Cypriot conflicts, colonial Cypriot deep states
Under British colonial rule, Greek Cypriot nationalist Greek Army officer Colonel Georgios Grivas established a terrorist organisation, the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA) [Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών (ΕΟΚΑ)]), to fight against British colonial rule and for union with Greece, enosis (ένωσις); created in 1951 and authorised by Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Papagos and Greek Cypriot Archbishop Makarios III in 1954, it was active from the 1st of April 1955 until its nominal dissolution in 1959.(1)
The communist Progressive Party of Working People (Anorthotiko Komma Ergazomenou Laou (AKEL) [Ανορθωτικό Κόμμα Εργαζόμενου Λαού (ΑΚΕΛ)]) was morally opposed to EOKA's violence, but the British considered the communist party a threat, so AKEL was 'both banned by the British and terrorized by EOKA'. (Coincidentally, the British-backed fascist X Bands, which killed communist resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation of Greece, were headed by soon-to-be EOKA leader George Grivas.)
EOKA was countered by Volkan (Volcano), a Turkish Cypriot nationalist terrorist organisation, established by Rauf Denktaş to fight against union with Greece and for partition of the island, taksim; set up in 1956, it and others united as the Turkish Resistance Organisation (Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı (TMT)) in 1957, but from the 1st of August 1958 (until its nominal dissolution in 1974), TMT was directed by the Turkish Special Warfare Department (Özel Harp Dairesi (ÖHD)).
The Special Warfare Department revealed its amoral tactics immediately: TMT committed its first act of false flag terrorism in 1958, bombing the Turkish Cypriot Press and Information Office (PIO) and getting EOKA blamed. (Unsurprisingly, EOKA and TMT both considered themselves national liberation movements, but their opponents terrorists.)
Cypriot conflicts, "postcolonial" Cypriot deep states
When Britain relinquished control of the island but the Greek government refused to help the Greek Cypriot nationalists achieve enosis, the Greek Cypriot leadership in the partnership Cypriot state immediately allied itself with the underground Sacred Bond of Greek Officers (IDEA) (Ieros Desmos Ellinon Axiomatikon [Ιερός Δεσμός Ελλήνων Αξιωματικών (ΙΔΕΑ)]), which would later form the core of the 1967-1974 CIA-backed Greek Junta. (I have written about the Regime of the Colonels in a little more detail elsewhere.)
IDEA member and Greek Central Intelligence Service captain (and future Greek Junta colonel) Georgios Papadopoulos ran an intelligence operation through Greek Cypriot Minister of the Interior Polycarpos Georkadjis and supplied arms to the Greek Cypriot leadership's paramilitaries through the Greek Corps of Cyprus (ELDYK) (Elliniki Dynami Kyprou [Ελληνική Δύναμη Κύπρου (ΕΛΔΥΚ)]).
The paramilitaries were run by former EOKA fighters, including 'fanatical nationalist thug' Nikos Sampson, presidential doctor Vassos Lyssarides and Interior Minister Polycarpos Georgadjis and self-proclaimed head of the execution squads Labour Minister Tassos Papadopoulos; moreover, by then President of the Union of Nicosia Fighters (for supposedly former fighters), Polycarpos Georgadjis's paramilitary comprised police, former EOKA fighters and other irregulars. So, the state of the Republic of Cyprus was utterly usurped by an enosist parastate, or deep state.
Throughout this period, communist, bicommunalist, antifascist and merely moderate movements were suppressed by the extremists of both communities: the Greek Cypriot deep state's paramilitaries threatened, harmed and killed 'political opponents' like Neoklis Panayiotou and Euripides Nouros in 1962. In another false flag operation, [again] in 1962, TMT bombed Bayraktar Mosque [and Ömeriye Camii ('Merie mosque')] and blamed EOKA, then assassinated the journalists, Ayhan Hikmet and Muzaffer Gürkan, who
[Before the bombings, two unnamed Turkish Cypriots had tipped off Justice Minister Polycarpos Georgadjis, but apparently he did not intervene to prevent them. After the bombings, Gürkan
TMT also killed AKEL members Costas Mishaoulis and Derviş Ali Kavazoğlu in 1965; the Republican Turkish Party (Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi (CTP)) was victimised for its opposition too, because it called for 'an end to the BEY fascism [BEY Faşizmine Son]' of the Turkish military (Bayraktarlık (Flag-bearership)), the Turkish embassy (Elçilik) and the Turkish Cypriot leadership (Yönetim (Government)).
With Polycarpos Georkadjis, Tassos Papadopoulos and President of the House of Representatives Glafkos Clerides, IDEA member and ELDYK Brigadier Demetrios Ioannides organised the clashes between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to create a crisis in which the Greek Cypriots would be able to 'get them out of the way once and for all'; in the end, the inter-communal violence of 1963-1964 drove the Turkish Cypriot community into enclaves, which the Special Warfare Department-backed TMT and partitionist Turkish Cypriot nationalists encouraged.
