CYPRUS TWO DEMOCRACIES TWO STATES TWO LANGUAGES AND TWO RELIGIONS |
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Prof. Dr. Ata ATUN |
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It is a crystal-clear fact on the island of Cyprus that there have been “two peoples and two religions” for the past half of a millennium. In addition to this, “two states and two governments” have existed for the past half century, since Dec. 21, 1963. On Dec. 21, 1963, Makarios unleashed his secretly formed armed forces against the Turkish people. Greece was hand in glove with Archbishop Makarios III in this new conspiracy to destroy the Republic of Cyprus.
Christmas of 1963 saw a Greek Cypriot militia attack Turkish Cypriot communities across the island, killing many men, women and children.
This atrocious night is known as “Bloody Christmas” in Turkish Cypriot history, and over 600 innocent Turkish Cypriot men, women and children were ruthlessly slaughtered in one single night.
Around 270 mosques, shrines and other places of worship were desecrated. The constitution became unworkable because of the refusal on the part of the Greek Cypriots to fulfill the obligations to which they had agreed.
From Dec. 22, 1963 to July 20, 1974 — 11 long years, called the “Dark Era” in Turkish Cypriot history — Turkish Cypriots were confined to an “open-air prison” by the Greek Cypriot government headed by Archbishop Makarios III: They were not allowed freedom of movement, property or education rights or the right to a normal life. No jobs, no money, no medicine, no milk, no water and no future.
During these dark ages, Turkish Cypriots formed their own ad-ministration under the leadership of Dr. Fazil Küçük and Rauf R. Denktaş.
The bi-national republic that was envisioned by past treaties ceased to exist after December 1963. The Greek Cypriot wing of the “partnership” state took over the title “Government of Cyprus” and the Turkish Cypriots, who had never accepted the seizure of power, set up a Turkish administration to run their own affairs.
The UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), with the mis-sion of bringing peace to the island, was sent to the island in March 1964.
They could not stop the clashes, and inhumane Greek attacks on Turkish Cypriots continued. Some 20,000 Greek troops arrived on Cyprus clandestinely to back up the Greek National Guards in their mission to massacre the Turkish Cypriots.
The goal of the Greek Cypriot leadership under Makarios was to force all Turkish Cypriots off the island, either by brute force or by the implementation of inhumane living conditions.
But Makarios’ pace of ethnic cleansing of Turkish Cypriots was not fast enough for the junta generals in Greece, and this led to the Greek Cypriot National Guards overthrowing Makarios in a coup d’etat on July 15, 1974, under the command of Greek officers and with the support of Greek troops from Greece.
F
rom this point on, things changed dramatically on the island. Turkey had to intervene to save the lives of Turkish Cypriots since the speed of the genocide would have accelerated after the declaration of the “Cyprus Hellenic Republic” on July 16, 1974, by notorious human butcher and right-wing Greek operative Nicos Sampson, installed by the Greek junta as president of the unilaterally declared new republic.
After four days, on July 20, 1974, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) stepped in to save the lives of the Turkish Cypriots.
Since the Turkish military intervention, no clashes between the two peoples of Cyprus have occurred and there is a very high probabil-ity that they won’t as long as the TSK stays in the north. Or in other words until the Greek Cypriots dare to attack Turkish Cypriots again as they did during the Dark Era, 1964 to 1974.
The “two democracies, two states, two languages and two reli-gions” reality on the island was officially mentioned by Turkish Presi-dent Abdullah Gül on Sept. 18, 2007 during his very first trip abroad since taking office, to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TCKK). He has called on the international community to take this into account.
It is a crystal-clear fact on the island that “two democracies, two states, two languages and two religions” coexist. A sustainable solution has to be built on this reality.
