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Date:         Sun, 10 Jan 1993 19:53:49 -0500
Reply-To:     "Varnavas A. Lambrou" <V999SAUM@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>
From:         "Varnavas A. Lambrou" <V999SAUM@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>
Subject:      Kupriako suvexeia...
Comments: To: hellas@uga.cc.uga.edu

THE ENOSIS MOVEMENT: A MOVEMENT FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION


In 1878 Cyprus was ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Britain.

With increasing vehemence during the years of colonial rule the people of
Cyprus demanded of their rulers democratic rights, and an end to colonial
economic exploitation which improverished the country. But the main demand of
the Cypriots was for the application of the principle of self-determination
to Cyprus.

82% of the population of Cyprus is Greek. Neither the Cypriots nor anyone else
doubted that the application of the principle of self-determination would
result in the union of Cyprus with Greece. Enosis was not the dangerous and
atavistic slogan which Turkish propaganda makes it out to be. It was the
natural expression of the democratic rights of the inhabitants of Cyprus. And it
was recognized as such internationally.

The colonial government adamantly turned down these just and reasonable
aspirations and tried to manipulate the Turkish Cypriots as a counterweight
to Greek Cypriot demands and, after 1931 when the Cypriots rose in a spontaneous
revolution to demand their freedom, the British rulers established a dictatorial
and oppressive regime which deprived Cypriots of all civil and democratic
rights.

In 1955, a time of ferment among the colonial peoples of Africa and Asia, the
Greek Cypriots, frustrated in all their reasonable demands, finally undertook
an armed struggle against colonial rule and for the exercise of their right to
self-determination. EOKA, the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters, fought
a guerilla war against the colonial regime for four years.

Though Turkey had given up all rights to Cyprus through the Treaty of Lausanne
in 1923, in the 1950's she was instigated to interest herself in Cyprus by the
colonial government which was interested in establishing a counterweight to the
legitimate demand of the majority of the population of the colony for
self-determination.

Turkey, controlling the Turkish Cypriot leaders through TMT, directed them in a
policy of supporting colonialism. Turkey and Britain succeeded in frustrating
the enosis movement. A compromise solution, independence for Cyprus, with the
British retaining sovereign bases and the Turkish Cypriots enjoying political
representation was finally thrust on Cyprus.


"I think it is only natural that the Cypriot people, who are of Greek descent,
should regard their incorporation with what may be called their mother-country
as an ideal to be earnestly, devoutly, and fervently cherished. Such a feeling
is an example of the patriotic devotion which so nobly characterises the Greek
nation."
                        Winston Churchill 17 October, 1907.

"...fully aware of the sentiment which exists among the Greek population of
Cyprus for union with Greece...the wishes of the inhabitants of Cyprus will
be treated with the most careful and sympathetic consideration by
H.M. Government when they consider its future."
                        David Lloyd George P.M. 14 November, 1919
                                "Letter to the Cypriot Mission in London".

"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.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU