Starting Cypriot history during the Second World War gets into the modern era. It was when the British government promised Cyprus to the Greeks for joining in against the Nazis. It worked more or less. Greek communists decided to play by their agenda and join the Soviet bloc in 1944. The British Army got to deal with them and won. The communists were annoyed. Her Majesty's Government reneged on its promise which seems to be par for the course. The Arabs would have told the Greeks had they been asked.
So EOKA (Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (Greek for National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters)) was formed to fight a guerrilla war against English rule and to join Greece.
EOKA was headed by George Grivas, a Cyprus born Colonel in the Greek army, who distinguished himself during World War II but never learned to wear a beret properly. His nom de guerre was Digenis. He arrived in Cyprus at Saint Georges near Paphos in a caicique which is in a little museum there.
EOKA was clandestinely supported by the Greek Government in the form of [ British Army surplus ] arms, money and propaganda on radio stations broadcast from Athens. It started operating on April Fool's Day 1955.
It won. The cease fire started in December 1959. The Brits pulled out but kept two Sovereign Base Areas. They were wanted for their strategic importance being near the Suez Canal and the Near East generally.
Grivas started EOKA-B in 1971 because he did not like Black Mack [ Archbishop Makarios ] and his policies. EOKA-B was not as popular as its predecessor which was involved with the Greek colonels who took over Greece. EOKA-B did install a dictator which caused the Turks to invade and take over the north east third of the island.
So Grivas fouled up and division continues to this day [ late 2007 ].
This little summary is based on EOKA an article from the Wikipedia
More and Better Details
Makarios went to the peace negotiations in London and was awkward. He was then taken to a side room in Lancaster House and allowed to hear a tape recording of a telephone conversation. Then he signed. Being queer failed to amuse in Cyprus. That is the word from inside the system and confirmed by THE SUN SETS ON ANOTHER EMPIRE OUTPOST. Further that they captured Grivas thrice and let him go thrice on orders from Callaghan.
Some more on the players is at EOKA Members List : G
Cyprus - The Politics Explained by Gwynn Dyer, a Canadian
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“The real problem in Cyprus is not that the status quo is unsustainable,” said Phedon Nicolaides of the European Institute of Public Administration in an article in the “Cyprus Mail” last September. “On the contrary, it is that it’s virtually impossible to move away from the (status quo).”He didn’t need the word “virtually”. The outcome of the recent election in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus means that the status quo that has prevailed on the divided island for the past 36 years will become permanent – but it also means that the broader strategic realities in the region will start to change. The changes will not be to the long-term advantage of the Greek-ruled Republic of Cyprus.
Most of Cyprus’s people have spoken Greek for three thousand years, but there has also been a Turkish-speaking minority since the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century. The seeds of inter-communal conflict were already there under Ottoman and British imperial rule, but they only grew into a full-scale confrontation when the EOKA guerilla movement launched its campaign to drive the British out in the 1950s.
Unfortunately, EOKA was not actually seeking independence, which the Turkish minority on the island and Turkey itself would have accepted. Its goal was “enosis”, union with Greece, although the Greek mainland was 800 km (500 miles) to the west and the Turkish coast was only 75 km (50 mi) away. Neither the Turkish-Cypriots nor Ankara would accept that, and the Turkish-Cypriots began to arm themselves too.
Turkey, Greece and Britain were all much more concerned about the Soviet threat in the region, however, so in 1960 they imposed a deal on Cyprus that gave the island independence as a binational republic. The Turkish-speaking minority got 30 percent of the seats in parliament and a veto on any changes in the constitution.
Britain, Greece and Turkey all guaranteed the settlement, but it only lasted three years, mainly because EOKA remained a strong force in the island and was still determined on “enosis”. Fighting broke out in 1963, and the Turkish-Cypriots were driven into enclaves that were effectively besieged by Greek-Cypriot forces.
The United Nations sent in a peace-keeping force that froze the situation for the next eleven years, but in 1974 the Greek military junta sponsored a bloody military coup in Cyprus. The elected government was replaced by a band of former EOKA fighters who promised to unify the island with Greece, and Turkey called on Britain (which still had military bases in Cyprus) to fulfill its duty as guarantor and intervene.
When Britain refused, the Turks invaded. 150,000 Greek-Cypriots fled or were driven south before the advancing Turkish forces, while 50,000 Turkish-Cypriots living in the south sought safety behind the Turkish lines. When the fighting ended, all the Turkish-Cypriots were in the north, and all the Greek-Cypriots were in the south.
The Greek-Cypriots had brought disaster upon themselves by ignoring strategic realities and bidding too high, and that pattern has continued down to the present. A UN-backed proposal to reunify the island as a federal republic (with a limited right of return for the refugees) was supported by the Turkish-Cypriots but rejected by the Greek-Cypriots in parallel referendums in 2004.
On 18 April Dervis Eroglu, who opposes reunification, was elected president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and for all practical purposes the long story reached its end. The island will remain permanently divided along the current lines, although it may be many years before other countries acknowledge that fact by formally recognising the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
This fact will have far-reaching consequences, for it means that Turkey will never join the European Union. Without a settlement in Cyprus, the Greek veto on Turkish membership is permanent – but Greece’s leverage over Turkey will vanish once Ankara abandons its quest to join the EU.
There is no reason to believe that the present Turkish government would do anything to disturb the status quo in Cyprus. Perhaps no Turkish government ever will. But Turkey is re-emerging as the dominant regional power after a century-long gap: Greece is no match for it, and the EU is not a military organisation.
Greek-Cypriots may believe that their own EU membership is an adequate guarantee of their security, but it is not. In a future where Turkey is no longer constrained by the prospect of EU membership, their security will depend mainly on Turkish good will.
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This is recent history. More involves the Apostle Paul and the Egyptians before him. This involves perfidious Albion doing what perfidious Albion does best, according to the French at all events.
Cyprus and the Arab world ex Cyprus Mail
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The foundations of the Cyprus-Arab friendship are very solid. The friendly attitude of the Arab world towards Cyprus is due to two factors; first, the consistency with which Cyprus supports the struggle of the Palestinian people, and second the inimical climate towards Turkey prevailing in the Arab countries.One should not forget that they were under the economic, political, racial and linguistic oppression of the Ottoman Empire, that secession of minorities represents a menace to certain Arab countries, that Turkey as a member of NATO and a US ally provokes the sentiments of certain hardline Arabs and that Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognise Israel.
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Arabs are all right. Turks are a pain. Cyprus is sound on Palestine. Turks pander to Jews. That explains a lot.
Cyprus Working Against Sham Marriages & Immigration Fraud [ 3 September 2016 ]
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Authorities decided Friday to proceed with the immediate implementation of additional measures and control mechanisms, to combat the phenomenon of sham marriages, in parallel with a constant review of the existing system.“With these measures we believe that we will be able to more effectively control a phenomenon that seems to be exploited by organised crime in our country, in collaboration with foreigners, which essentially amounts to the generating of trafficking victims,” said acting Interior Minister Ionas Nicolaou speaking following a meeting he chaired with the relevant departments........
Sham marriages usually involve Asian men wishing to live is Europe paying a middleman who arranges a marriage with a EU national woman, usually from the former eastern bloc, who is brought to Cyprus and for a fee carries out the marriage to the man she has never met, leaving her with a few thousand euros and him with EU citizenship.
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This is good news. Sadly it creates an opportunity for clerks to take bribes but it is a move in the right direction. The total answer is to outlaw citizenship by marriage.