Cyprus in the context of the partition thesist (1954-1960)

The Great Britain took over the rule of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire by signing the Cyprus Convention with the Ottoman Government on June 4, 1878. By the arrival of the British in Cyprus, Greek Cypriots, with support of Greece, began to claim enosis (union with Greece). On the other hand, Turkish Cypriots were opposed to enosis; because they were concerned about their safety and future. Moreover they demanded the continuation of the British rule or reversion of Cyprus to the Ottoman Empire. The Great Britain also refused enosis claims owing to the strategical significance of Cyprus. Thus, Greek Cypriots tried to pass enosis memorandums in the Cyprus Legislative Council. However, both Turkish and British members of the Council prevented these efforts. For this reason Greek Cypriots interruptedly clashed with Turks between 1895 and 1912. In 1931, Greek Cypriots attempted a failed revolt against the British Colonial Rule. At the end of the Second World War (1939-1945), Greek Cypriots and Greece began to want the British to grant the Greek Cypriot Community the self-determination right in order to attain enosis. Moreover in 1950, The Greek Ortodox Church in Cyprus held an enosis plebiscite among Greek Cypriots to make the British accept this demand. As a result of this plebiscite, almost 96% of Greek Cypriots voted in favor of enosis. However, the British Government did not recognize the plebiscite. Hence the Greek Government applied to the United Nations (UN) for the self-determination right to be granted to the Cypriot people (Greek Cypriots). In 1955, Cypriot armed organization EOKA, with the help of Greece, began to launch attacks against the British Army and Turkish Cypriots. Because of its strategic importance for defending southern coasts of Anatolia and Turkish entity in the island, Turkey strongly objected to enosis. Moreover, in order to avoid enosis, it demanded that the Great Britain reverted Cyprus to Turkey between 1954 and 1956. In 1956, Turkey adopted the partition thesis as a possible solution to the Cyprus Question. It maintained this thesis until 1959. On 19 February 1959; the Great Britain, Turkey and Greece signed the Zurich and London Agreements. According to these agreements, both enosis and partition were prohibited and the independent Republic of Cyprus was founded. The Republic of Cyprus was proclaimed on 16 August 1960. This study handles if the Great Britain proposed the partition thesis to Turkey and realized it to divide Turkish and Greek Cypriots living together peacefully. To conclude, the partition thesis was not British, but Turkish policy and was a way of solution which was proposed by Turkey to the Great Britain. However, the Great Britain saw the partition as the last even worst option. Moreover, it tried to dissuade Turkey from the partition thesis. On the other hand, for Turkish Cypriots, partition meant organizing in martial, administrative, economic and cultural fields to become equal with Greek Cypriots. Keywords: Cyprus, the Great Britain, Turkey, Greece, Partition