CYPRUS – NICOSIA

NOVEMBER 5 – 12, 2024

Pierre had a military reunion for the members who served as United Nations Peace Keepers from 1964-2024. He had served in 1974, fifty years ago. He was there when the Turks “invaded” the island on 20 July, 1974. I give a bit of the history of Cyprus at the end of this blog.

The pictures taken in the Buffer Zone were taken by a sanctioned photographer. It was strictly a No Photo Zone. There were observation posts and CCTV on both sides of the Zone, watching and scrutinizing our every move.

THE REUNION

We were taken to the Nicosia Hilton, where the reunion was based.

We checked in, then registered for the tours. We had a great evening meeting some of Pierre’s old buddies and connecting with new faces.

SIDE NOTE: Pierre failed to register me for any of the tours. Each participant had to be registered individually, not as a couple. Thankfully, they were able to squeeze me in. Don’t I feel special?

The Hilton treated us to superb meals

and entertainment throughout our stay.

There was a brief orientation meeting that was done with military precision. There was no fancy extra words, simply where to check which bus you are on in the morning and what time it will leave. And they DID leave on time! One thing can be said for military veterans – they are ON TIME!

There was some presentations from one country to another for their appreciation of cooperation. The Swedish fellow was presenting to a Canadian “Please accept this…..whatever it is….” The entire room burst into laughter. The Swede went with it and for every presentation thereafter, he used the same line.

There was a very senior veteran, George Slade, aged 91. He was a lovely gentleman with lots of good stories, old and new. Everywhere he went, he had a young soldier assisting him.

He always seemed to have a harem around him. LOL

THE HUMAN FACTOR

The tours we took all had a current UN soldier as a guide as well as a retired General that served in Cyprus, albeit as a Lieutenant. They gave the history and military aspects of the area we were in. Then they asked if anyone had questions or personal stories they wanted to share. Many veterans came forward with personal experiences of what happened to him. Then another would step up and say that he was there too, but in a different area. It created a total and emotional picture.

It is one thing to hear about the facts in a clinical way, it is another to hear from the guy who was “boots on the ground“.

THE TOURS

The first morning we all got into our respective UN van

and headed to Ledra Palace, a former grand hotel that ended up in the buffer zone and got converted to army barracks. It was used as barracks up until a year ago.

After Ledra Palace we went to the Diplomatic Circle. It was a posh section of Nicosia where all the diplomats lived. It too fell under the Green Line. When the diplomats left in a hurry, it was rife with vandalism and looters.

The next day we walked the Buffer Zone (Green Mile). This was a particularly emotional day for most veterans. Evidence of the intense fighting was in our faces.

There were 450 Canadian troops in Cyprus when the fighting broke out on July 20, 1974. The Greeks and the Turks were intent on killing each other. Pierre and Guy Germain were the first two Peace Keeping soldiers to walk the Green Line. They unknowingly “volunteered”. All they heard was the sound of guns cocking on either side of them.

Our British UN guide compared this one area to Regent Street in London. It was filled with high-end shops, banks, and restaurants.

One fellow broke into tears when he saw the old tailor shop. He had boughten a suit there. Now it was an empty shell.

There were observation posts all along this area, with a few murder holes to remind you of the fighting that took place.

There was graffiti etched into the walls. Some simply to leave a reminder to those who followed that they were here, lest they not make it home.

Some places were totally off limits.

Apparently, the cats did not get that memo.

Some areas were off limits because there was still a possibility of land mines.

We went to the old Nicosia Airport, where some heavy fighting took place. Supremacy of the airport was paramount.

The airport was a marvel in its time, and still impressed the hell out of us. Considering that only 1 in 17 people owned a car, even less could afford to fly. It was such a marvel, that they had viewing area on the top deck where people could buy a ticket to sit and watch the planes come and go.

