Despite the fact that UN Security Council Resolution 353 of July 20, demanded an immediate ceasefire and an end to foreign intervention in Cyprus.
The coup of July 15, 1974, carried out by the military junta of Athens in collaboration with EOKA B', against the elected government of President Makarios was the occasion for Turkey to impose its dichotomous plans at the expense of Cyprus.< /p>
On July 20, Turkey invaded the island militarily in violation of every rule of international legality, including the United Nations Charter. This first phase of the illegal invasion was followed by a second one, during which the city of Famagusta and Morphou were captured. Operation Attila II lasts only three days.
Despite the fact that UN Security Council Resolution 353 of July 20, demanded an immediate ceasefire and an end to foreign intervention in Cyprus, by July 22 Turkey had already established a bridgehead and was continuing the invasion, transporting troops and equipment.< /p>
What took place, talks and occupation of Varosi
On July 21 at six in the morning, one day after the invasion, the Turkish Air Force repeats the pounding of the National Guard positions, in the area of the bridgehead at Five Mile in Kyrenia. At half past eight in the morning, the envoy of the American Foreign Minister Henry Kissinger, Deputy Secretary Joseph Sisco arrives in Ankara and meets with the Turkish Foreign Minister Turan Gunes. He announces that Greece accepts the troops that landed in Cyprus to be advanced to the Turkish enclaves to ensure, as he says, the safety of the Turkish Cypriots.
At the same time he has accepted talks in London, he guarantees the replacement of Nikos Samson moderate politician and removal of the Greek officers. The proposal is not accepted and in Athens General Grigoris Bonanos announces a decision to declare war with Turkey.
He also gives instructions to withdraw the submarines from the area of Cyprus so they return to the Aegean and it is proposed to send aircraft and reinforcements, by sea, specifically a Locating Battalion with 15 “Noratlas” type airplanes.
On July 22, in the early hours of the morning, a commando squadron from Greece arrives in Cyprus, with transports, but due to a misunderstanding, the planes are considered to be Turkish, which are carrying out an operation to seize the airport. One plane is shot down and three are damaged by Cypriot National Guard fire. Thirty-two Locators are killed. A total of 15 planes had departed from Souda but the two lost their orientation, according to their captains and with the help of the Ziros radar station, they finally landed in Rhodes.
Ceasefire on the 22nd /7/1974, advance to Kyrenia
The State Department announces an agreement for a cease-fire with a starting time of 4 pm on July 22.
In Ankara, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit reports that the operation, as he describes it, in Cyprus, achieved its military objectives. “Kyrenia will forever remain Turkish. What we achieved was to give the Turkish Cypriots a port through which we can always help them at any time and increase the influence of the Turkish Cypriots on the island. Turkey will not stay in Cyprus forever. The Turkish army has achieved its main objective in capturing enough territory to make the Turkish military presence irreversible and to give the Turkish Cypriots an outlet to the sea,” he states.
At half past eight in the morning of July 22, the Turkish tanks set out for Kyrenia, which has been almost evacuated by its inhabitants who seek refuge in safer areas. While Kyrenia is falling, Greece plans to send Greek aircraft to bomb the Turkish bridgehead. Four Phantoms at Andramvida airfield and two interceptors at Tanagra are ordered to redeploy to Heraklion. One is destroyed on landing while the second is disabled.
The Turks continue their advance and connect their bridgehead with the Nicosia-Agios Hilarion enclave, by road from the east.
The resignation of Samson
In Greece, the Junta is beginning to collapse. US intervention is requested and it is announced that Athens has accepted talks in Geneva between the three Guarantor Powers.
The very next day, Samson's Foreign Minister visits Glaukos Cleridis, then Speaker of the Parliament, at his house, where he is under house arrest, and tells him that United Nations circles in New York are indicating to the permanent Greek delegation that Turkey's pressure for the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement, it will be significantly more effective if constitutional order is restored and that as a first step Samson must resign and Clerides take over as president.
Samson resigns and takes over constitutional duties Glaukos Cleridis. Nikos Samson characterizes his departure as an extension of his contribution to the Cypriot people, while Cleridis calls on the people to put aside their enmity because, as he says, “the salvation and the good of the country now come first”.
Two hours after assuming the Presidency, Glaukos Cleridis meets with Rauf Denktas in the Turkish sector of Nicosia, accompanied by UN Peacekeepers, to whom he proposes to form a joint Government with the participation of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Ministers, as provided for in the 1960 agreements .
On July 24, a Government of National Unity was sworn in in Athens, with Prime Minister Kostantinos Karamanlis, and the following day peace talks between the Foreign Ministers of the three guarantor countries began in Geneva. (Georgios Mavros, Turan Gunes and James Callahan).
Collapse of Geneva talks – The watchword for Attila II
The Geneva talks collapse at three in the morning on August 14, and Turan Gunes informs Ankara that “Aise can go on vacation” giving the signal to start the second phase of the Turkish invasion. But what came before?
In the final stages of the Conference, Turkey demands that its terms be accepted, otherwise it indirectly warns that the Turkish tanks will move again and this time things will be worse.
