Intercommunal violence during the Cyprus conflict
Date 1963 to 1974 Location Island of Cyprus Result Coup inspired by Athens topples Cypriot President and attempts to unite island with Greece. Results in Turkish military invasion and the de facto partition of the island Casus belli Constitutional breakdown
Combatants
Greek Cypriots Aided by Hellenic Republic	Turkish Cypriots Aided by Republic of Turkey
Strength
30,000[1]	5,000[2]

The Cypriot Civil War refers to a period of inter-ethnic conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots on the island of Cyprus from 1963 to 1974. 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Nickname: City of Athena or Cradle of Democracy Location of the city of Athens (red dot) within the Prefecture of Athens and Periphery of Attica Coordinates: Country Greece Peripheries Attica Prefecture Athens Founded circa 2000 BC Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis Area    - City 38. ... Casus belli is a modern Latin language expression meaning the justification for acts of war. ... Greek Cypriot refers to the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Greece. ... Turkish Cypriots are those inhabitants of Cyprus who are ethnically Turkish[1], as opposed to those who are of Greek (the Greek Cypriots) or other ethnicities. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Turkey. ... Greek Cypriot refers to the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus. ... Turkish Cypriots are those inhabitants of Cyprus who are ethnically Turkish[1], as opposed to those who are of Greek (the Greek Cypriots) or other ethnicities. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Background

Main article: Modern history of Cyprus

The island of Cyprus was annexed by Britain in 1914 from the Ottoman Empire, following the latters decision to join the First World War on the side of the Central Powers. Soon afterwards, it offered the island to Constantine I of Greece on condition that Greece join the war on the side of the British. Although the offer was supported by Eleftherios Venizelos, the Greek prime minister, it was rejected by the King, who wished to keep Greece out of the war. The offer therefore lapsed. After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the new Turkish government formally recognized Britain's ownership of Cyprus. As the majority population on the island, Greek Cypriots believed it their natural right to unite the island with Greece, as many of the Aegean islands had done following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. 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 rejected fresh demands for enosis, offering concessions on home rule, or self-government, instead.^[3] 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.^[3] In 1878 as the result of the Cyprus Convention, the United Kingdom took over the government of Cyprus as a protectorate from the Ottoman Empire. ... Motto: دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem: Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299-1326) Bursa (1326-1365) Edirne (1365-1453) Constantinople (Istanbul) (1453-1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–1922 Mehmed VI... The word Ένωσις (enosis) is Greek for union. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The United Nations General Assembly (GA) is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations. ...

Enosis and Taksim

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis prompted an armed underground campaign against colonialism by a movement of Greek Cypriots known as the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA,which was led by the Greek commander George Grivas and systematically targeted British colonial authorities.^[3] One of the effects of the EOKA campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition), the fact that the Turks were a small minority was to be according to Nihat Erim should be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that the Greek Cypriots cease to be the majority^{[citation needed]}. 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.^[4] EOKA (Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (Greek National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that fought for the expulsion of British troops from the island, for self-determination and for union with Greece in the mid to late 1950s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Nihat Erim (1912 - July 19, 1980) was a Turkish political figure and jurist. ... Sir Allan Francis John Harding was a British military man and governor of Cyprus (1955 - 1957). ...

First signs of intercommunal conflict

The first signs of intercommunal conflict on the island appeared when the British conscripted Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus. The eventual death of Turkish Cypriot policemen were met with anti-Greel riots by the Turkish community similar while the British authorities remained passive. Greek stores and neighborhoods would be burned and Greek civilians would be injured or killed. Such events createed chaos and brought the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.^[5]

On the 22nd of October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27th and 28th of January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan rejected partition. The British then withdrew the plan. Look up October in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon, PC (8 October 1907 - 5 September 1990) was a British diplomat who oversaw moves to independence in various colonies and was UK representative to the United Nations. ... The word Ένωσις (enosis) is Greek for union. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Platia Eleftherias (Freedom square) Nicosia, Cyprus Satellite photo of Nicosia, Cyprus Nicosia, known locally as Lefkosia (Greek: Λευκωσία , also colloquially Khora, Χώρα or Turkish: Lefkoşa) is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. This violence soon to be followed by bombing, Greek Cypriots deaths and looting of Greek owned stores and houses resulted in 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.^[6] June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30 days. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. ...

