Enosis

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Greek political movement. For the
Enosis (butterfly). For the term in Philosophy of mind, see Henosis. For other uses, see Enosis (disambiguation)
.

A Cypriot demonstration in the 1930s in favour of enosis

Enosis (

irredentist concept of a Greek state that dominated Greek politics following the creation of modern Greece in 1830. The Megali Idea called for the annexation of all ethnic Greek lands, parts of which had participated in the Greek War of Independence
in the 1820s but were unsuccessful and so remained under foreign rule.

A widely known example of enosis is the movement within Greek Cypriots for a union of Cyprus with Greece. The idea of enosis in British-ruled Cyprus became associated with the campaign for Cypriot self-determination, especially among the island's Greek Cypriot majority. However, many Turkish Cypriots opposed enosis without taksim, the partitioning of the island between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. In 1960, the Republic of Cyprus was born, resulting in neither enosis nor taksim.

Around then,

Cyprus dispute
.

History

Map showing Greek territorial gains between 1832 and 1947

The boundaries of the

ethnic Greeks living outside it, mainly in Ottoman territory.[4]
Many of them aspired to be incorporated in the kingdom, and movements among them calling for enosis (union) with Greece, often achieved popular support. With the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Greece expanded with a number of territorial gains.

The Ionian Islands had been placed under British protection as a result of the Treaty of Paris in 1815,[5] but once Greek independence had been established after 1830, the islanders began to resent foreign colonial rule and to press for enosis. Britain transferred the islands to Greece in 1864.

great powers that her territorial claims on the Ottoman Empire would be considered after the war. In 1881, Greece and the Ottoman Empire signed the Convention of Constantinople
, which created a new Greco-Turkish border that Incorporated most of Thessaly into Greece.

Cretan Revolt of 1866-69 and used the motto "Crete, Enosis, Freedom or Death". The Cretan State was established after the intervention of the Great Powers, and Cretan union with Greece occurred de facto in 1908 and de jure in 1913 by the Treaty of Bucharest
.

An unsuccessful Greek uprising in

1878 Greek Macedonian rebellion and the reversal of the award at the Treaty of Berlin (1878), leaving the territory in Ottoman hands. Then followed the protracted Macedonian Struggle between Greeks and Bulgarians in the region, the resultant guerrilla war not coming to an end until the revolution of Young Turks in July 1908. Bulgarian and Greek rivalries over Macedonia became part of the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, with the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest awarding Greece large parts of Macedonia, including Thessaloniki. The Treaty of London (1913) awarded southern Epirus to Greece, the Epirus region having rebelled against Ottoman rule during the Epirus Revolt of 1854 and the Epirus Revolt of 1878
.

In 1821, several parts of

San Remo Conference
in 1920.

After World War I, Greece began the

Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, when most Anatolian Christians who had not already fled during the war were forced to relocate to Greece in the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey
.

Most of the

Treaty of Peace with Italy
, despite objections from Turkey, which also desired them.

The

German invasion of Greece in 1941. Tensions between Greece and Albania remained high during the Cold War, but relations began to improve in the 1980s with Greece's abandonment of any territorial claims over Northern Epirus and the lifting of the official state of war between both countries.[8]

In modern times, apart from Cyprus, the call for enosis is most often heard among part of the Greek community living in southern Albania.[11]

Cyprus

Inception

In 1828, the first President of

Garnet Wolseley's arrival as the first high-commissioner in July the Archbishop of Kition requested that Britain transfer the administration of Cyprus to Greece.[14]
Britain annexed Cyprus in 1914.

The death of Limassol–

Mnemosyna were held in dozens of villages across Cyprus, as well as in Cypriot communities in Athens, Egypt and Sudan. Greek Cypriot newspapers were swept with nationalist fervor comparing Sozos with Pavlos Melas. A photo of Sozos was placed in the Hellenic Parliament.[15][16]

Britain offered to cede the island to Greece in 1915 in return for Greece joining the

British Commonwealth developed, but the movement for enosis became dominant.[20]

The enosis movement was the outgrowth of nationalist awareness among Greek Cypriots (around 80%[21] between 1882 and 1960), coupled with the growth of the anticolonial movement throughout the British Empire after World War II. In fact, the anticolonial movement in Cyprus was identified with the enosist movement, which was, in the minds of the Hellenic population of Cyprus, the only natural outcome of the liberation of Cypriots from Ottoman rule and later British rule.[citation needed] A string of British proposals for local autonomy under continued British suzerainty were roundly rejected.[citation needed]

1940s and 1950s

In the 1950s, the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus over the education system resulted in the ideas of Greek nationalism and enosis being promoted in Greek Cypriot schools. School textbooks portrayed Turks as the enemies of Greeks, and students took an oath of allegiance to the Greek flag. The British authorities attempted to counter that by publishing an intercommunal periodical for students and by suspending the Cyprus Scouts Association for its Greek nationalist tendencies.[22]

In December 1949, the Cypriot Orthodox Church asked the British colonial government to put the enosis question to a referendum on the basis of the right of the Cypriots' for self-determination. Even though the British had been an ally of Greece during World War II and had recently supported the Greek government during the Greek Civil War, the British colonial government refused.

