Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Cyprus-Conflict sites: balanced website dead, propaganda site live

[24/12/10 update: cyprus-conflict.net is back online. Merry Christmas!]

There used to be a website at the address http://www.cyprus-conflict.net, which the Guardian regarded as '[t]he best of its kind on the Web.... exhaustive and balanced'. It presented reliable academic and journalistic accounts of the modern history and politics of Cyprus; it had opinion pieces too, but there were warnings of their possible biases and they were paired with sources with opposite possible biases. Thankfully, at least some of the corpse of the balanced website is still twitching at the Internet Archive's copy of http://www.cyprus-conflict.net.

But now, there is the Greek Cypriot propaganda site Cyprus-Dispute.org, (also) live at a very similar address, http://cyprus-conflict.org/, where it can only exist to attract and exploit traffic to the dead balanced website. Cyprus-Conflict.net was last updated on 30th September 2007, and last accessible around 12th January 2008. Cyprus-Dispute.org was registered on 18th January 2008 (though it's not clear when it acquired the cyprus-conflict.org domain).

It is clever and cunning, publishing only genuine documents and impartial judgements, but carefully selecting which documents and which judgements to publish. So, it published the Kutchuk/Denktash Plan but not the Makarios Plan; it published the European Commission of Human Rights' report on the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, but not the United Nations' resolutions on the Greek coup in Cyprus. It may be more intelligent and less extreme than some other material, but it is still propaganda.

(On 22nd December 2007) the contents of Cyprus-Conflict.net had been:
The Main Narratives

Cyprus, by Keith Kyle (pages 1-5) and
by William Hale (page 6)


Historical Background

Turkey & Greece: A History of Colliding by Robert Stephens

The Example of Crete

Treaty of Lausanne, 1924

Turkey: Early Years of the Republic

The Greek Cypriot Debate on Enosis, 1929, by G.S. Georghallides

Turkish Cypriot Reaction to the Campaign for Enosis, 1930s


Analyses, Narratives, Polemics, Documents

The Colonial Period

Toward Violence, 1953, by Ioannis Stefanidis

Kuçuk on Turkish Cypriot Demands, 1954

The Feast of Unreason, by Lawrence Durrell

Menderes' Speech, 1955

Menderes' Fate

Zorlu in London, 1955

Outbreak of Violence, 1955, by Nancy Crawshaw

London Conference, 1955, by Robert Holland

Istanbul Riots, 1955, by Robert Holland

Reaction to the 1955 London Conference by Nancy Crawshaw

MacMillan Plan, 1957, by Robert Stephens

Renewal of EOKA Violence, 1957-58, Nancy Crawshaw

Guerrilla Warfare in Cyprus, by George Grivas

Communal Strife, 1958, by Nancy Crawshaw

Treaties of 1959

Analysis of the Treaties, U.S. State Department

The Municipalities Issue, 1957-63, by Diana Markides

The Rise and Fall of a Unified Republic

Clerides-Denktash Letters, 1962

The Thirteen Points, 1963

Inter-Communal Violence, 1963-64, by Richard Patrick

Akritas Plan

George Ball in Cyprus, 1964, by George Ball

Subversion of a Mission, 1964, by Martin Packard

The U.N. & a Divided Island, 1964, by Michael Moran

The Disloyal Opposition and the Fall of the Republic, by Kyriacos Markides

Coup in Athens, 1967, by Richard Clogg

Acheson Plan

A U.S. newspaper regards its failure

Galo Plaza Report

Turkish Politics in the 1970s, U.S. Library of Congress

Clerides-Denktash Letters, 1971, and Makarios' instructions

Makarios' Letter to Greek Junta, 1974

The Coup d'Etat of 1974, by Peter Loizos

30 Hot Days, by Mehmet Ali Birand

London and Geneva, July-August 1974, by James Callaghan

Negotiating Positions at Geneva, 1974

Greek Cypriot v. Turkish Cypriot Renditions of the Events of 1974

War, 1974, by Peter Loizos

Turkish-Cypriot Narratives, 1974

Consequences of the 1974 Invasion, U.S. Senate

Interview with Makarios, 1974

Economic Consequences of 1974, by Keith Kyle

U.S. Role in 1974 - a comment

After the Deluge: Turkish Cypriot Views, 1976, by Latife Birgen

The Negotiating Positions, 1976

Makarios-Denktash Talks, 1977

Aftermath of the Intervention, 1974-77, by Vamik Volkan

After Makarios

Military Coup in Turkey, 1980, by John Tirman

Party Politics, North & South, by Keith Kyle

One Diplomat's Frustration, by Giandomenico Picco

International Peacemaking in Cyprus, 1980-1986, by Farid Mirbagheri

The Draft Framework Agreement, 1986

Turkish Settlers in Northern Cyprus, 1991

The Second "Set of Ideas" -- 1994

The Case for Confederation, by Peter Pernthaler

Denktash Looks Back, 1999

Clerides on Cyprus at the end of the century, 2000

European Court Ruling against Turkey, 2001

The E.U. Ascension: Official Views and Comment, 2001

The Annan Plan and its Fate:
The Annan Plan,* 2002-03
Alvaro DeSoto on the Annan Plan, May 2003 (pdf file)*
The Green Line is Opened, 2003
Cyprus President Urges "No"
An Ironic Result in Cyprus, by Rebecca Bryant
The People Deliver Their Verdict*, by Ann-Sofi Jakobsson Hatay
Rejecting its Way into a Turkish Cyprus, by John Tirman
World press reactions *

