34 YEARS AFTER THE TURKISH INVASION
Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra – [email protected]
Gibrahayer – July 08
Writing this article has been particularly taxing for me, not just
because of the sizzling summer temperatures and the various articles I
must finish writing soon, but mainly because it will once again remind
me of the ongoing drama that Cyprus has been enduring for 34 years now,
ever since the barbarous Turkish mehmetçik unlawfully invaded the sweet
land of Cyprus, marking its history forever.
A small historical account is in order: on 16 August 1960 Cyprus had
finally become an Independent Republic; although this was celebrated
throughout the island, there was some unrest amongst the residents of
Cyprus: the Greek-Cypriots viewed Independence as an interim to Enosis,
the Turkish-Cypriots considered it a relief from the possibility of a
union with Greece, while the Armenians, the Latins and the Maronites
were worried as to how the Greek-Cypriots would treat them in this
newly-founded state, whose Constitution was labelled as `given’. This
fragile partnership that gave the 18% Turkish-Cypriot minority
super-rights, with 30% government participation and 40% Army and Police
participation, along with a Vice-President with the right to veto, 3
out of the 10 Ministers and 15 out of the 50 Members of the Parliament,
was not meant to last long.
After an escalating sequence of events, inter-communal violence bro
ke
out in the early hours of 21 December 1963. By midday, the
Vice-President, the 3 T/C ministers, the 15 T/C MPs and all T/C
government employees and policemen had left their posts, and soon after
they took over the northern parts of Nicosia centre ` amongst them
Karaman Zade and Neapolis, thus evicting 231 Armenian families from
their ancient quarter, and depriving them of their mediaeval Church of
Sourp Asdvadzadzin and the Melikian-Ouzounian Primary School. Within
Nicosia, a green line was established on 30 December 1963, separating
the G/C from the T/C, thus laying the foundations for further
partition.
The years went by, with many breathtaking events that led Cyprus more
than once on the brink of a war with Turkey. However, with the
exception of the Aghirda pocket (stretching from Nicosia till the
outskirts of Kyrenia), life went on peacefully, although not without
tension. The scheming and manoeuvring of the Greek military junta
(which, at the time, controlled the National Guard), the United States
and the United Kingdom, led to the unlawful coup d’ état against the
elected president, Archbishop Makarios III, at 08:20, on Monday, 15
July 1974. At the time the tanks were attacking the Presidential
Palace, president Makarios was touring a group of schoolchildren from
Egypt. Soon after Makarios escaped towards Kykko Monastery, the
perpetrators announced that he was dead, and they installed a scapegoat =0
D
as their puppet `president’, Nicos Sampson.
The cowardly coup was the beginning of the end: however
non-meritocratic and person-centred Makarios’ administration might have
been, his controversial presence was a bulwark against all Turkish
usurpations, a stronghold against any military intervention on Cyprus.
With Makarios out of the picture, Turkey had found the ideal pretext to
invade our beloved Cyprus: the `protection’ of the Turkish-Cypriots.
At around 5:30 a.m. of 20 July 1974, numerous Turkish troops landed at
Five Mile point off Kyrenia, and parachutists are thrown in Aghirda
pocket. Turkish aircrafts bombed Pentadaktylos range and Paphos forest,
and within two days they had reached Kyrenia; although a cease-fire was
agreed on the 22nd July, the Turkish troops continued their onward
march until the 8th August, occupying about 3,95% of the total area of
Cyprus, home to around 40.000 people. Thanks to the military resistance
of the National Guard and ELDYK (the Greek contingent in Cyprus, at the
time based to the west of the Race Course), the Attila troops were
unable to capture significant parts of Nicosia centre and its
outskirts, while the heroic resistance of the UNFICYP troops, aided by
the National Guard, managed to prevent the Turks from capturing Nicosia
International Airport.
A few days later, on Wednesday, 14 August, Turkey once again invaded
Cyprus, with full throttle. Nicosia, Famagusta
and numerous villages
were being bombed and tens of thousands of refugees fled to Larnaca and
Troödos. By the time the cease-fire was signed at 18:00, on 16 August
1974, around 33,45% of Cyprus had been occupied. Even after the
cease-fire, the Turks continued to occupy small parts of Cyprus until
the end of September 1974, reaching till the northern boundaries of
Dhekelia SBA, and seizing the Louroujina salient (thus controlling the
Nicosia-Larnaca motorway), the Petra-Angolemi-Galini area, the prolific
copper mines of Mavrovouni and Apliki Lefka, as well retaining the
strategic Kokkina pocket, which is not adjacent to the occupied areas.
The outcome of the Turkish invasion was devastating: 142.000 G/C and
2.500 Maronite refugees, 20.000 enclaved in the north (of which only
485 remain today), 3.500 killed, and about 1.600 missing. About 34,85%
of the total area of Cyprus (3.224 Km²), i.e. 188 villages, 39
settlements and 10 Municipalities had been occupied, along with parts
of Nicosia and Ayios Dhometios. Over the years, Turkey keeps a steady
presence of 43.000 Turkish soldiers and 120.000 settlers from Anatolia,
while the cultural damage done simply defies any quantification;
suffice to say that out of the 677 occupied churches and monasteries, a
fair number has been desecrated and/or turned into mosques, barracks or
barns. Moreover, the pseudo-state – installed by Turkey, and recognised
only by Turkey and Pakistan – has ill
egally and unfoundedly altered the
names of almost all occupied towns and villages and of about 21.150
microtopyms.
