THE MIRACLE A True Story London Conference whose sole purpose was to formalise Turkey's involvement in Cyprus.    The Cypriot struggle for self-determination was thus caught up in a fatal noose which was tightened not only by the British but also by the Turks. The opportunity the Turks had been waiting for so patiently was presented to them on a plate by the British.    The blood of the Cypriot freedom-fighters ran freely. Gallows were set up and the youth of Cyprus was cut down in its prime as it fought for the cherished dream of union with Greece. Turkey appealed to the few Turkish-Cypriots who had remained on the island after the Turkish occupation of Cyprus for their help in creating volatile situations.    Britain had now fulfilled all the pre-requisites that would allow its continued presence on the island. Instead of self-determination the trap of independence was sprung on the island, and on 11th February, 1959 the Treaty of Zurich was signed requiring the 82% of the Cypriot population who were Greek to comply with the formidable clauses contained in the constitution of the independent Cypriot Republic, which was formally established on 16th August, 1960: according to the constitution, the vice-president of the Cypriot Republic had to be a Turkish-Cypriot and he would have the right of veto in any legislative power, irrespective of the fact that he represented only 18% of the island's population!    The appetite of the Turks now having been well and truly whetted and their rapacious greed aroused, they began to put all their efforts into dissolving the newly-established Cypriot Republic, taking full advantage of the privileges they had so provocatively acquired with the help of the British. Only three years after the establishment of the Cypriot Republic, its vice-president, Dr Fazil Küçük, told the New York Times: "The constitution of the Cypriot Republic no longer exists because Greeks and Turks cannot live together. The Cypriot constitution is dead."    Acting on orders from his bosses in Ankara and their political advisers in London, he proceeded to do all in his power to prove this by rejecting anything that had to do with the exercise of his preferential duties. The aim was to bring about the collapse of the Cypriot Republic and the partitioning of the island so as to safeguard British interests in Cyprus.    It therefore came as no surprise when a little while later, in 1964, the former vice-president of the Turkish government, Kemal Satir, "prophesied" what was to happen ten years later: "Cyprus will be split in two and one part will be united with Turkey."    On 20th July, 1974, with the blessing of Britain and the tolerance of the United States, Turkey seized the opportunity presented by the collapse of the military dictatorship in Greece and the factional fighting that broke out in Cyprus, and invaded the island. The Turkish prime minister at the time, Bülent Ecevit, a disciple of the man who was then the American secretary of state, Dr Henry Kissinger, declared in the customary propagandist style that is characteristic of the Turkish language: "We bring peace, not war, to Cyprus."    The "peace" which the Turks brought to the island was yet another example of the same behaviour they had exhibited over the centuries: 5,000 Cypriots murdered, 70% of the Cypriot economy destroyed, women aged from 12 to 71 attacked and raped - very often in front of their own children -, torture, robbery and the destruction of historic monuments and valuable works of art thousands of years old.    In the whole of the 8-year war in Vietnam, the American side suffered a total of 800 missing persons. In the brief war in Cyprus, the Turks broke yet another world record in brutality: 1,619 people were reported missing after only a few days of fighting. For twenty-two years, Turkey stubbornly refused to provide any information regarding the fate of the missing persons - until 29th January, 1996, when Turkey's puppet on Cyprus, Rauf Denktash, stated with amazing cynicism that the missing Greek-Cypriots who had been taken prisoner during the Turkish invasion in 1974 had been handed over by the Turkish army to paramilitary Turkish-Cypriot "freedom-fighters", who had had them all executed! 113 and 114 Leonidas Koumakis THE MIRACLE A True Story If you prefer a hard copy of the book, please send an email to HEC-Books@hec.greece.org Previous Page | Initial Page | Site Map | Next Page (115th of 204) © For Internet 2001 HEC and Leonidas Koumakis. Updated on 19 June 2001.