Richard Chamberlain has written to us in response to the news of representatives from the UK All Party Parliamentary Group visiting Northern Cyprus and expressed his views as under:
As the 34th anniversary of the declaration of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus approaches on the 15th of November, preparations are underway to honour the day when Turkish Cypriots exercised their right to self declaration as a people who had fallen victim to a systematic genocide. The day carries mixed emotions for Turkish Cypriots across the spectrum.
For those who have an interest in the Cyprus issue and the difficulties it creates for the Turkish Cypriots, we are replicating here the debate that was held in the House of Lords on Monday 16th October 2017 which is, to say the least, an eye opener and perhaps one day the British Government will have to make a decision based upon the truth of the Cyprus problems and not the misinformation that has been fed to the world for the past 50 odd years..
Over the past weeks I have sent a number of letters or emails to Prime Minister, Teresa May and Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson about the issues affecting Ercan Airport and was pleased to report that a reply was forthcoming but this did not respond to the points I made in my letter so I posted a further letter to them.
As I entered the gates of the Presidential Palace on the 18th of August, 2017, I found myself dividing my cognitive functions into sub sections. A part of which was reserved for communication – with the police at the gate, the security at the door, and the butlers within the palace. Another part of my mind I’d reserved for organizing the historical and political knowledge and mentally arranging this data into a chronological order and then there were my personal feelings of apprehension – perhaps a little nervousness.
The 43 year old question which resonates back and forth like a P & O ferry. A subject which invokes vehement responses from both Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities.
Roger Jennings wrote an article in October 2016 click here predicting the failure of the negotiations. As background, his Grandfather is the highest decorated person in Greek history for saving more than 1,250,000 Greeks and others in 1922-23. Roger attended the dedication in Volos, Greece, of a monument honouring his Grandfather Asa K. Jennings.
In the early hours of 7th July 2017 messages were beginning to appear in social media pages that all was not well at the UN hosted Cyprus Peace Talks in Crans-Montana in Switzerland and the UN Secretary General, António Guterres soon held a press conference to announce that the Cyprus Conference had been closed without an agreement being reached and we published our article The lame Trojan Horse of Cypruswhich had over 2,000 readings and still climbing plus many comments on the article and social media pages by Turkish Cypriots and those that support them to demand the UN, EU and the world to honour their promises and give the Turkish Cypriots the justice they have been asking for over 50 years.
Readers say: Stop beating the dead horse!
John Aziz Kent –Cyprusscene website article
Dear Chris Elliott
I sincerely thank you for your excellent historically important article which should be sent to all relevant actors involved with the last round of very trying Cyprus negotiations in Crans Montana, Switzerland so that the Lame Trojan Horse can be exposed at long last.
We all know the old saying “don’t trust Greeks bearing gifts” and it is still in existence today. Personally during the last 70 years I have seen the atrocities by the Cypriot Greeks on the very brave Cypriot Turkish people with the whole western world ignoring what’s been going on.
They ought to be ashamed of themselves and also the EU for giving them more support by granting the Greek Cypriot half of Cyprus membership so that they could use this against Turkey’s efforts to join the EU.
This act must be an insult to any person with even the lowest of intelligence so the big question is will, the UN, EU, USA, UK or any other power stand up to point out the big ongoing LIE for so many years and manipulating with their LAME TROJAN HORSE
Now that everybody knows who the conniving side has been playing the Cyprus lying games on the whole world, can the world at last be truthful and point the finger on the guilty ones or are they still collaborating in this historical disaster or does everybody still believe in the ongoing Greek mythology.
Coupled with the past tragedies of the Lame Trojan Horse the time has come for the world to point out the guilty ones and say enough is enough before we are confronted with even bigger tragedies than we had in the past 70 years and this time it could involve many more states and people.
John Aziz Kent
Honorary President,
TRNC Hoteliers Association
Kay Hewson-Morgan – _ Cyprusscene website article
An honest and factual account of what really happened here in Cyprus, at last, well done Chris Elliot, please make sure the EU gets a copy, they are partly to blame for this situation anyway for allowing the Greek Cypriots into the EU in the beginning.
Unal Mehrubeoglu _ Cyprusscene website article
There is one particular point which everyone seeking a lasting “peace” should keep in mind;
The Cyprus Constitution by which Cyprus became an independent country in 1960 stipulated that Cyprus could not join any Pact or Organisation unless both Turkey and Greece were members of that Pact or Organisation and the Guarantors of that Constitution were Turkey, Britain and Greece by signing the London and Zurich Agreements.
