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Emporium Current Essays425SJUM ifiwijff fi^f TffSlFifl jrlj MimMM U-M 1 yilJ&UCYPRUS uispuTiIsf t* slj ;Jtl)|«J'i3! 'JLl Jo ^J* 'W-1 A fe*•§When the Republic of Cyprus was founded in 1060, it was a fully independent, bicommunal state in which the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities had thestatus to co-founders and equal partners. The rights of both communities weresafeguarded by a constitution that contained 199 articles and was a model of procession.A Treaty of Guarantee between the United Kingdom, Turkey and Greece assured theindependence of the new state. A Treaty of Alliance between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus provided for its security. Finally, the Republic of Cyprus was universallyrecognised andgiven a seat at the United Nations.The Turkish Cypriots, comprising one-fifth of total Cypriot population, felt safe andlooked forward to many years of peace and prosperity. But the Greek Cypriots, under theleadership of Archbishop Makarios, who had become the first president of Cyprus,regarded independence only as a stepping stone toward enosis and the total Hellenizationof the Island. As Makarios put it, "Unless this small Turkish community forming a part of the Turkish race is expelled, the duties of the heroes of EOKA can never be considered asterminated." EOKA was the Greek Cypriot guerrilla organisation that had fought againstBritish rule in the 1950s. It was now rearmed to bring about the destruction of theRepublic of Cyprus and the absorption of the Island by Greece.For the purposes of establishing the legal framework for enosis and neutralising allopposition to his scheme, Makarios first forced the resignation of the distinguishedGerman jurist who was serving a president of his Supreme Court Constitutional Court.Then, he implemented a plan -- the so-called "Akritas Plan" -- with the aim of cowing theTurkish Cyprhts into submission.The Akritas Plan, which was later published by the Greek newspapers Parties, was signed by a person who identified himself only as "the Chief, Akritas," but was, in fact, noneother than Makarios's minister of the interior. Ploykarpos Yordadijis, the very man who,at that time, was responsible for maintaining internal S)cace in Cyprus. According this plan, the Turkish Cypriots would be presented with a scries of proposed amendments tothe Constitution of 1960, which would deprive them of rights which were so fundamentalthat thev were included in the unalterable "Basic426
 
Emporium Current EssaysArticles" of the Constitution, such as that of having veto the Constitution, such as that of having veto power over governmental decisions affecting the future status of the Island,and that of having their own municipalities. Should the Turkish Cypriots reject-theseamendments, the Greek Cypriots would" show their strength to the Turkish Cypriotsimmediately and forcefully,' with the result that the Turkish Cypriots would" probably be brought to their senses."The proposed amendments were submitted to the Turkish Cypriot leadership on November 30, 1963. But even before the Turkish Cypriots had had time to complete their study of them. EOKA and other paramilitary organisation went into action. Their acts of aggression, which began in late December, were of extreme brutality. Among the first of these were the slaughter of 25 Turkish Cypriot patients at the Nicosia General Hospital onDecember 23, and the killing of 21 Turkish Cypriots (including a ten year-old girl) in thevillages of Ayios Vasilios and Skilloura on December 24.At the same time Makarios dismissed ail the Turkish Cypriot civil sen-ants, cabinetministers, and members of the House of Representatives (the uni-cameral Cypriot parliament). He also discharged all the Turkish Cypriot diplomats at the United Nationsand in foreign capitals, making it difficult for the Turkish Cypriots to present their case tothe world.The collision course, which was well planned by virtue of the notorious Akritas Planleading to the Greek Cypriot onslaught on Turkish Cypriots and in the arbitrary exclusionof the Turkish Cypriot community from the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the bi-communal Republic laid the seeds of physical communal separation and division othe Island and resulted in the establishment of the first dividing line - the Green Line --on 30 December 1963. On 27 December 1963, in a statement published in the Die Weltnewspaper, the impartial President of the Cyprus Supreme Constitutional Court Professor Forsthoff concluded that:" Makarios bears on his shoulders the sole responsibility of the recent tragic events. Hisaim is to deprive the Turkish community of their rights."In spite of the genocide, the breach of the rule of law and the disruption of theconstitutional order, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 186 adopted onMarch 4, 1964, in flagrant disregard of the true situation though it fit to take the termGovernment of Cyprus in the said resolution as meaning the Greek Cypriot usurped"Government of Cyprus" and treating it as the sole legitimate heir to the by then defunct bicommunal Republic of Cyprus. This unjust interpretation in the Resolution of theSecurity Council gave indirect legitimacy to the a Greek Island and that theEmporium Current Essays
 
427Turkish Cypriot community is a minority subject community of the now Greek Cypriotadministered so-called Republic of Cyprus.As a sop to the Turkish community, however, the UN Security Council also decided onMarch 4, 1964, to set up a UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) to "use its bestefforts to prevent and recurrence of fighting and, an necessary, to contribute to themaintenance an restoration of law and order...UNFICYP has been on the Island ever since but was, unfortunately, not able to upholdthe rule of law nor prevent the recurrence of fighting until the Turkish intervention of July 20,1974.TurkishBetween 1963-1974 Turkish Cypriots were held hostage in their own land withoutrepresentation and participation in the government. In all, 103 Turkish Cypriot villageswere destroyed and the total Turkish Cypriot population, controlling and owning 32 per cent of the land, pushed into ghetoo cantons comprising only 3 per cent of the Island.Turkish Cypriot pleas for help during this period were ignored by the internationalcommunity. The Turkish intervention saved the Turkish Cypriots from extinction an wasresponsible for creating a safe haven for its harassed population.Following Turkish intervention of July 20,1974, the Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Greeceand the United Kingdom met in Geneva and in their declaration of 30 July 1974recognised:"...the existence in practice in the Republic of Cypnis of two autonomous administrations,that of the Greek Cypriot community and that of the Turkish Cypriot community."This was an international acknowledgement of the fact that since the break-up of existedin practice in Cyprus two autonomous administrations. This fact is also acknowledged byMr. G. Clerides, the current Greek Cypriot President, in his memoirs, entitled MyDeposition. Herein M. Clerides says: ,The constitutional crisis of 1963 disrupted the constitution a order and the continuity, andthe partnership status of the two communities, which was created by the AurichAgreements. With the separation in its Legislative, executive and judicial powers therenow exist today in Cyprus two poles of power on a separate geographical basis." .In the same memoirs he has also observed:
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