30 December 2024

 

​Mustafa Niyazi​​​

MPhil International Relations

Founder & Chief Editor of Cyprus Profile

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Nevcihan Oluşum, whose agonising face was captured in a famous photo by an award-winning British journalistic photographer Don McCullin, was used by Greece for decades as the image for their propaganda campaign of their "suffering" at the hands of the "terrible Turk". She died at the age of 87 in the free unoccupied areas of the island in 2018.

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There is a lot of source for disappointment when thinking about Enosis.

 

We've already gone over some of it in part one.

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But most of all, above everything else, and I know this might be a little controversial sounding at first, but I still need to say it to flesh out my overall answer and I hope you can see the image I'm trying to build.

 

The most disappointing thing about Enosis on Cyprus was not the brutal and barbaric way the Turkish Cypriots were treated in the relentless pursuit of it.

 

It was not the horrible bathtub massacres, or the countless stormings and raids committed by a military and state-sponsored and armed militia against a downtrodden and defenseless civilian population.

 

It was not the brutal and sadistic way the Turks were stuffed into mosques and burned alive.

 

It was not the way the Turks were called "filth" and "animals", blockaded, trapped, under constant siege and bombardment in the enclaves, makeshift tents, sheds and caves, the WWII style-grottos and camps even less structural and functional than Auschwitz, and for the more fortunate the Turkish army protected safe-zones, living off foreign aid from the international Red Crescent.

 

It was not the denial and weaponisation of such basic needs as water, food, electricity, even milk for young babies, or deliberately limiting their access to aid which was already restricted to a specific caloric bare-minimum that put the sustenance provided to the worst criminals in the dankest of prisons to shame.

 

It was not the urgency of the situation that could have led to the deaths of thousands, or the helpless civilian population being forced to protest the use of famine as a tool of war against them, in the full sight of an unperturbed lame duck of a so-called UN "Peacekeeping Force", which in reality was there to simply let the Greeks do what they wanted and justify it under the cover of their presence.

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It was not the campaign of wanton death and destruction that was deliberately persecuted with the goal of making the island wholly unlivable for the Turkish Cypriots, or the forced displacement of thousands of Turkish Cypriots from more than 103 villages, or to those who couldn't escape the clutches of this expanding open-air apartheid prison and concentration camp, the restrictions imposed on their freedom of movement, the denial of such basic necessities as healthcare, or pensions, or the right to apply for passports so they could escape, or simple birth registrations and marriage certificates, or any other state-related social benefits or functions.

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It was not the 1000s of people left dead and buried beneath the worms and the dirt, some of them actually buried alive, or the tens of thousands more who were fortunate to live but turned into stateless persons and refugees overnight, and collectively squeezed into a mere 3% of their own native homeland.

 

It was not the hundreds of thousands left to watch and suffer from abroad, and in full-view of an uncaring international community as their families and loved ones lived under perpetual flight and fear, subjugation, occupation, oppression, siege and bombardment, their voices hijacked by the hostile foreign elements occupying their homeland.

 

It was not the bodies of few day old babies riddled with bullet holes, or the children ripped from their wombs, or the elderly men covered with gasoline and burned to death in the middle of the streets.

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It was not the people travelling in vehicles being stopped at checkpoints, forced to disembark, then having their money and possessions stolen before being shot, then stabbed and thrown into cold maggot infested ditches.

 

It was not all the men and young boys of the villages being rounded up, taken to the fields and shot before being dumped in dirt holes, and it was not the consciously ignored voices of the women screaming in terror at the news of their deceased husbands and children.

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It was not the prisoners of war castrated, mutilated and turned inside out with their organs missing and hammers nailed into their skulls, leaving them humiliated before murdering them in cold blood.

 

It was not the journalists who were deliberately handcuffed and shot in their guts, or the shepherds slaughtered like sheep - as ironic as that one goes, or the women and young girls who were isolated from their men, and vulnerable, and who were savagely and brutally attacked, raped, mutilated, humiliated, some of them with their breasts cut off.

