In article <JTSILLA.93May24095805@sparc10a.ccs.northeastern.edu> jtsilla@sparc10a.ccs.northeastern.edu (James Tsillas) writes:  >I got some e-mail on this topic and decided to do some more reading. I >thought it would be nice to share my response with everyone:  How about the following scholarly source?  Source: Pierre Oberling, "The Road to Bellapais: The Turkish Cypriot         Exodus to Northern Cyprus", Social Science Monographs, Boulder,         1982, ISBN 88033-000-7.  >Well, according to a book by C.M.Woodhouse I've read it looks like the >situation was much more complicated than either of us suggest. Needless >to say nationalism on both the Greek and Turkish side was strong and >began in April of '74 with confrontations over the Agean (as usual) >between the government in Turkey and the Ioannidis junta. >In July 15 an assasination attempt against Makarios (then president of >Cyprus) plotted by Ioannidis, ruling dictator in Greece, fails and >Makarios flees to England. The journalist Nicos Sampson takes over in a >coup led by the Greek officers in the Cyprus National Guard. Turkish >forces which had been mobilized in anticipation begin landing on the >north shore of the island on 20th of July. This caused the welcomed >collapse of the dictatorship the 24th with Mr. Karamanlis returning from  Well, I am forced to disagree with you. The Greeks started massacring  the Turkish population on Cyprus in 1974. In 1974, Turkiye stepped into  Cyprus to preserve the lives of the Turkish population there. This is  nothing but a simple historical fact. Unfortunately, the intervention  was too late at least for some of the victims. Mass graves containing  numerous bodies of women and children already showed what fate had been  planned for a peaceful minority.  The people of Turkiye know quite well that Greece and the Greek Cypriots  will never abandon the idea of hellenizing Cyprus and will remain  eternally hopeful of uniting it with Greece, someday, whatever the  cost to the parties involved. The history speaks for itself. Greece was  the sole perpetrator of invasion on that island when it sent its troops  on July 15, 1974 in an attempt to topple the legitimate government of  Archibishop Makarios.  The release of Nikos Sampson, a member of EOKA [National Organization of Cypriot Fighters] and a convicted terrorist, shows that the 'enosis' mentality continues to survive in Greece. One should not forget that Sampson dedicated his life to annihilating the Turks in Cyprus, committed murder to achieve this goal, and tried to destroy the island's independence by annexing it to Greece. Of course, the Greek governments will have to bear the consequences  for this irresponsible conduct.  Turkish Cypriots are simply seeking guarantees that will preclude a repeat performance by the fanatical cadres of the Greeks' EOKA. If  such assurances are not perfectly implemented, there is every reason  to expect that the local Greeks will be misguided enough to perpetrate  their past mistakes. On such an occasion, the Turkish side may not find  it satisfactory to act with reluctance to go any further than before,  for it is unacceptable to remain always defensive against cyclical  vicious attacks. Therefore it would be better to have a true federation of two separate sections living in obligatory peace, rather than another  armed confrontation that would be started by the Greeks and obligatorily  but decisively terminated by the Turks.   The present Greek government is trying to tyrannize the Turkish population  in western Thrace by forbidding it its ethnic and religious rights, which  were established through international treaties. One might be better advised to remember that misadventures against Turkiye do not serve  Greece well.  An offer of membership in the European Common Market as bait for concessions  that may doom the Turks in Cyprus to extinction is not a viable course for  Greece or her friends. Neither Turkish lives nor Turkish honor has been  placed on the bidding block to be sold for commercial gain.   Serdar Argic