1. Ethno-Religious Politicization and Nationalism PART TWO

2. 2- Ethnic Politicization among Greek-Christians a. 1978-1930 -- Orthodox Church of Cyprus gave a frenetic welcome to the colonial rule because the religious leaders believed that Enosis would be possible under British rule in Cyprus. -- It is for this reason that the OCC saw the British-Ottoman convention as a small step towards achieving Megali Idea (Great Idea). -- But it was well understood even in the earlier years of British rule that Enosis was a difficult goal to be achieved. -- Gladstone, the British Prime Minister needed to stress his opposition to Enosis by declaring in 1881 the fact that Cyprus was a part of the Ottoman Empire

3. -- in the first period of British rule (1878-1930) Enosis as a political goal of Greek-Cypriot community was not the primary issue creating the major tension between the colonial administration and the Orthodox Christians. -- In this period Enosis had served as a symbol of the Great Idea (Megali Idea). -- However Megali Idea did not poison the harmony between the legitimacy of British colonial rule and the demand for Enosis. -- In other words, until 1930 the demand for Enosis did not erase the colonial legitimacy and it did not create massive political and organizational loyalty towards achieving Enosis.

4. -- Enosis until 1930 represented a strong expectation of the OCC from Britain towards achieving unification. -- In 1919 when the Christian members of the Legislative Organ applied to British colonial government to demand Enosis they presented Britain as their Second Motherland. -- The political loyalty of the Orthodox Christian leadership to the British colonial rule especially during the World War I could be seen as the indication of week support for Enosis among ordinary Christians.

5. -- In 1915 Britain offered Cyprus to Greece provided that Greece sides with Britain in the First WW. -- This opportunity to achieve Enosis could not be employed neither by the OCC or Greece. -- The establishment of a Legislative organ for consultative purposes provided institutional ground for and had encouraged the OCC to develop a political opposition.

6. -- The OCC was in opposition to the Colonial government because of the functions and the composition of the legislative organ which was established in 1879. -- The OCC rejected equal representation of main communities in the legislative organ and claimed that the representatives of local people should form the majority. -- British colonial administration accepted these claims of the OCC and allowed Christian and Moslem representatives to form the majority in the legislative organ through constitutional amendments in 1882. -- In addition to the proportionality principle, the OCC demanded that: the annual budget should be discussed in the legislative organ The imposition of new taxes or any increase in the existing taxes would require the approval of the legislative organ,

7. -- although the powers of the legislative organ were nominally increased its decisions would have required the approval of the Governor. -- Therefore the legislative organ seemed to perform a function towards reflecting the tendencies of the local political elites. --This was a limited function which encouraged the OCC to increase its opposition to the colonial rule. -- in some cases the demand of Christian political elite from the colonial government coincided with the demands of the Moslem political elite. -- this demand was accepted by the colonial government in 1992

8. -- in 1889 for example the Christian and Moslem members of the legislative organ demanded in common the appointment of the two local people to the Executive Council of colonial administration. -- This common demand was met by the colonial administration in 1897 and through a royal decree 1 Moslem and 1 Christian were appointed to the Executive Council. -- The OCC demanded participation in the decision making organs. -- The demand for participation was eventually transferred to the demand for autonomy.

9. -- As a result of the demand for autonomy the OCC applied to the colonial administration in 1911 and tried to achieve the following in the early period of British rule: autonomous power to the legislative organ to make final decision on financial issues, no British members to be appointed to the legislative organ local Cypriot members to be appointed to all administrative and judicial positions -- The OCC insisted on ‘administrative autonomy’ in 1920s and in order to force the colonial administration to do this: i) a ‘National Assembly’ was established by the OCC in 1920, ii) All Christian members of the legislative organ resigned from their positions in 1920

10. iii) 1921 legislative elections were boycotted. -- The colonial administration rejected these claims by expressing the idea that the people of Cyprus do not have necessary political maturity to employ administrative autonomy. -- The National Assembly gathered several times in 1923 to protest colonial administration and demand administrative autonomy. -- in its third meeting in 1923 the National Assembly made a decision to demand constitutional arrangements for administrative autonomy until the Cyprus problem is resolved. -- The demand for administrative autonomy could not be associated only with Enosis. -- The institutional interests of OCC and Christian elite were also influential in the opposition against the colonial rulers.

11. -- there were important challenges against the privileges of the OCC obtained during the rule of Byzantine and Ottoman empire -- in Byzantine and Ottoman period the OCC was the representative of the Christian inhabitants of the island. -- As the main landowner in the island the OCC had a leading role in economic activities. -- As the main employer in the island the OCC had gained some impunities such as tax exemptions during the ottoman rule --- The British colonial administration was not willing to maintain such privileges or recognize the OCC as the representative of the local Orthodox Christians.

12. -- beginning in the first year of the British rule the OCC applied to the colonial government and demanded the : i.continuation of the privileges granted to the OCC by the Ottoman Sultan. ii.continuation of tax exemptions for the Christian and Moslem holy properties. iii.continuation of the traditional leadership role of OCC in the Christian community. iv.Recruiting bishops into the administrative positions. v.Exemption of bishops from prison sentence because of their debts. -- While demanding such arrangements the OCC insisted that the colonial government should avoid intervening in the institutions of Christian community by showing loyalty to the provisions of the convention between Britain and Ottoman Empire and.

13. -- some policies of the colonial government relating to economic, social and political areas had started weakening the authority of the OCC among Christians. -- for example the establishment of the legislative organ terminated legally the status of the OCC as the representative of Christians in the island. -- The OCC did not oppose explicitly the establishment of a legislative organ. -- But it was clear that the authority of the Church both on the Christian community and in the administration were abolished and a weak legislative organ with no independent decision making power was established.

14. -- The OCC was aware of the fact that the Christian members of the legislative organ could not be influential in making any decision because of the coalition between British members and the Moslem representatives. -- another source of the opposition of the OCC were the changes in the educational system: i)With the British colonial rule English language began to be used as the major instruction of education. -- the use of English in schools tended to restrict the Church’s control on educational system ii) Secular education became an alternative to the schools controlled by the Church. -- religious education was an instrument that used to foster the moral authority of the OCC and provide legitimacy to its role in socio-political life..

15. iii) The colonial administration also tended to weaken the authority of OCC through centralization and modernization policies in the organization of public educational activities. iv) English became a compulsory course in the primary schools. v) High salaries paid to government employees were attracted to the teachers who began to demand change in their status to become public teachers paid by the government.

16. -- New social forces began to emerge among Christian community. -- Among the social forces, a new tendency emerged towards supporting cooperation with colonial administration. -- There were groups who were willing to reject the representative authority of the orthodox church. -- Although the OCC boycott the elections in 1924, 14 Christian candidates competed in the elections for 7 vacant positions. -- In the same year, the OCC demanded from the governor to include a phrase in his opening speech in the legislative organ to support ENOSIS.

17. -- This demand was voted in the legislative organ and 4 Christian members voted together with Muslim and British members to reject the suggestion. -- The OCC lost some of it’s important powers in 1925 when Cyprus was legally declared as British colony. B) 1930-40 -- In the early part of 1930’s there were 2 main political tendencies in Christian community. --The first group was willing to cooperate with the colonial government towards establishing an autonomous administration in Cyprus. --The second group was supportive of the idea of ENOSIS.

18. -- The second group claimed that the establishment of an autonomous administration in Cyprus will weaken the national tenacity of Christian community towards fighting for ENOSIS. -- In the late 1920’s, the communist party of Cyprus was established and it began demanding full independence for Cyprus. -- The party saw ENOSIS as ‘the ideology of Christian dominant elite’ and demanded that all Cypriots should join a unified front to fight for independence. -- In 1930 legislative elections, the OCC gained a victory against the political group which was supportive of cooperation with colonial administration.

19. -- On the eve of 1931 uprising, the pro-ENOSIS group began to force the moderate tendency to support ENOSIS. -- After 1925, when Cyprus became a Crown Colony, the British Colonial Administration demanded absolute obedience from OCC. This would mean the elimination of OCC’s role in education and economic and political dependency of poor peasants on the Church. -- The colonial Law passed in 1929 established a direct control on Christian and Muslim educational systems. This law supported by all Muslim members, 3 out of 12 Christian members and 9 British member in the legislative organ. -- After the approval of the Law in the legislative organ, the Archbishop, the Bishop of Paphos and 7 Christian members sent a letter to the colonial office in London to protest government intervention in Christian schools.

20. -- The main points in this letter were as follows: i)The law on education violated the national education right of Greek Christin people. ii)This law showed that colonial administration did not consider the feelings of Greek Christian people. iii)The Greek Christian people do not only want their children to be educated as ideal citizens but also expected their children to be illuminated with national feelings. iv)Through this law, British administration aims at enslaving our national education.

21. -- Another reason that encouraged the OCC’s opposition against the colonial rule was the effects of global economic crisis emerged in the late 1920’s. -- As a result of global economic tension, workers of the copper and asbestos mines lost their jobs. -- The colonial administration increased the taxes to increase revenues. -- The agricultural bank which was established in 1924, diminished the dependency of the poor Cypriot peasants on the church which used to act as a broker (money render).

22. -- In 1931, the colonial government attempted to increase taxes and customs but the proposal for this increase was rejected in the legislative organ. -- The main reason of the rejection was that a Turkish Moslem member of the legislative organ joined the Christian members against the proposals. -- The British governor of Cyprus called this Moslem-Turkish member “a petty Turk -the Thirteenth Greek- who cooperated with the eternal enemy of his race (…) ” -- The Governor implemented the new regulations to raise taxes through a colonial decree. -- It is important to know that in 1930 elections no moderate candidate could manage to win the election.

23. -- In this period Christian-Greek intellectuals argued that the colonial government also violated the rights of Moslem- Turkish ‘minority’. -- Both the opposition organized by the OCC in Christian- Greek community and the opposition raised by the ‘populists’ in Moslem-Turkish community constituted a remarkable threat against the colonial government. -- in 1931 as a result of a militant uprising the colonial government abolished the legislative organ, banned political meetings, established a censorship on media and suspended political rights. -- After the 1931 uprising the governor appointed a Consultative Assembly consisting of FOUR Christian-Greek and ONE Moslem members.

24. -- After the militant uprising the OCC argued in a public statement that “As a liberal power Britain has always been supportive of Greek nation”. -- The OCC stated in the same public statement that the Cyprus problem would be resolved through peaceful ways. -- the OCC continued to resist the intervention of the colonial government in the Greek-Cypriot schools. -- Despite this resistance the colonial administration consolidated its control on the Greek and Turkish schools through passing new regulations.

25. C- 1940-1950 -- in this period the influence of the OCC was significantly restricted through the activities of the newly emerged social groups. -- During the early years of the 2 nd World War the trade unions, rural cooperatives, professional organizations and cultural- intellectual movement increased their membership and became massive organizations. -- In 1943 there were 78 trade unions with 11 thousand members in total and a number of rural organization with 40 thousand members. -- these organizations were united in AKEL as an umbrella party controlled by the communists. AKEL became the most influential actor the main actors affecting Greek-Cypriot politicization between 1940-1950.

26. -- After its establishment, AKEL declared its support for the principle of “self determination” and in its 2 nd congress in 1942 it defined ENOSIS as the basic demand of Greek- Cypriots. -- AKEL’s approach towards ENOSIS had been paradoxical. -- In 1945 a group in AKEL criticized their party tactics towards supporting ENOSIS. --AKEL stance towards the Cyprus problem used to vacillate between ENOSIS, independence and autonomy. -- Its unstable support to ENOSIS had resulted in the exclusion of AKEL from the ‘national front’ by the OCC and the nationalists.

