Cyprus-Forum.com

[yialousa1971]

not the waff...please not the waff...

The Murph ain't gonna be happy ...along with chief cockroach bono...

Bone head, I bend over backwards for the Turks, that's his name. That forum is a waste of space, the only good thing is to put the truth in the Turks face and watch him lie and lie making even a bigger fool of himself.

WAFF is always good for a laugh?

Maybe, sometimes.

[insan]

The first Cypriot newspapers appeared with the arrival of the British on the island in 1878 in accordance with the terms of the Anglo-Turkish Convention between Great Britain and the Sublime Porte. The publication of the first Greek-language newspapers was a very important event for the Greeks of Cyprus because they acquired, for the first time after many centuries of servitude and oppression, a platform and a means of expressing their desires, aspirations and visions.It was not fortuitous that from the start of their publication the first Cypriot Greek-language newspapers persistently and vigorously promoted the demand of the Greeks of Cyprus that the island should be ceded to Greece, thus achieving the vision of their national restoration with their incorporation into the metropolitan national body. And this, despite the many economic and social problems the island was facing because of the mismanagement of the island’s finances and the heavy taxation that the Turkish Administration had imposed on the inhabitants.1At the head of this movement was the Church of Cyprus with its representatives and officials who formed the ruling class, as well as the educated class of Greek Cypriots, mainly teachers, who were also the main figures in perpetuating and giving voice to the visions of the Modern Greek Enlightenment of the 19thcentury for the renaissance of the Greek nation and the achievement of great deeds before, during and after the Greek Revolution of 1821.

http://globalmedia.emu.edu.tr/spring200 ... Paper2.pdf

[insan]

This demand of the Greeks of Cyprus for national restoration came into conflict with the leadership of the Turkish-speaking Cypriot community, which had other visions and orientations. They believed that the British Administration of the island was temporary and that, in the case of a British withdrawal, Cyprushad to be handed back to Turkey in accordance with the provisions of the Anglo-Turkish Convention. The publication of Turkish-language Cypriot newspapers soon followed that of the Greek-language ones, with the result that a tug-of-war and confrontation between them is observed.4The British, for their part, were in a difficult political and diplomatic situation. On the one hand, as a liberal European power, they realised that they should introduce radical administrative reforms so that the system of administration would be effective, and on the other hand they were restricted to implementing the Ottoman Laws in force and the Ottoman Penal Code, including the oppressive laws on the Press, Printing Works and Books. They tried to present their decisions and actions, as well as their behaviour towards the Greeks and Turks of Cyprus (whom they separated only into Christians and Moslems) as unbiased and objective. In fact, however, they tended to incline to the side of the Turks, especially with regard to the employment of staff in the civil service and the police.The policy of the Turkish Cypriots of full cooperation with the British contributed to this, in contrast with the Greek Cypriots who declared war very early on by making pressing demands for radical reforms with regard to the administration and taxation, constitutional freedoms, recognition of majority rights and national restoration

[insan]

As regards the role and the contribution of the first Cypriot newspapers (Greek-language and Turkish-language) in the moulding of national identity, in the upsurge of national spirit and of tendencies towards separation and confrontation between the two main Cypriot communities, the following should be noted:

1. The two communities have different languages, religions and cultures. This, however, was not a bar to their living and co-existing for many years in mixed communities during the years of Turkish Rule. Objective observers note that in the last years of Turkish Rule the national spirit of the Greek Cypriots was very low, because, of course, of the oppression and also great poverty.

2. Things changed radically with the appearance of the first newspapers and the simultaneous liberalization, albeit to a limited extent of the regime, which permitted freedom of speech and opinion, freedom of religious expression and way of life and the development of free capitalist occupations beyond usury (the creation of small industries, factories, industrial units).

3. Press capitalism quickly took on large dimensions and permitted the circulation of a large number of newspapers and books in a very short period of time, which led for the first time to the creation of a reading public ready to receive the nationalistic and subversive homilies of the newspapers. Through the newspapers both religious and linguistic sensitivity were strengthened and developed, and also expurgated, which emphasised even more the differences between the two communities and kindled tendencies for separation. In this fever of nationalistic elevation, several moderate voices were drowned and were forced in the end to conform to the common denominator of frenzy.

5. The Church of Cyprus played a special role in this case because religion made common cause with press capitalism and the rising middle class for further penetration and effectiveness in political-religious matters. This phenomenon reached its zenith during the dispute over the succession to the archiepiscopal throne (1900-1909).

6. The written word of the newspapers and of the other publications which replaced the spokenword, laid the foundations of and cultivated the national conscience of the Cypriots (Hellenocentric and Turkocentric respectively) because it established homogeneous groups of communication and exchange of ideas among the Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking inhabitants of the island and their mother countries (Greece and Turkey respectively). In this way the two communities became separate national entities with separate languages and religions.

