Dramatic photograph of one of the counter-offensives of the ELDYK (Hellenic Force of Cyprus) against Turkish positions in the Nicosia-Agyrta enclave in 1974.
On August 5, 2014 Senator Carl Levin of Michigan asked for and was granted permission to address the United States Senate regarding the 40th anniversary of Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus:
“Mr. President, this summer marks the 40th year since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the division of the island into Greek and Turkish zones. That division has led to great hardships on both sides of the divide and been a source of some instability in a part of the world–the eastern Mediterranean–that already is far too unstable. It is profoundly in the interests of the United States, our friends and allies in the region, and the Cypriot people, both Greek and Turkish, to resolve this dispute and achieve the goal of a unified Cyprus.
The division of Cyprus has had profoundly negative consequences for its people and the region. Cyprus has been a source of ongoing tension between two important NATO allies, Greece and Turkey. The division has stunted Cyprus economically and politically. Tragically, the line has divided families for four decades. None of this is in the interests of Greece, Turkey, the United States, our allies, or the world. That is why the United States supports the creation of a bizonal, bicommunal federation as envisioned by numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions.
It is unfortunate that, four decades after the island’s division, we have yet to achieve that goal. It is long overdue that Cyprus be unified. And there are reasons today to believe that goal is closer. In February, U.N.-sponsored talks between Greek and Turkish leaders restarted after a 2-year halt. They agreed to a roadmap for further negotiations and, importantly, committed to build a positive atmosphere surrounding the talks, including important confidence-building measures designed to help ease 40 years of mistrust. Little over a week ago negotiators met and committed to progress on outstanding issues in advance of their next meeting on September 2.
It is vitally important that negotiators continue to build momentum toward peace and unity on the island because so much is at stake. The discovery of large natural gas reserves off the island’s coast promises a newly prosperous future for Cyprus and its people, but it will be far more difficult, if not impossible, to fully capitalize on that opportunity in the absence of peace and unity.
The United States should continue to work closely with all sides in pursuit of the peaceful reunification of Cyprus that is so long overdue”, said Levin.
Source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov/
Senator Carl Levin is a powerful member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Note:
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus (Greek: Τουρκική εισβολή στην Κύπρο, Turkish: Kıbrıs Barış Harekâtı “Cyprus Peace Operation” or Turkish: Kıbrıs Harekâtı “Cyprus Operation”) launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion of the island country of Cyprus, in response to the 1974 Cypriot coup d’état. Its Turkish Armed Forces code name was Operation Atilla.
The coup had been ordered by the military Junta in Greece and staged by the Cypriot National Guard in conjunction with EOKA-B. It deposed the Cypriot president Archbishop Makarios III and installed Nikos Sampson, a leader in favor of Enosis, the union of Cyprus with Greece.
See related video: Turkey invades Cyprus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COUwGE0hKgM
Casualties:
Turkish
568 killed (498 TAF, 70Resistance). 2,000 wounded. Total 3,500 casualties (including civilians).
Cyprus and Greece:4,500–6,000 killed and wounded (military and civilian)
2,000–3,000 missing
Atrocities and/or human right abuses towards the civilian Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities have been committed.
In general, Turkey was found guilty by the European Commission of Human Rights for:
- Displacement of persons (13 votes against 1)
- Deprivation of liberty (8 votes against 1)
- Ill treatment (12 votes against 1)
- Deprivation of Life (14 votes against 1)
- Deprivation of Possessions (12 votes against 1)
Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/66250437/The-Council-of-Europe-s-SECRET-Report-1976-Cyprus-barbary
The Turkish policy of violently forcing a third of the island’s Greek population from their homes in the occupied North, preventing their return and settling Turks from the mainland there is considered an example of ethnic cleansing.
Atrocities against the Turkish Cypriot community were committed during the invasion of the island. In the Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre, 126 people were killed on 14 August 1974.
The United Nations described the massacre as a crime against humanity, by saying “constituting a further crime against humanity committed by the Greek and Greek Cypriot gunmen.”
In the Tochni (Taşkent) massacre, 85 Turkish inhabitants were massacred.
The Washington Post covered another news of atrocity in which it is written that: “In a Greek raid on a small Turkish village near Limassol, 36 people out of a population of 200 were killed. The Greeks said that they had been given orders to kill the inhabitants of the Turkish villages before the Turkish forces arrived.”