Turkey, Greece and
Cyprus
Nick Larigakis’
Nov. 24 letter, "Turkey’s EU problem", once again
demonstrates how truth and honesty are irrelevant
when it comes to Turkish issues. The American
Hellenic Institute does Greek Americans a disservice.
Serving one’s constituency should not mean carrying
the passion of hatred and vitriol for eternity, but
facing the truth and attempting to solve problems
and improve relations.
The 1960 Treaty of
Guarantee for Cyprus, an instrument of international
law, not only empowered, but required "concerted or
unilateral action" when circumstances such as those
prevailing on Cyprus in 1974 existed. This made
Turkey’s intervention legal. Even without such legal
justification, Turkey was right morally because it
was an accepted fact that the Turkish Cypriots stood
on the brink of extermination at the hands of the
organizers of the Greek coup d’etat. Turkey’s
military action was unable to prevent the mass
murders of Turkish Cypriots in remote villages in
the Famagusta district. The record shows that there
were no similar atrocities against Greek Cypriots.
The U.N.
resolutions to which Mr. Larigakis refers in his
letter do not talk about the withdrawal of Turkish
troops alone, but the withdrawal of all non-Cypriot
forces in the context of a political settlement,
including the thousands of Greek troops and the 20
generals from the mainland who commanded them.
Recently, the
failed Annan Plan proposed a phased withdrawal of
all military forces, yet Greek Cypriots
overwhelmingly rejected it, while Turkish Cypriots
accepted it. This begs the question: Who truly wants
a solution to Cyprus?
In order to refute
the statement that "Turkish Cypriots were never held
hostage by Greek Cypriots", it would suffice to look
at the U.N. Secretary-General’s report dated Sept.
10, 1964 (S/5950), which states that the
restrictions imposed on the Turkish Cypriots in that
period amounted to a "veritable siege". As far as
the Turkish intervention in 1974, is concerned, the
German newspaper Die Zeit put it best when it
reported in its issue of Aug. 30, 1974, that "the
massacre of Turkish Cypriots in Paphos and Famagusta
is the proof of how justified the Turks were to
undertake their second (August) intervention".
In the final
analysis, neither accusations and counteraccusations
nor exploitation of the international legal system
will resolve the Cyprus issue, but the two parties
themselves in direct, face-to-face negotiations. We
urge our Greek Cypriot opponents, particularly the
members of the Greek-American community who
consistently take an aggressive, often hostile
attitude toward their Turkish counterparts, to
refrain from this counterproductive campaign and
help in the process of building bridges of trust and
cooperation between the two communities in Cyprus.
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