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behind the green line: solving the cyprus problem? by Nick Mamatas (Laddertrick@gvny.com) - July 04, 2001 |
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| The Cyprus Problem, as the partition of Cyprus into Greek and Turkish sections is called, did not begin in ancient times, as eager amateur archeologists claim. Nor did the Cyprus problem begin with the conquest of the island by the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, the Ottoman invaders actually allowed a Greek-language and Orthodox Christian culture to thrive by taking the island from its Roman Catholic rulers. The Cyprus problem began only in this century, after the decline of the Ottomans and the formal assumption of British control over the island. For centuries, Greek and Turkish Cypriots lived together in mixed or contiguous towns, did business with one another, and got along with one another, though the two cultures never mixed much. The Greek majority did not suppress the Muslims, and the Muslims did not seek to become "junior partners" of the Greeks. The British took the island from the failing Ottoman Empire and manipulated ethnic difference to keep hold on the strategically located island and to thwart the Cypriot independence movement of the 1950s. Using the divide and conquer strategy that worked in India, the UK encouraged nationalism and violence among the Turkish minority. In India, the boosting of the Muslim league at the expense of Gandhi's Congress Party led to partition and separation almost immediately after Britain let go of India. In Cyprus, separation took fourteen years, a sign of how little Greek or Turkish nationalism meant before British imperialism. Britain released Cyprus in 1960. Greece and Turkey used the people of Cyprus as a proxy for their own fights over oil rights, control of the Aegean and the opportunity to be chief US client state of the region. In 1963, ethnic battling began in earnest, with the minority Turks taking the worst of the bloodshed. In 1967, the United States backed a military coup in Greece, and was disappointed when the junta was partially overthrown in July 1974. The new Greek government staged a coup in Cyprus to fuel nationalism, grab an important position in the sea, and to demonstrate some independence from the US. Turkey invaded Cyprus, claiming that the 1960 treaty of independence had been breached, and that Turkey had to protect the Muslim minority. In reality, Turkey's Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit invaded the island to shore up his own position at home, and to better compete with Greece for US' attention. It worked. The US tacitly supported the Turkish invasion, and hoped that Ecevit would be a more pliable sub-imperialist than the Greek colonels had been. For all the furor over the partition of the island and the forced removal of Greek Cypriots from Turkish areas, the Greek "refugees" are much better off than their Turkish usurpers today. Saber-rattling aside, Greece rejoined NATO in 1980, and the US now arms both Greece and Turkey, in order to ensure its continued dominance of the region. In Cyprus, the Green Line that separates the two communities has been a flashpoint for provocation from both sides. But much the same way Greece and Turkey work together to implement US control, the Greek and Turkish rulers of Cyprus are playing divide and conquer as well. Greek Cypriots have neutralized massive strikes by calling on "national unity," and Turkish Cypriots have used nationalism to force through a series of vicious privatization measures in the impoverished northern part of the island. There can be peace in Cyprus though, as 1000 years of ethnic co-existence as proved. Of course Greeks and Turks in Cyprus can work together; the ruling elites of the island have proved that by manipulating their populations in unison. The "Cyprus Problem" isn't a problem at all for the twin ruling classes; if the people of Cyprus would cooperate in the same way, the problem would cease to exist at all. |
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Resolving The Cyprus Problem The Greek Question Peace-Cyprus US Arms For Turkish Abuses Overcoming The Cyprus Problem: Let Cypriots Be Cypriots Kypros Net: The World Of Cyprus The Cyprus Problem British Base on Cyprus Rocked by Riots Why a Corner of Island Remains Forever Britain |
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