Unsuccessful conspiracy, the arrival of the “butcher”, the decision of “Garaoğlan” – LETTER III |

…From the beginning of the 1970s, the situation in Cyprus began to deteriorate again. But this time the tension increased not between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, but between Athens and Nicosia. The life of Cypriot President Makarios was increasingly threatened.

of the country National 950 men stationed on the island according to the Zurich-London agreement Greece regiment (ELDYK) was already under the control of Athens. Already in the mid-1960s, Makarios tried to create forces loyal to him, became close with the socialist bloc, and bought a lot of weapons from Czechoslovakia. But former EOKA chief Georgias Grivas from this news holding, publicized the issue and at the request of Ankara, those weapons on the island UN gathered in the warehouses of the peacekeepers.

On March 8, 1970, there was an unsuccessful attempt against Makarios. Grivas, who was removed from the island at the request of Turkey after the crisis that occurred four years ago, returned in the fall of 1971 and created the EOKA-B organization, which aimed to unite (enosis) with Greece.

The majority of Greek Cypriots supported Makarios. Anyway, that’s what the official election results showed. It was held in 1968 the president received 96.3% votes in the elections. In 1973, elections were not held at all. Since there is no alternative candidate, Makarios for the next 5 years the president was announced. Although the Turkish community does not participate in the administration of the island, according to the Constitution, vice president and Rauf Denktaş took this post after 13 years of Fazil Küçük.

At first, they tried to overthrow Makarios through religious means, and the so-called “church coup” took place. Three Metropolitans of the Cypriot Orthodox Church appealed to Makarios. They are clerics political They called on the president to resign, claiming that his position was against church rules. When the president refused, the trinity stripped him of his religious rank. But Makarios convened the Great Synod. The assembled patriarchs confirmed the religious rank of Makarios and received the religious rank of three metropolitans.

In power in Greece since 1967 military the leader of the junta, Georgias Papadopoulos, announced a course of gradual democratization from the summer of 1973. Monarchy in the country cancellation Papadopoulos became the president of the new republic. By February 1974 parliament elections were set. But three months before the elections, there was a coup within the junta, and Dimitrios Ioannidis, a more hardline supporter, took power. In January, however, Grivas died and the junta in Athens took direct control of EOKA-B. These events were a prelude to what happened in Cyprus.

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Cyprus on July 15, 1974 by order from Athens National guard, with the participation of ELDYK and EOKA-B members military coup happened. The conspirators seized the presidential palace early in the morning, but Makarios escaped through the back door with three of his bodyguards and fled to the city of Paphos. The next of the day in the second half it was taken from here by the British and their own Akrotiri military to their bases, and from there by plane to Malta. On the night of July 17, the ousted president was already in London.

In Nicosia, on the same day of the coup, Nikos Sampson was declared president and was sworn in. This name did not bode well for Turkish Cypriots. Sampson was known for his atrocities against the Turks. He was known by the Turks as the “Butcher of Little Kaymakli” because of the massacre he committed in the Omorfita (Little Kaymakli) neighborhood of Nicosia during the Bloody Christmas of 1963. Sampson’s first step as president was to announce the establishment of the Greek Republic of Cyprus.

Mehmet later commented on the declaration of Glafkos Cleridis Sampson, who was the speaker of the Cypriot parliament at that time Ali Birand’s “32. he explained to the program: “My first reaction was that they couldn’t find someone worse.” It was like sending an invitation to Turkey (for intervention).

In the days following the coup, the Turkish Cypriots were not harmed, as the Greeks of the island were divided between the supporters of Makarios and Sampson, and fought each other. However, Rauf Denktaş ordered the Turks not to leave the areas where they live.

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At that time, the Republican People’s Party in Turkey and National Selamet Party was represented in the coalition government, the leader of the first one was Buland Ecevit Prime Minister, and the leader of the second, Najmeddin Erbakan, was his deputy. On receiving the news of the coup in Cyprus, the government ordered the army to immediately prepare for a landing operation and Prime Minister flew to England on July 17.

in London Prime Minister Ecevit Cyprus, meeting with Harold Wilson and Secretary of State James Callahan, the constitutional structure formed on the basis of the Zurich-London Agreementflour to interfere together with the island as a provider offer did In his opinion, the fact that the British acted together with the Turks would give the island Greeks confidence in their security. Ecevit brought a lot of soldiers with him to prepare the joint operation plan. But the British did not accept it for certain reasons.

Washington immediately sent a mediator to Turkey. This time, the duty to stop the intervention was placed on Joseph Sisco, the deputy of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The American diplomat had his first meeting with Ecevit in London, asked for 2 days to resolve the crisis diplomatically and flew to Greece. Unable to get the answer he wanted from the British, Ecevit returned to Ankara on the night of July 18 and immediately went to the General Headquarters to inquire about the stage of the intervention preparations.

According to the plan called “Attila Movement” prepared by the General Staff Turkish army of July 20would intervene on the island from three directions early in the morning. Infantry, artillery and tanks would be brought to the coast of Cyprus with landing ships. Special forces will be taken to the interior of the island by helicopters, and paratroopers will be dropped by airplanes around the capital city of Nicosia. Greek military positions would be fired upon from ships and planes.

Turkey to prevent a possible response from Greece Europe 2nd and 5th corps located in the Greece would move towards its border, the Aegean army located in Western Anatolia would be ready for battle.

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Joseph Sisko met with the leader of the military junta in Athens, Dimitrios Ioannidis, and said that Turkey is determined to intervene and that there are many legal grounds for it, and demanded the return of Makarios. But Ioannidis made general statements that the coup was an internal affair of Cyprus and that nothing threatened the Turks of the island. The Greeks probably did not believe in intervention. Sisko, unable to get anything in Athens Turkey He came to Ankara to speak out for his government.

The second meeting between Ecevit and Sisko in July 20took place last night. Prime Minister to the arguments of the American diplomat 10 years ago, Turkey did not intervene as a result of American insistence (and even threat) Turkey and Greece are not satisfactory results, so we won’t listen to you anymore,” he said. Cisco’s “when do you intend to start?” Ecevit looked at his watch and answered “it must have already started”.

At that moment, a part of the Turkish fleet was advancing towards Cyprus. The group consisted of 31 amphibious ships, 5 destroyers, 5 cutters and 4 submarines. 3500 soldiers, 12 howitzers, 15 tanks and 20 there was an armored personnel carrier…