The aim of the Turks is to secure bloodless evacuation by the Greeks of a zone in the northern areas, an area of 34% of the Cypriot territory, in order to put it under their absolute control and implement their plans for its Turkishization.
The Cypriot delegation, reinforced by the now democratic Greece after the change of government due to the collapse of the junta, is resisting. However, Turkey persists and leads the talks to a wreck.
It is worth noting that on the morning of August 12, and while things are already not going well in Geneva, a new meeting is held in Athens to review the military situation.
Karamanlis is informed that in a mobilization Greece may have 400,000 men, but there are no means to equip and utilize them. Karamanlis asks to be informed why the National Guard was not reinforced. He gets the answer that this could not be done due to the geographical factor combined with the dominance of the Turkish Air Force in the air, which created a practical impossibility to send reinforcements.
It is reported to the Prime Minister that the ratio is three to one. in favor of Turkey in the Army and Navy and one to two in the air force.
Specifically in the navy, the Turks have a numerical superiority in terms of the number of ships, greater anti-submarine capabilities, larger landing craft, complete freedom of laying mines and blocking the naval forces of Greece, while Greece was universally lagging behind in terms of air cover of the fleet.
In the field of submarines, Greece is unable to deal effectively.
In aviation, Turkey has 520 combat aircraft compared to Greece's 290, while it has superiority in attack and transport aircraft, in mass of fire, air defense, permanent personnel, supplies and fuel.
With reference to Karamanlis' desire to send a Division, it was judged that such an action would occupy the entire navy and air force and that the risks of casualties en route would be greatly increased, while the disembarkation, preservation and maintenance and supply of the of strength.
In Cyprus, meanwhile, it is announced that the National Guard has withdrawn from the Turkish districts of Larnaca and Paphos and from the Turkish villages of Avdimos, Alektoras, Agios Thomas, Plataniskia in the province of Limassol and Mandres and Kouklia in the province of Paphos.
On the 13th of August, rumors swirled about an imminent new advance by the Turks. War alert also prevails in Greece where a new meeting is held, which ends in the dramatic finding that Athens cannot do anything, not even help Cyprus. In the evening the talks are at a critical point.
Turkey submits proposals to legalize what it has seized and requests, among other things, that it be recognized as having the right to sovereignty over 34% of the Cypriot territory, which it knows that no one can recognize.
The Greek side with in turn submits proposals to preserve the unified state.
The proposals are diametrically opposed. The Turkish side urgently requests acceptance of its proposals immediately.
In the proposal of Giunes, the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs G. Mavros requests a break of 24 or 36 hours to go to Athens to consult with his Government. Cleridis asks for 48 hours for the same purpose.
The proposals of the Turks
The minutes for these last critical hours around ten quarter in the evening they are typical.
Günes mentioned that there were two Turkish proposals. The first was the one that the Turkish delegation had released the previous day and a second one, which provided for the creation of two geographical zones, one for the Greek Cypriots and one for the Turkish Cypriots.
The Turkish Cypriot autonomous zone would be located north of a general line that includes the Turkish sector of Famagusta and the Nicosia sector controlled by the Turks, heading west.
The total area of the zone in question had to to correspond to approximately 34% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus. The system could be called cantonal as well as federal, and it would be based on the two autonomous regions from the point of view of internal law.
He added that such a solution appeared as a guarantee against union, because if one side wanted to annex one part then the other side would immediately annex the other.
Regarding the first proposition Gunes stated that it had to be determined immediately what the areas would be and what the area of the cantons would be, which as it was repeated had to amount to a total of 34% of the Cypriot territory.
He emphasized that this principle was non-negotiable. He also stated that the proposals were known both to Kissinger and to NATO and the EEC, he read Kissinger's message in which it was stated that the US recognizes the need to improve the position and protect the Turkish Cypriot community.
Günes requested the immediate acceptance of a structure based on separation, he read and then released a draft timetable that provides for the evacuation within a deadline, by the National Guard, of certain areas of Cyprus to be occupied by the Turkish forces.
Mr. Mavro said that as long as the two communities agreed, the Greek Government would not object. The talks essentially collapsed.
The slogan and the second phase
At 3 a.m. on August 14, Turan Gunes runs to the phone and asks to they link him to Ankara and Prime Minister Ecevit. He speaks in slogans:
“Aishe can go on vacation (Aishe is the name of Gunes' daughter).
The message means that the second phase of the invasion can begin immediately.
In a little while the tanks set off in two directions, towards Famagusta to the east and to Morphou to the west.
Disorganized as the National Army is Garrison is impossible to hold and all it does is fold back to new positions as the Turkish forces advance.
Within almost three days, that is until 6 in the afternoon of August 16, the Turkish tanks reach Famagusta and Morphou comfortably and without any substantial problems and thus complete the implementation of their plan for the creation of the Attila line.
At the same time in Nicosia, the RIK, the Gregory School and the Terra Santa School are being bombed. A mortar shell also falls in the courtyard of the Hilton hotel. In his speech, President Makarios condemns Turkish brutality and calls on civilized peoples to help the Cypriot people.
The UN Security Council appeals for a cease-fire and the Immediate Intervention Committee under the Chairmanship of President Ford meets in Washington.
