 | Turkish Invasion of Cyprus: Encyclopedia II - Turkish Invasion of Cyprus - Events leading up to the Turkish invasion
Turkish Invasion of Cyprus - Events leading up to the Turkish invasion
Cyprus has played a major part in the history of the Aegean. The island's prehistory runs as far back as the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. After the Hittites and Egyptians, heirs of Alexander the Great in the 2nd millennium BC the Achaean-Greeks established city-kingdoms on the Mycenaean model and introduced the Greek language, the Greek religion and the Greek way of life.
The character of the island has gone through various changes impacting on its culture, cuisine and music, due to the many conquerors it has known - Hellenes, Romans, Venetians, Ottomans and the British.
In 1571 the island was conquered by the Ottomans. The Ottoman conquest lasted until 1878, when the Sultan leased Cyprus to Britain. Cyprus was then subsequently annexed by Britain when the Ottoman Empire entered into the World War I on the side of Germany; subsequently the island became a British Crown colony and came under British rule. This rule lasted until 1960, when the island was declared an independent state, under the London-Zurich agreements creating a foundation for the Republic of Cyprus by the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities.
The reluctant republic was seen as a necessary compromise between two communities.
The 1960 Constitution of the Cyprus Republic proved unworkable however, lasting only three years. The Greek Cypriots wanted to end the separate Turkish Cypriot municipal councils permitted by the British in 1958, but made subject to review under the 1960 agreements. For many Greek Cypriots these municipalities were the first stage on the way to the partition they feared. The Greek Cypriots following Hellenistic fanaticism wanted enosis, integration with Greece.
Resentment also rose within the Greek Cypriot community because Turkish Cypriots had been given a larger share of governmental posts than the size of their population warranted. The perceived disproportionate number of ministers and legislators assigned to the Turkish Cypriots meant that their representatives could veto budgets or legislation and prevent essential government operations from being carried out. Moreover, they complained that a Turkish Cypriot veto on the budget (in response to alleged failures to meet obligations to the Turkish Cypriots) made government immensely difficult. The Turkish Cypriots had also vetoed the amalgamation of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot troops into the same units.
In December 1963 the President of the Republic proposed some constitutional amendments to facilitate the functioning of the state. The Greek Cypriots subsequently claimed that the Turkish Governmental Ministers withdrew from the Cabinet and the Turkish public servants ceased attending their offices. The 13 amendments proposed was part of the Akritas Plan. This was a plan designed to end the new Republic by quickly suppressing Turkish Cypriot reactions to `imposed' constitutional change before outside intervention could be mounted. The Turkish Cypriot community claimed that when they objected to the proposed ammendments, they were forced out of their governmental offices by the Greek Cypriots, with the support of Greek forces.
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Events leading up to the Turkish invasion", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