Yet it was the latter two “Guarantor” Countries which went against their signatures and voted for Cyprus (Greek Cypriot Administration) to join the European Union an Organisation Turkey was not a Member of.
This being the case what signature or signatures can Turkish Cypriots trust for their safety? As far as I am concerned none other than that of Turkey, the only Guarantor State to honour its signature. Those who champion alternative safety guarantees for the safety of Turkish Cypriots must be living in Cuckoo land.
Sermen Erdogan – Cyprusscene website article
An excellent analysis of the Cyprus history Chris Elliott. You have simply put the truth on the Trojan Horse. However, I do not think that the horse will ever die in the minds of our Greek Cypriot neighbours!
Their education system and their religious leaders will keep their hope and aspirations for the next half of a century and who knows may be for the next 500 years to come!
That is the “Nature of the Beast” !!! My hope for PEACE in Cyprus just died with this episode! Best to be good neighbours as two separate states on the island! AND What’s wrong with that?
Aytac Akarca – Cyprusscene article
Yet again another failed attempt to reach an agreement with the Greek Cypriots. I never doubted that they ever will.
Now this should pave us another route to go independent state. That’s the only way out. Sod the bloody Greek Cypriots. Enough is enough.
Lets go for a plan B.
Steve Bisson – TFR The Foreign Residents in the TRNC Facebook
Have you thought about forwarding this article to the Secretary-General of the UN, it might just wake them up!
Kerim Kuyucu – Cyprusscene.com Facebook
Chris Elliott well written and well said. If all TC’s had your passion and will to keep this type of information in the public eye, we wouldn’t be in the situation we have been for over 40 years. Thank you.
Johnny Pedersen – – Cyprusscene.com Facebook
Time to lift the embargo!
Korsan Cevdet – British Turkish Cypriots Association (BTCA) Facebook
Good contribution Chris; an accurate summary. To the question what next, I have a few humble proposals:
1) Turkey and Turkish Cyprus establish a single market in which there are no restrictions or tariffs – truthfully, with a population of approximately 330,000 Turkish Cyprus is comparable to a London neighborhood; it really shouldn’t be that difficult to create sustainably effective conditions for robust growth.
2) Following the alignment of the Turkish economies, Turkish Cyprus must go further to provide incentives for R&D. With over a dozen universities, including medical science faculties, imagine the cutting edge pharmaceutical and medical research that could be near-shored? While the EU and other Western centers have limitations on stem cell research and pharmaceutical developments, for example, we could leverage not being officially recognized in the interim to excel in these highly beneficial sectors.
3) Get rid of red-tape and provide tax incentives to transform Turkish Cyprus into the Singapore/ Taiwan / Hong Kong of the Eastern Mediterranean. People have consistently misunderstood the Taiwan Model first suggested in January 2004; it’s the financial, economic, social and pseudo-political integration of a non-recognized state into the global political economy. Where unjust and fabricated restrictions have been erected to alienate, isolate and starve Turkish Cyprus, Taiwan will be the legal precedent used to smash the embargoes that have caused us so much pain and limited our prospects. Capital enjoys growth and prosperity so we have to create an environment that is fully conducive to proper growth – not an unacceptable or unaccounted for pirate’s island, but legitimate and clean money that creates productive and sustainable wealth.
4) Now comes the the hard one — all Turks from Cyprus have to stop blaming others for their problems and adopt a Singapore-like culture that is resilient and committed to success by any means necessary. This means genuinely fighting corruption, cronyism and putting in a real system of checks and balances that will revolutionize the TRNC.
5) While local self-determination will be maintained and strengthened with an accountable and transparent system, Turkish Cyprus’s foreign, security and international policies will be aligned with Turkey’s to provide a cohesive macro environment.
I’ve probably written too much.
Wishing everyone a memorable 7 July 2017. May this be the day that leads Turkish Cyprus out of the dark and into a period of confidence, security and sovereign success which is independent of our neighbors to the south.
Les Shaw – Embargoed Facebook
It seems the Gc are blocking every attempt at a united Cyprus unless they are in charge of everything, (just look at the Greek economy bankrupt), do the Tc want them in charge, no way, whereas the north have agreed to most of the recommendations and what do they get…embargoed and restrictions imposed..
Salih Zorlu Ozkara – Embargoed Facebook
We do not wish to be ‘united’ with these bankrupt, artificial state of south “some say” Cyprus with false Greek administration! We are Turkish! Not Greek!