British Foreign Secretary Jim Callahan condemns Turkish intransigence which has been delayed for several years. , as he mentions, finding a solution to the Cyprus issue.
Henry Kissinger in his new message to Karamanlis emphasizes the need for the two countries to work together to bring the Cyprus issue back to the negotiating table.
In his speech to the Greek people, Karamanlis publicly admits that he cannot help Cyprus.
“The armed confrontation of the Turks in Cyprus was impossible both because of the distance and because of the known fait accompli. And it was not possible to attempt without the risk of weakening the defense of Greece itself”.
In the morning hours of August 16, the President of the Republic Glaukos Cleridis arrives in Cyprus, via Malta, on an RAF transport plane.
Turkey announces that it will order a cease-fire at 6 pm.
This cease-fire is achieved since Morfou and Famagusta and all the villages located in the plains of Morfou and Mesaoria have been occupied in the meantime.
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On August 17, the Turks enter Famagusta and unite the enclave of Nicosia with that of Famagusta. The United Nations forces remain in their positions while the town of Morphou is also being evacuated.
The next day, the Turks shell Athianou and Pyroi and advance towards the heights of the Gregoriou-ELDYK area in Nicosia, but fail to advance towards the Agios Pavlos area.
On August 19, it is estimated that the wave of refugees reaches to 200,000 and the creation of refugee camps is being organized. 30,000 refugees take refuge in Dasos Achnas alone. The number of those trapped in Karpasia, Mesaoria and Morphou is estimated at 20,000.
The number of Greek Cypriots and Maronites living in this area today has decreased to 300.
Thousands are sent to detention centers and prisons in Turkey. Of these, more than 1,600 never returned after the prisoner exchange and entered the tragic list of the missing.
Hundreds more fell on the battlefield and another three thousand were executed or murdered by the invaders.
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The assassination of the US Ambassador, Moscow's plan for a conference, Waldheim in Cyprus
On August 19, there were massive anti-American demonstrations in Cyprus.
At some point there was a flurry of gunfire (the information said it was gunmen from EOKA B') and then the embassy guards, American marines, threw tear gas at the demonstrators and started shooting in the air. The American ambassador, Roger Davis, and his secretary, Antoinette Varnava, were killed by stray bullets. No one was arrested for the murders, 3 years later 2 people were tried and imprisoned for disorderly conduct and illegal transfer of weapons.
On August 25, the then Secretary General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim, arrives in Nicosia with the aim of resuming the talks. .
While Greece informs Britain that it accepts the Russian plan to convene a conference with the participation of the members of the Security Council, Kissinger in his letter to Karamanlis asks not to support the Soviet proposal, because as he states, the Soviet Union has no interest in being dissolved the Cypriot, since the continued tension in the region is to its advantage.
In the days that followed until the end of August 1974 and while the first calculations put the damage from the invasion at one billion pounds, Turkey announces that it will begin the withdrawal of its troops from Cyprus, as soon as the talks on finding a federal solution to the Cyprus conflict begin.
Cleridis states that he is discussing every possible solution when the Turkish soldiers leave Cyprus and the Soviet Union demands a precise response from the West to its proposal for an international conference. Cyprus accepts the proposal. Cyprus' response is delivered by Glaukos Clerides to the Soviet ambassador in Nicosia, Sergey Astavin. However, Turkey rejects the proposal.
On August 28, Turkish porters are transported to Lefka and Kyrenia and Turkish soldiers invade Achna with chariots. Residents leave their village. After performances by the United Nations, they retreat a short distance from the village, to Dasaki 'Achnas.
Mayor of the occupied Famagusta at the KYPE: The most tragic day in the long history of our city< /p>
For us Varosians, August 14, 1974 is perhaps the most tragic day in the centuries-old history of our city, Mayor Simos Ioannou declares to KYPE.
“It's already been 50 years since that day. Thousands of Varosians left with the sorrow of returning. Many times in the past they gave us hope for a return, but they always remained dreams of a summer night”, he says.
Mr. Ioannou reiterates that the settlement of the enclosed area of Varosia by the Turkish side will be the gravestone of the Cypriot problem.
On August 14, 1974, Mr. Ioannou was serving his military service at the 291 T.P. in Karpasia.
“Together with ten other soldiers, we were guarding the T/k village of Ag. Simeon which had been occupied since July 20. The start of the second round found us inside the village without any instructions. In the afternoon, the troops that were on the Karpasia peninsula, following the order of the Greek Army, retreated towards Anglisides. Unfortunately we were not notified in time but after hours. We left late at night. I will never forget when we were passing through Famagusta and outside my house. An awesome feeling. Not a soul to be seen, just one or two dogs following their owners. It never crossed my mind that we were leaving forever. I was just worried about where my family were,” he tells KYPE.
He says that it took 30 years to see his home again, like a foreign visitor.
“The pain and bitterness of the refugee is unspeakable. It is not the loss of material possessions, but the loss of our young soul that we left inside, as a Varosian wrote on the barbed wire fence of Faliros beach”, he says. data from the open file of P. Papadimitris)
