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Cyprus: British Instigation
"The early stages of the Cyprus conflict, in the mid-1950's
were mainly a struggle between the Greek Cypriots and the
British Colonial power, with the Turks at that time hardly
interested in the island. There is strong evidence that the British Government of the
day deliberately encouraged an indifferent Turkey to take a more active interest as a useful counterweight in the
struggle against the Greeks. One of the most violent
expressions of this artificially contrived Turkish indignation was on the night of 6th-7th September 1955, when
a terrifying Turkish mob destroyed quantities of Greek property in Istanbul.
It should be noted that at the Yassiada trials in 1960 evidence was given by defense witnesses that the Turkish
government had been put up to staging a Cyprus demonstration by the then British Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan, but
that the demonstration, mismanaged by Menderes, had degenerated in to an uncontrollable riot".
David Hotham: "The Turks," 1972
"When the armed struggle started, the British had at their disposal thousands of men and could even increase their
existing numbers to put down the EOKA struggle. This they did NOT do, but they formed instead the well known
Auxiliary Corps. The ordinary Turkish Cypriots, who did not realize where the British were leading them (since their
leadership did not warn them, rather it encouraged them), hastened to reinforce this Auxiliary Corps thinking only of
securing a living. Thus, the Greek Cypriots, who thought that they were waging
a holy struggle against the British, found themselves facing the Turkish Cypriots. In this way the British
started submitting to the Turkish community their plans for
partition."
Ibrahim Aziz: "The Historical Course of the Turkish Cypriot Community,"
1981
"In 1954, I felt great anxiety about Cyprus... Harold Macmillan was urging us to stir up the Turks
in order to neutralize the Greek agitation. I wrote a minute in opposition to this tactic. I also asked the Prime
Minister's private secretary if I could see Churchill on
the subject, but he absolutely refused even to pass on the suggestion, which he clearly regarded as impertinence."
C.M.Woodhouse: "Something Ventured," 1982
"Although the nucleus of the first Turkish Cypriot political party was organized in 1942, it was not until 1955, that the
Turkish Cypriot community became politically active. Within the next three years, a community political structure
was developed as a result not only of efforts of Turkish Cypriot leaders to oppose Enosis, but also of encouragement
from British and Turkish officials who were seeking to safe-guard their countries' strategic interests"
Doctor Fazil Kuchuk in interview to R.A.Patrick, Doctoral Dissertation, London School of
Economics and Political Science, 1972
"We called our struggle a continuation of the status quo, without wanting to believe that the British would
one day abandon Cyprus. Without being aware of changes in the political field, we blindly followed
friendship with the British."
Rauf Denktash: "Five to Twelve, Ankara, 1966, as cited in Ibrahim Aziz: "The Historical
Course of the Turkish Cypriot Community," 1981
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