The mixed Cypriot army ordered in the 1960 Constitution was never successfully established; it was later disregarded and, from 1964 onwards, the Republic of Cyprus funded a Soviet Union-armed, solely Greek Cypriot National Guard, staffed by conscripts (and between 1964 and 1967, 20,000 imported "volunteers"), directed by a Greek Army officer (between 1964 and 1967, by former EOKA and future EOKA-B leader General Georgios Grivas ("Digenis")).
After President Archbishop Makarios accepted Cypriot independence in 1968, the spurned Greek Junta and the Greek Cypriot National Front/Akritas/Enosist Array/EOKA-B Deep State worked to remove him and unite the two states. That caused a rupture within the Greek Cypriot deep state, with Greek Junta servants, Nikos Sampson's and Polycarpos Georkadjis's paramilitaries facing President Archbishop Makarios's socialist ally, Vassos Lyssarides' paramilitaries and AKEL; yet, AKEL were left unarmed by the Georkadjis-controlled police and the Greek Cypriot left was 'defenceless.... incapable of resisting EOKA-B and the National Guard'.
Having deposed Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos and become the ruler of the Greek Junta between 1973 and 1974, CIA-backed (and allegedly encouraged) Brigadier Demetrios Ioannides ordered Nikos Sampson's EOKA-B coup against President Archbishop Makarios, whereupon the simultaneously CIA-backed Turkish Special Warfare Department directed the invasion of the island and the occupation of northern Cyprus. (I have discussed the coup and invasion in a little more detail elsewhere.)
After the Turkish invasion, Coup President Nikos Sampson relinquished control to the previous Greek Cypriot leadership; a cease-fire was arranged, but, in the face of continued Greek Cypriot 'harassing fire' and 'mortar fire', the Turkish Armed Forces decided to establish a 'broad security zone' by taking control of the territory still now under occupation; the next day, the Greek Junta gave up control to the previous Greek government, too.
Cypriot conflicts, "neocolonial" Cypriot deep states
While the situation is troubling in the Republic of Cyprus as well as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the situation in the North is much more yozlaşmış, much more rezalet, than it is in the South.
The Greek Cypriot Deep State
According to Alithia, in 1979, the police secretly gave weapons to the armed gang of former Greek Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios's Cypriot Intelligence Service (Κυπριακή Υπηρεσία Πληροφοριών (ΚΥΠ)) commander, then President Spyros Kyprianou's presidential palace security chief Charalambos Koukoularides, who hid them in his father, Ioannis Koukoularides' house in Galata village; both Koukoularides were dead when, in 1999, the 'massive cache of arms and explosives' was found (some of it in Ministry of Interior boxes), but Spyros Kyprianou denied any knowledge of it.
Aside from Koukoularides' gang, which very, very closely resembles the activities of the post-Second World War NATO-linked stay-behind armies, there seem only to be several small ultra-nationalist groups, which are closely connected to each other and to elements within the police, but cannot confidently be classified as part of any Greek Cypriot deep state; even Greek Cypriot intelligence service KYP's attempts to inferfere with and police's 'discriminatory' attempts to criminalise antiracism NGO KISA failed.(2)
The politics of the former EOKA fighters' associations and their Council for the Historical Memory of the EOKA Struggle have already been established; now, they seem to focus on perpetuating Greek Cypriot nationalism, on 'propaganda', as do the Federation of Reservist Cadets and the 'Nazi' Movement for the Salvation of Cyprus.
Perhaps most worrying are neo-Nazis Golden Dawn, whose leader is a former police officer, who have been accused of vandalism and bomb hoaxes targeting Turkish Cypriot and bicommunalist Greek Cypriot activists, as well as incitement to hostility between communities, actual bodily harm and assault.
Golden Dawn-connected nationalistic, racist and fascist National Voice of Greek-souled Youths, EFEN, has attacked Turkish Cypriot pupils at the bicommunal English School and what is presumably a gang within EFEN, 24th April: English School Section, has issued death threats against bicommunalist Greek Cypriots and against Greek Cypriot journalists documenting those death threats.
The Turkish Cypriot Deep State
[The Special Warfare Department-directed TMT became the Turkish Armed Forces-directed Turkish Cypriot Security Forces Command (Kıbrıslı Türk Güvenlik Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı (GKK)) in 1974. (Added on the 2nd of June 2008.)]
Former Vice President of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC (KKTC (Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti))) Mustafa Akıncı has stated that:
The [KKTC (TRNC)] is in theory independent but, concretely, it is run from Turkey through the civil and military bureaucracy.... In the KKTC there is no security force under the orders of the civil authorities. The police is linked to the Security Forces Command, the Commander [in] Chief of which is just a general landed on us from Turkey.... The police acts in accordance with the wishes of the military authorities....Under the Turkish Armed Forces in Cyprus ("the Turkish Cypriot Peace Forces"), there are the local auxiliaries, the Turkish Cypriot Security Forces (or Security Forces Command); under those, there is the Civil Defence Organisation; there are also innumerable non-non-governmental organizations (NNGOs) in northern Cyprus.(3)
When I said to our government partner, Dervis Eroglu, who was, moreover, President of the National Union Party and Prime Minister, "We all need democracy. Today it's me - tomorrow it will be you" - he retorted: "I can't punch with my fists against a knife". This is how the Prime Minister explained that he couldn't oppose the military authorities.
