History - Cyprus - page 464

Modern Cyprus
Civil Struggle
In 1878 Turkey and Britain signed an agreement whereby Turkey would retain sovereignty
of the languishing colony, while Britain would shoulder the responsibility for administering
the island. Britain's aim was to secure a strategic outpost in the Middle East, from where it
could monitor military and commercial movements in the Levant and the Caucasus. As part
of the agreement, Britain would protect the sultan's Asian territories from threat by Russia.
In 1914 the start of WWI meant the parties were at war. Britain assumed outright sover-
eignty of the island, but Turkey would not recognise the annexation of its territory until the
1923 Treaty of Lausanne. This treaty also included territorial claims with the newly inde-
pendent Greece.
British control of Cyprus was initially welcomed by its mostly Greek population, since it
was assumed that Britain would ultimately work with the Greeks to achieve 'enosis' (uni-
on) with Greece. Turkish Cypriots, a 17% minority of the population, were less than enthu-
siastic at the prospect, fearing they would be ostracised.
Between 1955 and 1958 a Cypriot lieutenant colonel, Georgios 'Digenis' Grivas, foun-
ded the Ethniki Organosi tou Kypriakou Agona (EOKA; National Organisation for the
Cypriot Struggle), and launched a series of covert attacks on the British military and ad-
ministration. EOKA began these attacks to show their frustration with the British for not
helping to further their ultimate goal of enosis. Find out more about this tumultuous period
by visiting the Agios Georgios Museum in Pafos.
The British came up with various proposals for limited home rule, but Turkish Cypriots
began to demand taksim (partition), whereby the island would be divided between Greece
and Turkey.
In 1959, Greek Cypriot ethnarch Archbishop (and President) Makarios III and Turkish
Cypriot leader Faisal Küçük met in Zurich. They came to ratify a previously agreed plan
whereby independence would be granted to Cyprus, under conditions that would satisfy all
sides.
The British were to retain two military bases and a number of other sites as part of the
agreement. Cyprus also agreed not to enter into any political or economic unions with Tur-
key or Greece, or to be partitioned. Political power was to be shared on a proportional basis
of 70% Greek and 30% Turkish. Britain, Turkey and Greece were named as the 'guarantor
powers' of the island.