Thoughts turn to Cyprus in July. Not for sun and sea, but the messy business of politics. So it is with the European People’s Party (EPP)’s MiniTrue propaganda video on the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Turkish ”invasion”.
Watching the video, one gets the impression that Türkiye initiated an unprovoked attack on an existing EU Member State inhabited only by Greek Cypriots. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When it comes to talking about Cyprus, the European Union’s political class falls victim to collective amnesia. In this make-believe world, the island’s recent tragic conflict is re-written to begin on 20 July 1974.
According to this fictional retelling of history, contented Cypriots were sipping Turkish coffee, playing tavla (backgammon), picking lemons and olives, and generally enjoyed an idyllic pastoral life together. Then the nasty Turks turn up to spoil Aphrodite’s paradise, for no reason.
What the right-wing EPP and others prefer to overlook is that on the 15th of July ‒ just five days earlier ‒ the military junta regime in Greece (one of the three guarantors of Cyprus’s independence) staged a coup d’état against the Greek Cypriot parts of the island. Hundreds of Greek Cypriots were killed, many went missing.
EPP anti-Turkish propoganda
This July marks half a century since the Turkish invasion of #Cyprus and the ongoing illegal occupation of 37% of its territory.
It’s time for Turkey to respect international law, restart dialogue and find a solution and reunify 🇨🇾.
Watch⤵️ @loucas_fourlas @ManfredWeber pic.twitter.com/uIn5ggsyF5
— EPP Group (@EPPGroup) July 20, 2024
The Greek military regime was not popular, and the possibility of annexing Cyprus to Greece would have been a nationalistic morale booster. According to the supporters of the EOKA movement, the union of Cyprus with Greece should already have happened far earlier.
Despite signing on the dotted line to secure their independence, Greek Cypriots never warmed to the 1960 power-sharing constitution between themselves and the Turkish Cypriots of the Republic of Cyprus (“ROC”) that followed decades of divisive British Colonial rule. Particularly irksome to the Greek Cypriots was the veto granted to the Turkish Cypriots over key strategic decisions.
EOKA’s remedy to this was the planned December 1963 attacks and ethnic cleansing of the Turkish Cypriots – led by the President himself, Archbishop Makarios! It did not go entirely to plan, as the Turkish Cypriots resisted. Nonetheless, the government of the ROC was effectively hijacked by the Greek Cypriots under cover of the UN Security Council Resolution 186 of 4 March 1964. A theft in broad daylight by an aggressor determined to end the political equality of their government partners.
Turkish Cypriots suffered hugely between December 1963 and the summer of 1974, with many of their neighbourhoods and livelihoods destroyed and virtually the entire population displaced and forced into tiny enclaves, including caves and refugee camps, in a bid to stay alive.
Historical facts about Cyprus the EPP & other EU figures overlook
DAILY EXPRESS – 28th December 1963
“We went tonight into the sealed-off Turkish Cypriot Quarter of Nicosia in which 200 to 300 people had been slaughtered in the last five days.”#BloodyChristmas1963 #Cyprus pic.twitter.com/tl23QhnxLz
— Y.T.C (@Young_Turk_Cyp) December 20, 2023
UN reports and articles in the New York Herald Tribune, Le Figaro, the BBC and many others from the time offer important insights, should one care to look. They describe and show scenes of Turkish Cypriot suffering reminiscent of Gaza today, albeit on a less industrial scale.
The 15 July 1974 mainland Greek attacks that overthrew Makarios as president placed notorious EOKA mass murderer Nikos Sampson at the head of a new Greek Cypriot government. The move was supposed to be the launching pad to “finish the job” EOKA started in 1963.
The UK (another guarantor of Cyprus’ independence) had numerous significant domestic problems of its own in 1974. Moreover, the UK would not jeopardise the status of its Sovereign Base Areas to protect the Turkish Cypriots. Türkiye (the third guarantor) had to go it alone.
Crowds in Greece rejoice after the military junta falls on 24 July 1974
The irony of all this is that as a result of Türkiye’s air, sea and land operation five days later in response to the coup, and the failure of the Greek junta to impose their rule on Cyprus, on 24 July the regime in Greece fell. The actions of Türkiye triggered “metapolitefsi” in Greece resulting in a return to democracy.
By 1981, Greece had been fast-tracked into full European Union membership to cement its democracy, despite not really meeting all the necessary economic criteria to be a member state.
Fast-forward to 2004 and the fateful fifth enlargement of the EU. One that EU leaders adamantly declared would not accept a divided Cyprus as an EU Member State.
The two sides were told repeatedly that they had to kiss and make up before being allowed into the hallowed club. The holy grail was getting agreement on the UN sponsored Annan Plan that set out how the island would be reunited.
The Greek Cypriot Oxi/No campaign ahead of the Annan Plan referendum on 24 April 2004
The Turkish Cypriots, under intense pressure from Türkiye and bombarded with promises from all other parties that their 40 years of isolation would end, voted 65% in favour of the Annan Plan, despite the inevitable pain that was guaranteed to ensue with more displacement of its population foreseen.