Perhaps the most feared NNGO, the reincarnation of the Turkish Resistance Organisation, TMT-B, was established recently, maybe in 2001, either by former Republic of Cyprus Vice-President and then Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Rauf Denktaş, or by his Minister of Foreign Affairs Taner Etkin
[The Special Warfare Department-directed TMT(-A) became the Turkish Armed Forces-directed Turkish Cypriot Security Forces Command and the Civil Defence Organisation (Sivil Savunma Teşkilatı (SST)) is under that; so, TMT-B is under both, immediately under the Civil Defence Organisation, but ultimately under the Security Forces Command; The Special Warfare Department's Contra-Guerrillas have some presence in northern Cyprus, but the Turkish Cypriot Security Forces may now be directly under the Turkish Armed Forces, rather than the Special Warfare Department. (Added on the 2nd of June 2008.)]
Avrupa (now Afrika) newspaper said that they '"ma[d]e it legal" with the name "National People's Movement [Ulusal Halk Hareketi (UHH)]"'; the Cyprus Action Network (CAN) deemed the UHH a fascist organization and the Patriotic Unity Party/Movement (Yurtsever Birlik Hareketi (YBH)) judged that the 'UHH looks like a paramilitary body'.
Ultra-nationalist TMT-B aims to:
- Fight against those who do not support the Confederation solution. Among these people are the journalists of "Avrupa [Afrika]" as well;
- Fight against those who support the EU;
- Fight against those who have conducts with the Greek Cypriots and participate in the bi-communal activities; and
- Fight against those who apply for taking passports of the Republic of Cyprus.
[Mention of TMT false flag operation against Ömeriye mosque added on the 16th of June 2008.]
- In exile in Greece, Dr. Ioannis Ioannides established Cypriot Fighters, Daring Leaders (Kyprioi Agonistes, Ripsokindynoi Igetes (KARI) [Κύπριοι Αγωνιστές Ριψοκίνδυνοι Ηγέτες (ΚΑΡΗ)]) in 1952; a British source said that it was merged with EOKA in 1953, but a Greek Cypriot source acknowledged its independent activity (albeit coordinated with EOKA) until 1955.
- The most prominent Greek Cypriot nationalist organisations are: the EOKA former fighters' associations; the 'nationalistic, racist and fascist' National Voice of Greek-souled Youth (Ethniki Foni Ellinopsychon Neon (EFEN) [Εθνική Φωνή Ελληνόψυχων Νέων (ΕΦΕΝ)]) and what is presumably a gang within it, 24th April: English School Section (24i Apriliou: Omada tou English School [24η Απριλίου: Ομάδα του English School]); the 'Nazi' Movement for the Salvation of Cyprus; the Federation of Reservist Cadets; and the Council for the Historical Memory of the EOKA Struggle, 1955-1959 (Symvoulio Istorikis Mnimis Agona tis EOKA [Συμβούλιο Ιστορικής Μνήμης Αγώνα της ΕΟΚΑ, 1955-1959 (ΣΙΜΑΕ)]). The Greek Cypriot police's least favourite NGO appears to be Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism (Kinisi gia Isotita, Stiriksi, Antiratsismo (KISA) [Κίνηση για Ισότητα, Στήριξη, Αντιρατσισμό (ΚΙΣΑ)]).
- The militaries and paramilitaries in northern Cyprus are the Turkish Cypriot Peace Forces (Kıbrıs Türk Barış Kuvvetleri (KTBK)), the Turkish Cypriot Security Forces (Kıbrıs Türk Güvenlik Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı (GKK)) and the Civil Defence Organisation (Sivil Savunma Teşkilatı (SST)).
There are many nationalist organisations, associations and parties, including the Nationalist Justice Party (Milliyetçi Adalet Partisi (MAP)), the National People's Movement (Ulusal Halk Hareketi (UHH)), the National Solidarity Association (Ulusal Dayanışma Derneği (UDD)) and the TRNC Protection and Preservation Association (KKTC'yi Koruma ve Yaşatma Derneği (KKTCKYD/KYD)). There are also a crowd of former fighters' associations, whose translation of "Mücahitler" as either "fighters" or "Mujahideen" I have copied.
The "Mujahideen" comprise: the Turkish Cypriot Mujahideen Association (Kıbrıs Türk Mücahitler Derneği (KTMD)), which is 'determined to break those hands that are raised against the sovereignty and the flag of TRNC'; the Mujahideen Commanders Association (Mücahit Komutanları Derneği (MKD)); and the Retired Mujahideen Association (Emekli Mücahitler Derneği (EMD)).
The "fighters" encompass the Turkish Peace Forces Veterans Association (Türk Barış Kuvvetleri Gaziler Derneği (TBKGD)), the Wounded War Veterans Association (Gaziler Derneği (GD)), Retired Army Officers Association ((Türkiye) Emekli Subaylar Derneği (TESUD)) and the Turkish Resistance Organisation Association (Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı Derneği (TMT.D./TMTD))
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment