More specifically on the Zurich-London Treaty:
Before the signing of the agreement, Hezekiah Papaioannou, in a meeting he had with Makarios in England, handed him a memorandum with AKEL’s positions, which said that he should NOT sign the Agreement because:
-It would perpetuate the imperialist forces in Cyprus.
-It would put Cyprus under the guardianship of the guarantor powers.
-It would impose a donor constitution on the Cypriot people.
In the end, the agreement was signed, and everything that AKEL had been arguing against became a reality:
– The British secured 99 square miles of Cypriot territory.
-32 other Cyprus points for the “British Sovereign Base Areas”
– Right of Greek army parking in Cyprus (950 men)
– Turkish army parking right in Cyprus (650 men)
– Start of bicommunal disturbances a few years later.
Since the treaty was signed, AKEL did not stand by its disagreement, but supported the effort to strengthen independence, fighting for its improvement.
More information on the coup attempts:
In March 1969, the illegal organisation “National Front” makes its appearance in Cyprus. The National Front was active until May 1970. It propagandizes for the Union and carries out bombings. The culmination of its activities was the attempted assassination of Makarios on 8 March 1970. The attempt is now considered certain to have been organised by Polycarpos Yiorkatzis with the guidance of the American secret services.
-The Athens Junta also recruited the ecclesiastical hierarchy with an attempted ecclesiastical coup d’état to depose Makarios, a plan which ultimately failed.
– Similarly, the coup planned by the Junta and EOKA II in February 1972 failed. The reason for the failure of the 1972 coup was the rallying of the people around the democratically elected president whose main supporting force was AKEL.
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL, Ezekias Papaioannou, warns implicitly but clearly that nothing is over, the coup is being planned, and the perpetrator is the Athens Junta, the American CIA and the terrorist organisation EOKA II, its executive organ.
A year later, in July 1973, Grivas drafted the General Plan under the code name “NIKI”. The purpose of the plan was to seize power and solve the Cyprus problem within the framework of self-determination.Unfortunately, the fascist and treacherous coup against Makarios took place, and Turkish troops landed undisturbed in Kyrenia. On that black July 1974, Attila occupies 37% of Cypriot territory and one third of Cypriots become refugees in their own country.
More on the declaration of the pseudo-state:
After the invasion, in February 1975, the “Turkish Cypriot Federal State” was established in the occupied territories, as well as the “Founding Parliament”. Rauf Denktaş is declared President of the so-called Parliament without election, because he was the Vice President of the Republic of Cyprus.
The task of the founding parliament was to draw up a new constitution, but after pressure from the left-wing opposition they settled on a parliamentary system with strict control by Denktash, instead of the presidential system he wanted.
The fascist coup in Turkey in 1980 had a decisive impact on developments in the Cyprus problem. The aim of the coup was to suppress the Turkish left. It led to increased interference by Ankara in the occupied territories and by extension this created a controlled environment, subservient to imperialist interests. The economy of the occupied territories is reaching a very bad state.
In the “elections” that took place, Denktaş became “president”, but without a majority in the “parliament”. As expected, Turkey intervenes and makes it clear to the progressive opposition parties that positions contrary to Turkey’s policy will not be accepted.
Late 1982, threats of invasion of the free territories increased and Turkish positions on the Cyprus problem hardened; in May 1983, a UN resolution was passed to withdraw occupying troops and at the same time declare the Republic of Cyprus’ right to full sovereignty.
On the evening of 14 November, Denktaş called the “deputies” and announced his intention to declare the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, leaving no room for reaction from the opposition.
The next day the declaration of the pseudo-state is a fact.
More on Crans Montana:
The Cyprus problem continues to plague our country to this day. The steady and clear position of the left is the solution within the framework as defined in the 1977-79 high-level agreements, which provides for a solution of a bizonal bicommunal federation.
From 2013 to 2015, the talks were terminated due to the stance of the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, but also due to the refusal of Nicos Anastasiades to resume the talks from where they left off.
In 2015, when Mustafa Akinci is “elected” as the leader of the T/C, the attitude of the T/C side changes and the attitude of Nicos Anastasiades is forced to change.
In the summer of 2017, through the progress of the negotiations, we end up in Mont Pelerin in Geneva and then in Crans Montana. The sole concern of the Left was to take the decisive step towards a solution of the Cyprus problem.
In the end, the talks collapsed mainly due to the Turkish stance, but also due to the indecisive Mr.Nicos Anastasiades, resulting in the Cyprus problem remaining dangerously stagnant. It should be noted that the UN Secretary General’s report, Mr. Gutiérrez, laid the blame on both sides and not only on the Turkish side.
After the collapse of the negotiations, one would have expected that the then President Anastasiades would have made efforts to resume the talks along the line set by Mr.Gutiérrez. In this way, if Turkey accepted, we would have resumed negotiations, and if not, we would have left Turkey exposed to the international community.
Instead, he chose inaction, and there has been no progress since then.
More on the murder of Kavazoglou and Misiaouli:
On 11 April 1965, the heroes of friendship and cooperation between Cypriots and Cypriots, Dervis Ali Kavazoglou and Kostas Misiaoulis, fell to the murderous bullets of the terrorist organisation TMT. Kavazoglou and Misiaoulis were both members of AKEL and PEO. They met their deaths in each other’s arms on the old Nicosia-Larnaca road near Kossii.