The airport was one of the first buildings in the world to have automatic doors. It was almost magic that the door open as you approached. The architect designed it with huge glass windows in the ceilings. Even 50 years later, the place was lit up as bright as any modern airport with fluorescent lighting.

The waiting lounge had reclining lounge chairs, complete with head rest.

Unfortunately, the only ones enjoying the facilities now were pigeons and rats.

We went to see a former Cyprus Airliner that was destroyed in the fire fight. It had been stripped for any usable parts long ago.

Bullet holes could still be seen.

We were also shown a fighter jet that had been shot down at the end of the runway.

We then went to a former Finnish barracks that was absolutely destroyed in the shelling.

A few days prior, one of the Canadian veterans returned the UN flag to a Finland delegate. He had taken down the flag just prior to evacuating, so the Turks could not grab it and use it for nefarious purposes. It was an emotional event to have the original flag returned 50 years later.

We drove past the former English Grammar School, which was destroyed in the bombing raids. This is a picture that someone had taken moments after the impact.

REMEMBRANCE DAY

The reunion was planned around Remembrance Day. Two ceremonies were held. One was in Dhekelia, a British military base.

I have been to Remembrance Day ceremonies before, but to attend one next to a cemetery with veterans who lost friends was a Remembrance Day to remember.

There are no words to express the solemness and reverence. A minute of silence was SILENT!

This particular cemetery also had 500 babies buried. Some tombstones stated “One Day Old”, “Two Hours Old”. Someone told me that there was an investigation as to why so many babies died shortly after birth. It was either unsanitary conditions, unclean water, or a virus that was prevalent at the time. Or alien abductions….

The second Remembrance ceremony was on November 11 at Wolseley Barracks.

Wolseley Barracks was particularly poignant for our group. It is located across from the Ledra Palace and really close to the spot where Private Joseph Perron was killed.

Many of the veterans knew him and some were there when it happened. General Marc Caron relayed the events, pointing to the exact location where Perron was shot in the back.

The ever-present helicopter hovered at exactly 11:00 with a soldier saluting from the door.

A BIT OF HISTORY

Cyprus is an island south of Turkey that is a strategic military location. It has been fought over and dominated by various countries for centuries.

The Turks beat the Venetians in 1571 for control of the island. In 1878, the Turks turned over temporary control of Cyprus to the British, in order to provide assistance against the Russians. It was supposed to return to the Ottoman Empire when Russia withdrew from Turkey. It never did, even though the Russians withdrew. In 1914, Britain annexed Cyprus when Turkey entered WWI. 1923 saw British sovereignty legally recognized in Cyprus. That is how the British got involved.

In 1953, a Greek Cypriot guerrilla organization, EOKA, fought a campaign to end British rule and for union with Greece (Enosis). Anyone who did not support them was considered an enemy. They issued this declaration “We have two enemies. the first is the British and the second is the Turks. First we will catch the British and expel them from the island. Then we will annihilate the Turks. Our goal is Enosis. Our mission is to realize this goal at all costs.”

In response to the violence, the Turkish Resistance Organization (TMT) was formed. With this resistance, the Greeks realized they would never achieve Enosis. In 1960, Britain offered a solution by giving Cyprus its independence, thereby creating the new Republic of Cyprus. In addition, if the President was Greek then the Vice President had to be Turk. Britain, Greece and Turkey were all in agreement… for a while….

Like pouty children, the Greek Cypriot side didn’t give the new Republic a chance to survive. They started excluding Turks from state institutions, isolating them, and continually trying to end their existence on the island. They even went as far as not accepting the veto right of the Turkish Vice President.

EOKA continued secretly training and arming Greek officers. The plan was to run a blitz attack on the Turks and annihilate them overnight. On the night of Dec 20, 1963, they bombed mosques and even an elementary school. 30,000 Turks were forced to leave 103 villages during the attacks which would become known as “Bloody Christmas”.