We have a totally different history, culture, religion and language from them! We went through this previously failed social engineering experiment! That cost the Turkish people many thousands of dead and wounded, whilst the world looked the other way! We are not going back to living under Greek rule again! Not now! Not ever! Forget it!
Yusuf Salih – Free Thinkers in Cyprus Facebook
Good article, Made great by the inclusion of the two links… & videos.
With the collapse of the Crans-Montana peace talks the UN, EU, Greek Cypriots and the world is in a state of shock and not knowing where to go next to resolve the 50 year plus problem of how to unite the island under one governing body with a rotating presidency etc. when it seems the two communities don’t wish to.
The Turkish Cypriots either in Northern Cyprus or the Diaspora are also stunned but should realise that they are in the strongest position they have ever been to create a future for themselves and their nation, but they can only do that if as individuals and groups, they set aside their differences and start working together for the common good.
President Erdogan of Turkey was quoted as saying in a press conference during the G20 Summit in Hamburg, “We have a Plan B and Plan C” and this must be sending shock waves to all those who were involved in the peace talks and wondering what will happen next.
Now is the time for Turkish Cypriots everywhere to speak out and act as one and we are sharing a readers letter from Serpil Mehmet which is saying the same thing.
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“Regarding the status quo that is our beloved Cyprus- following the failed negotiations, it has become clearer now, more than ever, that the possibility of a single country with two federations of people enjoying peace, security and equal rights, is but a fantasy.
“Third time lucky” passed decades ago, and half a century, and 16 GC rejected proposals later have passed, yet the GC script remains the same – “Cyprus is Greek, Cyprus is Hellenic, Turks are invaders”.
Faced with the reality that, we can no longer live in hope of living with a community who refuse to acknowledge TC’s as indigenous peoples, deserving of equal rights, the only logical and rational way forward is to push for the international recognition of the TRNC.
One may say that the most important factors of doing so would be; lobby the U.N., the international communities, surface and emphasize documented evidence of Turkish history, ownership, and later persecution and genocide of Turkish Cypriots. To present evidence of the vast ottoman history this is present in every width and breadth of the island.
And sure, all of these things are vital in the political realm. But there is a far more pressing political issue which we need to fix OVERNIGHT if we are to have any chance of establishing an internationally recognized state. And that is the politics we have amongst ourselves and the perception we hold of our own culture, religion, ethnicity and history.
If we look back at the establishment of Turkey, this is a date celebrated by all Turkic people. The world has never seen, nor will ever see a statesman quite as remarkable as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. However this ray of light in Turkish history also comes with its own dark cloud. Because with the new founded Turkish state came the abolishment of the kalifet – the head of the then Muslim world, which kept a controlled and maintained moderate Islam – since which has boomed in Islamic extremism since its expulsion. And the tragic part, for Turks everywhere (whether we know it or not) – was the abandonment of our original language and alphabet.
“Why is this so terrible?” You may ask.
Well, because in doing so, it is about as effective as deleting 1000 years of Turkish history. Most of which was something to be proud of. And because we cannot read our own history, we rely on self professed historians and sources cited from former enemies who highlight the negatives of our history and convince young generations of Turks today that we have a shameful history. Yet those sources would love nothing more than to see Turkey decline into the state of Iraq and Turkish Cypriots to decline into the state of Palestine.
It has come to my attention that we associate Islam and Ottoman history with regressing in modernization. That notion couldn’t be further from the truth.
Islam is the most scientific and liberal of all Abrahamic religions, which gave equal status to women centuries before western women were fighting for the right to education around 1821 which men freely enjoyed. Yet, under Islamic rule, Fatima Al Fihirrya built the first university in 841ce, a feat unheard of in history. The Ottoman Empire was the only empire in history where Jews, Christians and Muslim lived harmoniously- and in 1492, when Catholic Spain expelled all Jews from their land, the Ottomans sent their entire naval fleet to rescue them.
Of course, as with all historical empires, there were things entailed, which, were primitive by today’s standard. Slavery did exist – but it was not determined by skin colour, and there were just as many black, brown and white slaves as each other and was determined by social status (i.e. very poor/working class).
The first black aviation pilot of the modern world was trained under the Ottoman Empire, and Ahmet Ali Çelikten is still one of the most respected men in Turkish history.
And finally, when the Ottomans landed in Cyprus in 1571, they took the island from Venetian rule. Not from Greece, not from Greek Cypriots – from Venetian rule. Let that sink in for a moment and understand what that means.
