controversy
Twenty-four years have passed and Cyprus appears to be no closer to finding a solution to its problem. Tracy Spencer reports
Annita Georgiou can remember the fragrance from the lemon trees which used to drift through her home town, Famagusta, when she was a child of seven.
Today Georgiou is 31 and the lemon trees have died from neglect – Famagusta falls into a United Nations restricted zone and there is no one left to tend the orchards, or what was once a major international tourist site.
In August 1974 Famagusta, on the island of Cyprus, was invaded and occupied by Turkish troops. “I remember the Turkish airplanes, the fires burning, the women and children crying. It was terrible, terrible. I saw my mother cry and I didn’t understand, but now I feel it,” says Georgiou.
For 24 years Georgiou has been able to look across the great divide (formerly known as the “green line”) to where her family used to live. At night, on the outskirts of Famagusta, a few lights flicker in the distance, a constant reminder that Turkish Cypriots are probably living in what was once her family home.
Georgiou is one of about 200 000 Greek Cypriot refugees who fled the north in 1974 to an uncertain future in the south. Although they have since begun new lives and built new homes with much assistance from the Greek Cypriot government, Cyprus remains a country divided almost through the middle, with little hope of reconciliation.
What began in 1974 as a Greek Cypriot coup turned into a Turkish invasion and occupation, which has developed into an international conflict now known as the “Cyprus problem”. To understand Cyprus today one needs to look at part of its chequered past.
From 1878 to 1960, Cyprus fell under British rule. Initially the island was leased from Turkey, but after World War I it was annexed to the British empire and declared a crown colony. Many Turkish Cypriots chose to remain on the island, co-existing peacefully alongside Greek Cypriots.
In 1960, following an uprising begun by an anti-colonial group, EOKA (the Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), agreement was reached between Britain, Greece and Turkey, and on August 1960 Cyprus was proclaimed an independent republic with a Greek Cypriot president (Archbishop Makarios) and a Turkish Cypriot vice-president (Dr Fazil Kutchuk), both elected separately by their communities.
A disproportionate Turkish Cypriot presence (between 30% to 40%) was fixed in the public service, the police and the armed forces. (Cyprus’s population was about 18% Turkish Cypriot and 82% Greek Cypriot.)
Ethnic polarisation began to take place, with intercommunal violence breaking out sporadically.
In the early 1970s, EOKA B, the terrorist organisation supported by the military junta which had seized power in Greece, began widespread sabotage operations aimed at overthrowing Makarios and uniting Cyprus with Greece.
On July 15 1974, a military coup was staged against Makarios. Although it failed in its primary objective of assassinating Makarios, it provided Turkey with a window of opportunity.
Between July 20 and August 15, Turkish forces invaded Cyprus under the pretext of safeguarding the rights of Turkish Cypriots. During this phase it succeeded in occupying 37% of Cyprus.
To this day Cyprus is a divided country and the capital, Nicosia, remains the last divided city in the world. Internationally, no country besides Turkey recognises the north run by President Rauf Denktash; the Greek Cypriot south, ruled by President Glafcos Clerides, is acknowledged as the Republic of Cyprus.
Speaking to a Turkish Cypriot at Pyla, the only mixed village in the south, it became obvious that what began as a plea for protection in 1974 turned out to be as much an invasion for Turkish Cypriots as for the Greeks.
Ugur (29), who would not furnish his surname for fear of repercussions from the police, says: “We welcomed the Turks in to save us, and then suddenly we were forced out of our own homes. You say to yourself, `So why then did I ask you to save me?'”
There have been numerous UN resolutions aimed at resolving the “Cyprus problem”. But all the talks have come to nought. Cyprus still remains one of the most militarised parts of the world: 35 000 Turkish troops patrol the green line and UN forces occupy the buffer zone. There is virtually no communication between the two sides: no postal system, no meeting points, no travel.
Foreign affairs committee chair Tassos Papadopoulos touches upon a crucial factor in the “Cyprus problem”. When speaking to the ordinary person on the street in Greek Cyprus, it is generally believed that both Turkish and Greek Cypriots can in the future live together in peace – as had been the case in years gone by – should a solution arise. As Ugur says of the mixed village: “I can’t say we are very good friends in this town, but people respect each other and there have been no killings here.”
However, in the international arena a solution seems a very long way off. The UN, US and United Kingdom, as Papadopoulos points out, will not offend Turkey by forcing Cyprus to unify. Had Cyprus been a strategic country in terms of mineral wealth, such as Kuwait, 24 years would not have passed with no hope in sight.
Instead Cyprus falls between Turkey and Greece – both equally important when it comes to international connections and to maintaining a political equilibrium in the eastern Mediterranean region. The West will only act when its own economic gains are placed in jeopardy, and Cyprus poses no threat, yet.
In the interim, the Republic of Cyprus has decided to deploy Russian S-300 ground-to-air missiles at a cost of $425-million. International reaction to this purchase has been mostly negative. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has written to Clerides suggesting the Cyprus government buy missiles with a shorter range, or have the missiles stored off the island.
The Greek Cypriot government does not consider this a viable option. Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Kasoulides believes relations between Greece and Turkey have deteriorated in recent years, and owing to this Cyprus feels insecure and threatened.
“If there were to be a conflict in the Aegean sea, I am afraid Turkey will use us as a hostage. Greek support is not enough – Greece is 60 minutes away, Turkey only two. We will never use the missiles unless attacked. It is all a question of delay. We need an adequate deterrent,” says Kasoulides.
Should negotiations re-open and a solution be found, the missile order will allegedly be cancelled. But for now relations remain strained. On Monday Greek Cypriots marked the 24th anniversary of Turkey’s invasion with sirens wailing through the cities. Residents in the south mourned the more than 5 000 people who died in the invasion.
Little hope appears to be on the horizon; the only possibilities for change may come when, and if, Cyprus joins the European Union on January 1 2003, or if Turkey agrees to a bizonal- bicommunal federation (a partitionist system or legalised form of apartheid where the two communites are administratively and physically separate on the basis of ethnicity).
Cyprus no longer needs just a peace- keeping force, but a peace-making one, and even then there will be no guarantee of peaceful co-existence.
As Judge George Arestis, president of the district court of Nicosia, states: “If we [Turkish and Greek Cypriots] are left alone, we can co-exist again. I know it is going to be difficult. The other thing I know is that those who believe it is an unjust solution will not allow it to last long. If you force people to change, the situation is bound to fail.”