A Long Journey Into Night: The Cyprus Republic’s Pursuit Of A ‘European’ Solution To The Cyprus Problem, 2005 by Zenon Stavrinides

A Dangerous Trend in Cyprus,* 2005 Rebecca Bryant

Turkey's Candidacy and the Dispute over Cyprus 2006
EU Document (Nov 8, 2006)
Press release from EU (Nov. 29, 2006)*
Pressure on Turkey's EU bid over Cyprus, news reports, 2006


Historiography & Nationalism

Introduction

Conflict Between the States of Cyprus, 1963-1974, Zenon Stavrinides

The Church's Message, in the Jubilee Year 2000, Deconstructed

Turkish Nationalism, Then and Now, by Dogu Ergil

Greek Irredentism in Asia Minor and Cyprus, by Paschalis Kitromilides

Greek-Cypriot Nationalism and Cypriotism 1974-1995, by Caesar Mavratsas

The Politics of Memory and Forgetting, by Yiannis Papadakis

Nationalist Imaginings of War in Cyprus, by Yiannis Papadakis

Communal Memory and Turkish Cypriot National History, by Nergis Canefe

On Nationalism: Isaiah Berlin, George Orwell, and Others

Psychohistory and Cyprus, by John Mack



Chronology



Conflict Resolution

An Assessment "Working Toward a Just Peace," by John Tirman

The Genesis of Bicommunalism, by Benjamin Broome

The Bicommunal Experience, by Canan Oztoprak

Evaluation of Conflict Resolution Training, by Marion Peters Angelica

Across the Green Line: Problems of "Recognition", by Costas Constantinou
and Yiannis Papadakis

Dynamics of Partition, Philippos Savvides

Conflict Resolution Resources & Reading
(See screen capture image 1 below.)

(On 30th April 2009) the contents of Cyprus-Conflict.org were only:
The Turkish Invasion of 1974

European Commission of Human Rights - Cyprus v. Turkey - Commission Report (10 July 1976)

The Sunday Times on the 1976 European Commission of Human Rights Report on the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus (23rd January 1977)



From Independence to the Turkish Invasion

Report of the United Nations Mediator Galo Plaza to the Secretary-General (1965)

Letter to Prime Minister Inonu from President Johnson (5 June 1964)

Turkish Cypriot Separatism and Partitionism

The "Plumer Letter" (October-November 1960)

The "Kutchuk/Denktash Plan" (14 September 1963)



From the EOKA Revolt to Independence

EOKA's Preparatory General Plan (1953)

EOKA's First Revolutionary Leaflet Distributed (1 April 1955)

The Constitutional Proposals for Cyprus submitted by Lord Radcliffe (December 1956)

The McMillan Plan and the Response of the Kingdom of Greece (1958)

EOKA leaflet ordering a cease-fire (9 March 1959)

Letter sent by General Grivas to the EOKA fighters on the declaration of a cease-fire (9 March 1959)
(See screen capture image 2 below.)

5 comments:

  1. I used to know the author of the original site, let me see if I can dig his contact info out and see whether he is willing to bring that site back up. It is a pity that it went down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found his contact details and asked him. E-mail me at samarkeolog on gmail.

    ReplyDelete
  3. http://www.mediafire.com/file/nnzjzzofzzq/2cyusgknw.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't think the site cyprus-conflict.net is balanced. It presents itself as such, and as the voice of reason, but the main narrative is clearly biased, and takes a Turkish and British line.
    For example: 1)no mention of Denktash's confession re the bomb on 7 June 1958 outside the Turkish press office.
    2) the gunrunning Turkish motorboat Deniz is simply "preparation for a break-down", with no mention that that breakdown was planned for, encouraged, and eagerly awaited by hard line Turkish Cypriots, including Denktash.
    3) It cites Denktash (hardly a reliable or trustworthy source) to claim that in Dec. 1963 when the intercommunal fighting started the TMT had only 40 active members. In fact numerous Turkish army officers had been secretly brought in to Cyprus throughout 1963 to prepare for the fighting.(See In Turkey's Image by C. Ioannides)
    4) No mention of Ted Macey's activities or Martin Packard's untimely withdrawal...
    The list could go on and on.
    Some of the shortcomings of the "main narrative" are counterbalanced by source texts, but that is no excuse for such a slanted narrative.

    ReplyDelete