Cyprus Conflict KIBRIS MÜCADELESi
The Ottoman period was most peaceful period for both Turkish and Greek Cypriots, respectfully. However on the 4 June 1878, under the Cyprus convention Cyprus would be administered by the British in return for an alliance against the growing Russian threat. In 1914 Cyprus was formally annexed as a British Crown colony.
The British occupation saw the beginning of oppression towards the Turkish Cypriots. Many Turkish Cypriots at the thought of being under kafir (non-Muslim) rule emigrated to modern day Turkey. As soon as the British came into power they relieved the Muslim Turks of their administrative duties and replaced their position with British and even Greek and Armenian Cypriots. Thus the balance of power went to the Christians. Another way in which the British sought to bring about an imbalance of power towards the Christians was by settling Greeks from Greece to Cyprus.
With such an increase in the Greek population the ENOSIS movement (union with Greece) gained momentum.
An example of discrimination against the Turkish Cypriots is the case of 27 May 1912. Greeks repeatedly attacked on Turkish parts of Limassol, stormed the mosques; beat and killed the Turks in shops and at the fair; destroyed and plundered Turkish properties all in the name of ENOSIS.
The barbaric act of the ENOSIS movement was so bad that it pressed the British to call for reinforcements from Egypt.
قبرس مجادلهس
In 1950 the AKEL organisation restarted the ENOSIS movement. In 1955 Archbishop Makarios after returning from New York met with General Grivas to form the terrorist organisation EOKA. Initially there activities were aimed at the British (although more innocent Greek Cyp. died). In 1957 EOKA started a wave of attacks on Britains, Greeks and Turks. As a defencive measure the Turkish Cyp. created the group 'Volkan', later known as 'Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı' (T.M.T.).
In 1960 Cyprus became an independent state. Unfortunately this did not stop discriminative behavior towards the Turks. At first this discrimination was political, on 21 December 63' this all changed. The result of the attacks of 1963-1964 is the destruction of 103 Turkish villages and over a thousand houses and shops. Over 25,000 Turkish Cypriots, almost one fourth of the total Turkish Cypriot people were uprooted from their homes and had become refugees.
The problems kept continuing, so on the 10 November 1969, Turkey's premier Süleyman Demiral stated "the Cyprus problem is a national problem".
On the 15 July 1974 the Cypriot National Guard led by Greek mainland officers staged a coup, with the aim of speeding up the ENOSIS process. This led again to much bloodshed. On 16 of June, Ecevit asked the British to join Turkey in enforcing the Treaty of Guarantee. The British declined. The Turkish Cypriot refugees were confined to only 3% of Cyprus in awful conditions. With massacre of Turks continuing Ecevit could no longer wait, so he ordered for the Cyprus Peace Operation. This started on the 20 July 1974. The Turkish troops arrived at Girne.
In order to never allow such horrible acts from happening again the Turkish peace operation created a state for the Turkish Cypriots on the north of the island.
At first it was the 'Turkish Federated State of Cyprus'. On the 15.11.1983 the 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' (TRNC) was established.
Unfortunately the international community does not recognize the TRNC thus has put embargoes on them.