In 1950, Archbishop

Cypriot enosis referendum, which was held on 15 and 22 January 1950; only Greek Cypriots could vote. Open books were placed in churches for those over 18 to sign and to indicate whether they supported or opposed enosis. The majority in support of enosis was 95.7%.[24][25] Later, there were accusations that the local Greek Orthodox church had told its congregation that not to vote for enosis would have meant excommunication from the church.[26][27]

After the referendum, a Greek Cypriot deputation visited Greece, Britain and the United Nations to make its case, and Turkish Cypriots and student and youth organisations in Turkey protested the plebiscite. In the event, neither Britain nor the UN was persuaded to support enosis.[28] In 1951, a report was produced by the British government's Smaller Territories Enquiry into the future of the British Empire's smaller territories, including Cyprus. It concluded that Cyprus should never be independent from Britain. That view was strengthened by Britain's withdrawal of its Suez Canal base in 1954 and the transfer of its Middle East Headquarters to Cyprus.[17] In 1954, Greece made its first formal request to the UN for the implementation of "the principle of equal rights and of self-determination of the peoples", in the case of the Cypriot population. Until 1958, four other requests to the United Nations were made unsuccessfully by the Greek government.[29]

In 1955, the resistance organisation

Republic of Cyprus
was born.

After independence

The idea of union with Greece was not immediately abandoned, however. During the campaign for the

1968 presidential elections, Cypriot President Makarios III said that enosis was "desirable" but that independence was "possible".[citation needed
]

In the early 1970s, the idea of enosis remained attractive to many Greek Cypriots, and Greek Cypriot students condemned Makarios's support for an independent unitary state. In 1971 the pro-enosis paramilitary group

Greek military junta of 1967–1974. Rauf Denktaş, the Turkish Cypriot leader, called for military intervention by the United Kingdom and Turkey to prevent enosis. Turkey acted unilaterally, and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus began. Turkey has since occupied Northern Cyprus.[20]

The events of 1974 caused the geographic partition of Cyprus and massive

population transfers
. The subsequent events seriously undermined the enosis movement. The departure of Turkish Cypriots from the areas that remained under effective control of Cyprus resulted in a homogeneous Greek Cypriot society in the southern two thirds of the island. The remaining third of the island is majority Turkish Cypriot, and increasing numbers of Turkish nationals have been migrating there from Turkey.

In 2017 the

Cypriot enosis referendum in Greek Cypriot government schools.[30]

North Epirus

Reported declared Greeks in the 2011 Albanian Census; Greeks and other groups are thought to have been underrepresented in numbers due to boycott and irregularities.[a][b]

The history of Northern Epirus in the period 1913-1921 was marked by the desire of the local Greek element for union with the Kingdom of Greece, as well as the redemptive desire of Greek politics to annex this region, which was eventually awarded to the Albanian Principality.

During the First Balkan War, Northern Epirus, which hosted a significant minority of Orthodox speakers who spoke either Greek or Albanian, was, at the same time as South Epirus, under the control of the Greek army, which had previously repelled Ottoman forces. Greece wanted to annex these territories. However, Italy and Austria-Hungary opposed this, while the Treaty of Florence of 1913 granted Northern Epirus to Albania's newly formed Principality, the majority of whose inhabitants were Muslims. Thus, the Greek army withdrew from the area, but the Christians of Epirus, denying the international situation, decided, with the secret support of the Greek state, to create an autonomous regime, based in Argyrokastro (Albanian: Gjirokastër).

Given Albania's political instability, the autonomy of Northern Epirus was finally ratified by the Great Powers with the signing of the Protocol of Corfu on May 17, 1914. The agreement did recognize the special status of the Epirotes and their right to self-determination. under the legal authority of Albania. However, the agreement never materialized, as the Albanian government collapsed in August, and Prince William of Wied, who was appointed leader of the country in February, returned to Germany in September.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, in October 1914, the Kingdom of Greece recaptured the region. However, the ambiguous attitude of the Central Powers on Greek issues during the Great War, led France and Italy to the joint occupation of Epirus in September 1916. At the end of World War I, however, the Agreement of Tittoni with Venizelos foresaw the annexation of the region to Greece. Eventually, Greece's military involvement with Mustafa Kemal's Turkey worked in the interest of Albania, which permanently annexed the region on 9 November 1920.

