Turkish invasion of Cyprus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Turkish incursion of Cyprus - Essay ExampleEven before the conflict, the tension arose when the Cyprus Convention, on the basis of which Britain leased the island, lost(p) much of its relevance for some reasons, foremost of which was the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. However there is a background of the conflict followed by the year 1878, when Cyprus was offered to the British, the Turkish sultans expect them to build a strong naval base on the island, which could be used as a deterrent against possible Russian attacks on the Asiatic parts of the Ottoman Empire (Borowiec 24).This project was never realized thus never fulfilled. Despite high claims and loud voices in Britain that demanded an end to colonial practice in Cyprus, the Convention was never abrogated, resulting in the economic disaster in Cyprus.After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, it was felt that the time was not favourable for the Cyprus organization as the Turkish government had just relaxed its negotiatin g position linking free access to Ayios Theodhoros with Artemis Road (Hart 47). It had also, instructed its permanent representative to the United Nations to thank Secretary-General for his efforts in obtaining the release of Denkta, and to verbalise Ankaras acceptance of the UNFICYP timetable for the phased resumption of police patrols to the village, provided UNFICYP returned the Kophinou police compound to Turkish Cypriot police and redoubled its efforts to settle the Artemis Road situation.The positioning of the Turkish Government was warlike because for months the Demirel administration had been focusing its attention on internal development projects, many involving U.S. economic assistance. However the advance deployment of heavy weaponry and Greek mainland troops were indicating something funny not only, in battalion strength, around Skarinou, but throughout the island. When the Cyprus crises erupted in 1964, Turkey found itself deprived to get U.S. support, at that time A nkara model of reapproaching Arabs with a hope that would pay off. However the Arabs instead supported Greece with arms and weapons against the Turkish Cypriot minority (Nachmani 14). Turkey while depicting such attitude of Middle East as the Arab betrayal, tried to shake hands with the Western world.Conflicts and threats during and after Turkish invasionThe political aspirations of the Cypriot leaders were to inspire Cypriots towards any Greece or Turkey instead of creating a mutual concern for the unity of their nation and for their own self-preservation as Cypriots. The dominant feeling that remained long after the invasion among Turkish Cypriots was that the internationally recognized government of Cyprus has not represented the interests of the islands Turkish community. Indeed, it was observed that except minor exceptions, particularly after the invasion, Greek Cypriots regarded Turkish Cypriots as enemies rather than as compatriots. Greeks never considered them as their equ al partners due to which systematic economic blockade of the Turkish areas by the Greek side were theoretically intend to punish Turkey (Borowiec 8). Distances between Greeks and Turks remained wider and therefore alienated the minority that was supposed to share the island with the Greeks. However despite the elements that separated two Cypriot