For most of its history,
Cyprus was a Greek island, but today it’s split between
the Republic of Cyprus, which controls only the Greek-speaking south, and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus, which is only supported by Turkey. But the Greek and Turkish Cypriots
weren’t always quite so segregated. So then why did their efforts
to cooperate break down and then what caused them to divide so violently? Why did the island of Cyprus
have to end up partitioned? Well, the kind of sad story of Cyprus’ two main
groups today began when Mycenaean Greeks colonised the island at least 3,500 years ago. Cyprus would
then be held by many powers, though always with an ethnically Greek population, until it ended
up conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1571; that began a period of
Turkish migration to Cyprus, as well as the cultural conversion of some Greeks. Both groups then have made Cyprus their
home since well beyond living memory, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that intercommunal
tensions really started to boil over. Before their independence, all Cypriots
lived under British imperial administration. The UK acquired Cyprus from the Ottomans in 1878, but by the end of WW2 each Cypriot
community had very different ideas about what Cyprus should become
in a rapidly de-colonising world. The Greek Cypriots, led by the Archbishop
of Cyprus, Makarios III, overwhelmingly favoured an idea called Enosis, or union. They
didn’t see themselves as Cypriot nationals, just as Greeks who happened to
live on the island of Cyprus, and they very much wanted to
become a part of Greece proper. Likewise, the Turkish community saw themselves
as Turks like those in Turkey and favoured what they called Taksim—division of
Cyprus between Turkey and Greece. For their part, Britain
was uninterested in either. Empires don’t tend to like giving up land, but the reactions to that from the
Greek and Turkish Cypriots differed. Greek speakers made up some
78% of the population in 1960. They felt, because they were the
clear majority on the island, they were entitled to independently determine
Cyprus’ future and join with Greece. So when Britain didn’t move to make
Enosis happen, Makarios III authorised the creation of a militia group, the EOKA,
to forcefully resist British occupation. It was supported by Greece and led
by an experienced Greek colonel, Georgios Grivas, who had been born on Cyprus. The Turkish Cypriots, on the other hand,
continued to advocate for partition, and frankly, they would’ve rather remained under British
rule than become minorities on a Greek Cyprus. Backed by Turkey, they formed their
own armed groups to combat the EOKA. Prominent was the Turkish Resistance Organisation
led by led by the nationalistic Rauf Denktaş, while Turkish Cypriot politics at that
point were led by Dr. Fazıl Küçük. Eager to no longer have to
deal with that situation, and to avoid causing a war
between two of its allies (the UK, Greece, and Turkey are all members
of NATO), by late 1958 Britain wanted out. In order not to annoy anyone too much,
the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaderships, plus their patrons in Athens and Ankara,
were convinced to accept a compromise between Enosis and Taksim, independence,
with a rather unique constitution. That was designed to enable
the communities to share power. It was also probably doomed from the start. The Republic of Cyprus came
into being on August 16th, 1960. Its president, elected by the Greek
Cypriots, was Archbishop Makarios. Its vice president, elected by
the Cypriot Turks, was Dr. Küçük. Both had veto powers over legislation,
which would be made by a parliament that was mandated to allocate seats to the two
communities at ratio of seven to three. That same split was applied widely including
to government ministers and the civil service, while the state’s armed forces were to
be 60% Greek and 40% Turkish Cypriot. The Constitution was written with the consultation
of Greece and Turkey, and it allowed both an exceptional amount of influence over
what was supposed a sovereign state. As a condition of independence
they, along with Britain, became “Guarantor Powers” of Cypriot
“sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence” through the Treaty
of Guarantee. That also gave each an explicit right of intervention to ensure
the new status quo remained on Cyprus. Another treaty stipulated that
small parts of the island would remain sovereign British military
bases, and they do to this day. For the Cypriot Turks, the Treaty of
Guarantee felt absolutely essential. At less than 20% of the population, they
would’ve had no power to stop the Greek majority from enacting Enosis without the
protection of Turkey. For the Greek Cypriots, it was an outrage. They argued that under such
