
Cyprus is a small island located in the Mediterranean
Sea about the size of the United States state of Connecticut. About 660,000 people live on the island,
about eighteen percent are Turkish-Cypriots, and seventy-eight percent are
Greek-Cypriots, the remaining four percent are Armenian, Maronite, or
Latin-Cypriots. All of them lived
together on the island, for five centuries.
They built mosques and churches side by side; they lived, worked, and
prayed together in relative peace.[i]
In both Zurich and London, British officials, and
representatives of the people of Cyprus attended conferences to draft treaties
that would make Cyprus an independent country. Both parties signed the treaties and on the 16th of
August in 1960, Cyprus gained its independence from Britain. Some question remains as to whether these
agreements were freely signed by the representatives from Cyprus. It seems that the conditions of the treaties
might have been forced unto the people, because there only other option would
have been the continued denial of independence and freedom, continued bloodshed
and, possibly, the forced partition of Cyprus.[ii]
As a result of these treaties, Cyprus became a member
of the United Nations and other global organizations; also it was made into a
commonwealth of Britain. Britain drew
up the constitution that was imposed on the Cypriots. Also Britain retained control of two military basses on the
island, One at Dhekelia, and the other at Akrotiri-Episkopi.[iii]
Unfortunately,
the constitution proved unworkable.
When the Cyprus Government tried to pass amendments towards the workings
of state, the Turkish community rebelled.[iv] The government at that point was a very weak
cold war Junta, which was losing its grip over not only the Turkish-Cypriots,
but The Greeks as well.[v] Greece tried to intervene by orchestrating a
military coup de’ tat to reestablish control over the island.
This led to an invasion by the very nearby Turkish
mainland forces. Turkey sent in 40,000
troops and ended up controlling the northern thirty-seven percent of the
island, which they still occupy today.[vi] Turkey officially explains the invasion as
protecting the constitution, and the eighteen percent Turkish minority. This claim is very similar to one made over
another invasion in history, namely the 1939 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the
Nazi’s, who claimed they were protecting the “oppressed” German Minority. The invasion of Cyprus by Turkey was in many
ways equally gruesome.[vii]
Seventeen years before the term “Ethnic Cleansing” was
even coined, Turkey was using terror and indiscriminate cruelty, to define the
concept quite clearly to any Greek-Cypriot who tried to live in the Northern
occupied territory.[viii] According to a report submitted on July 10th,
1976 by the European Commission of Human Rights, It is easy to see why the
Turks were so successful.
“The atrocities of the Turkish army included wholesale and repeated rapes of women of all ages, systematic torture, savage and humiliating treatment of hundreds of people, including children, women and pensioners during their detention by the Turkish forces, as well as looting and robbery on an extensive scale, by Turkish troops and Turkish Cypriots.
Thousands of Greek-Cypriots lost their lives, 1,619 are still missing, and 200,000 Cypriots fled their homes leaving behind their belongings ”[ix]
The international communities were outraged by the
actions of the Turkish occupation forces.
It didn’t help when Turkey refused to leave, and instead decided to
declare the northern portion of Cyprus an independent country. In resolution 367 of the United Nations
Security Council, they declare in effect that no countries should officially
recognize the Northern Turkish Republic of Cyprus.[x] Since then, no country except Turkey has
recognized the pseudo-state.