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It was not the denial of access for journalists and peacekeepers to inspect or interview the civilians held as "prisoners of war", or rather, human bargaining chips, and who were wailing in grief but claimed by their captors to be "happy" and "safe".

 

The most disappointing thing in all of this is not how even with everything being documented in real-time by the United Nations, by foreign journalists and commentators, by ambassadors and intelligence agencies, by the offices of secretaries and heads of state, by the Turkish Cypriots themselves, who were bravely wielding cameras to spread their plight to the world while also defending themselves against the vast military host of Greece with nothing but makeshift pistols and shotguns... nothing was done to help them.​

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It is not how even to this day the Turkish Cypriots have not only been ignored, but also collectively punished, blamed, isolated simply for the crime of refusing to give up and leave or die, while their aggressors were being sold arms to shoot them with, and have been rewarded with everything they ever desired and more since - blanket support for Enosis in all but name, continued diplomatic, military and economic support, and even the "victimhood" status they fooled the world with.

 

It is not how all of this happened not just under the noses of all those observers, who did or could no nothing, but also the British soldiers stationed on the island, and even a United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP) which despite being agreed to under great duress and loss for the Turkish Cypriots politically and existentially, it still did nothing to protect them, counter to its promises, counter to the promise it would only be temporary, that it would focus on the most pressing issue of protecting Turkish Cypriot lives, and eventually allow for a political solution to the horrors being unleashed upon them, when in reality the UN lied, and instead it gave the Greeks the political cover they needed to do whatever they wanted and get away with it with no international pressure, and leaving the Turkish Cypriots with nothing but a handful of rogue non-compliants that assisted in giving them access to aid, or atleast helped accommodate their forced movement to safer places, or alerted them of impeding assaults by the monolithic Greek army.

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The worst thing about this is also not how the only country to intervene and put an end to it all, the only country to protect the Turkish Cypriots, and finally establish peace and security for the Turkish Cypriots on their island, has somehow been vilified and blamed and painted as the aggressor while the actual aggressor - the Greeks - have been painted as the victim.

 

And it is also not how the Turkish Cypriots continue to show good faith, and have for the most part been reactionary and defensive as opposed to taking a coercive or strong tone, but also continue to be humiliated by an international community of selective pseudo-listeners slave to their own politically-automated pro-Enosis anti-Turkish sentiments. 

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We could keep going but I think you get the point.

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The biggest issue with Enosis is not any of these things.

 

The biggest issue with Enosis is simply that it exists.

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​A Greek road barricade on the neutral zone and ceasefire line in Lefkoşa (Nicosia). The city was divided in 1963 along the "Green Line", as it came to be known, a line drawn on a wall map with a green army map marker, a blunt green chinagraph pencil, identifying the truce line between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, tracing a line first drawn in 1958 when sandbags started to be put up by the Greeks. By the time the line was drawn, roughly 8,293 Turkish Cypriot inhabitants of twenty-two villages had already been forced from their homes as their villages were being attacked. The buffer zone now separates the Turkish Cypriot-held north and the Greek-occupied south of Cyprus. Photograph: David Levene

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And we didn't even talk about the bombings of mosques to the backdrop of banners reading "Death to the Turks. Turks leave Cyprus. Hail Enosis!" or the processions of young Greek schoolgirls and boys marching in the streets giggling while carrying Greek flags, chanting "Makarios", "EOKA", Enosis!" and shouting "Shame on the Turks!" and "Death to the Turks!"

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This particular incident happened in March of 1962 by the way, to give you an idea of the time frame.

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Everything else we just mentioned above was from 1963-1974.

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And it was a continuation with machinistic precision of what was already happening to the Turkish Cypriots from 1878 right the way up to 1959.

 

And I'm sorry this went on for so long but I'm sure you can understand why it had to. To be honest even now I'm trying to be as summary as possible. And I still couldn't do it all justice. But it really isn't easy.

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And also, by the way, this also goes out to all those who say the history of the Cyprus Problem both starts and stops in the summer of 1974.

