From: sera@zuma.UUCP (Serdar Argic)
Subject: Re: Die Zeit: The Massacre of Turkish Cypriots in Paphos and Famagusta.
Organization: zuma
Distribution: world
Lines: 83

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

                           'We closed the roads and mountain passes that 
                            might serve as ways of escape for the Turks 
                            and then proceeded in the work of extermination.'
                                                  (Ohanus Appressian - 1919)
                           'In Soviet Armenia today there no longer exists 
                            a single Turkish soul.' (Sahak Melkonian - 1920)


