From: sera@zuma.UUCP (Serdar Argic)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast,soc.culture.greek,soc.culture.europe,soc.history
Followup-To: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: Re: Macedonia: Reality versus History.
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 93 19:35:46 EST
Reply-To: sera@zuma.UUCP (Serdar Argic)
Distribution: world

In article <1i7tj2INNcd@network.ucsd.edu> fledgist@weber.ucsd.edu (Fragano Ledgister) writes:

>>So the Greek educational system is also in a shambles, 'tamtam.'
>>This is the same mentality which allows Greeks to rationalize that 
>>Cyprus is a Greek Island. No history book shows that it ever was. It 
>>belonged to the Ottoman Turks 'lock, stock and barrel' for a period of 
>>well over 300 years. In fact, prior to the Turks' acquisition of it, 

>So did Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, the
>Vardar region et caetera et caetera. Are you advocating the revival
>of the Ottoman Empire? Or asserting a Turkish claim to all territory
>ruled by the Ottomans?

You have waffled all around my original question, which is odd 
since you could have just ignored it. Now, let me improve this 
one for you, in case you failed to get my point. Saddam Hussein 
claims that Kuwait was once Iraqi territory and the Greek Cypriot 
government and the Greek governments think that Cyprus also was 
once part of the Greek hegemony. Those people involved in this 
grandiose hallucination should wake up from their sweet daydreams 
and confront reality. Wishful thinking is unproductive, only facts 
count.

The problems in Cyprus have their origin in decades of 
oppression of the Turkish population by the Greek Cypriot 
officials and their violation of the co-founder status of 
the Turks set out in the constitution. The coup d'etat 
engineered by Greece in 1974 to execute a final solution 
to the Turkish problem was the savage blow that invoked 
Turkiye's intervention. Turkiye intervened reluctantly and 
only as a last resort after exhausting all other avenues 
consulting with Britain and Greece as the other two signatories 
to the treaty to protect the integrity of Cyprus. There simply 
was not any expansionist motivation in the Turkish action at 
all. This is in dramatic contrast to the Greek motivation which 
was openly expansionist, stated as 'Enosis,' union with Greece. 
Since the creation of independent Cyprus in 1960, the Turkish 
population, although smaller, legally had status as the co-founder
of the republic with the Greek population. The Greek Cypriots, with 
the support of 'Enosis'-minded Greeks in the mainland, have 
consistently ignored that status and portrayed the Island as a 
Greek island with a minority population of Turks. The Turks of 
Cyprus are not a minority in a Greek Republic and they found 
the only way they could show that was to assert their autonomy 
in a separate republic. Turkiye is not satisfied with the status 
quo. She would rather not be involved with the island. But, given 
the dismal record of brutal Greek oppression of the Turkish
population in Cyprus, she simply cannot leave the fate of the 
island's Turks in the hands of the Greeks until the Turkish 
side is satisfied with whatever accord the two communities 
finally reach to guarantee that history will not repeat itself 
to rob Turkish Cypriots of their rights, liberties and their very 
lives.

>>following bloody naval battles with the Venetians in 1570 AD, the
>>island of Cyprus belonged, invariably, to several nations: The 
>                            ^^^^^^^^^^

>Interesting -- what is your evidence that Cyprus had never been
>self-governed prior to the Turkish conquest (which was, by the way,
>in 1571)?

You have been arguing with yourself. Use my own words rather than 
ascribing yours to me.

>>Assyrians, the Sumerians, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Ottoman 
>>Turks, of course in that order, owned it as their territory. But, it 

>One notes the absence from this list of the fact that Cyprus was in
>classical times covered by Greek poleis; 

A joke? It could be, perhaps, that your shoes were too tights.

>not to mention the absence
>of the fact that Cyprus was under Roman and Byzantine rule for more
>than a thousand years.

What's your point?

>>has never been the possession of the government of Greece - not even 
>>for one day - in the history of the world. Moreover, Cyprus is
>>located 1500 miles from the Greek mainland, but only 40 miles from 
>>Turkiye's southern coastline. Following the Greek Cypriot attempt

>What's this got to do with anything?

Haven't you ever heard of the "Greek barbarism" and "Enosis"? Article IV 
of the 1960 Tripartite Treaty of Guarantee among Great Britain, Turkiye, 
and Greece gave Turkiye the right to intervene if the 1960 agreement was 
violated. When Greece invaded the island on July 15, 1974, and then tried 
to annex it, the Turkish government acted to establish an area in northern 
Cyprus where Turkish Cypriots could live free of fear. The August 30, 
1974, "Die Zeit" German newspaper report of "the Massacre of Turkish 
Cypriots in Paphos and Famagusta," proves how justified the Turks 
were in undertaking their intervention.

>>to annex the island to Greece with the aid of the Greek army, Turkiye
>>intervened by using her legal right given by two international agreements. 
>>Turkiye did it for the frequently and conveniently forgotten people of the
>>island, Turkish Cypriots. For those Turkish Cypriots whose grandparents
>>have been living on the island since 1571. 

>Bloody old grandparents if you ask me.

Hmmm. It could be your head wasn't screwed on just right. Let us examine 
it - shall we?

      THE MUSEUM OF GREEK BARBARISM

2 Irfan Bey Street, Kumsal Area, Nicosia, Cyprus

It is the  house of Dr. Nihat  Ilhan, a major who  was serving at
the Cyprus  Turkish Army Contingent. During  the attacks launched
against the Turks by the Greeks, on 20th December 1963, Dr. Nihat
Ilhan's  wife and  three  children were  ruthlessly and  brutally
killed in the  bathroom, where they had tried to  hide, by savage
Greeks. Dr.  Nihat Ilhan happened to  be on duty that  night, the
24th   December  1963.   Pictures  reflecting   Greek  atrocities
committed during and after 1963 are exhibited in this house which
has been converted into a museum.

