Many believe that the Cyprus campaign for union with Greece began with the Cyprus Emergency in 1955. In fact it all began many years before that time.
On the 9th October 1907, Winston Churchill who was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies arrived in Famagusta. In his book 'A New History of Cyprus,' writer and historian Stavros Panteli, describes the visit in detail. He recounts Churchill's impressions and subsequent reflections of his visit to Famagusta and Churchill said "While the wharf and the streets of the town were gay with the colours of Greece, the air was rent with shouts for the Union. The display was at one time in danger of being marred by the Turks of Famagusta who, in their indignation of the Greek demonstration, fell foul of some of the processionists and began what might have developed into a very considerable affray."
After his visit, Churchill concluded that "such a desirable consummation will doubtless be fulfilled in the plenitude of time and that, in the meantime, the people of Cyprus will be content to remain under the British flag."
Fast forward to 1912 and 1913. As the writer Raymond Hiscock explains in his book 'Open Letters from Cyprus,' there were meetings held in London between 16th December 1912 and the 6th January 1913, at which were present the Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty and Prince Louis Battenburg. As Hiscock explains, there was an offer to Greece, whereby Britain would hand over Cyprus in exchange for the use of naval facilities at Argostoli. As is further described, in principle Venizelos accepted this offer but it still needed to be confirmed by Sir Edward Grey the Foreign Secretary and it is on record that neither government pursued the proposal during 1912/1913.
Further offers were made to Greece during 1914/15 but the pro German King Constantine and his Queen flatly refused to consider them.
As Raymond Hiscock explains, "It is interesting to reflect that the chance of Enosis was scuppered, not by the English but by the very Greeks with whom the Cypriots were so anxious to merge and it can be suggested that it was at this point in history when the 'Cyprus Problem' began.
During World War II large numbers of Greek Cypriots fought with the allied forces, many of them being decorated for gallantry in the service of the imperial power. In his book, 'Brief History of Cyprus in Ten Chapters,' Dr Dick Richards describes the Cypriots' continual demand for self-determination. "All were unsuccessful as were appeals to the United Nations in 1954 and 1955." The writer explains that "all routes having failed, there came an eventual agreement between the Ethnarch and leader of the people, Archbishop Makarios III and other leading Cypriot citizens and politicians that recourse to violence was reluctantly justified."
In the Spring of 1955 organised riots began, including armed skirmishes, shootings and bombings. As Stavros Pantelis explains, " EOKA had no reason to attack and anatagonize the Moslem inhabitants and in July 1955 issued a Turkish leaflet assuring the island's Turks that it was struggling not against them but against British colonialism." As Pantelis explains, this was "short-sighted to ignore the possibility that Britain would encourage such a reaction from Turkey."
Independence eventually came in 1960. Many Cypriots left the island in the 1950s and 1960s fearing of further trouble. Their fears were confirmed in the early 1960s when violence erupted between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. In the 1960s wealth and stability were short-lived. Between 1960 and 1974, the newly formed Republic of Cyprus, lay on shaky foundations. 1974 was a calamity, with people being displaced from their homes, friends being separated.
As a Cypriot, but at the same time British born, I have wrestled with this island's tormented past and its continual division. Here I have analysed past events with an eagerness to reach a truth. But what is really the truth? With the Cyprus Emergency and the stories I have heard, I have been through a series of differing emotions- anger and resentment but also pity, sadness and compassion. To some it was terrorism, to others freedom fighting.
Was the Cypriot cause honourable or was it outlandishly ambitious and misguided? What if it had never happened? Would this island be better off now? Would we have avoided 1974? It's painful and difficult to think that the bloodshed was in vain, or was it?
In his book 'Bitter Lemons,' Lawrence Durrell ends with a poem which says "Better leave the rest unsaid/Beauty, darkness, vehemence/ Let the old sea-nurses keep/Their memorials of sleep/And the Greek sea's curly head/Keep its calm like tears unshed."
I believe we need to learn the difficult lessons of a difficult past and move forward into a period which hopefully, brings stability and that simple yet so sought after word- Peace.