The Greek Cypriots snubbed their noses at the world, and specifically the EU and its chief enlargement negotiator, Günter Verheugen, and voted 76% against the Annan Plan.
Nikos Rolandis, the former ROC Foreign Minister, has previously listed 15 settlement arrangements, including the Annan Plan, since 1948 that were effectively rejected by the Greek Cypriots. If you add the Crans Montana negotiations in 2017, that makes 16.
Nonetheless, in typical “EU Bubble” back-room deal cutting that masquerades as democratic process, the EU did an about face and accepted the divided island as an EU Member State.
On 1 May 2004, the EU welcomed the Greek Cypriots and the southern part of the island, while the Turkish Cypriots in the North were left out in the cold – they were told they were “EU citizens” but their rights are in limbo until there is a settlement. Just as in 1964, the Greek Cypriots were again rewarded for their bad behaviour.
This was one of the EU’s “worst strategic decisions ever,” according to Jack Straw, who was the UK’s Foreign Secretary at the time of the Annan Plan, when he reflected on Cyprus’ division in an article for The Independent newspaper on 1 October 2017. But it should not have come as a surprise.
After Türkiye’s renewed EU membership bid under President Turgut Özal, French Commissioner Jacques Delors famously declared in 1987 that the EU was “a Christian club.” Turkish Cypriots, with their Muslim faith and Turkish language (one of the ROC’s official languages but, in reality, airbrushed out) would be anathema to these Europeans.
As for the Turkish Cypriots, the UN, the EU and various country governments lauded the bravery of their positive vote for the Annan Plan. They promised to end North Cyprus’ international isolation, start direct trade with Europe, and much, much more. In the end it was just the usual blah, blah, blah.
The admission of the Greek Cypriot run ROC as an EU-member state granted Greek Cypriots the gift of veto rights over anything and everything to do with Turkish Cypriots and Türkiye.
As for the EU’s promises, what the Turkish Cypriots in the North eventually got was the placebo of the EU Green Line Regulation to be able to undertake limited trade through the South, and lots of red tape.
The Greek Cypriots, who were unhappy about a Turkish Cypriot population of approximatively 25% having strategic veto rights under the 1960 Constitution, revel in the sacrosanct veto rights they enjoy under the EU Treaties despite not even amounting to 0.5% of the EU’s population!
And so, 20 years after the admission of this divided island, the charade of the EU as an “honest broker” in Cyprus goes on, with widespread anti-Turkish Cypriot and anti-Turkish bias firmly embedded into the EU fabric.
Jacques Delors famously declared in 1987 that the EU was “a Christian club”
The EU’s actions left Türkiye feeling double-crossed. The 1st of May 2004 marks a negative inflection point in Türkiye’s relations with the EU, and the latter’s total loss of credibility in Türkiye ‒ irrespective of who is in power in Ankara.
Since then, the bleatings and Turk-bashing on various topics from the likes of Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament, the EPP and others no longer carry weight in Türkiye.
The EU admitted a divided Cyprus as a member state on 1 May 2004
Cyprus is only about 40 miles from the southern coast of Türkiye and about 66 miles from Syria; tucked away in the Eastern Mediterranean, the island has no geographic connection to the continent of Europe.
Regional hydrocarbon rights, Turkish national security concerns in a tense neighbourhood and a hostile EU mean that irrespective of the hue of the government in power, Türkiye will not pull back from Cyprus for understandable reasons, over and above the protection of the Turkish Cypriots.
Türkiye has its own strategic priorities and it has become increasingly obvious they do not always align with those of the EU. The EU created its own Room 101 nightmare and is now left with its regular Two Minute Hate clips, such as the one recently produced by the EPP, to vent its frustrations.
Türkiye’s complex relations with the EU date back to 1959 and include several formal agreements, including the 1995 Customs Union that was envisaged as a steppingstone to full EU membership. From time to time, the parties pretend to “revive” membership talks, knowing full well that the patient is dead on the operating table.
The EU needs Türkiye as the evil bogeyman against which they can rail to absolve themselves of their own repeated mistakes.
Ironically, Cyprus has seen its longest modern period without bloodshed since the Turkish intervention. But the Turkish Cypriots remain excluded and subjected to tremendous obstacles in almost all aspects of their lives, from trade to education, to sport, to travel… to being part of the community of nations.
This state of affairs has endured for over 60 years, since 1963. It is high time that the EU, the UK, the US, and others faced up to the reality of the facts on the ground. Turkish Cypriots have rights and absent the recognition of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, the northern third of Cyprus will end up as the 82nd province of Türkiye.
Main picture, top, of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola speaks as the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides looks on at the EP Plenary session – This is Europe – Debate in Strasbourg, 13 June 2023. Photo ©Frederic MARVAUX / European Union 2023