conditions Cyprus was not fully sovereign, and also feared a Turkish invasion
to bring about Taksim by force. All of which highlights just how little
trust existed between the two communities as well as the facts that neither had developed a Cypriot nationality and both saw
Cyprus as an artificial state. No surprise then, the government collapsed in
1963. Exactly why is a very contentious matter. Obviously, each side blames the other,
but the crisis was certainly ignited by gridlock over how to run
local governments. President Makarios then introduced thirteen
constitutional amendments that, from the perspective of the Greek Cypriots,
would’ve ensured smooth functioning of government. The obstructionist Turks then
withdrew from power sharing. From the perspective of the Cypriot Turks though, Makarios was making a move to
ensure Greek domination of politics, and they didn’t abandon the constitutional
framework, they were forced out. Either way though, the Republic of Cyprus
became a totally Greek Cypriot-controlled state. In truth, both interpretations of
the events of 1963 are mostly true. Remember neither group was invested in the
survival of the Republic’s political system. The consequences on the ground were nasty though. Turkish Cypriot protesters and paramilitaries on
the streets were met by equally zealous Greeks. The collapse of power-sharing saw the
communities almost fully segregate with the minority Turkish speakers
living in scattered enclaves. However, they were not exclusively in the
north, as they are today. That’s part of why agreeing to some form of Taksim was
still so unpalatable to the Greek Cypriots; you simply couldn’t just carve away a
clean 18% or so of Cyprus for the Turks. But, feeling under siege from the Greeks, they
became more determined to stand up for themselves. Violence broke out again in 1967 when a pro-Enosis
coup-d'etat overthrew the government of Greece. That fighting led to the Cypriot
Turkish community, led by Denktaş, effectively, but not technically
seceding from the Cypriot state. They had not yet declared independence, and for six years Denktaş and Makarios’
governments engaged in negotiations. That was complicated by two factors. First, while
most Cypriot Turks just wanted to live in peace, Denktaş had a bit of a hero complex, he was
provocative and not a man for compromise. Second, a split had opened in the Greek
Cypriot camp. Makarios and his supporters, a majority, were no longer dead-set on
Enosis, however some Greek Cypriots, and definitely the military Junta in
Athens, had not given up on the idea. In 1971 the old EOKA colonel, Grivas,
was sent from Greece to Cyprus to form a new organisation the EOKA-B. This time
they fought Makarios’ Cypriot government. When Grivas died in 1974 his forces came basically
under the direct control of the Greek Junta, and in July the EOKA-B, joined by Greek
officers in the Cypriot National Guard, seized the Presidential Palace
and forced Makarios to flee. The other two Guarantor
powers took notice of that. Britain, no longer the empire she
once was, decided to sit it out, but Turkey, as was its right, invaded
the island. Within three days they had effectively forged a corridor to
the Turkish sections of Nicosia, Cyprus’ capital, and in doing so brought
about the collapse of Greece’s Junta (totally unprepared to actually put up a fight)
as well as its Cypriot puppet government. On July 23rd the Turks halted
their advance and negotiations began in Geneva, and if it had ended there, the Cyprus issue might not be
so complex today. Up until then, Turkey acted entirely legally
via the Guarantee Treaty. The next bit’s more problematic. On August 14th negotiations paused because
Makarios, restored as president, was abroad. Turkey took advantage of that, and the relative
weakness of the Greek Cypriot forces, to restart their offensive, and in another three-day
campaign they captured about 36% of Cyprus. This time it was clear their
intent was not to restore a united island but to seize land to
create a homogeneous Turkish state. Some 160,000 Greek Cypriots had their property
seized and fled from the occupied north, while 50,000 Turks from the south moved
into the Turkish-occupied zone. The United Nations established a peacekeeping force on the ceasefire lines,
and that exists to this day. Denktaş proclaimed the creation of the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983. Only Turkey has ever accepted it as a state. The 3rd largest island in the Mediterranean,
then, remains partitioned, but it's not the only one with an interesting history. You can
find out how Corsica became a part of France, an event that made possible the rise of
Napoleon Bonaparte, in the video to the left. And as always, I’ve been James, and
thank you for watching Look Back History.
