Cyprus Emergency
Cyprus Emergency | |||||||
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Part of the Decolonisation | |||||||
A street riot in Nicosia during the Battle at Nicosia Hospital in 1956 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Turkish Resistance Organisation Supported by: Turkey
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EOKA Supported by: Greece[note 1] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
John Harding Hugh Foot Rauf Denktaş |
Georgios Grivas Grigoris Afxentiou † Tassos Papadopoulos Markos Drakos † Renos Kyriakides | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
c.25,000[3]–40,000[4] |
300 fighters[4] 1,000 active underground[5] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
371 dead (according to Roll of Honour's database) and 21 British Policemen 601 injured[6] |
102–112 killed (including 9 executed) Unknown injured[7] |
The Cyprus Emergency[note 2] was a conflict fought in British Cyprus between April 1955 and March 1959.[8]
The
Background
The island of Cyprus can trace its Hellenic roots back to the 12th century BC with the immigration of Mycenaean Greeks to the island.[10][11][12] Many civilisations passed through the island leaving remnants behind, including that of the Franks, Venetians, Assyrians etc.[13][14]
In October 1931, Greek Cypriots rebelled against British rule and destroyed government property, however the demonstrations were suppressed and Britain took dictatorial measures against the Cypriot people, becoming as the "Palmerocracy", owing to the name of the
In 1950, a referendum was held by the Church of Cyprus on the subject of union with Greece, with a 89% turnout rate and 95.7% of those in favour of union with Greece, the British government however, refusing to negotiate.[18][19][20]
In 1954, Britain announced its intention to transfer its Suez military headquarters (the office of the Commander-in-Chief, Middle East) to Cyprus.[21]
Emergency
Insurgency
On 1 April 1955, the
EOKA focused its activity to urban areas totalling 104 house bombings, 53 riots, 136 acts of Sabotage, 403 ambushes, 35 attacks on police, 38 attacks on soldiers and 43 raids on police stations. EOKAS's aim to keep the British army away from the
In October, with the security situation deteriorating, Harding opened talks on the island's future. By this stage, Makarios had become closely identified with the insurgency, and talks broke up without any agreement in early 1956.[29] Makarios was viewed with suspicion by the British authorities and was later exiled to the Seychelles.[30][31] News of his arrest triggered a week-long general strike followed by a sharp increase in EOKA activity: 246 attacks through 31 March, including a failed assassination attempt against Harding when a bomb placed under his bed failed to detonate.[32]
Counterinsurgency
By mid-1956, there were 17,000 British servicemen in Cyprus and Harding was concerned to counter EOKA's mountain units in the Troodos. Nevertheless a number of operations were launched:[33][34]
Between 21 April and 7 May 1956, the British armed forces mounted an operation codenamed "Kennett", conducted in the Kyrenia range by 1,500 troops who cordoned and searched a dozen villages in a 50 square mile area and arrested eighteen suspects.[35]
From 17 May to 7 June, Britain launched operation "Pepper Pot", an operation that was carried out by the 16 Independent parachute brigade. However, an informant within the Special Branch alerted Grivas of the operation, and as such EOKA was better prepared for the British forces which led to the operation having little effect.[36][37]
From 7 June to 23 June 1956–24, Britain launched operation "Lucky Alphonse" in an effort to cripple EOKA and capture George Grivas as a means to bring power to the negotiating table.[38] More than 5,000 British soldiers took part, including units from the Royal Marines, the Parachute Regiment, the Gordon Highlanders and the Royal Norfolk Regiment.[39] Although there were some minor successes, 7 British soldiers were killed in action, with another 21 burned to death by accident during a fire in the Paphos Forest, the operation furthermore failing to capture George Grivas.[40]
From 2 to 21 July, 16 Independent parachute brigade cordoned thirty villages in the Troodos; assisted by tracker dogs and informers, they arrested three members of three village groups in an operation called "Spread Eagle".[41]
From 22 to 25 July 1956, the British captured seventeen guerrillas and wounded several others trying to breach the cordons during operation "Golden Eagle".[42]
Some of the other operations were considered a success; some fifty guerrillas and a good haul of weapons were captured. Grivas managed to escape and was forced into hiding, leaving behind his diary which yielded important intelligence information. The leading EOKA assassin, Nikos Sampson, had also been captured.[43] Grivas eventually moved to Limassol where he established his new headquarters.[44]
Suez crisis and ceasefire
The
The end of the Suez crisis, although it had resulted in the departure of many of the military from the island, had not reduced the number of active internal security operations as much as EOKA had expected, with the British able to hold their own and reassert control.[46] After Suez campaign had finished, the British military strength was increased to 20,000 and Foote managed to direct a new offensive.[46]
British troops were redeployed and the town groups were being hunted. By the Spring of 1957, the British operations took their toll on EOKA; the security forces arrested around thirty members of the Nicosia town groups and the area commander. In addition, the mountain groups would never be as effective as they had been. Altogether fifteen were killed in combat and another sixty were captured, with the likelihood they would be hanged. Grivas ordered his area commanders to cease active operations. By April, the majority of EOKA's leaders had been killed or captured and their gangs were soon broken up. With the insurgency seemingly defeated, Grivas announced a ceasefire on 17 March.[43]
In November of 1957, EOKA engaged in one of its most significant operations against the British, when an EOKA member employed at RAF Akrotiri smuggled and placed bombs in the engine compartments of 2 English Electric Canberras, both of which were destroyed along with 2 other Canberras and a De Havilland Venom that were destroyed by the subsequent fire that consumed the hanger(Sabotage at RAF Akrotiri).[47][48][49]
Intercommunal violence
The ceasefire lasted a whole year; during this time EOKA began to rearm and reorganize and stepped up its activities in different ways. A second phase of the emergency now began as EOKA began to target urban areas where they organized rioting by students. They also used hit squads to target police officers and military personnel. These attacks continued throughout 1957 and into 1958. Grivas was also concerned with increasing communist activity against
The
Intercommunal and intracommunal violence escalated in the summer of 1958 with numerous fatalities. There were approximately 55 assassinations by Turks on Greeks, and 59 assassinations by Greeks on Turks between 7 June and 7 August.[55] A substantial number of Turkish Cypriots were displaced due to the violence.
End of the emergency
By the Spring of 1958, the British began focusing on the escalating violence on the island. The British thus set up the MacMillan Plan, which stated that the United Kingdom, Greece, and Turkey would jointly administer Cyprus. The plan was rejected by the Greeks, as they saw it as an open door leading to the partition of the island.[56] By September, Makarios had also abandoned his initial demand for Enosis, favouring independence instead of partition, as a combination of British action, Turkish intervention, and political pressure from Konstantinos Karamanlis.[57] The renunciation of the union with Greece was the decisive signal Britain had waited for. British diplomacy kicked into action for an honourable withdrawal.[58] During the last months of 1958, all parties had reasons to favour a compromise. The Greek Cypriot side was afraid that partition was becoming more and more imminent, Greece was anxious that the ongoing situation could lead to a war with Turkey, Turkey had to manage the ongoing crises at its eastern borders, and the British did not want to see NATO destabilizing because of a Greek-Turkish war, in addition to being unable to fully suppress EOKA.
On 5 December, the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey acknowledged the situation and a series of meetings were arranged that resulted in
Aftermath
Following the London and Zürich Agreements, Cyprus became an independent republic and as far as liberation being concerned, the EOKA campaign was successful.[61][62] Britain was allowed to retain control of some 254km2 (98 square miles) which consisted of two Sovereign Base Areas at Akrotiri and Dhekelia also known as British Forces Cyprus including some other facilities on the island which do not form part of the SBAs.[63][64]
Despite having agreed to independence, Turkey soon regarded Cyprus with grave suspicion, feeling that they had been betrayed by the British. For the new constitution to work in practice, some degree of co-operation between the two communities would be essential, with many viewing as unworkable. This view proved correct, and after years of unrest, violence, and disagreement, a buffer zone was established in the last days of 1963 directed by Major-General
Torture and extrajudicial killings
At least 14 Cypriots (including a minor) arrested on suspicion of being EOKA members, were tortured then killed by UK forces during detention. Witnesses – both surviving detainees and UK veterans – recall various kinds of torture and inhumane treatment of detainees.[66]
The British government agreed in January 2019 to pay £1 million to a total of 33 Cypriots who had been allegedly tortured by British forces during the uprising. They included a woman, aged 16 at the time, who said that she had been detained and repeatedly raped by soldiers, and a man who had lost a kidney as a result of his interrogation. The payout followed the declassification of government documents in 2012, but Foreign Minister Alan Duncan stated that "the settlement does not constitute any admission of liability" although "the government has settled the case in order to draw a line under this litigation and to avoid the further escalation of costs".[67]
See also
- Palestine Emergency (1944–1948)
- Kenyan Emergency(1952–1960)
- Nyasaland Emergency(1958–1960)
- Independence of Malta(1964)
Notes
- ^ Greece politically supported Greek Cypriots at the United Nations, there was no active involvement from Greece on the island.
