the prime minister’s secret password, “Operation Aysha” – LETTER IV |

July 1974 20at 06:0010Prime Minister of Turkey Bülent Ecevit made a statement that will soon spread to the whole world: “The Turkish Armed Forces have started landing and disembarking operations in Cyprus. May God bless our nation, all Cypriots and humanity. We believe that we will be of great service to humanity and peace in this way. I hope that our forces will not be fired upon and that there will be no bloody shortage. We are actually going to the island not for war, but for peace, to bring peace not only to the Turks, but also to the Romanians. We came to this decision only after trying all political and diplomatic ways.

In those minutes, Turkish paratroopers were landing in Cyprus. A little later, the landing ships anchored on the beach of Penthemil near Kyrenia (Kyrenia). After the exit, which took place without a fight, the Turks advanced a bit and gained strategic depth in the embankment they held.

Who thinks that Turkey is threatened as it was in 1964 and 1967 Greece and for the Cypriot governments, the launch of the operation was unexpected. Only watch 10A battalion was ordered to advance towards the coast and attack the Turks. But it was impossible to throw the Turks into the sea with such a force. The Greeks retreated, losing five tanks in addition to manpower. The additional forces sent to the landing place suffered heavy losses as a result of the Turkish aviation attack. Two torpedo boats trying to attack Turkish ships were also sunk.

However, the landing situation was not safe either. A force of 3,500 men was quite small for such an operation. Due to the lack of landing ships, it was not possible to bring all the forces allocated for the movement at once. It was necessary to hold off until the ships returned and brought new forces. During the next 3 days, a total of 8,000 Turkish soldiers went to the island.

Greece he could not react to the events. Even if they were thinking of attacking Turkey, Joseph Sisco, who came from Ankara to Athens, cooled their anger. The American diplomat stated in an undiplomatic way that the Greeks have no chance in the war against the Turks and cannot rely on the support of Washington. Due to the dominance of Turkish aviation on the island and its surroundings, Athens, at least, is serious about Cyprus military could not send help.

15 “Nord Noratlas” on the night of July 21-22 only within the framework of the “Niki” operation plane special forces were sent with But two of the planes landed in Crete and Rhodes due to technical reasons. Those who reached the apartment were subjected to “friendly fire”. Anti-aircraft gunners of the Cypriot Guard mistook them for Turkish planes and opened fire. As a result, one of the planes crashed, 4 crew members and 27 commandos perished it happened In another plane that managed to land, 2 commandos died. 10 person was injured. Other planes managed to land despite the fire. They brought 278 kommandos to Nicosia weather joined the defense of the port.

Battles for the beach continued until July 22. The Turks were able to capture the port of Kyrenia and connect it with the large Turkish enclave north of the capital, Nicosia (Lefkosha). UN According to the decision of the Security Council on the same day at 17.00 military operations were largely suspended. Based on the results of the first phase of the campaign Turkey controlled 7 percent of the island. Let me add that with the beginning of the intervention, the Greeks began to attack the enclaves of the Turks on the island and again committed violence and massacres against the civilian population.

“Friendly fire” also caused losses to the Turks. Thus, on July 21, as a result of a misunderstanding, the ships “Adatepe”, “Mareshal Fevzi Cakmak” and “Kocatepe” were fired upon by the Turkish aviation. “Adatepe” was seriously injured, “Çakmak” was lightly injured, and “Kocatepe” sank and 54 crew members lost their lives.

In Greece for 7 years now military due to the existence of the junta and the new military coup in Cyprus, the world public opinion was sympathetic to Turkey’s intervention in Cyprus. But military failure brought down both juntas. Nikos Sampson fled Cyprus and of parliament chairman Glafkos Kliridis the president duty execution started to do. In Greece, Konstantinos Karamanlis returned from exile again Prime Minister it happened

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On July 25 in Geneva, the independence of Cyprus and the constitutional structureflour of the three countries that provide it – Big Britain, Turkey and the conference started with the participation of the foreign ministers of Greece and lasted for 5 days. In the agreement adopted on July 30, no offensive operations were to be carried out, Turkish enclaves were to be evacuated, and prisoners of war and hostages were to be released as soon as possible. free There were other ingredients. At the end, there was a provision to start the second conference on August 8, with the participation of the foreign ministers of all three countries, as well as the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus, to discuss the new constitution.

