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So you want the truth about Akritas…
By Loucas Charalambous
(archive article - Sunday, May 8, 2005)
IN THE 14 years I have been writing a newspaper column, nothing seems to
have had as much impact as my comment of two weeks ago about the ‘Akritas’
organisation. Many readers contacted me and asked if I could write more about
it, also asking where they could find additional information about the group.
This response was disheartening, in a sense, as it showed ignorance about the
most important events of our recent history. In another sense, it was very
encouraging as it could be an indication that people are finally waking up.
There are now people who do not accept the official myths – they want the
truth.
Luckily for them, an excellent book by Makarios Droushiotis, The First
Partition – Cyprus 1963-1964, is now on sale. I recommend it wholeheartedly to
the readers of the column (it is in Greek but an English version will also be
available at the end of the year). When they read it, they will understand how
Cyprus was led to partition by its own leadership. After all, it is important
that they find out about the old achievements of our president.
What does the official mythology say about the period? It claims that the
Turkish Cypriots mutinied against the state. What is the truth? The truth is
that the people who mutinied against the state were its very leadership –
Makarios, Yiorkadjis, Papadopoulos, Lyssarides, Sampson. The ‘Akritas’ story
is a unique case. I have never heard of another state in the world where the
president and half the members of his government set up an armed group with
the intention of dissolving their own state.
Just seven months after the establishment of the Republic, government
ministers Yiorkadjis and Papadopoulos, with the blessing of Archbishop
Makarios, began recruiting members for ‘Akritas’. I mentioned in my previous
column that the state objective of their ‘new struggle’ was the removal of the
Turkish Cypriots from the common state. They recruited former EOKA members,
who were often misled. Some were told the objective was to fight communism,
while others were told that the aim was the "completion of the struggle" for
enosis. The target of enosis was bound to move the young, former EOKA
fighters.
Of course, they did not want enosis. This was proved in the period between
1964 and ’67, when these same men obdurately fought against any proposed
settlement involving union with Greece – regardless of how viable this was at
the time. President Papadopoulos opposed such a solution for the same reason
he fought against the Annan plan last year – with a solution he would have
lost power, which is what would have happened if there had been union with
Greece.
An old friend brought me one of the original recruitment forms, which he had
been asked to complete in order to join the Nicosia branch of the group, which
was led by Christodoulos Christodoulou. When he visited his future ‘group
leader’, he saw that the cabinets in his office were stacked with guns and
hand grenades. He asked what the objective of the new organisation would be
and he was told that it would fight against communism. Shocked by what he had
seen, he did not give in his recruitment form and left Cyprus, to study
abroad. "I immediately understood that these irresponsible men would lead the
country to trouble," he says today.
On December 23, 1963 ‘Akritas’ went into action. Blood of the young was shed
in abundance on both sides. The foundation stones for partition had been laid.
Today, 42 years on, the one state has become two. This is the big achievement
of Papadopoulos and his friends.
"We hear our people supporting, in Greek, the arguments of the Turkish Cypriot
and Turkish side," Papadopoulos said very recently. The form, which
Papadopoulos used to recruit members of ‘Akritas’, was also in Greek. You see,
the Turkish side’s arguments were always better supported in the Greek
language. |
