The Cyprus Conflict Greece and Turkey fight for power in the Mediterranean Sea

Background of Cyprus Cyprus is an island 50 miles off the coast of Turkey, 500 miles from Greece Has been populated since 9000 B.C. with a strong Greek presence starting around the 4 th century B.C. Conquered by Alexander the Great and ruled by roman empire until 12 th century 15 th century – conquered by Ottoman Empire

By the 19 th century, Greeks on Cyprus wanted to end Turkish rule – Britain gains administrative control of the island, but once Turkey fights in WWI against Britain, Britain takes full control of the island as a colonial territory The Greeks were happy; they hoped that under Britain, power could be restored to Greece. Britain offered the Island to the Greeks if they would fight in the war as allies of Britain, but Greece refused, not wanting to get involved in the war.

Cyprus Divided:

Background of Greece Greece was under Nazi control until October 12 th 1944 At the end of WWII, the country faced a collapsing economy and an infrastructure destroyed by the allies during the war The Greek Communist party created the ELAS as a Greek national liberation army in Cyprus

Background of Turkey In 1923, the Ottoman Empire falls, giving way to the new Turkish Republic under Mustafa Kemal Turkey remains neutral through WWII, until joining the allies in 1945 In 1945 a multi-party system is introduced, and the U.S. begins giving post-war aid to the country In 1952, Turkey joins NATO with other anti- communist countries.

The Conflict Between Greece and Turkey The Cyprus Dispute was a territorial dispute over an island in the eastern Mediterranean sea between Greeks and Turks living on the island In 1960, the island was granted independence form Britain, because the British officials could no longer deal with the rising violence from Greek nationalist Cypriots wanting the island returned to Greek power. This idea was known as “Enosis”

George Grivas was the commander of the Greek Cypriot National Guard He and the Greek Nationalists believed that unification with Greece would be the only way to gain political recognition and stability In September of 1971, Grivas formed EOKA-B, a pro-unification organization When Grivas died in early 1974, the EOKA-B fell under the control of Dimitrios Loannides, the head of the Greek military junta

The Archbishop of Cyprus, Makarios, had abandoned enosis for a policy of coexistence with the Turkish Cypriots and became president For this reason, Loannides and the EOKA-B wanted to overthrow Makarios and continue in the fight to return Cyprus to Greece The reaction of the U.S. was to send aid to Turkey during this period. The Soviet Union also wished for influence in the Mediterranean, and looked into control of Cyprus

The Coup In a coup on July 15 th, 1974, Makarios was overthrown and fled to Britain. Nikos Sampson became the new president. There was chaos as Greek Nationalists attacked the Turkish minorities in the north. World reactions varied, many sided with the Turkish “victims” in the north

Counter-coup: Turkish Invasion On July 20 th, in response, the Turkish army invaded the island, bombing the capitol and forcing the Greek military junta to step down The Turkish army occupied 37% of the north eastern part of the island to protect Turkish Cypriots Turkey then refused to withdraw troops and in July of 1975, they appointed Rauf Denktash as the new president until Makarios returned from exile to resume his presidency

Makarios and Denktash arranged a settlement and in November of 1983, Turkey declared its territory in northern Cyprus the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus This territory was not recognized by any other nations The United Nations still does not recognize the northern part of the island as a republic, and the conflict is an ongoing stalemate with sporadic, isolated incidents of violence between the two groups

The Conflict Within Greece and Turkey For both countries, the conflict was a matter of nationalism. Both nations had claim on the land both historically and geographically. The Island was heavily populated by the Greeks, however, Cyprus is much closer to Turkey

The Cyprus Conflict in the Cold War Due to ties through NATO, the U.S. sent aid to Turkey throughout much of the conflict, fighting the EOKA-B which was created by Greece’s Communist party. Some alliances of the cold war applied to this conflict The conflict went beyond Greek and Turkish nationalism as a fight between capitalists and communists at a more global scale

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