|
Page 005
TURKISH NATIONAL CONGRESS
10-18 DECEMBER 1918:
Turkish Cypriots were in a state of disappointment and in a desperate
position due to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. The
Greek Cypriot demand for enosis and their decision to send a delegation to
the Peace Conference in Paris to further their enosis desire, alarmed the
Turks of Cyprus who decided to hold a National Congress to review this
critical development.
On 10th of December the Congress
held its first session under Mufti chairmanship and two resolutions were
unanimously adopted.
The first resolution said:
Turkish Cypriots strongly rejected enosis and demanded that when the future
of the island is considered at the Paris Peace Conference, the Turkish
Cypriots' wish that Cyprus should be handed back to its legal and real owner
should be considered.
The second resolution, provided
that, the Mufti, Hadji Hafiz Ziai Efendi was elected and appointed as the
sole delegate and representative of the Turkish Cypriot community to present
the Turkish Cypriot case in the Paris Peace Congress.
The British authorities in
Cyprus were aware of the fact that a national movement among the Turkish
Cypriots might upset the balance in Cyprus and therefore they did not permit
the Mufti to leave Cyprus, thus preventing his contacts with the Turkish
delegation in the Peace Conference.
10 AUGUST 1920: By the
Treaty of Sevres, signed on 10 August 1920, the Ottoman government accepted
the annexation of Cyprus to Britain as of 5 November 1914.
But the government of the
Turkish National Assembly, formed on 23 April 1920, rejected the Treaty of
Sevres and the war of independence laundred by Mustafa Kemal , had prevented
its application. However Cyprus was already under British rule and thus its
status remained unchanged until the Treaty of Lausanne, signed on 24 July
1923.
1919-1922: Turkish Cypriots supported the war of independence under
the leadership of Mustafa Kemal which was aimed at saving the Turkish
mainland from being partitioned by the Allied powers according to the Treaty
of Sevres.
Turkish Cypriots followed very
closely the events and developments in modern Turkey and adopted Ataturk's
reforms voluntarily.
The Treaty of Lausanne, signed
on 24 July 1923, is the legal document by which the world recognized the
unitary Turkish Republic as an independent state.
Turkey accepted, by this Treaty,
the annexation of Cyprus to Britain .
One of the main agitators for
Hellenic propaganda and the instigator of the 1931 uprising of Greek
Cypriots during the Storrs' era was Alexander Kyrou , the Greek Consul, who
soon established relations with every brand of the ecclesiastical,
legislative and national agitation".
(Storrs, Sir Ronald,
Orientations (London 1937) pp. 590-591)
In 1930 (on the election day),
Under Secretary for the Colonies Dr. Drummond Shiels Visited Cyprus.
While visiting Limassol, Dr.
Shiels had a conversation with the veteran Greek Cypriot politician Inonnis
Kyriakides, saying that the British would gladly call the Greeks of Cyprus,
'CYPRIOTS'.
The veteran Greek Cypriot
politician replied:
"But Cyprus, your honour, is not
a NATION. Cypriots are also the Turks and the Armenians born here. Why do
you wish to avoid calling us by our name?
... We are among the most
genuine and pure parts of HELLENISM; and while you know this, you avoid
acknowledging our name."
(Georghallides A political
And Administrative History of Cyprus, 1918-1926 (Nicosia, 1979) p.398)
30 years later, Archbishop
Makarios, the first President of the bi-communal partnership Republic of
Cyprus, declared that "The agreements [the 1960 Accords] created a state,
but not a nation" emphasizing that there was no nation called `Cypriots' and
it neither existed in the past nor does it exist now...
The Turkish Cypriot populist
leaders decided in 1931, to organize themselves in a democratic way and to
call a 'National Congress' to discuss the formation of a national front in
order to defend the Turkish Cypriot rights against governor Storrs and his
collaborators who were opposing the Kemalist reforms.
The meeting took place, with the
attendance of about 150-200 Turkish Cypriot representatives coming from all
parts of the island.
The Turkish National Congress
passed a resolution defining the reforms of the religious and educational
institutions of the Turkish Cypriot people.
Unfortunately, this movement and
its resolutions did not produce any concrete result, due to the declaration
of the state of emergency, following the 1931 October Greek Cypriots
uprising. |
