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Cypriot Intercommunal Conflict
Date 17th century - Ongoing as Cyprus dispute Location Island nation of Cyprus Result De facto partition of Republic of Cyprus
Belligerents
Greek Cypriots Aided by Hellenic Republic	Turkish Cypriots Aided by Republic of Turkey

The Cypriot Intercommunal Conflict refers to periods of inter-ethnic conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, the two major communities of the Island nation Cyprus.

Background

The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus brought about radical changes in the demographics of the island. A new ethnic element appeared, the Turks. The population of Cyprus, overwhelmingly Greek at the time had now a new ruler the Ottomans.

The Turkish Cypriots

Following the conquest of the island the Ottoman Empire gave timars--land grants--to its soldiers under the condition that they and their families would stay permanently on the island. An action of far-reaching importance because the predefined soldiers became the nucleus of the island's Turkish community. During the 17th century the Turkish population grew rapidly, mostly by forced conversion argudably by blood tax. In addition, many Greeks and Latins on the island, in order to escape heavy taxation converted to Islam. The Greek Cypriot community which dates millennia back on the island of Cyprus, endured multiple conquerors. Their call for self determination was always silenced by their rulers.

In 1821, Greeks rebelled against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence. The overwhelming majority of Cypriots being Greeks supported the independence effort leading to severe reprisals by the Ottoman Empire in Cyprus. With the Sultan's consent, the Ottoman administration in the island under governor Kuchuk Mehmed, executed 486 Christians on 9 July 1821, accusing them of conspiring with the rebellious Greeks. They included four Bishops, many clergymen and prominent citizens, who were beheaded in the central square of Nicosia, while Archbishop Kyprianos was hanged. The property of the Church was plundered and the Christians were forced to pull down the upper story’s of their houses, an order that remained in force until the British put the island under their control almost sixty years later. When Greece became independent in 1829 Greek Cypriots sought and demanded the incorporation of Cyprus into Greece, but it remained part of the Ottoman Empire.

"At a time when the Turkish Ottoman Empire was faced with the gravest of dangers from Russia and when as a result of an unfortunate war she was constrained to relinquish a few of her Eastern provinces to Russia, she was in dire need of the help of a powerful ally, and consequently transferred the administration of Cyprus to her ally Great Britain".”

Background: Cyprus as a British colony

When the British assumed office in 1879, they were presented with a petition from the Archbishop and the Greek Cypriot community that remained the overwhelming majority on the island calling for enosis (Greek for “union”), a term referring to the political union of Cyprus and the kingdom of Greece. The petition was denied.

Because the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in World War I (1914-1918), Britain nullified the 1878 treaty in November 1914 and annexed Cyprus. The British government then offered Cyprus to Greece if Greece would agree to enter the war on the Allied side. Greece was given one week to decide. When the decision was delayed, the British withdrew the offer. In 1931 in demand for Enosis riots broke out in Cyprus due to resentment against the British administration. The British suppressed the riots, abolished the legislative council in Cyprus, and banned all political parties.

At the end of the Second World War Britain came to realize that her European colony of Cyprus was politically among the most backward of her colonial territories. The Legislative Council had not met since 1931 when for the second time the Greek members walked out, whereupon a crowd shouting for enosis burnt the Colonial Government House to the ground. The Greek press was censored, Greek political parties forbidden, the flying of the Greek flag prohibited by law. In these circumstances the trade unions emerged as the principal element of opposition to the colonial establishment and the only one to cross communal lines. Shortly after World War II ended in 1945, Greek Cypriot demands for enosis again stirred tensions in Cyprus. Britain rejected the demands, offering concessions on home rule, or self-government, instead.

The British Colonial rule of Cypriots had done nothing to encourage the emergence of a Cypriot nation, though to be sure the Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike displayed the marks of British law and administration. To a certain degree the two communities had been played off against each other. So long as there was a Legislative Council British Governors relied on the votes of the Turkish Cypriot members to block periodic bursts of Greek Cypriot political activism and silence the demands of the majority of the island.

In 1948 the bishop of Citium of Cyprus, Mihail Mouskos, began to organize support for enosis through the Church of Cyprus to exclude communist influence and to restore the temporal power of the church. In January 1950 the British authorities refused his request for a referendum on enosis. Yet when the church hierarchy polled the Greek community, 95.7 percent favored union with Greece.