The assassination of Dervis Ali Kavazoglou and Kostas Misiaouli was not a “bolt from the blue” but the end of a difficult and uphill course, a conscious and well-planned operation, aimed at silencing and imposing the law of silence and the graveyard in the Turkish Cypriot community. It was even more than that. The precursor of the well-known expansionist intolerant plans of the nationalists in both communities, as well as of Turkey’s ambitions against Cyprus, with the support and assistance of the British and Americans who made fanaticism in the two communities of Cyprus a main component of their general policy in the region. It was a continuation of the unrest that began in 1963, and even before that, with the clashes provoked by the chauvinists, and resulted in the drawing of the line of confrontation and the enclaves.
More about the Battle of Tylliria:
On 7 August 1964, bloody clashes broke out in the area of Tilliria, when the National Guard tried to neutralise the enclave of Mansoura – Kokkina, which the Turks had formed with the ultimate aim of creating a beachhead for a possible invasion of Cyprus.
During the clashes, which lasted for four days until 10 August, Turkish aircraft attacked with napalm bombs against National Guard positions and residential areas.
More than 50 Greek Cypriots, including several civilians, were tragically killed, while hundreds were injured.
More about the battle of Kofinou:
On 14-15 November, the Battle of Kofinou, codenamed “Operation Grothos”, took place and was a military operation by the National Guard in cooperation with the Cyprus Police against the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Kofinou and Agios Theodoros, which were run and controlled by TMT.
After the intercommunal riots of 1963, Kofinou became a strong military stronghold of the Turkish Cypriots. It was a constant source of incidents in the area and often armed Turkish Cypriots would cut off the two roads and shoot at passing cars.
The Cypriot government appealed to the UN forces, but their intervention was delayed. On 15 November 1967, by order of Makarios, the National Guard under the command of General Georgios Grivas took over the task of “restoring order”. Grivas mobilized very powerful forces, with tanks, armored vehicles and artillery. He first attacked the mixed village of Agios Theodoros (685 Turkish Cypriots and 525 Greek Cypriots) and captured the Turkish Cypriot quarter almost without a battle. It then turned against neighbouring Kofinou. In the ensuing skirmishes 24 Turkish Cypriots were killed and 9 wounded, while the Greek Cypriot casualties were one dead and two wounded.
The operations in Agios Theodoros and Kofinou caused a serious political crisis. Turkey called the bloody incidents a “cruel provocation” and threatened a military invasion of Cyprus and war against Greece.
More about the coup of 15 July 1974:
In the early hours of 15 July 1974, tanks are already on the streets, heading towards the Presidential Palace, while at the same time attacks are launched against the RIK, the Reserve Corps camp, the Police Headquarters and Nicosia Airport. Despite the traitors’ proclamations of the assassination of the legitimate president, Makarios, with the contribution of AKEL and the patriotic forces, manages to escape from the Presidential Palace and survive the coup.
The “product” of the guided treason, however, manages – even temporarily – to take root and Nikos Samson is “sworn in” as president of the coup government. With the traitorous “government” declaring the unification of Cyprus with Greece as its goal and with Turkey considering this action as a direct threat to the Turkish Cypriots, the road to the invasion and the dismemberment of our country was opened.
More on the landing at Five Mile:
On 20 July, the drama of the Republic of Cyprus ends with the invasion of Turkey. Turkey had practically found open doors, as the coup “government” had seen to it.
The leftists and democrats were collectively filling the prisons, unable to defend their country, various National Guard forces had been ordered to withdraw from the area, and a considerable part of the weapons had been destroyed in the fighting of the previous days or remained locked up in warehouses. The information that existed about the alarming and unusual presence of Turkish forces off Cyprus was ignored, while the Huda was “reassuring” Cyprus by saying that all Turkish activity was merely a “military exercise”. In those days, the coup leadership deliberately weakened the NF position in Kyrenia, while there are testimonies that it left outposts without weapons.
Eventually Turkey invades our country and occupies 36% of its territory. Turkish landing craft began to land forces undisturbed in the Pente Mili area, eight kilometres west of Kyrenia, shortly after 5am on 20 July. Almost simultaneously, swarms of Turkish planes began attacking, continuously and in waves, the wider Kyrenia and Nicosia area, while other aircraft and helicopters attempted parachute drops at opportune points. Thousands of Cypriots were killed, betrayed by the then leadership of the “state” and the army, thousands were displaced and hundreds remain missing to this day. The twin crime left irreparably open wounds in the body of Cyprus and tragic memories etched in the consciousness of our people. On the contrary, the culprits, the planners and executors of the crime, remain unpunished.
Opening barricades:
On 23 April 2003, the Hydra Palace barrier was opened, allowing for the first time, albeit under certain conditions, traffic to and from both sides of the Line.
On hearing the news, no one believed it was true. Within a few hours, however, queues of thousands of people formed, passing from one side to the other. In just 15 days, some 260,000 Greek Cypriots and 88,000 Turkish Cypriots, about 35% of the population, crossed the Green Line. This despite political opposition on both sides.
Greek Cypriots massively overtook their political leadership, while in the occupied territories there were massive militant demonstrations of Turkish Cypriots demanding a solution to the Cyprus problem and EU membership along with the Greek Cypriots.
Today, 20 years after the opening of the first crossing point, there are a total of 9 crossing points along the Green Line that divides the island in two. With the fear that we are slowly living the transformation of de facto partition into de jure partition.
But people continue to hope that better days will come, that one day they will celebrate a new milestone – the day when all the roadblocks and barbed wire will be removed.