Smyrna

Further information: Armistice of Mudros, Occupation of Istanbul, and Partition of the Ottoman Empire
Allied troops marching during the occupation of Istanbul
Partition of the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of Sèvres

At the end of World War I (1914–1918), attention of the Allied Powers (Entente Powers) focused on the partition of the territory of the Ottoman Empire. As part of the Treaty of London (1915), by which Italy left the Triple Alliance (with Germany and Austria-Hungary) and joined France, Great Britain and Russia in the Triple Entente, Italy was promised the Dodecanese and, if the partition of the Ottoman Empire were to occur, land in Anatolia including Antalya and surrounding provinces presumably including Smyrna.[33] But in later 1915, as an inducement to enter the war, British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey in private discussion with Eleftherios Venizelos, the Greek Prime Minister at the time, promised large parts of the Anatolian coast to Greece, including Smyrna.[33] Venizelos resigned from his position shortly after this communication, but when he had formally returned to power in June 1917, Greece entered the war on the side of the Entente.[34]

On 30 October 1918, the

Foreign Office, headed by Lord Curzon, opposed to this suggestion and wanting Smyrna to be under separate administration.[35] The Italian position was that Smyrna was rightfully their possession and so the diplomats would refuse to make any comments when Greek control over the area was discussed.[36] The Greek government, pursuing Venizelos' support for the Megali Idea (to bring areas with a majority Greek population or with historical or religious ties to Greece under the control of the Greek state) and supported by Lloyd George, began a large propaganda effort to promote their claim to Smyrna including establishing a mission under the foreign minister in the city.[36] Moreover, the Greek claim over the Smyrna area (which appeared to have a clear Greek majority, although exact percentages varied depending on the sources) were supported by Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points which emphasized the right to autonomous development for minorities in Anatolia.[37] In negotiations, despite French and Italian objections, by the middle of February 1919 Lloyd George shifted the discussion to how Greek administration would work and not whether Greek administration would happen.[35] To further this aim, he brought in a set of experts, including Arnold J. Toynbee, to discuss how the zone of Smyrna would operate and what its impacts would be on the population.[36] Following this discussion, in late February 1919, Venezilos appointed Aristeidis Stergiadis, a close political ally, the High Commissioner of Smyrna (appointed over political riser Themistoklis Sofoulis).[36]

In April 1919, the Italians landed and took over Antalya and began showing signs of moving troops towards Smyrna.[35] During the negotiations at about the same time, the Italian delegation walked out when it became clear that Fiume (Rijeka) would not be given to them in the peace outcome.[33] Lloyd George saw an opportunity to break the impasse over Smyrna with the absence of the Italian delegation and, according to Jensen, he "concocted a report that an armed uprising of Turkish guerrillas in the Smyrna area was seriously endangering the Greek and other Christian minorities."[33] Both to protect local Christians and also to limit increasing Italian action in Anatolia, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson supported a Greek military occupation of Smyrna.[33] Although Smyrna would be occupied by Greek troops, authorized by the Allies, the Allies did not agree that Greece would take sovereignty over the territory until further negotiations settled this issue.[33] The Italian delegation acquiesced to this outcome and the Greek occupation was authorized.

Turkish capture of Smyrna

Further information:
Great Fire of Smyrna, Treaty of Lausanne, and On the Quai at Smyrna
Great fire of Smyrna
(1922)

Greek troops evacuated Smyrna on 9 September 1922 and a small allied force of British entered the city to prevent looting and violence. The next day, Mustafa Kemal, leading a number of troops, entered the city and was greeted by enthusiastic Turkish crowds.

Liberation of İzmir
".

The evacuation of Smyrna by Greek troops ended most of the large scale fighting in the Greco-Turkish war which was formally ended with an Armistice and a final treaty on 24 July 1923 with the Treaty of Lausanne. Much of the Greek population was included in the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey resulting in migration to Greece and elsewhere.[36]

Ionian Islands

Under the

Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands".[citation needed
]

A few years later

Kefalonia, which led to a certain level relaxation in the enforcement of the protectorate's laws, and freedom of the press as well. The island's populace did not hide their growing demands for enosis, and newspapers on the islands frequently published articles criticising British policies in the protectorate. On 15 August in 1849, another rebellion broke out, which was quashed by Henry George Ward, who proceeded to temporarily impose martial law.[42]

On 26 November 1850, the Radical MP John Detoratos Typaldos proposed in the Ionian parliament the resolution for the enosis of the Ionian Islands with Greece which was signed by Gerasimos Livadas, Nadalis Domeneginis, George Typaldos, Frangiskos Domeneginis, Ilias Zervos Iakovatos, Iosif Momferatos, Telemachus Paizis, Ioannis Typaldos, Aggelos Sigouros-Dessyllas, Christodoulos Tofanis. In 1862, the party split into two factions, the "United Radical Party" and the "Real Radical Party". During the period of British rule, William Ewart Gladstone visited the islands and recommended their reunion with Greece, to the chagrin of the British government.[citation needed]