The British colonial administration however, insisted that it was impossible to discuss any change in the political status of the island due to its strategic location. In August 1954 Greece, which had previously avoided involvement in Cyprus because of its alliance with Britain, unsuccessfully sought to have the question of Cyprus’s status brought before the United Nations General Assembly. In the subsequent UN discussions, Turkey announced that it opposed a union of Cyprus with Greece and declared that if Britain withdrew from the island, Cyprus should revert to Turkey.

In 1954 Turkey said it owns Cyprus

By 1954, the communal leader Dr. Fazil Küçük, was voicing nationalist ideas, spurred perhaps by the growing demand for enosis among Greek Cypriots. The following is from a column he wrote in his own newspaper, Voice of the People, published in Nicosia: “The cause of ceding Cyprus to Britain is still continuing; the time to consider handing back Cyprus to its former owner therefore may not have arrived. But if Great Britain is going to consider this enosis question at all or is going to quit the island she has a legal as well as a moral duty to call Turkey and hand Cyprus back to Turkey, and ask the Turkish government to deal with the enosis problem which the tolerant and ill-advised British administration has fostered in the island. From a legal as well as moral point of view, Turkey, as the initial owner of the island just before the British occupation, has a first option to Cyprus. The matter does not end there. From a worldwide political point of view as well as from geographical and strategical points of view Cyprus must be handed to Turkey if Great Britain is going to quit”. The strategical view of the Turkish Cypriot leader towards the overwhelming Greek populated island of Cyprus is evident by his above statement. Cyprus is treated as lost Ottoman land, and the demands of its population becomes irrelevant.

1955 Greek Cypriot anti-Colonial warfare: EOKA

The Greek Cypriots however never endorsed the Ottoman Empire nor viewed themselves as Turkish subjects. They demanded repeatedly self determination and ultimately Union with Greece. Their requests for self determination being the majority of the island were rejected repeatedly by the British Colonial rule. The British response prompted an armed underground campaign against colonialism by a movement of Greek Cypriots known as the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA).

EOKA waged a guerrilla campaign against the British colonial administration demanding the right of self determination and ultimately union with Greece. The campaign was led by the Greek commander George Grivas and systematically targeted British colonial authorities.

Right after the EOKA campaign began British Colonialism was succesful in turning the Cyprus issue from a British Colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted back stage influence to Adnan Menderes government, so that Turkey becomes active in Cyprus. For the British the attempt had a twofold objective. On one hand the EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, on the other hand Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British Colonial claims over the island and the island would remain under the British.

Turkish tactical maneuver

Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leadership claimed that Cyprus should be returned to Turkey. After the beginning of the EOKA anti colonial campaign however, Turkey implements a tactical change. The further development of the Turkish political goal Taksim are two memos of the Turkish law professor and politician Nihat Erim to Turkish prime Minister Adnan Menderes government on 24th of November 1956 and 22nd of December 1956 that were endorsed. Erim stressed that Turkey could not continue to request that Cyprus as a lost Ottoman land be returned to her in case the British resign from power, because that demand could not be substantiated internationally. Instead he proposed that self determination rights of Cypriots be achieved separately for the two communities so that a part of Cyprus is at least ceded to Turkey.

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities exist and sidestepped her former claim that “the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects” .

In doing so Turkey aimed that self determination of two to-be equal communities would in effect lead into de jure partition of the island Taksim, justifiable to the international community against the will of the overwhelming population of the island, the Greeks. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

Nihat Erim also supported that the demographics of the island of Cyprus should be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that the Greek Cypriots cease to be the majority. Both strategies are evident today, Taksim by 1974 Invasion and altering of the demographics by mass transfers of Turks to Cyprus. When Erim visited Cyprus, as the Turkish representative, he was advised by John Harding (the then Governor of Colonialism) that Turkey should send educated Turks as emigrants in Cyprus.

The British looked upon the idea of separate self determination favorably, because it was a way for the British administration to silence the claims of the overwhelming majority for Union with Greece and the visible threat of ending British colonialism on the island. “The Colonial Secretary, in presenting the Radcliffe Report to Parliament made the classic blunder of stating that if the time ever came at which it would be possible to grant self-determination it should be granted to both communities”.

