Greek Cypriots Struggle for Reunion
Until the Common Era, Cyprus was occupied by hunter-gatherers, then passed through the hands of the Greeks, Byzantines, Franks, Italians, and Ottomans before being a Colony of the British empire in 1925 just after the British seized the island in 1914. Since then, Greek Cypriots started their struggle and evolved into a complicated fight for national identity with the objective of reunion. According to political officials, reunification seems to be on the horizon, but obstacles, including hesitant residents on both sides of the island, persist before that vision can become a reality.
What Caused the Conflict?
Even during Ottoman Empire's collapse in the late 19th century, Cyprus emerged under the British administration. Numerous Greek Cypriots fought for political unity with Greece of all Greeks suffering under Turkish control inside an independent Greek country, whilst many Turkish Cypriots pushed for the island to be partitioned between Greece and Turkey Zone in the Island. The National Organization of Cypriot Combatants, a guerrilla organization, fought against British authority in the late 1950s.
GREEK’S GUERRILLA WAR AGAINST BRITISH RULE
In the 1930s, a Greek Cypriot protest in Cyprus in support of reunification, or enosis, with Greece. Greek Cypriots launch a guerilla fight against the British rule in Cyprus. The guerilla fighters mostly target the British military men. The guerilla warriors, led by the National Organization of Cypriot Soldiers, demand and desire enosis, or union with Greece. The British officials form an army paramilitary force consist of Turkish Cypriots to give the fire of the envy between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. And As the crisis in Cyprus escalated, the U.s and British worried that it might pave the way for Soviet domination in the eastern Mediterranean. Archbishop Makarios, the long-serving leader of Greek Cypriots, consented to freedom as an alternative to union with Greece. The new constitution specifically, which was approved on August 16, 1960, called for a Greek Cypriot presidential, a Turkish Cypriot vice-chairman, and a Civil Service that was 70% Greek Cypriot and 30% Turkish Cypriot.
THE ASPECTS OF THE INTERCOMMUNAL VIOLENCE
On DECEMBER 21, 1963 intercommunal violence occurred when Greek Cypriot cops murdered two Turkish Cypriots, and this killing led to the result of killing 364 Turks and 174 Greek Cypriots, after years of terrible relations on both areas of the island. Furthermore, over 100 Turkey Cypriot villages had been demolished, and between 25,000 and 30,000 Turkish Cypriots were evacuated and compelled to relocated to enclaves.
VIENNA AGREEMENT GREENLINE HAS BEEN ESTABLISHMENT
In 1964, the UN Security Council established the UN Peacekeeping military in Cyprus to serve as an independent and unbiased mediator and to prevent future intercommunal violence. Upwards of 800 military troops monitor the 187-kilometre buffer zone that separates the island, collaborating with military units on both ends of the island to avoid conflict from either side, Greek Cypriots were happy with this decision.
Turkish Cypriots resign from their posts in the Cypriot ministry and strategic decisions to form their administration. The UN established the Green Line which was the final face of the Vienna Agreement, a border region between the two sides of the island that is still monitored by the Peace Agreement in Cyprus today.
Greek Cypriots reject UN plan for the reunion
The most successful attempt to reunify this split island has become a historical curiosity. Greek Cypriot refused to support a UN proposal offered by Director General Kofi Annan on Saturday. It made little difference that Turkish voters replied "yes." To move ahead, the proposal needed to be approved by both parties. According to official statistics, 64.9 % of Turkish Cypriots come out in support of the proposal, while 35.1 % opposed it. However, the Greek half of the island consistently voted for rejections of the union plan. With 96% votes were counted, and from 96% the 76% voted as "no."
EU authorities are enraged. They decided to accept Cyprus with the idea that the Greek Cypriot administration would do everything possible to unify the country the island, only to be shocked when Greek Cypriot president Tasso’s Papadopoulos started an aggressive campaign for a "no" vote.
Cyprus was divided in 1974 as a consequence of a massive revolution by Greek Cypriots who attempted to unify the island with Greece. Turkey reacted with an operation, seizing roughly 40% of the island and forcing 180,000 Greek Cypriots to evacuate their homes. On the Greek side, around 50,000 Turkish Cypriots were displaced. Since then, a 100-mile border guarded by UN soldiers has divided Cyprus.
The globally renowned Greek side has seen some prosperity, but the identity Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is only recognized by Turkey, has been restricted by harsh economic prohibitions. Annan's reunion proposal envisions loose federalism of the two sides, with each maintaining a high level of flexibility under a small centralized government.
Interest in political unification with Greece has weakened over time. Since the late 1970s, officials on both sides have consented to a “bizonal, bio communal federation” as the new beginning of the foundation for the reunion, but their interpretations of that term diverge. The differences concern major topics such as the returning of displaced Cypriots and the treatment of their properties, the homecoming of Turkish immigrants, the island's demilitarization, and the future roles of Greece, Turkey, and Britain.
The majority of Greek Cypriots seek a new federal-state as 2 tightly correlated federal regions, neither of which is characterized primarily in ethnic terms; for several Turkish Cypriots, preserving sovereignty over a firmly autonomous zone is critical.
Conclusion:
New negotiations in Cyprus involving members of the Greek and Turkish populations provide an opportunity to set the island's division before a Cypriot state enters the European Union.
The aspects of a settlement could then be implemented into the Peace agreement of Accession to the EU, which needed to be ratified by all of the EU's member countries.
There is now a clearer path toward a settlement than there has been for quite some time, given the economic and social developments on the island and recent changes in opinion within Turkey and Greece.
A solution would benefit both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities significantly. Failure would be detrimental to both.
To transform Greece-Turkey relations, a resolution to the Cyprus issue is essential.
The EU as an organization, as well as EU member states, should use this initiative to support effective discussions.
An EU membership of a divided Cyprus compromises security near Europe and would threaten relations between Greece and Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.
This article concludes that we need a new revolution in terms of the mutually satisfactory for both parties Greeks and Turkish Cypriots, to facilitate cross-border exchanges and economic interaction, the Turkish Cypriot government and the Greek Cypriot government must allow it as soon as possible and as far as is possible. An opportunity has now arisen to reach hope to the settlement. However, we shouldn't wait too long to take advantage of this opportunity. Efforts must be made both collectively and separately by the governments of Europe to make the greatest use of the time available. as well as the British Government understood the value of Cyprus for Greece as well as for European countries and both parties.
References:
https://internationalstorytelling.org/cyprus/after-42-years-will-cyprus-ever-reunite/
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/world/europe/cyprus-reunification-talks.html
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21582440211033832
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