Grey Wolf has been the symbol of Pan-Turkism,visible in TMTs emblem above; showing Pan Turkism ideology of TMT Cyprus

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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Grey Wolves (Bozkurtlar in Turkish) is the youth organization of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP), an ultra-nationalist[1] movement founded by Alparslan Türkeş in 1969. ... Turkic peoples listed geographically. ... Summary TMT (Turkish for Turkish Defence Organization) was a Cyprus paramilitary organization, formed in 1957 by Turkish Cypriots Rauf Denktash and Fazil Kuchuk, and Turkish military officer Riza Vurushkan. ... Summary TMT (Turkish for Turkish Defence Organization) was a Cyprus paramilitary organization, formed in 1957 by Turkish Cypriots Rauf Denktash and Fazil Kuchuk, and Turkish military officer Riza Vurushkan. ...

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. EOKA (Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (Greek National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that fought for the expulsion of British troops from the island, for self-determination and for union with Greece in the mid to late 1950s. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

TMT has been accused by the Republic of Cyprus of numerous acts of terrorism and the murders of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots [1]. 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. Terrorist redirects here. ... Rauf DenktaÅŸ Rauf Raif DenktaÅŸ (in English often spelled Rauf Denktash) (born January 27, 1924) is the founder of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a defacto state which is only recognized by Turkey. ... Polycarpos Georgadjis was a member of EOKA. He was appointed Minister of Labour in the transitional government set up immediately before the Republic of Cyprus became independent. ...

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.^[7]

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. Fazil Küçük Dr Fazil Küçük (1906-1984) was the first and only Turkish Cypriot Vice President of the 1960 Republic of Cyprus. ... The Treaty of Alliance of (1778) resulted from the success of American forces in the Battle of Saratoga. ... Map of Akrotiri (Western) SBA Akrotiri (also known as the Western Sovereign Base Area or WSBA) and Dhekelia (also known as the Eastern Sovereign Base Area or ESBA) are UK Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) in Cyprus, a former British Crown Colony. ... Map of Akrotiri (Western) SBA Akrotiri (also known as the Western Sovereign Base Area or WSBA) and Dhekelia (also known as the Eastern Sovereign Base Area or ESBA) are UK Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) in Cyprus, a former British Crown Colony. ...

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.^[8] 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.^[9] 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.”^[10] 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".^[11] 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”.^[12] 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.^[13] By 1964, 193 Turkish Cypriots and 133 Greek Cypriots were killed, with a further 209 Turks and 41 Greeks missing, presumed dead. Platia Eleftherias (Freedom square) Nicosia, Cyprus Satellite photo of Nicosia, Cyprus Nicosia, known locally as Lefkosia (Greek: Λευκωσία , also colloquially Khora, Χώρα or Turkish: LefkoÅŸa) is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. ... District Larnaka  - Mayor Andreas Moyseos Population (2001)  - City 72,000 Time zone EET (UTC+2) Website: http://www. ... Nikos Sampson (1935 – May 9, 2001) was the coup détat-installed dictator of Cyprus, after the overthrow of President Makarios in 1974. ...

Approximately 20,000 Turkish Cypriots fled their homes and villages to live in enclaves, much of their villages and homes looted.^[14] 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.”^[15] 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.^[16] 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. The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) was established in 1964 to prevent a recurrence of fighting between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 - January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963-1969). ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[2] (NATO; French: ; also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, the Western Alliance, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ...

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.^[17][18] 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. Kokkina is the Greek Cypriot name for the Turkish Cypriot exclave of Erenköy, which contains a village bearing the same name. ... Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (April 11, 1893 – October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer; as United States Secretary of State in the late 1940s he played the central role in defining American foreign policy for the Cold War. ... Galo Plaza Lasso (1906 – 1987) was an Ecuadorian political figure. ...

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.^[19] 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."^[20] 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Augusto Pinochet (sitting) was an army general who led a military coup in Chile in 1973. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday. ...

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 1950s. 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. EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston, in English National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that fought for the expulsion of United Kingdom troops from the island, for self-determination and for union with Greece in the mid to late 1950s. ... EOKA (Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (Greek National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that fought for the expulsion of British troops from the island, for self-determination and for union with Greece in the mid to late 1950s. ...

See also

• Cyprus dispute
• History of the Ottoman Empire

The Cyprus dispute is the conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and also Republic of Cyprus and Turkey over Cyprus, an island nation in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. ... The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I (in Arabic Uthmān, hence the name Ottoman Empire). ...

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