Cyprus who is to blame

It depends on the Turkish government and particularly, at this moment, Erdogan. The place is called Ankara, the country is Turkey, the leader now is Erdogan, and what needs to be done is to end, first, the occupation and, second, the anachronism or the absurdity of a non EU country guaranteeing the rule of law and the security of an EU member state.

BBC, Stratejik Derinlik. Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey to Deter Gas Exploration Plans. Turkey and N. Cyprus Clear Gas Drill Hurdle. OpenDocument [Accessed 3 Aug. Why are Turkish Troops in Cyprus?

Twitter: kouskouvelis. Before you download your free e-book, please consider donating to support open access publishing. E-IR is an independent non-profit publisher run by an all volunteer team. Your donations allow us to invest in new open access titles and pay our bandwidth bills to ensure we keep our existing titles free to view. Any amount, in any currency, is appreciated. As a result, official positions reserved for Turks on the island would be reduced or eliminated entirely. The ultimate goal was to Hellenize the island and bring the Megali Idea to fruition.

As a result, only a few years after gaining independence from the British crown, the country was engulfed in civil war. To end the growing Cypriot conflict, peace talks began in Beirut in , but they were unsuccessful, causing the situation on the island to escalate further, and the dicta-regime of Athens eventually attempted to stage a coup in Lefkosa Nicosia in The military intervention was legal and confirmed by the Council of Europe Resolution in and by a ruling of the Supreme Court in Athens in Despite these legal violations, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus TRNC , which was established in and is still recognized by Turkey alone, has held onto its good intentions and continued to participate in negotiations for the reunification of the island.

This is particularly evident in the generous concessions made by Mustafa Akinci, the former Turkish Cypriot president, who is considered a man of the West.

Akinci renounced extensive rights for Turkish Cypriots in a joint federal-state and promised Southern Cyprus large swaths of Turkish territory during negotiations in Crans Montana, Switzerland, in , causing outrage in Northern Cyprus. The fact that Nicos Anastasiades nevertheless ended the negotiations in , thereby causing the failure of yet another round of peace talks, shows the audacity of Southern Cyprus. Most recently, he has again proposed a federal solution. Trying to find a common thread among these confusing suggestions, it becomes clear that it is Greek insatiability and arrogance that have thwarted a solution on the island for the past 53 years.

So, it can be clearly deduced from this entire process that Southern Cyprus will never agree to a solution unless the Greek Cypriots are guaranteed a unitary state with minimal minority rights for the Turks. The island has never before been ruled by a Greek dynasty or been completely Hellenistic at any point in history. Some of the more ambitious converted to Islam in order to escape the taxes and restrictions on their opportunities.

Their fears remain understandable. Appalling atrocities were committed by the Turkish troops who were recovering territory that the Greek invaders had overrun just months before, leaving devastation in their wake too.

A wonderful rich city was almost completely destroyed and all the Christians were either killed or burnt out. There were other reasons to fear the Ottoman Turks; the Armenian massacre for instance although this remains a contentious matter.

Long ago the conquest of Cyprus itself by the Ottomans was a bloody affair involving unspeakable cruelty by the conquerors on the fall of Nicosia and Famagusta. In the 19C the Ottoman rulers slaughtered the Patriarch and his bishops, looted the churches, cleared Limassol of Christians and destroyed their houses. It is not very encouraging to see scenes of brawling politicians in parliament.

It would appear to be an absurd secret briefing document and plan, dreamt up by Makarios and his cronies to overturn the terms of the constitution established by the London and Zurich agreements, deal with the certain Turkish response and ultimately use the new power acquired to proclaim union with Greece.

There is no mention of anything like ethnic cleansing, although it is interesting in that it shows the extent of self delusion of those in government. The secret plan was inevitably leaked to the press and, assuming its authenticity,revealed the duplicitous nature of the Greek ministers to all.

In this context, however, it does seem that the later establishment of the Attila line and the subsequent ethnic segregation was part of a plan to establish a separate state in what was the most prosperous part of the island. In any event, Turkey was not going to allow Cyprus to follow the example of wholesale ethnic cleansing in Crete. Even so, one must remember that the constitution established in by the London and Zurich agreements was always going to lead to problems.

Makarios probably felt that all Cypriots should be Orthodox Christian. If he did hold with such a view, it was not compatible with peace in Cyprus.

At different times he used those opposed to each other; ultimately his leanings may have been to the left and to an Orthodox hegemony. Most of his congregation still supported him, but he became seen as a problem by the forces of the right and the Greek Junta. His support for Enosis waned once Greece fell under the control of his fascist one time friends, now enemies.

Nevertheless, mutual fear probably still afflicts relations between and within the two communities. It is difficult to see how trust could be fostered, even now. Ironically that is a legacy of the Ottoman period.

They will press for property restitution and the expulsion of a significant proportion of the Turkish population in the North. The future of Cuprus lies with the children— ALL of the children. Growing up to be Cypriots should be their aim. Stop that idea NOW in Cyprus. Children often have more common sense than their elders, they are not weighed down by history.

Be proud to be a Cypriot. Thank you David for your comment. The problem in Cyprus is that history has been hidden or distorted to a point where the children and youth of today may never understand what the problem is all about. As a Turkish citizen, I blame Turkey for the unnecessarily long delay in reaching an acceptable compromise in Cyprus in the aftermath of intervention. Successive Turkish governments have failed to grasp the true gravity of the Cyprus issue, and clearly chose to ignore practical solutions.

Thank you for your comment and as they say it takes two to tango but if one dancer has two left feet then they will never be able to dance together. British themselves confessed their crime against Cyprus by their Minister of Foreign office Kalahan who confessed that they let the turkish invasion to be done in order to succed the division of Cyprus.

Read history and the papers of foreign office!!! Your propaganda against Greeks is poor and unprooved!!! How could Turkey invade Cyprus on 20th July if it had already been invaded by Greece.

I regret to say that it was a mistake on my part to bestow upon them so much trust and confidence. Please check history how England get the Cyprus from Ottoman settled the greeks. But nobody talks about this 99 years lease. Cyprus was then proclaimed a British protectorate and was integrated into the British Empire. This remained in place until November , when after the Ottomans joined the Central Powers, in turn entering World War I, Britain declared the complete annexation of Cyprus into the British Empire, albeit under a military administration status.

As for the 99 year lease given by the Ottomans to the British and the islands annexation, perhaps the Turks will have learned from the mistakes of the Ottomans and the future of Cyprus is still to be decided by those interested parties.