AN EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT  OF HOW A TURKISH FAMILY  WAS BUTCHERED BY
GREEK TERRORISTS

The date  is the 24th of  December, 1963... The onslaught  of the
Greeks against the Turks, which  started three days ago, has been
going on  with all its  ferocity; and defenseless women,  old men
and children are being brutally  killed by Greeks. And now Kumsal
Area of Nicosia witnesses the  worst example of the Greeks savage
bloodshed...

The wife  and the  three infant  children of  Dr. Nihat  Ilhan, a
major on duty at the camp  of the Cyprus Turkish Army Contingent,
are  mercilessly and  dastardly  shot dead  while  hiding in  the
bathroom of their house, by  maddened Greeks who broke into their
home. A glaring example of Greek barbarism.

Let us  now listen to the  relating of the said  incident told by
Mr. Hasan  Yusuf Gudum, an  eye witness, who himself  was wounded
during the same terrible event.

"On the night of the 24th  of December, 1963 my wife Feride Hasan
and I were paying a visit to the family of Major Dr. Nihat Ilhan.
Our neighbours  Mrs. Ayshe of  Mora, her daughter Ishin  and Mrs.
Ayshe's  sister Novber  were also  with us.  We were  all sitting
having supper.  All of  a sudden bullets  from the  Pedieos River
direction started to riddle the  house, sounding like heavy rain.
Thinking  that   the  dining-room  where  we   were  sitting  was
dangerous, we  ran to  the bathroom and  toilet which  we thought
would be  safer. Altogether we were  nine persons. We all  hid in
the bathroom  except my wife  who took  refuge in the  toilet. We
waited in fear. Mrs. Ilhan the wife of Major Doctor, was standing
in the bath with her three children Murat, Kutsi and Hakan in her
arms. Suddenly with  a great noise we heard the  front door open.
Greeks had  come in and were  combing, every corner of  the house
with  their machine  gun bullets.  During these  moments I  heard
voices saying, in  Greek, "You want Taksim eh!"  and then bullets
started flying in the bathroom. Mrs. Ilhan and her three children
fell into  the bath. They were  shot. At this moment  the Greeks,
who broke  into the bathroom, emptied  their guns on us  again. I
heard one of the Major's children moan, then I fainted.

When I came  to myself 2 or  3 hours later, I saw  Mrs. Ilhan and
her three children lying dead in the  bath. I and the rest of the
neighbours in the  bathroom were all seriously  wounded. But what
had happened to my wife? Then I remembered and immediately ran to
the  toilet, where,  in  the doorway,  I saw  her  body. She  was
brutally murdered.

In the  street admist the  sound of  shots I heard  voices crying
"Help, help. Is  there no one to save us?"  I became terrified. I
thought that  if the Greeks came  again and found that  I was not
dead they would kill  me. So I ran to the  bedroom and hid myself
under the double-bed.

An our  passed by. In the  distance I could still  hear shots. My
mouth was dry,  so I came out  from under the bed  and drank some
water. Then I put  some sweets in my pocket and  went back to the
bathroom, which was exactly as I had left in an hour ago. There I
offered sweets  to Mrs. Ayshe,  her daughter and Mrs.  Novber who
were all wounded.

We  waited in  the bathroom  until 5  o'clock in  the morning.  I
thought morning would never come.  We were all wounded and needed
to be taken  to hospital. Finally, as we could  walk, Mrs. Novber
and I, went  out into the street hoping to  find help, and walked
as far as Koshklu Chiftlik.

There, we met  some people who took us to  hospital where we were
operated on. When  I regained my consciousness I  said that there
were more  wounded in the  house and  they went and  brought Mrs.
Ayshe and her daughter.

After staying three  days in the hospital I was  sent by plane to
Ankara  for  further treatment.  There  I  have had  four  months
treatment but still I cannot use  my arm. On my return to Cyprus,
Greeks arrested me at the Airport.

All  I have  related to  you above  I told  the Greeks  during my
detention. They then released me."

ON FOOT INTO CYPRUS'S DEVASTATED TURKISH QUARTER

We went tonight into the sealed-off Turkish quarter of Nicosia in
which 200  to 300 people have  been slaughtered in the  last five
days.

We  were the  first  Western  reporters there,  and  we saw  some
terrible sights.

In the Kumsal quarter at No. 2, Irfan Bey Sokagi, we made our way
into  a house  whose floors  were  covered with  broken glass.  A
child's bicycle lay in a corner.

In the  bathroom, looking  like a group  of waxworks,  were three
children piled on top of their murdered mother.

In a room next to it we glimpsed  the body of a woman shot in the
head.

This, we  were told, was the  home of a Turkish  Army major whose
family had been killed by the mob in the first violence.

Today was five days later, and still they lay there.

Rene MacCOLL and Daniel McGEACHIE, (From the "DAILY EXPRESS")

"...I saw in  a bathroom the bodies of a  mother and three infant
children murdered because their father was a Turkish Officer..."

Max CLOS, LE FIGARO 25-26 January, 1964

>>Serdar Argic

>Is Argic the Turkish word for 'arschloch'?

It is the Turkish word for "Greek barbarism". By the way, is this
what turns you on?

Poor "Ledgister".

Serdar Argic

                     'This war quickly developed into one of extermination. 
                      We closed the roads and mountain passes that might 
                      serve as ways of escape for the Tartars [Turks] and 
                      then proceeded in the work of extermination.'
                                                       (Ohanus Appressian)