- ^ Also known as the Cyprus Liberation Struggle 1955–1959 (Greek: Απελευθερωτικός Αγώνας της Κύπρου 1955–1959), the Greek Cypriot War of Independence (Greek: Ελληνοκυπριακός Πόλεμος της Ανεξαρτησίας) or the Cypriot War of Independence (Greek: Κυπριακός Πόλεμος της Ανεξαρτησίας) among Greeks and Greek Cypriots, and the 1955–1959 Cyprus events (Turkish: 1955–1959 Kıbrıs olayları) among Turkish and Turkish Cypriots.
References
- ^ French 2015, p. 302.
- ISBN 9781134880355.
- ^ "Cyprus Emergency Deaths 1955–1960". findmypast.co.uk.
- ^ .
Remember that the British fought in Cyprus, and seemingly had everything in their favor. It is an island half the size of New Jersey. The Royal Navy, which can be trusted to do its job, sealed off the island from the outside. There were 40,000 British troops on Cyprus under Field Marshal Sir John Harding, and his opponent, Colonel [George] Grivas, had 300 Greeks in the EOKA [National Organization of Cypriot Struggle]. The ratio between regular troops and guerrillas was 110-to-1 in favor of the British! After five years the British preferred to come to terms with the rebels.
- ^ Kraemer 1971, p. 146.
- ^ French 2015, p. 307.
- ^ French 2015, pp. 66, 307.
- ISBN 978-3-319-91620-0.
The term "Cyprus Emergency" more precisely refers to events occurring between 26 November 1955, when Governor John Harding declared an official state of emergency, and Grivas' departure in March 1959.
- ^ "Historical development". eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ "Historical background – MFA". mfa.gov.cy. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ Keiko, Arai (1973). "Cyprus and Mycenaean civilization". Bulletin of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan. 16 (2): 189–190.
- ^ Jennings, Robert (6 May 2010). "The Hellenization of Cyprus in the Late Cypriot III and Beyond: Detecting Migrations in the Archaeological Record". Scholars Archive, University at Albany. University at Albany, State University of New York.
- ^ Coureas, Nicholas (2015). How Frankish was the Frankish ruling class in Cyprus?. Nicosia: Cyprus Research Centre. pp. 61–78.
- ^ "Cyprus: 1100 years of history and civilisation" (PDF). visitcyprus.com.
Many other cultures followed since then, including Phoenicians, Assyrians, Franks, Venetians ... all leaving behind visible traces of their passage.
- ^ Αθανασίου, Βαλάντη. "Η Παλμεροκρατία". academia.edu.
- ^ Loizides, Georgios P., Intellectuals and Nationalism in Cyprus: A Study of the Role of Intellectuals in the 1931 Uprising (1999). Master's Theses. 3885.
- ISBN 9781138221291.
- ^ "Κύπρος: Δημοψήφισμα υπέρ της Ένωσης – ΔΕΚΑΕΤΙΑ 1950 – 100 Χρόνια Κ". www.kathimerini.gr. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ Kambas, Michele; Gumrukcu, Tuvan (22 February 2017). "Cyprus reunification stalled in row over 1950 vote". Reuters.
- ISBN 978-9925-581-66-5.
The referendum of 1950, which followed the failure of the Consultative Assembly (Διασκεπτική, Diaskeptiki), marked the beginning of a new dynamic stage of the efforts of the Greeks of Cyprus to unite with Greece, which culminated with the EOKA struggle.
- ^ Richard J. Aldrich, Ming-Yeh Rawnsley, The Clandestine Cold War in Asia, 1945–65: Western Intelligence, Propaganda and Special Operations, Routledge, 2013, 106.
- ^ "State Of Emergency Declared In Cyprus". The Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930–1956). Rockhampton, Qld.: National Library of Australia. 1 December 1955. p. 13. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ^ Lim 2018, p. 27.
- ^ Newsinger 2016, p. 101.
- ISBN 9963-576-99-0.
Η ΕΟΚΑ διαβεβαίωσε με φυλλάδιο της, που κυκλοφόρησε σε τουρκική γλώσσα τον Ιούλιο του 1955 στην τουρκική συνοικία της Λευκωσίας, ότι ο Αγώνας που διεξάγει δεν στρέφεται εναντίον των Τουρκοκυπρίων, αλλά εναντίον του Αγγλου κυριάρχου.
- ^ French 2015, p. 110.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ Richter 2010, p. 496.
- ^ "Makarios: Charismatic leader or architect of catastrophe? | eKathimerini.com". www.ekathimerini.com. 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "The Archbishop Makarios Foundation of Seychelles". www.archbishopmakarios.com. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "The exile of Archbishop Makarios to the Seychelles | International Magazine Kreol". 2016-02-26. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ Newsinger 2016, p. 102.
- ^ "A personal National Service 50th anniversary :: The Wardrobe". thewardrobe.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Cyprus | National Army Museum". www.nam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ 179 Times, 21 Apr 1956; New York Times, 22 Apr 1956; TNA CO 926/417. Harding to Colonial Office, 22 and 26 Apr 1956.