From the arrival of Ottomans in Cyprus came hundreds of years of generations which manifested into what we are today – Turkish Cypriots. And we need to begin to understand what it means to be Turkish Cypriots. It means stunning mixture. It means a bit of African from ancient east African settlers, pre dating the Egyptian civilization by 9500 years- it’s a bit of Middle Eastern, when Persians and Palestinians arrived In Cyprus under the Assyrian Empire in 2500bc- it’s a bit of Mediterranean from Venetian rule, and later, Greek influence. And of course, it’s our Anatolian brothers and sisters who still volunteer their lives today to protect us.
To be Turkish Cypriot is to be laid back In general attitude – we won’t ‘kill ourselves’ over the unnecessary, but we are ferociously protective of our lives, our loved ones, our livelihood, our country.
To be Turkish Cypriot is to be respectful of the chosen religion of others, which is why our Russian, African and European immigrants freely wear a crucifix around their necks without fear of negative reprisals. It is welcoming the hundreds of Jewish businessmen who have invested into projects across the Turkish north. And while we respect our religion and love God, we are not particularly religious and place more importance on the actions and intentions of a good heart.
We are Turkish Cypriots. And we have so many things to be proud of. From the mish mash of African, Mediterranean and Anatolian cuisine on our tables, to the laughter we enjoy when sat with friends with a glass of Rakı or Zırvania. The beauty that is our different physical forms where some of us have blonde locks and blue eyes and some of us have afro hair and dark skin. That we have one of the lowest crime rates in the world, because “deli değiliz” (we’re not crazy!)- Violent crime and murder is unheard of in our country.
These are the things which are the best of humanity and life itself, and yet it’s natural to us. And all of this is attributed to our history and how we developed from it.
Our attitudes must change. We need to know ourselves. We need to accept ourselves and emphasize more with our mainland Turkish brothers and sisters. We cannot continue this horrible mindset of “we will take Turkey’s money, food, water, medicine, books, support and protection, BUT we don’t like mainland Turks”. We must erase the horrible name calling from our lips and vocabulary. And finally, truly embrace what it means- not just to be a Cypriot, which is a nationality, but what it means to be TURKISH CYPRIOT – which is everything I mentioned and everything we are – a unique people, which, although related to Turkey, Azerbaijan and other Turkic states, a nation of our own with our own culture, unlike any other – entirely different in many ways and just as legitimate as any other.
In the early hours of this morning 7th July 2017 messages were beginning to appear in social media pages that all was not well at the UN hosted Cyprus Peace Talks in Crans-Montana in Switzerland and the UN Secretary General, António Guterres soon held a press conference to announce that the Cyprus Conference had been closed without an agreement being reached.
So where are we now? As the popular media has been delighted to announce since 20th July 1974, Cyprus had been divided since Turkey as a guarantee power intervened (so called invasion ?) to put a stop to the Greek Cypriot and Greek acts of aggression when the other guarantee power Britain failed to assist.
Strange that Archbishop Makarios stood before the UN on 19th July 1974 and pleaded to the UN for help to stop the invasion of Cyprus by Greece. Click here to read the speech.
There is something far deeper to this dispute than the Greek Cypriots claims that the Cyprus problems began on 20th July 1974.
In 1570 the Ottomans arrived in Cyprus and claimed it for their own and during the period 1821–1829 many Greek Cypriots supported the Greek independence effort called ENOSIS which led to severe reprisals by the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire agreed to pass the administration of Cyprus to Great Britain on 9th July 1878 but with the outbreak of WW1, the Ottoman Empire gave their support to Germany so Britain annexed Cyprus and perhaps this rift with the Turks continues to this day.
In 1915, Britain offered Cyprus to Constantine I of Greece on condition that Greece joined the war on the side of the British, which he declined. In the Treaty of Lausanne in 1925 Cyprus was declared a British crown colony.
The Greek Cypriot population, meanwhile, had become hopeful that with the British administration this would lead to achieving Enosis (union with Greece). The idea of enosis was historically part of the Megali Idea, a greater political ambition of a Greek state encompassing the territories with Greek inhabitants in the former Ottoman Empire.
In the ensuing years in Cyprus the Greek Cypriot nationalists aided by Greece pursued a policy of intimidation and worse against the Turkish Cypriots and demands for independence from Britain increased.
On 16 August 1960, Cyprus attained independence after the Zürich and London Agreement between the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey and created a power sharing government which was to break up due to the ongoing intimidation and violence on the Turkish Cypriots.
