from the fight against terrorism to the republic… |

According to the convention signed in Istanbul on July 4, 1878, the Ottoman state retained de jure sovereignty over Cyprus and handed over the administration of the island to Great Britain. The British, in return, Russia In case of a new war, they agreed to defend Turkey and to pay 92,800 pounds per year (this amount was not paid to the Turks, it was written off from the debt to the British).

When the First World War began, the Turks and the British were in hostile camps, and the Great Britain On November 5, 1914, he announced the annexation of Cyprus. A year later to Greece offer it was decided that if the Entente joined the war, it could receive Cyprus as a reward. But Athens did not accept it because of internal problems. According to the Treaty of Lausanne Turkey gave up his claims to the island. In 1925, Cyprus was declared a royal colony (Crown Colony).

According to the 1921 census, 310,175 people lived on the island, of which 244,887 (78.8%) were Greeks (Turks: 61,339 or 19.7%). It was not by chance that the idea of ​​union with Greece (enosis) was spreading widely.

Greek Cypriots Britain The first serious action against the government was the October events in 1931. Protesters set fire to the Government House in Nicosia. Seeing the paucity of local forces Britain administration from Egypt military had to bring forces. As a result of the events, 7 Greeks were killed. 10 people were exiled, and more than 2,000 people were punished from fines to imprisonment.

After the British 10 The enosis movement, which subsided due to their harsh behavior during the year, gained momentum again after the Second World War. In 1950, in an unofficial referendum held by the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, in which the Turks did not participate, 95.7 percent of the island’s Greeks voted for unification with Greece.

Greek Cypriots in these years political the young (born in 1913) priest Mikhail Muksos stands out as its leader. He was appointed Archbishop of Cyprus in 1950. In his inauguration speech, the priest, who took the name Makarios III, called the island “the motherland GreeceHe promised that he will not know peace until he unites with

In mid-1954 Greece UNrequested the recognition of the right to self-determination for Cyprus. UN In December, the General Assembly adopted a decision that “it is not appropriate to adopt a resolution on the Cyprus issue.”

In 1955 Greece Army colonel Georgios Grivas, an experienced veteran of the Second World War, founded the EOKA organization (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston – Cyprus Fighters National created the organization). The purpose of the organization was to force them to leave the island by organizing acts of terrorism and sabotage against the British. The first explosions took place on April 1, 1955. After several actions, the British governor declared a state of emergency on November 26. In March 1956, Makarios III was exiled to Seychelles.

As the Greek enosis movement and EOKA terror spread, the British began to lean more on the Turks on the island. For the Greeks reporting to EOKA the police more Turks are involved in their service, and the main weight of the fight against terrorism falls on them. This aggravates the relations between the two communities and prompts EOKA to terrorize the Turks.

Turkey At first, he did not pay much attention to what was happening in Cyprus. In the early 1950s Turkey and Greece, the famous journalist Mehmet Ali According to Birand, they were on their honeymoon. In April 1952 Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, and in November the president Jalal Bayar to Greece trip they did In response, King Paul of Greece in June 1952, Prime Minister Alexandros Papagos came to Turkey in June 1953.

Ankara began to pay more attention to the Cyprus issue from the mid-1950s. Primary the approach was that if Britain left the island, “Cyprus, a natural extension of Anatolia, should be returned to Turkey.” But it was not reasonable that the island, whose population is 80 percent Greek, would be given to Turkey. After Fatih Rüştü Zorlu became the new foreign minister in November 1957, the issue of Cyprus became more prominent in Ankara’s agenda.

Dr. to the organization of Turkish Cypriots Fazil Küçük was in charge. In 1955, he founded the Turkish Turkish Party of Cyprus, and two years later he put forward the slogan “taksim” (division). According to this principle, the Turks living on the island have the right to self-determination as a separate ethnos, and two states – Greek and Turkish – should have been established on the island. The weak point of Taksim was that the Turks did not live compactly in some part of Cyprus, but spread out in all directions. Somewhere they were a large majority, somewhere a relative majority, and in other places a relative or serious minority.

Fazil Küçük’s close friend Rauf Denktaş negatively evaluated the idea of ​​taksim in an interview he gave later. He said that the Greeks, remembering the ruling of the prophet Suleiman about which woman the child’s mother should be, preached that Cyprus belonged to the Greeks, and therefore they did not agree to its division, while the Turks agreed.

In late 1957, Rauf Denktaş, Burhan Nalbantoğlu and others decided to form TMT (Turkish Resistance Organization) to fight EOKA. Having met with Fatih Rüştü Zorlu in Ankara, Denktaş was able to get the approval of the Turkish government and the promise of military assistance. Moreover, Ankara retired colonel Reza The leader sent Vurushka to TMT.

***

Great Britain involves Turkey in the discussion of the Cyprus issue in order to neutralize the Greek demands for independence and enosis. From August 29 to September 7, 1955, a conference was held in London with the participation of Great Britain, Turkey and Greece to discuss the Cyprus issue, but no result was reached. Greeks generally believed that Cyprus was the problem of Greece and Britain.

After the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egypt in 1956 and an unsuccessful attempt to prevent it, Cyprus’ strategic importance to Great Britain was greatly reduced. After the Suez crisis, Harold Macmillan, who succeeded Anthony Eden as prime minister, made a number of proposals to solve the problem. In March 1957, Makarios III was released from the Seychelles, but was not allowed to enter Cyprus.

In December 1958 UN The General Assembly discussed the issue of Cyprus based on Greece’s next appeal, but USA and because of Great Britain’s support for Turkey’s position, it adopted a resolution expressing confidence that “attempts will continue towards a peaceful, democratic and just settlement of the Cyprus issue in accordance with the UN Charter.”

After that, meeting Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Averof in the corridor of the organization, Zorlu gestured to his colleague and congratulated them on a very good fight. At first, Averof saw this as a sarcasm, but later he realized that he was wrong. The next day, on Saturday, the two ministers met in the empty building of the UN and discussed the issue of Cyprus in private, and the first step towards rapprochement of positions was taken at that time. The basis of the agreement was “neither enosis nor taksim: independence”.

On February 11, 1959, in Zurich, with the participation of representatives of Great Britain, Turkey and Greece, as well as the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus, an agreement was reached on the independence of Cyprus, the state structure, and the division of power between the two communities.

The main provisions of the Zurich agreements were as follows: the president of the independent Republic of Cyprus would be elected by the Greeks, and the vice-president by the Turks. Both had the right of veto. 10 7 ministers in the one-man government the president3 ministers vice president would set. In the 50-member parliament, 35 seats would belong to Greeks and 15 seats to Turks. 2.7 percent of the island (Akrotiri and Decelia) military remained in Great Britain as a base. London, Ankara and Athens were the guarantors of these agreements. 950 Greek and 650 Turkish in Cyprus military contingent would be located.

Eight days after Zurich, on February 19, the parties met in London to sign the agreement. Unexpectedly, Makarios III said that he did not accept the agreements and that he had new proposals. McMillan responded by saying, “We are here for a signing ceremony, not a debate.” Greek Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis put pressure on the archbishop and said that if he does not sign the document, Greece will withdraw from Cyprus discussions. Desperate, Makarios III had to sign the document like the others.

On August 16, 1960, Cyprus gained independence. Makarios President, Fazil Little too vice president it happened The following month, Cyprus was admitted to the UN. But subsequent events showed that gaining independence did not solve all the problems…