- ^ ERKAN, NİHAL (July 2019). "BRITISH INTELLIGENCE AGAINST EOKA IN CYPRUS 1945–1960" (PDF).
In the first half of 1956, the British also conducted major operations against EOKA, which produced little effect. Grivas narrowly escaped from British forces during the operation Pepper Pot and Lucky Alphonso in the Troodos mountains.
- ^ French 2015, p. 58: "He may have been the source who informed Grivas that the British were about to launch a major cordon and search operation (Operation Pepperpot) between Lefka, Lyssi, and Troodos two days before the search began in May 1956."
- ^ Snelling, Steve (March 2011). "Cyprus Emergency Remembered" (PDF).
- ^ "FLEEING THE FIRESTORM". www.keymilitary.com. 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ French 2015, p. 136.
- ^ van der Bijl 2014, p. 103.
- ^ a b c Newsinger 2016, p. 106.
- ^ "Επίκεντρο το αρχηγείο της ΕΟΚΑ στους εορτασμούς της Λεμεσού για την 1η Απριλίου". Η Φωνή της Λεμεσού (in Greek). Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ Holland 1998, p. 213.
- ^ a b Newsinger 2016, p. 104.
- ^ "26 Νοεμβρίου 1957, η ΕΟΚΑ χτυπά την αεροπορική βάση Ακρωτηρίου". NeaKypros: Τελευταία Νέα Κύπρος (in Greek). Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Σαμποτάζ στην καρδιά της αποικιοκρατίας". Φιλελεύθερος | Philenews (in Greek). 2022-04-01. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Incident English Electric Canberra B.2 WF886,". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ Holland 1998, p. 203.
- ^ Isachenko 2012, pp. 38–39.
- ^ French 2015, p. 260.
- ^ Holland 1998, p. 242.
- ^ Newsinger 2016, p. 109.
- ^ Holland 1998, pp. 263–264.
- ^ French 2015, pp. 270–273.
- ^ makarios.eu. "100 χρόνια Καραμανλής, 50 χρόνια Κυπριακό". www.makarios.eu. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ Heinlein 2013, p. 201.
- ISSN 0043-9134.
- ^ French 2015, pp. 290–292.
- ^ "65 χρόνια από τον Απελευθερωτικό Αγώνα της Κύπρου". euronews (in Greek). 2020-04-01. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ "Στο φως ντοκουμέντα του αγώνα της ΕΟΚΑ". Φιλελεύθερος | Philenews (in Greek). 2022-07-10. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ Manuel, Rojoef (2023-04-14). "UK to Provide Infrastructure Services for Cyprus-Based Military Facilities". The Defense Post. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ "Cyprus (Hansard, 16 January 1995)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ Calame & Charlesworth 2011, p. 133.
- ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- ^ "UK government pays damages to 33 Cypriot pensioners". BBC News. 23 January 2019.
Bibliography
- Calame, Jon; Charlesworth, Esther (2011). Divided Cities Belfast, Beirut, Jerusalem, Mostar, and Nicosia. University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated. ISBN 9780812206852.
- French, David (2015). Fighting EOKA: The British Counter-Insurgency Campaign on Cyprus, 1955–1959. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198729341.
- Heinlein, Frank (2013). British Government Policy and Decolonisation, 1945-63 Scrutinising the Official Mind. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781135284343.
- Holland, Robert (1998). Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus, 1954–1959. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780198205388.
- Isachenko, Daria (2012). The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230392069.
- Kraemer, Joseph S. (Winter 1971). "Revolutionary Guerrilla Warfare & the Decolonization Movement". Polity. 4 (2): 137–158. S2CID 155657462.
- Newsinger, John (30 April 2016). British Counterinsurgency. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-31686-8.
- Novo, Andrew R. (2022). The EOKA Cause Nationalism and the Failure of Cypriot Enosis. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780755635344.
- ISBN 978-3447062121.
- van der Bijl, Nicholas (2014). The Cyprus Emergency: The Divided Island 1955-1974. Pen and Sword. OCLC 660553164.
Further reading
- Chatzicharalampous, Maria; Stolte, Carolien (2024). "Technologies of Emergency: Cyprus at the Intersection of Decolonisation and the Cold War". Contemporary European History. 33 (1): 233–249. hdl:1887/3391012.
- Novo, Andrew R. (2010). On all fronts: EOKA and the Cyprus insurgency, 1955-1959 (D.Phil Thesis). University of Oxford.
External links
- Media related to Cyprus Emergency at Wikimedia Commons
- Cyprus Exhibit at National Army Museum