History - Cyprus - page 466

lish enosis. Makarios narrowly escaped as the presidential palace was laid to waste. Cypri-
ot Nikos Sampson, a former EOKA member with ties to the Greek junta, was proclaimed
president of Cyprus.
Five days later, Turkish forces landed troops close to Kyrenia (Girne), using the right to
restore a legal government as the pretext.
The regular Greek Cypriot army tried to resist the Turkish advance. However, once the
Turks established the bridgehead around Kyrenia, they quickly linked with the Turkish
sector of North Nicosia. From this point the Greek Cypriot army was outnumbered and
could not stop the crushing Turkish assault.
On 23 July 1974, Greece's junta on the mainland fell and was replaced by a democratic
government under Konstantinos Karamanlis. At the same time, the Cypriots removed
Sampson and replaced him with Glafkos Clerides, president of the House of Representat-
ives and a member of the democratic government.
The three guarantor powers − Britain, Greece and Turkey − met for discussions in
Geneva, as required by the treaty, but it proved impossible to make the Turkish halt their
advance. They pressed on for over three weeks, until 16 August 1974. At that time Turkey
controlled 37% of the northern part of the island. By the time Makarios returned to re-
sume his presidency, having escaped the assassination attempt, Cyprus was divided.
A total of 190,000 Greek Cypriots who then lived in the northern third of Cyprus were
displaced, losing their homes, land and businesses. Many were caught in the onslaught
and killed; the rest fled south for safety. At the same time around 50,000 Turkish Cypriots
moved from the South to the Turkish-controlled areas in the North.
The human and economic cost to the island was catastrophic. The now-truncated Re-
public of Cyprus was deprived of some of its best land, two major cities, its lucrative cit-
rus industry and the bulk of its tourist infrastructure. There was also widespread looting.
The invasion and forced division of Cyprus served convoluted political and military
purposes. Reinstatement of the rightful government and dissipation of the military junta
did not alter the Turkish government's stance. It forcibly continued its illegal occupation
of the North and the Turkish troops remained.
The UN has maintained a peacekeeping force along the Green Line and the border that
runs the length of the island ever since. They oversee the buffer zone that runs parallel to
the Green Line with barbed wire and regular patrols. This no-man's land with its bombed
out buildings is a poignant reminder of the brutality of the conflict.
The declaration of a separate Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), by Presid-
ent Rauf Denktaş, came in 1983. It is only officially recognised by Turkey.
THE CASE OF THE KANAKARIA MOSAICS