[insan]

The only relevant law which the British administration itself introduced to Cyprus in 1887 withthe approval of the Legislative Council (Cyprus’ first Parliament) was the "Registration of Books and the protection and preservation of all Books and other Publications issued in Cyprus." According to this law every printer had the legal obligation to supply to the Chief Secretary of the Government three copiesof the books or other publications printed in his printing office.22This Law was in force up to 1940. Αs regards the movement for the Union of Cyprus with Greece, which was the main demand ofthe Greek Cypriots and the main issue covered in the first Cypriot newspapers, the British οfficials were rather tolerant, despite the aggressive and hostile editorials against them by the Greek Cypriot newspapers.We can say that in general, despite the restrictive provisions of the Ottoman Press Law, the first Cypriot newspapers enjoyed relative freedom of speech and expression, as well as the right to criticize the British Administration.

[insan]

THE BODIES HAVE YET TO BE COUNTED

When the bodies are counted and the dead are identified, it could be found that even more Cypriots were killed by their fellow-countrymen than by the Turkish invaders. And a high proportion of the civilian casualties are likely to be Turkish Cypriots. Ever since inter-communal violence erupted in Cyprus in December, 1963, it has been accepted that one of the strongest deterrents to a Turkish invasion was the fact that a large number of Turkish Cypriots would be at risk the moment a Turkish soldier put foot on Cypriot soil. The Greek Cypriots regarded the Turkish community as their hostage against a Turkish invasion.
The stories now coming out, admittedly many of them from overwrought
Turkish Cypriots returning to London after being caught up in the fighting while on holiday, suggest that the hostages did indeed suffer. There have been no reports of Greek Cypriot revenge from Nicosia, where the largest Turkish community on the island lives in comparative safety behind the Green Line that divides the city and is patrolled by the UN, or from the walled city of Famagusta, which is a well-guarded ghetto. But from Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos, Polls and two Turkish villages, Kophinou and Mari, there have been eye-witness accounts of Greek Cypriot groups shooting down Turkish Cj^priot civilians and setting fire
to their houses.
Many of these stories may be deliberately or accidentally exaggerated. But those that are found to be true will affect the peace talks at Geneva. The Turkish government will come under great pressure to insist on a settlement that is certain to protect the Turkish Cypriot community. Since the community is scattered throughout the island (see the map on page 18) the mechanism for doing this will be a very complicated one.

http://www.archive.org/stream/humanitar ... t_djvu.txt

[insan]

During the internal violence in Cyprus in 1963-64, and again in 1967, Arch- bishop Makarios and his government condemned all attacks against Turkish Cypriot civilians and did their best to ensure that the Greek Cypriots — the National CUiard and armed civilians — did not take such actions themselves. But after ^Nlakarios's overthrow discipline may well have broken down.

[insan]

One reason for this ^\ould be that after the coup the security forces were bitterly divided among themselves into factions for and against Makarios. There have been reports, unconfirmed and probably as embellished as those coming from Turkish Cypriots, that Mr. Sampson's supporters took quick and ruthless measures to suppress the archbishop's most powerful follo^^'ers. There was certainly fighting and killing within the police force; many people were arrested and some fled for safety
to foreign embassies. The Turkish invaders also have much to answer for. The bombing of five Famagusta hotels just before the ceasefire on Monday, which caused the death of 20 Greek Cypriots and the wounding of 200 others, had no military value. Nor is the announcement that the Turkish army has taken 600 Greek Cypriot prisoners back to Turkey, on the doubtful argument that there is nowhere to hold them in Cyprus, at all helpful. It looks as if Turkey wanted its own hostages to hold against the fate of the Turkish Cypriots who are surrounded by Greek Cypriot forces throughout the island. The fate of the prisoners and hostages should top the Geneva agenda.

[insan]

Fortunately for those of us trapped and then held hostage in the Ledra Palace hotel the stupidity of the Cypriot National Guard was more than matched by the courage of the UN and British soldiers who rescued us. For 30 hours from da\Mi on Saturday a National Guard platoon blazed away into the Turkish sector, which starts at the bottom of the hotel's back garden. The guardsmen used every sort of weapon, from shotgims to 3-inch mortars; their shooting was the amateur sort aimed at no particular target. The din alone was enough to give most people the
impression that heavy fighting was going on around the hotel — which was not so.

We advised the guardsmen to save their ammunition, imploring them not to draw retaliatory fire on to the hotel wheie many women and children were trapped. "Go talk to your Turkish friends," they shouted back. Some of us had, and the Turks, showing great restraint, fired back at the Ledra only four times, killing one person and wounding three. On Sunday morning, in warning, they lobbed in two very accurate mortar shells. At this point our protests to the soldier-diplomats of the UN produced an agreement by which the guards at the hotel would fire back

only if fired on. This arrangement held, more or less, until we left in mid-afternoon: without it we could not have been rescued.

[insan]

The worst moments came after the rescuing convoy, British vehicles under the UN flag, arrived in the forecourt. Then, at the last minute, we were refused permission to board because the National Guard would not allow people of several nationalities to leave until their embassies had received permission from the Cyprus foreign ministry. This was apparently an attempt to enforce recognition of the Sampson regime — and to compel those embassies which had given asylum to its
opponents to hand them over. The UN, in the person of a young British lieu- tenant, said firmly that it either evacuated all civilians or none. The ensuing deadlock was eventually resolved when the British high commissioner made it his personal responsibilitj^ that the offending nationals should leave the hotel. Stout fellow. As the convoy pulled away the National Guard fired their last bullets over our heads.