Ankara did not have much hope that the problem would be solved peacefully. Therefore, despite the ceasefire agreement (in fact, the clashes did not completely stop), he continued to increase his military forces on the island. There are already 40 thousand in Cyprus soldier, 20Tank up to 0 and 20There were more than 0 armored personnel carriers.

It should also be noted that Europe The council justified Turkey’s intervention in the resolution adopted on July 29. The institution regrets that the problem was not resolved diplomatically in paragraph 3 of the document and therefore Turkey stressed that his government was using its right contained in Article 4 of the Agreement on Guarantees.

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At the second Geneva conference, which began on August 8, the parties could not reach a common denominator. Turkey on August 12 offer put forward. The first was the proposal of a federated Cyprus: the Turks would govern themselves and the Greeks would govern themselves, the federal government would have minimal powers, while 30 percent of the island would go to the Turks and 70 percent to the Greeks. According to the second proposal, five Turkish cantons would be created, one large in the north and four small in the south. The total area of ​​these cantons would again be equal to 30 percent of the island, and the Turks would enjoy the right of self-government.

Both Greece, as well as the representatives of the Greek Cypriots asked for time to discuss these proposals, they were to go to Athens and Nicosia respectively. But the foreign minister of Turkey Turan Güneş did not agree to give time. There was a reason for that.

Ankara had made preparations to launch a second military operation in case the conference failed. But you couldn’t do that as the conference progressed, then you would be seen as a disruptive party. Therefore Turan With the sun Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit had thought of a password among themselves.

Haluk Ulman, a member of the Turkish delegation, reported to Ecevit by phone about the progress of the conference. Prime Minister asked him:Turan [Güneş] on the way he told me that he didn’t have time to send his daughter Ayşe on vacation, Orhan [turizm naziri Orhan Birgit] find a place and send him. We found a place, tell Turan that Ayşe will go on vacation.”

Haluk Ulman, who was surprised that the prime minister was interested in Ayshe’s vacation during a big crisis, forgot about this request at first, but then he conveyed it to Turan Gunesh. It was that password – Ecevit that the Turkish army would start the second phase of the movement news and Güneş had to conclude the conference if the Greeks did not immediately accept one of the two proposals. The Greeks did not accept and the conference broke up.

Turkey in those days USAin the ambassador Melih Esenbel USAmet Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and said that they had to continue the movement. Kissinger gave his support by saying, “I want Turkey to be strong not only in the Middle East, but also in Cyprus.” Earlier, when London appealed to Washington and wanted to encircle the Turkish forces in Cyprus with British and American forces, thus making it impossible for the Turks to act, Kissinger rejected it.

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Early morning on August 14th Turkish army “Atilla-2” movement started. The Greeks, except in some places, could not put up serious resistance. Desertion became almost mass, especially in the western sector of their defense. As a result, 36.2 percent of the island came under the control of the Turks.

The discontent of the Greeks was directed at America, which made no effort to stop the Turks. in Nicosia US Embassy held in front of protest Ambassador Roger Davis and his Cypriot secretary Antoinette Varnavas were killed by sniper fire.

Unlike the first phase of the movement, the second phase is serious in the international world protest gave birth to According to world public opinion, if the military junta collapsed in Cyprus, there was no longer any threat to the lives of Turks, so there was no need for the second part of the military operation. However, the experience of previous years did not give grounds for such confidence. Let me also say that the Turkish-Greek relations, which were normalized after the War of Independence, deteriorated completely after these events.

498 soldiers of the Turkish army and 70 Turkish Cypriot combatants during military operations perished it happened 397 soldiers from the Greek side perished happened, 992 people went missing and 932 people captive received.

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In February 1975, the Turkish Cypriots unilaterally announced the establishment of the Turkish Cypriot Federated State. This move did not mean independence, but autonomy within a common federal Cyprus. But the Greeks did not accept the idea of ​​a federated Cyprus.

After eight years of failed negotiations between the two communities, the island’s Turks announced the establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on November 15, 1983. Three days later UN The SC declared the independence of Northern Cyprus illegal, with one vote against (Pakistan) and one abstention (Jordan).

In the following years, a number of efforts were made to resolve the Cyprus problem. The most serious attempt UN It belonged to Secretary General Kofi Annan. The plan named after him envisaged the creation of a federation of separate Greek and Turkish states – the United Republic of Cyprus. In a 2004 referendum, 64.9 percent of the island’s Turks voted in favor, while 75.8 percent of Greeks voted no, and the plan was rejected.

Currently, only Turkey recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an independent state.