BRITISH RULE

BRITISH RULE (A.D. 1878-1960) History of Cyprus

One of the reasons behind Britain's occupation of Cyprus had been that it should constitute a base for safeguarding the newly opened Suez Canal. But military operations of 1882, led by Sir Garnet Wolseley, brought Egypt under the military control of Britain, and this meant that the strategic importance of Cyprus became substantially less. In the late Victorian and Edwardian period, Cyprus remained an anomaly. The island had not ceased to be part of the Ottoman Empire. According to the treaty, surplus revenues were paid to Turkey, so that there was no longer any question of the island being a money making concern for its administrators. On the contrary, after the annual payment was made to Turkey, expenditure was in excess of revenue. However, the national income was boosted by British funds and the country benefited considerably. It is true to say that the British regime, though not disinterested, was the first one in the whole history of Cyprus to be in any way benevolent, and this is admitted by even the most fanatical anti-British factions which arose after the First World War. Much money was spent on trade, public works, afforestation, agriculture and antiquities. At the same time the island was not governed by consent or according to the expressed wish of the people. The British occupation was something which had occurred solely through the pressure of international politics. And the Greeks of Cyprus continued to look towards Greece, a country to which they considered themselves bound through race, language, religion and culture. The movement for Enosis, or union with Greece, was ardently fostered by the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus. The outbreak of war in 1914 brought a great change. When Turkey came in on the German side Britain annexed Cyprus, putting an end to the arrangement made in 1878. The island was now completely at the disposal of the United Kingdom, and in 1915 she offered it to Greece on condition that she entered the war on the Allied side. When Greece refused, the offer was withdrawn, and Cyprus continued as a British possession, which included a strong but numerically inferior Turkish population which had every reason for opposing Enosis. In 1925 Cyprus became a Crown Colony, with a governor taking the place of the earlier high commissioners. But this change of status did nothing to appease the Greek speaking Cypriots, who continued to demand self determination, and deplored the element of uncertainty in British intentions. The year 1931 saw widespread riots and the burning of Government House, Nicosia. The movement was repressed by military measures and by deportation of the most active leaders. The Second World War was no time for realignment, and the future of the island remained in abeyance until 1947, when Archbishop Leontios went to London in the hope that the post war Labour Government would show greater liberality than its predecessors. But the Colonial Secretary, Creech Jones, stated that he understood that 'people in the grip of nationalism are impervious to rational argument', but that he hoped they would co operate in the matter of a new constitution which would bring self government closer and bring with it the possibilities of economic aid. When these new proposals were made to the Cyprus Constituent Assembly in 1948 they proved unacceptable. The year 1948 saw the growth of power inside the Church. In July Archbishop Makarios II (who as bishop of Kyrenia had been one of the 1931 deportees), Cleopas, bishop of Paphos, Kyprianos, bishop of Kyrenia, and Makarios, bishop of Kitium, formed the Ethnarch Council which was to lead the national struggle. A plebiscite in January 1950 purported to give a majority of 96 per cent in favour of Enosis, but this unofficial poll was unrecognized by the governor and by the British Government. The matter was closed, they said. In October 1950 the aged Ethnarch, Makarios II, died, and Makarios of Kitium, then aged thirty seven, was elected as his successor. A period of great political activity followed. United Nations delegates in New York were canvassed and a Panhellenic Committee for Cyprus was formed in Athens. This Committee organized demonstrations and secured sympathetic press coverage, with the result that in November 1954 Greece claimed self determination for Cyprus at the United Nations. The appeal was turned down. The immediate result was a well directed campaign of violence which began in April 1955, and was run by an organization which went by the name of EOKA, standing for Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters. The self appointed leader of guerrilla operations was General Grivas, born 1898 in Trikomo, who was inspired to assume the name of Dighenis Akritas, the hero of the Byzantine saga which dramatized the resistance of the Greeks to Arab incursions. He withheld his identity from most of his followers, and his feats of undoubted heroism lifted him to almost mystical heights in the popular imagination. While violence continued, a second appeal to the United Nations failed. Archbishop Makarios III was exiled to the Seychelles, as it was no secret that the Church was strongly on the side of EOKA, preaching propaganda from the pulpits, financing the import of arms, sheltering guerrillas and organizing resistance. In 1957 Archbishop Makarios was released from the Seychelles, although he was not permitted to return to Cyprus. Agreement was at last reached at a tripartite conference at Zurich on February 6th, 1959, when the Prime Ministers of Greece and Turkey met the British Foreign Secretary and prepared the document which became the basis for the final agreement signed in London on February 19th, 1959, by Mr Harold Macmillan for Britain, Mr Karamanlis for Greece and Mr Menderes for Turkey, and agreed to by Greek and Turkish Cypriot representatives. The Republic of Cyprus formally came into being on August 16th, 1960, and became a member of the British Commonwealth.

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