52 Years of Turkish Occupation and Colonisation: Resistance is Life

July 20 marked the 52nd dark anniversary of the Turkish invasion.

• Eren Ali *

The so-called “peace operation”, as Turkey describes it, was claimed to be a response to the Greek military coup, supported by the CIA-backed Greek military dictatorship, to overthrow the Republic of Cyprus and unite the island with Greece.

The coup collapsed on July 23. Yet, 23 days later, on August 14, Turkey launched a second invasion, occupying approximately 37 percent of the Republic of Cyprus.

During both invasions, Greek Cypriot civilians were subjected to murder, rape and ethnic cleansing.

In the months leading into 1975, Turkish Cypriots were forcibly transferred to the occupied areas under an agreement signed by Rauf Denktaş, Acting President Glafkos Clerides and the United Nations. Since then, Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots who remained in Rizokarpaso, and Maronite Cypriots in Kormakitis have endured Turkish occupation and settler colonisation, while Greek and Armenian Cypriots have continued to be denied access to their homes and properties.

One must ask: what kind of “peace operation” murders, rapes, ethnically cleanses entire communities, seizes their homes and gradually erodes the identity of those who remain through cultural imperialism? That is the legacy Turkey has left in Cyprus. Since 1974, Ankara has steadily consolidated its control over the occupied part of the island. It was Turkey that first promoted what later evolved into the United Nations’ proposal for a bizonal, bicommunal federation, a model that would legally divide Cyprus into two constituent states. Since 2019, Turkey has instead advocated a formal two-state solution, while the earlier federal proposal continues to be promoted despite widespread opposition among many Cypriots.

For more than 50 years, outside powers have attempted to shape Cyprus without the consent of the Cypriot people. But despite the relentless pressure inflicted upon this nation, the Cypriot people continue to do what they have always done: they resist.

Cypriots have a tradition of standing against oppression. From the 1833 revolts against the Ottomans to the EOKA struggle against British colonial rule, generations of Cypriots have challenged foreign domination. The ancient Greeks had a word, ἰχώρ, the divine fluid said to flow through the veins of the gods. There is something symbolic about that word when describing the determination shown by Cypriots whenever their homeland is threatened. Even today, many continue to reject the partition of their country with that same unwavering spirit.

From 1958 to 1974, the British and Turkish-backed Turkish Cypriot terrorist organisation TMT pursued its campaign of terror in support of partition. Several Turkish Cypriots openly opposed its actions and vision for the island. Figures such as Dr Ihsan Ali, Derviş Ali Kavazoğlu, Ahmet Muzaffer Gürkan, Ayhan Hikmet and Ibrahim Aziz resisted by speaking out against its terrorist activities and defending the Republic of Cyprus. Kavazoğlu, Gürkan and Hikmet paid with their lives. Dr Ihsan Ali remained committed until his death. Today, at the age of 88, Ibrahim Aziz continues to advocate for the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus.

When the coup against President Archbishop Makarios took place on July 15, 1974, ordinary citizens from towns and villages across the island joined those defending the Republic. Particularly fierce resistance emerged in Paphos and Limassol. This story is documented in the recent film Resistance Memories 1974.

Groups such as Efedriko, established to confront EOKA B, Dr Vassos Lyssarides’ Armed Group, Makarios’ Presidential Guards, members of the National Guard, ELDYK soldiers, and civilians loyal to the constitutional government all took up arms to defeat the coup and later confronted the Turkish invasion. Men such as Doros Loizou, Tassos Markos and Parseh Piperian sacrificed their lives defending the country.

The struggle did not end there.

During the transfer of Turkish Cypriots between August 1974 and 1975, many Greek Cypriots protested the forced relocation of their fellow citizens. Some Turkish Cypriots themselves rejected relocation despite threats from the occupation authorities, including threats of sexual violence against female members of their families. Some chose to remain in the free areas. Likewise, Greek Cypriots in Rizokarpaso and Maronite Cypriots in Kormakitis have steadfastly refused to abandon their ancestral villages despite decades of pressure.

In January 1975, 50 Greek Cypriot refugees began a hunger strike in Nicosia demanding their right to return home. The campaign for justice continued through peaceful action. Between 1975 and 1989, the Women Walk Home Movement organised demonstrations demanding an end to the occupation and recognition of their basic human rights. In Britain, the Cypriot diaspora organised marches and protests, while Cypriot refugees even established encampments outside the Turkish Embassy that lasted for months, demanding the withdrawal of Turkish troops and settlers. One must ask why today’s representatives, funded by the Cypriot government, have largely abandoned this tradition of sustained civic mobilisation.

Others gave their lives in the decades that followed. National Guardsman Tryfon Tryfonos was killed by Turkish troops while on duty along the ceasefire line. On January 17, 1975, British soldiers shot and killed seventeen-year-old refugee Pankikos Dimitriou while he protested against the transfer of Turkish Cypriots to the occupied area. In 1996, Tassos Isaak was beaten to death by Turkish and Turkish Cypriot ultranationalists during a demonstration. Three days later, his cousin Solomos Solomou was shot dead by a Turkish soldier as he attempted to remove a Turkish flag from a flagpole.

Within the occupied areas themselves, Turkish Cypriots have also continued to challenge Ankara’s domination. On July 6, 1996, journalist Kutlu Adalı was assassinated outside his home in occupied Nicosia after speaking out against the occupation regime and settler colonisation. In 2003 and again in 2011, thousands of Turkish Cypriots filled the streets with slogans such as “Ayşe Go Home” and “Ankara, Hands Off My Collar”, rejecting political interference from Turkey.

Acts of defiance have continued in more recent years. In 2013, Koray Başdoğrultmacı and his wife Cinel were arrested for displaying the Cypriot flag outside their shop in Famagusta. Since 1997, journalist Şener Levent and the staff of Avrupa newspaper have continued exposing the realities of occupation and settler colonisation despite imprisonment, assassination attempts and blacklisting by Turkey.

Despite the Cypriot Government and the Turkish Cypriot representatives of the occupation regime participating in initiatives proposed by outside powers, many Cypriots remain unwilling to accept arrangements that they believe legitimise occupation or permanent partition.

As the Lebanese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary George Ibrahim Abdallah says, “The one who resists is the one who has the final say.” Many Cypriots believe that the future of their homeland should ultimately be decided by its own people, not by imperial powers. They rejected earlier constitutional proposals, including the 2004 Annan Plan, and many intend to oppose any future arrangements they believe would permanently divide the island.

The struggle for Cyprus did not end in 1960 with EOKA. Today, it continues through organisations such as the Pancyprian Freedom Movement, the Union of Cypriots, the Isaak-Solomou Memorial Institute and the Green Party of Cyprus.

Until Cyprus is liberated from occupation and its people enjoy justice and sovereignty, many believe that the struggle will continue.

As they say in the Kurdish struggle:

Resistance is Life.

• Eren Ali is a Turkish-speaking commentator based in the United Kingdom with a particular interest in human rights, justice, civil liberties and democratic governance.