page_title: Megali Idea
section_title: World War II, annexation of Dodecanese and the Cyprus dispute
hierarchical_section_title: Megali Idea / World War II, annexation of Dodecanese and the Cyprus dispute
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the districts of Cyprus, named in English, with English annotations, and showing the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, United Kingdom Sovereign Base Areas, and United Nations buffer zone. The individual maps see below. Deutsch: Karte der Distrikte Zyperns: Bezirke der Republik Zypern, Türkische Republik Nordzypern, UK-Militärbasen, UN-Pufferzone (englische Beschriftung). Zu den Einzelkarten siehe unten "Individual maps".
context_page_description: The Megali Idea was an irredentist concept that expressed the goal of reviving the Byzantine Empire, by establishing a Greek state, which would include the large Greek populations that were still under Ottoman rule after the end of the Greek War of Independence and all the regions that traditionally belonged to Greeks since ancient times.
  The term appeared for the first time during the debates of Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis with King Otto that preceded the promulgation of the 1844 constitution. It came to dominate foreign relations and played a significant role in domestic politics for much of the first century of Greek independence. The expression was new in 1844 but the concept had roots in the Greek popular psyche, which long had hopes of liberation from Ottoman rule and restoration of the Byzantine Empire.
  Πάλι με χρόνια με καιρούς,
  πάλι δικά μας θα 'ναι!
  .
context_section_description: Although the Great Idea ceased to be a driving force behind Greek foreign policy, some remnants continued to influence Greek foreign policy throughout the remainder of the 20th century.
  Thus, after his coup d'état of 4 August 1936, Ioannis Metaxas proclaimed the advent of the "Third Hellenic Civilization", similar to Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The attack by Italy from Albania and the Greek victories enabled Greece to conquer, during the winter of 1940–1941, parts of southern Albania (Northern Epirus, as it is identified by Greeks) which were administered as a province of Greece for a short time until the German offensive of April 1941.
  The occupation, resistance and the civil war initially put the Great Idea in the background. Nevertheless, another very good diplomatic performance by the Greek side at the Paris Peace Conference, 1946 secured a further enlargement of Greek territory, in the form of the Dodecanese Islands, despite the very strong opposition of Vyacheslav Molotov and the Soviet delegates. The Greek civil war, such as the Soviet opposition was also the main reason for the non incorporation of the Northern Epirus, since Albania was, after WW2, communist controlled.
  The British colony of Cyprus became the "apple of discord" in Greco-Turkish relations.  In 1955, a Greek army colonel of Greek Cypriot origin, George Grivas, began a campaign of civil disobedience whose purpose was primarily to drive the British from the island, then move for Enosis with Greece. The Greek Prime Minister, Alexandros Papagos, was not unfavourable to this idea. There was increasing polarisation of opinion between the dominant Greek population and the minority Turks.
  The problems in Cyprus affected the continent itself. In September 1955, in response to the demand for Énosis, an anti-Greek riot took place in Istanbul. During the Istanbul Pogrom 4,000 stores, 100 hotels and restaurants and 70 churches were destroyed or damaged. This led to the last great wave of migration from Turkey to Greece.
  The Zürich Agreement of 1959 culminated in independence of the island with Greece, Turkey and UK as guarantee powers. The inter-ethnic clashes from 1960 led to the dispatch of a peacekeeping force of the United Nations in 1964.
  The Cyprus issue was revived by the dictatorship of the colonels, who presented their April 21, 1967, coup d'état as the only way to defend the traditional values of what they called the "Hellenic-Christian Civilization".
  Youth of Greece… you recall, in your heart and your faith, the deep sense of sacrifice. It dates back to Leonidas, "Come and take them!", to Constantine XI, "I do not wish to give the City.", and Metaxás, "No!".  It is in the "Stop or I draw!".
  Brigadier General Ioannidis arranged, in July 1974, to overthrow Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios, and proceed to Enosis with Greece. This led to an immediate reaction from Turkey to stop the ethnic cleansing against the Turkish minority. Turkey invaded the north part of the island. Greece and Turkey moved to a general mobilization and there was a well-founded fear of an imminent war between the two countries.
caption: The partition of Cyprus showing the Turkish-occupied north and government controlled south.
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