The Turkish Regiment immediately took a defensive stance, sending in fighter jets as warning flights over Nicosia. The Greeks Cypriots accepted a ceasefire with the mediation of Britain. On December 30, 1963 a GREEN LINE was drawn on a map to separate the Turks and Greek Cypriots.

In typical British style, they drew a straight line. At one point it even when down the middle of a house. We were shown a picture of a white line down the middle of a rooftop, with Greek soldiers on one side and Turks on the other. There was one picture where two men sat side by side, on either side of the line, having a coffee together.

In March of 1964 the UN Security Council deployed peacekeeping forces to the island. Instead of taking the UN’s advice and having the three guarantors (Britain, Greece & Turkey) get a mediator to promote a peaceful solution, Greece kept sending military forces to Cyprus to the tune of 20,000 soldiers. The Republic of Cyprus went from being a partnership to a de facto Greek Cypriot / Greek control, stating that “Irresolution is the resolution”.

The Turks naturally wanted to intervene, as one of the guarantors. The intervention was halted by US President Johnson in a letter to the Turkish Prime Minister on June 5, 1964. (my question is WHY?) On Aug. 5, 1964 Greek Cypriots and Greek troops attacked a Turkish area and killed many Turks. A mass massacre was prevented by the support of Turkish jets and Turkish soldiers.

The attacks on the Turks continued into 1967. The United States intervened. An agreement was made where Turkey agreed to evacuate their villages and get some payment compensation. The Greeks agreed to withdraw some troops and stop the siege on Turkish areas. This time Turkey did not trust the treaty and decided to take more decisive policies.

On 15 July, 1974 the Greek Cypriot National Guard executed a coup d’etat, removing the sitting President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III, from office and installed pro-Greek nationalist, Nikos Sampson. This move was considered illegal by the United Nations. Makarios fled to England. Some people backed Makarios, some backed the coup. Many Greeks were killed or simply disappeared during this in-fighting. (The military regime ended up collapsing and Makarios returned. But the crazy pot had already been stirred.)

This in-fighting presented an opportunity for the Turks to launch an invasion on 20 July 1974. They cited the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, a treaty between Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and the UK, which banned Cyprus from participating in any political union with another state. One of the Articles within this Treaty “reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the present Treaty”. The Turkish Cypriots thought they were within their rights to take unilateral action.

Fighting broke out. The United Nations Peace Keepers, already on the scene since 1964, were bolstered, from 400 Canadian troops on the ground, to 1100. There were other countries also here with the UN.

The period between 1963 and 1974 had lots of intense and brutal attacks on the Turks. This constituted a second wave of evacuation and migration. The Turks took about one third of the island, north of the Green Line. Turks living in the south had to flee to the north, leaving houses, businesses and friends. The Greeks living in the north had to flee to the south. Each side effectively becoming refugees in their own country. In 1983 the Turks proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and remains a de facto state.

IN CONCLUSION

There is still a lot of animosity between the two factions. In the 1980s a group of patriotic Turks used white stones to mark out a giant Northern Cyprus flag on the side of Mount Pentadaktylos, facing Nicosia. It covers about 50 acres (426 metres wide and 250 m (820 ft) high. It currently the largest flag in the world and can even be seen from space.

The main objective is to be as visible as possible. It constitutes an unprecedented daily provocation to the Greek Cypriots. The coloured stones are visible during the day and during the night it is lit up by thousands of light bulbs.

There was a referendum held in 2004 asking the people if Cyprus should reunite. 75% of Greeks said NO. 65% of the Turks said YES. It is all very confusing.

We had a panel of Cypriots, Greek and Turk, who spoke to us about life before, during and after the coup. They all agreed that life was quite simple between the Greeks and Turks. Everyone enjoyed coffee together in the local shop. Turks did business with the Greeks and visa versa. It was all good.

The bottom line is, most people just want to get along. The politicians complicate things. Maybe, instead of sending politicians to a Swiss resort to come to a peace agreement, they need to sit down in a coffee shop.