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By Ezaga
The deep-rooted and intense
racial enmity felt by the Greek Cypriots against
the Turkish Cypriots - an enmity which is fed by
Orthodox Church and nationalists - has been
transformed into a political objective, as was
revealed by the late Archbishop Makarios, in a
sermon at Panayia village, on 4 September 1962 ,
when he said
“Unless this small Turkish
community forming a part of the Turkish race,
which has been the terrible enemy of Hellenism,
is expelled, the duties of the heroes of EOKA
can never be considered as terminated”.
Ten years later in an interview
with Karin Kaemmereit, of the German weekly,
“BUNTE ILLUSTRIETE”, Makarios said:
“The union of Cyprus with Greece
requires the extermination of the Turkish
Cypriot community”.
Between 1963 and 1974, the
Turkish Cypriots lost 103 villages and had to
live in small enclaves corresponding to only 3%
of the territory of Cyprus, which they had been
forced into by the armed assaults of the Greek
Cypriots. For eleven years they had to leave
under “open air prison” conditions.
“…thousands of Turkish Cypriots
fled from their homes, taking with them only
what they could drive or carry and sought refuge
in what they considered being safer Turkish
Cypriots villages and areas”. (Report of the UN
Secretary-General S/8286 of 8 December 1967).
“In Cyprus the terror continues.
Right now we are witnessing the exodus of Turks
from villages. Thousands of people are
abandoning their homes, lands, and herd: Greek
terrorism is relentless. This time the rhetoric
of the Hellenes and the busts of Plato do not
suffice to cover up their barbaric and ferocious
behavior”. (IL GIORNO of 14 January 1964 –
Report by Giorgio Bocca)
The Greek engineered coup de
tat of 15 July 1974 constituted the culmination
of Greek Cypriot effort to unite the Island with
Greece and represented the final phase of
genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing
perpetrated by the Greek Cypriots. The Turkish
Cypriots were relieved from this agony only by
the ensuring Turkish intervention, carried out
in accordance with Turkey’s right and
obligations vested in the treaty of Guarantee
signed in 1960. However, until Turkish troops
were able to consolidate their positions and
provide security for the Turkish Cypriots, the
Greek Cypriots in anti-Turkish frenzy massacred
Turkish Cypriots. Mass graves were later
discovered at Muratağa (Maratha), Sandallar
(Sandallaris), and Atlılar (Aloa). The then US
secretary of states, Mr. George W. Ball, in his
memoirs ‘The Past Has Another Pattern’ had this
to say, from his personal experiences,
concerning events in Cyprus during the 1960s:
“ Makarios’ central interest
was to block off Turkish intervention so that he
and his Greek Cypriots could go on happily
butchering Turkish Cypriots.” …“the Greek
Cypriots… do not want a peace keeping force;
they just want to be left alone to kill Turkish
Cypriots”.
Turkey’s timely and lawful
intervention, which prevented the illegal
annexation of Cyprus by Greece, put an end to
the bloodshed and prevented the total
extermination of the Turkish Cypriot people.
ISRAEL
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