Signs of intercommunal conflict

Turkish Cypriot minority sides with the British Colonial Authorities

The British amid of the escalating violence and in search of means to quickly silence the guerrilla campaign, and justify colonialism internationally looked for internal allies. The Turkish Cypriot minority was ideal to be used as a means of silencing Greek claims for self determination and Union with Greece. The British soon conscripted Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus intermingled with British troops thus creating the first signs of intercommunal conflict on the island. It was inevitable that Turks as British policemen would get killed or injured during EOKAs guerrilla campaign. The death of Turkish Cypriot policemen were met with riots by the Turkish community similar to Istanbul Pogrom, while British Colonialism remained passive. Greek stores and neighborhoods would be burnet and Greek civilians would be injured or killed. Such events would create chaos and bring the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

However such events were beneficial to the British colonialism as they would justify internationally their rejection of the overwhelming majority’s demand, Union with Greece, based on “minority’s fierce opposition” a practice known as divide et impera

On the 22nd of October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested a comprehensive plan for the settlement of the Cyprus problem. The plan was proposing 5 to 7 years of Self governance of the peoples of Cyprus before any final decision be made. The plan rejected both Union and partition of Cyprus. The plan was presented in Ankara on 28th of January 1958. For the first time the Turkish Cypriots created anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27th and 28th of January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan rejected partition. The British army intervened against the demonstration killing seven demonstrators. These events forced the British to withdraw the plan before it was presented to the Greek Cypriots.

In June 1958 the British prime Minister Harold Macmillan was expected to proposed a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development the Turks created fierce riots in Nicosia aiming to promote the idea that Greeks and Turks could not live together and therefore any plan that would promote that would not be viable, instead partition would be the only viable solution. On the 7th of june 1958 the Turks bombed the Turkish Press and Information office of the Turkish Embassy in Nicosia and blamed the Greeks and accused the British that they do not take effective measures to protect the Turkish minority of Cyprus. Later on the Turkish ambassador in Cyprus Emin Dirvana mentioned the above in a Turkish Newspaper Milliet.

Turkish riots followed the bombing, with Greek Cypriots deaths and looting of Greek owned stores and houses through out Cyprus. So chaotic was the situation that Greeks and Turks started to evade mixed populated villages that the respective were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of segregation of the two communities.

By 1958 signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both signs, with Turkish Cypriots now forming Volkan, later known as the TMT paramilitary group as a means of promoting partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menteres plan. TMT would also target Turkish Cypriots and then blame the Greek Cypriots for the killing and also accuse the British Colonial rule that effective measures are not taken to protect the Turkish minority.

The Republic of Cyprus

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

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

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

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

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

1963 Constitutional breakdown

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

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

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

Intercommunal violence

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

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

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

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

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

Greek Coup

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

See also

• Cyprus dispute

External links

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

Notes

1. Quoted in Dr. Fazıl Küçük, "Voice of the People", published in Nicosia.
2. Anthony Eden, 2005. Memoirs, Full Circle, Cassell, London 1960, p.400.
3. Dr. Fazil Küçük, 1957. The Cyprus Question: A permanent solution.
4. Copeaux, Etienne, Aedelsa TUR. Taksim Chypre divisee. ISBN 2915033072
5. Crawshaw, Nancy. The Cyprus revolt : an account of the struggle for union with Greece. London : Boston : G. Allen & Unwin, 1978. ISBN: 0049400533
6. Milliet 15.5.1964 H.D. Purcell, Cyprus. Ernest and Ben Ltd, London 1969 p. 312
7. Crawshaw, Nancy. The Cyprus revolt : an account of the struggle for union with Greece. London : Boston : G. Allen & Unwin, 1978. ISBN: 0049400533
8. David Hannay, 2005. Cyprus the search for a solution. I.B Tauris, p.2
9. http://www.mediaprof.org/tcvoices/ukhist.html Stephen, Michael. 1987. "Cyprus: Two Nations in One Island." Bow Educational Briefing No.5. London. Pages 1-7
10. http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html
11. http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/akritas_plan.html
12. David Hannay, 2005. Cyprus the search for a solution. I.B Tauris, p.3
13. http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html
14. Andrew Borowiec, 2000. Cyprus: A troubled island. Praeger/Greenwood p.56
15. http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html
16. Quoted in Andrew Borowiec, 2000. Cyprus: A troubled island. Praeger/Greenwood p.58
17. http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html
18. http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html
19. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/10/newsid_3037000/3037898.stm BBC On This Day. 1964: Guns fall silent in Cyprus
20. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+cy0023) Country Studies: Cyprus - Intercommunal Violence
21. http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html

• Modern history of Cyprus
• Cyprus–Turkey relations
• History of Northern Cyprus
• Sectarian violence