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Pollice Verso, an 1872 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme (Phoenix Art Museum). It depicts the Vestal Virgins signifying to a murmillo that they decree death on a fallen gladiator in the arena. The term itself is a Latin phrase, meaning "with a turned thumb", that is used in this context of gladiatorial combat, a hand gesture or thumb signal used by Ancient Roman crowds to pass judgment on a defeated gladiator following duels in colloseums. The notion of the pollice verso thumb signal was brought to modern popular attention by this painting. To those pursuing enosis, whatever they did could be justified, and no one could be held individually responsible, no blame, no guilt, no remorse. For when everyone is involved, no individual can be wrong.​

 

So in trying to wrap this up, I think we need to quickly go back to where I already mentioned the Pollice Verso concept at play here.

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And to clarify whether or not this is true. It is true.

 

The statues, museums, church murals, podiums, sermons, books, newspapers, magazines, TV stations, party manifestos, political speeches, fundraisers, social organisations, labour unions, charities, school textbooks, all glorifying the "heroes" of the Enosis cause and vilifying the Turkish infidels and heretics as "ungrateful" "mutineers" and a "pollutant" "minority" is also a thing.

 

Usually in any normal society most would DISAGREE and CONDEMN such things. The few who commit it are branded a DISGRACE in any culture. "They do not represent the entirety of society" is also the usual go to explanation.

 

And sadly, those idiots do exist in every country, and humanity has not found a way to cure this stupidity even until now.

 

The goal of any people should be the defense of their culture and territory and protection of life and property, a bit controversial perhaps but in the reality of things they also need to kill if needed, especially armed invaders who attack them. All soldiers or able-bodied people would do the same to protect their families, their possessions, their homeland and their freedom.

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Chanting about killing Turks and achieving Enosis in general should have nothing to do with Greece and the Greek Cypriots today and their past should not represent their present. And they should be very sorry about this.

 

But they are not.

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And THAT is also one of the biggest problems with Enosis.

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​(Top) Athos Petrides and (Bottom) Neoptolemos Leftists, who are now in their 80s, are two surviving members of the Greek terrorist organisation EOKA. The statements they made during an interview on Greek-language OmegaTV were blood curdling. They cold-bloodedly confessed without regret and with pride that they killed 68 Turks on the island in the 60s. Leftists said: "In March 1964 after two Greek officers and a Greek police officer were killed while trying to undermine the Turkish resistance positions in the city of Gazimağusa, an order came. For every Greek killed they must kill ten Turks. That's how it happened to me. I still remember the 68 Turks we killed and the graves. They ask where they are. But how can you find anything? So much time has passed." Petrides recalled: "We were at the check-point near the entertainment village. Vehicles passing by - especially big cars and buses - would be stopped and we'd search inside. We would make the Turks get off, take their money and their possessions, then shoot them, stab them and throw them in holes. When Makarios heard what we had done he was very happy."

 

Going on live TV gloating about how you massacred scores of Turkish civilians. Protesting for war and wishing people dead. Joining mobs of raving hooligans attacking Turkish civilians, policemen and soldiers, hurling insults, lobbing rocks, attacking them with blunt weapons. Trying to invade a foreign country and vandalising their property. Calling the Turkish Cypriots “barbarian hordes” aiming for the "occupation and Turkification of all of Cyprus", and the Greek efforts to exterminate them as "miracles when we are united."

 

Because THAT is just despicable, hostile, dishonest, deceitful, unjustifiable, ahistorical, hypocritical, devious, conniving, malicious, cruel, barbaric, unfeeling, inhumane, ignorant, arrogant, ideological, doctrinaire, partisan, bad, toxic, wrong...

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And that is exactly what the establishment of the state of Greece and its various territorial acquisitions or "enoses" were all based upon.

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That's what I think of Enosis.​​

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That's what Enosis always was and will always be.

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That's why Enosis was a stupid idea.

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Would you like to know more about Enosis? Keep reading or back to top​​​​​​​​​​