OPINION:
Cyprus gained its independence from the British Empire in 1960, but even the British Ministry of Defense could not deny that for 3,500 years, Cyprus’ Greek identity of language and culture has been retained (“There are Turkish Cypriots, too,” Letters, Monday).
Over the centuries, numerous empires have come and gone, and quite a few ethnic communities have blossomed in Cyprus: Armenians, Latins and even Arab Maronites. But it was the yoke of the British Empire that sought to force the impression of “two peoples” on the island in order to implement its partition plans. During the 1955-59 struggle to liberate Cyprus, not a single Turkish Cypriot participated. Instead, the British, with the aid of Turkey, established the Turkish terrorist organizations Volgan and TMT to attack Greek Cypriots and other communities, including even the Turkish Cypriots. It was the British who recruited the Turkish Cypriots into their police and security forces to crack down on anti-colonial activism.
The Turkish military invasion did not protect anyone’s interests but those of the mass murderers and rapists who pillaged the property of anyone who was not Turkish. Scores of Greek and Armenian monasteries and churches have been forcibly converted into hotels and casinos, and the Turkish military recently went so far as to bulldoze a Neolithic settlement in order to plant Turkish flags. In his letter, Timur Edib, former president of the Maryland American Turkish Association, talks of the “balance” the Green Line has lent to Cyprus. Balance? Hardly. Just ask the multitudes of nationalities that were displaced forcibly or murdered by the Turkish military on the “Turkish-and-only-Turkish” side of the Attila Line.
NIKOLAOS TANERIS
Press officer, Cyprus Action Network of America
New York
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