Intercommunal violence erupted on 21 December 1963, when two Turkish Cypriots were killed at an incident involving the Greek Cypriot police and then the killings escalated in the months and years ahead by the Greek Cypriot nationalists as they pursued a policy to remove Turkish Cypriots from Cyprus which is clearly defined in the secret Akritas plan which can be read by clicking here.
In 1964, Turkey threatened to intervene in Cyprus in response to the continuing Cypriot intercommunal violence, but this was stopped by a strongly worded telegram from the US President Lyndon B. Johnson warning that the US would not stand beside Turkey and warned they would not protect Turkey against invasion of its territories by the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, by 1964, enosis was a Greek policy that could not be abandoned; Makarios and the Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou agreed that enosis should be the ultimate aim and King Constantine wished Cyprus “a speedy union with the mother country”. Greece dispatched 10,000 troops to Cyprus to counter a possible Turkish intervention.
Turkish Cypriots owned around 30% of the properties of the island from 63-74 but were forced to live in 3% of the island in open air enclaves as a result of their persecution. Over a hundred Turkish villages were destroyed and thousands of their citizens were denied from exercising their civil and human rights and in excess of 3000 people were exterminated..
On 15 July 1974, the Greek military junta under Dimitrios Ioannides carried out a coup d’état in Cyprus, to unite the island with Greece. The coup ousted president Makarios III and replaced him with pro-enosis nationalist Nikos Sampson. In response to the coup, five days later, on 20th July 1974, the Turkish army intervened on the island, citing a right to restore the constitutional order from the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. This justification has been rejected by the United Nations and the international community ever since.
Since then the following list from the records of Nicos Rolandis the ex Foreign Minister of Cyprus records “Peace moves rejected by Greek Cypriots”:
1) 1948: Consultative Assembly: We (GCs) rejected it.
2) 1955-56: Harding proposals: We (GCs) rejected them.
3) 1956: Ratcliffe Constitution: We (GCs) rejected it.
4) 1958: Macmillan Plan: We (GCs) rejected it.
5) 1959-60: Zurich-London Agreements: We (GCs) rejected them in 1963 (through the efforts to amend the Constitution) although we initially accepted them.
6) 1964: Acheson Plan: We (GCs) rejected it.
7) 1972: Agreement of Clerides-Denktaş: We (GCs) rejected it.
8) 1975: Bi-communal Arrangement: We (GCs) rejected it.
9) 1978: Anglo-American Canadian Plan: We (GCs) rejected it.
10) 1981: Evaluation of Waldheim: We (GCs) rejected it.
11) 1983: Indicators of Perez de Cuellar: We (GCs) rejected them.
12) 1985-86: Consolidated Documents of Perez de Cuellar: We (GCs) rejected them.
13) 1992: Set of Ideas, Boutros Boutros-Ghali: We (GCs) rejected them in 1993.
14) 1997: Kofi Annan’s proposals at Troutbeck-Glion: They could not go through.
15) 2002-2004: Annan Plan: We (GCs) rejected it”
To bring things back into perspective it’s worth noting that with the Annan Plan the Turkish Cypriots voted in a referendum to agree to a peace plan which would then have given greater concessions to the Greek Cypriots but they said OXI (NO) in a referendum and rejected the plan which also saw the Greek Cypriots being accepted into the European Union whereas the Turkish Cypriots were not allowed access even though they had voted for a settlement.
So here we are again with the UN having been trying to bring two communities together and perhaps not wanting to see the problem of trying to put a lot of square pegs into round holes.
UN Secretary General, António Guterres said at today’s press conference that the Cyprus Conference had been closed without an agreement being reached. So now perhaps they will stop pushing this lame Cyprus Trojan Horse and let reality and commonsense lead to a final settlement and what is that?
Northern Cyprus now deserves and wants a velvet divorce with the lifting of embargoes including direct flights so the Turkish Cypriots can continue to develop their future with support from Turkey and International players which will bring about change to the political dynamics here in the Middle East.
British administration this would lead to achieving Enosis (union with Greece). The idea of enosis was historically part of the Megali Idea, a greater political ambition of a Greek state encompassing the territories with Greek inhabitants in the former Ottoman Empire.
Meanwhile, by 1964, enosis was a Greek policy that could not be abandoned; Makarios and the Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou agreed that enosis should be the ultimate aim and King Constantine wished Cyprus “a speedy union with the mother country”. Greece dispatched 10,000 troops to Cyprus to counter a possible Turkish intervention.