27. -- AKEL supported self-government, as a model of solution to the Cyprus problem between 1945-1949 and entered into dialogue with colonial government to achieve this objective. -- The OCC was against autonomy and continued to insist on ENOSIS. -- -- In the early years of 1940’s the communist-led trade unions were also attractive to the Turkish Cypriot workers. -- many Turkish Cypriot workers became the members of common trade unions because of the following reasons: i)Economic: Many Turkish Cypriots realized that trade unions were influential actors in protecting the interests of workers. ii)Political: there was a widespread belief among Turkish Cypriot workers that AKEL, had a different political identity from the Greek Cypriot nationalist groups.

28. iii) Ideological: the nationalist ideology was not influential among Turkish Cypriots in 1940s. Therefore there was no ideological obstacle preventing the T. Cypriot workers from maintaining their ties with common trade unions. -- Greek Cypriot masses were mobilized by AKEL and Trade unions towards demanding: i. socio economic rights (including wages and salaries) ii. Political rights (including the right to free assembly and organization) -- in this period the colonial government provide a number of liberal rights and abolished the restrictions on the OCC. -- although colonial government was usually criticed in the period there was no serious attempt to reject its legitimacy.

29. -- But the colonial government saw the activities such as strikes and massive demonstrations of the leftist trade unions as political events menacing its political legitimacy. -- In December 1945 the colonial government arrested 18 trade union leaders on grounds of planning a riot against the government. -- According to the attorney general the aim of the trade unionists was: “ to destroy the political regime and replace it with a Marxist state through a revolution.” “to achieve this aim they used the trade unions like the branches of a political party.” -- In this period AKEL did not only fight against the colonial government but also entered into a political/ideological competition against the OCC and the nationalists. -- AKEL gained a victory in municipal elections in Limassol and Famagusta in 1943.

30. -- while they were supportive of political autonomy for Cyprus in 1920s the OCC and the Greek Cypriot nationalists followed the policy of “Enosis and only Enosis” in 1940s. -- The OCC used Enosis as a political instrument against communists who mainly stressed the importance of ‘solidarity among the working class’. -- the political competition between communist AKEL and the OCC gained momentum especially after 1945, when AKEL gave full support for autonomy of Cyprus. -- 1946 municipal elections were like alarm bells for the OCC and the nationalists because AKEL’s candidates won all municipal council memberships in four towns. --Nationalist won only in one town.

31. -- In 1947 the colonial government established an Advisory Assembly with the participation of leftists Greek-Cypriots and representatives of Turkish Cypriot community. -- The OCC refused to join the assembly. -- The main aim of the Advisory Assembly was to discuss British proposals for ‘self-government’ in the island. -- The proposals did not make any radical change in the pre-1931 constitutional system.

32. -- While Turkish Cypriot representatives supported British proposal the Greek-Cypriot leftist members rejected it and proposed a model of full autonomy with a special arrangement to protect the rights of Turkish Cypriot minority. -- According to this leftist proposal the Turkish Cypriot members of the new legislative organ would elect a minister for ‘Turkish affairs’ and the governor would be able to veto a law which discriminates against any minority group on the island. -- The colonial government was not ready to give full autonomy to Cyprus and it terminated the Advisory Assembly meetings in 1948.

33. -- AKEL and the OCC were competition to gain political control in the Greek Cypriot community. -- The OCC blamed AKEL for accepting autonomy and presented itself as a national authority aiming at weakening the loyalty of people to the colonial government. -- the conflict between the two political forces spread to all areas of social life. -- the OCC condemned communism by a circular letter in all churches in the island.

34. -- beginning in the 1949 the OCC increased in influence and took control in the Greek Cypriot community