Today, 34 years from that dreadful summer, Cyprus is a much different
place: after the opening of a small number of crossing points between
the two sides, occupied Cyprus is no longer fully inaccessible, save
for numerous military retained areas scattered all over it. We can now
peacefully visit our occupied lands, see our beloved houses occupied by
T/C or Turkish settlers, and we can watch our beautiful villages decay
in the passage of time, since their illegal residents are not bothered
to attend to them. On certain occasions we can even hold masses in some
churches (only if you are Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Maronite or
Anglican; Armenian Orthodox do not enjoy this `privilege’).Apart from
that, we serve the National Guard for 25 months and, as reservists, a
few times a year until the age of 50, while UNFICYP maintains its
presence for over 44 years now; the buffer zone, an area of 242 Km²
stretching across the island between the two sides, is UNFICYP’s realm.
Yet, the most disturbing of all, although somehow inescapable and
inevitable, is that our political leaders participate in talks about
the solution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bi-zonal,
bi-communal federation, the meaning of which was only made known to the
general public just a few years ago,
on the event of the infamous Annan
Plan. Incidentally (?), the referendum was held on 24 April 2004.
While most of our politicians seem to have reached to a consensus that
a federation is supposedly «the only possible outcome of the talks,
based on the UN Security Council resolutions», none of them has had the
decency to inform us about its history as a solution to the Cyprus
conundrum. A bi-zonal, bi-communal federation is in essence Turkey’s
second option to taksim (division). It was originally agreed upon in
1977, between Makarios and Denktash, at a time that a substantial
number of Greek-Cypriots and Maronites continued to reside in the
occupied part of Cyprus, under serious threats for their lives; what is
more, we know that Makarios was vehemently against any form of
geographical federation and, considering his character, it was most
probably another manifestation of his cunningness, since he knew it was
inapplicable at the time.However, Makarios died soon afterwards, and in
the meantime most of the G/C and Maronite enclaved sought shelter to
the government-controlled areas, while at the same time the Muslim
population rapidly increased, with the influx of Turkish settlers from
Anatolia. Considering the birth rates of the free and of the occupied
areas of Cyprus, and the non-stopping arrival of the illegal and
uncivilised settlers, the day that the Muslim population will outnumber
the Christians may not=2
0be very long from now.
But it is not just the nature of the possible solution that bothers me;
other matters cause me and many other Cypriots a great deal of distress
and distrust towards the Turkish side. To begin with, the memories are
still fresh from the brutal murdering of Tassos Isaac and the coward
killing of Solomos Solomou, in August 1996 by Turkish-Cypriots and
Turkish settlers, when they tried to enter the Turkish-occupied areas
of Famagusta, while the clandestine cold-blooded assassination of
Theophilos Georgiades, outside his Nicosia house in July 1994, still
haunts many Cypriots up to this day.
Another sign of Ankara’s implacability is the Varosha issue: Varosha
was not included in `operation Attila’; the only reason it was taken by
the Turks is because its inhabitants, fearing for their lives,
abandoned it. The Turks also occupied Ayios Memnon and Kato Dherynia,
and they would have taken Dherynia too had there not been for a few
armed G/C soldiers that thought it prudent to fire a few shots to make
their presence known to the invaders.
The Varosha area has been fenced for 34 years now, with its buildings
having fallen into disuse and severe decay due to lack of maintenance
and the exposure to the elements. For 34 years now the Turks have been
toying with us that if we do this and that they may consider giving
Varosha back, but for 34 years now not a
single square foot has been
given back to us. On the contrary, in 2000 they advanced to Strovilia
area. What could possibly make us think they would ever be willing to
give something back?
And finally, what is even more disturbing is that when one decides to
walk over to the other side, all their wishful thinking is
disillusioned for good: for starters, not only must we show our
passport/I.D., but we are also subject to the ridiculous procedure of
having to write down our information onto a photocopied piece of paper,
which is stamped as a `visa’ for entering the so-called `Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus’. This process is entirely unnecessary, and
it is carried out purely to show us that there is a `state’ in the
occupied part of Cyprus, which we must respect. The lack of necessity
for this time-consuming procedure (whose direct result is the formation
of queues in front of the pseudo-police cubicles) is revealed when one
loses their paper `visa’: since they are already registered in the
pseudo-police computer system, no harm done.
After we enter the occupied areas, we experience the vast antithesis
between the free Cyprus and the occupied Cyprus: the majority of the
Turkish settlers and T/C live in derelict houses, often devoid of
furniture we consider to be essential, and the whole ambiance transfers
you back in time. Not just that, if we venture to go
just 200 m. away
from the main streets, we find ourselves in a land of an almost
deafening silence and isolation. Not to mention the eerie and backward
settlers with their weird manners, their many wives and their veils,
and the fact that they speak only Turkish. How are we supposed to live
together with these people, with whom we have nothing in common?
Nevertheless, we must continue to fight for the rights of the people of
Cyprus, and hope for a better future, in a united Cyprus (sic).