On 29 March 1864, representatives of Great Britain, Greece, France, and Russia signed the Treaty of London, pledging the transfer of sovereignty to Greece upon ratification; this was meant to bolster the reign of the newly installed King George I of Greece. Thus, on 28 May, by proclamation of the Lord High Commissioner, the Ionian Islands were united with Greece.[43]

Southern Italy

Since the beginning of the 2010s, an online social movement has been launched to awaken the Greek consciousness of the inhabitants of Southern Italy and also to express an opinion that highlights the desire of a part of the inhabitants of the south for secession from the state of Italy, its union with the Hellenism of the Mediterranean Sea (and re-establishment of Magna Graecia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies).[44]

Griko-speaking areas in Salento and Calabria

Through pages mainly on Facebook, historical issues are highlighted that have more to do with the Greek presence in Italy that begins with the migration of the Greek diaspora in the 8th century BC., the linguistic minority, known as Griko in Calabria, Apulia and Messina, the modern day Greeks of Italy and in general the inhabitants of the south who call themselves Great-Greeks (MagnoGreci).[45]

Greek minority flag of Sicily

The largest Facebook page highlighting the specific issues called "Stato Magna Grecia - Due Sicilie", has over 270,000 followers, mainly Italians but also several Greeks and Griko, expressing the need for the secession of Sicily and the whole of Southern Italy, the so-called Mezzogiorno and its enosis with Greece and Cyprus. This page and other pages based in Italy highlight the achievements of ancient Magna Graecia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as well as the close relations that the people of Southern Italy have with Greece.[46]

The last southern Italian state before the Italian unification, the Kingdom of the two Sicilies

According to the administrators, the unification of Italy, in which

Garibaldi
's campaign in Sicily in 1860 played a decisive role, for many inhabitants of southern Italy more represents the beginning of a form of colonialism while for them the union was made on the terms of the Italian north, who essentially imposed his own powers, his language, his culture, the Italian South was more economically developed than the North, but this trend was reversed after unification. Thus emerge views interwoven with neo-bourbonism (Italian: Neoborbonismo) which is a form of nostalgia for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a term coined in 1960 and born with the creation of the separatist movements in Italy while experiencing a significant increase in popularity around 2011 during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, the same decade of prominence of the movement of the re-Hellenization and independence of Greater Greece. The Neo-Bourbonist movement is supported by small political movements, amateur websites, leading the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno to report that "Neo-Bourbon revanchism is in vogue in recent years..."[47]

On a political level, the administrators of the said Magna Graecia - Two Sicilies pages urged followers during the 2023 national elections in Greece to vote for political parties supporting the demand for independence of South Italy and union with Greece. [46]

According to Italian media, the Italian political party "Insorgenza" led by Luigi Lista and based in Naples presents itself as a movement that represents, among others, the Greek identity of Southern Italy. [48]

The association "Comitato provincia della Magna Graecia" chaired by Domenico Mazza was created with the aim of promoting the union of all the regions of South Italy into a new separate great region of Italy and developing a stronger connection with Greece.[49]

In Greece, the far-right party "Hellenic world empire" (Ελληνική Κοσμοκρατορία), which officially seeks the secession of the Italian south, participated in the 2019 European elections in a joint descent with the Popular Orthodox Rally party and the Patriotic Radical Union party of the independent MEP, elected with the Golden Dawn of Eleftherios Synadinos gathered the 1.23%. [50]

An ancient Greek coin c. 330–300 BC. found in Croton, South Italy with the head of Apollo (left) and ornate tripod (right)

According to Greek media, the inhabitants of South Italy already have their own flag with the emblem of the ancient greek tripod symbolizing the oracle of Delphi by Pythia that determined where the Greek colonies should be established in Italy, as well as an informal national anthem, created by the Greek soprano Sonia Theodoridou. [44] [51]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Ethnic Greek minority groups had encouraged their members to boycott the census, affecting measurements of the Greek ethnic minority and membership in the Greek Orthodox Church."[31]
  2. ^ "Portions of the census dealing with religion and ethnicity have grabbed much of the attention, but entire parts of the census might not have been conducted according to the best international practices, Albanian media reports..."[32]

References

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    . Retrieved 23 February 2014. As the refugees crowded into the city, massacres, rape and looting, mainly but not exclusively by the irregulars, became the unspoken order of the day... Finally, the streets and houses of Smyrna were soaked in petrol... and on 13 September the city was set alight.
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Sources

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