Yervant1 Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 It seems lately every article I read talks about Armenian Genocide. The Jewish VoiceJuly 24 2014Tragic 40th Anniversary of Turkish Invasion of Cyprus MarkedThursday, 24 July 2014 13:54 By: Daniel PipesJuly 20, 2014 marked the gloomy 40th anniversary of the day thatTurkish troops overpowered the tiny, almost undefended island ofCyprus in a brutal exercise of military might whose immorality onlyintensifies with the passing decades. Some thoughts in honor of theday:The invasion did not take place under Islamist rule: Although anIslamist (Necmettin Erbakan) served as deputy prime minister in acoalition government for almost all of 1974, he was not the keydecision maker in Turkey. Rather, Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, aleftist, enjoyed that privilege.The Ecevit-Erbakan cooperation in 1974 symbolizes a support amongTurks of all political persuasions for the invasion of Cyprus thatstill persists. This near-unanimity is a basic fact of Turkishpolitical life.That consensus will presumably remain in place until the Turkishoccupation begins to take its toll - economic, diplomatic, or evenmilitary - on the Republic of Turkey. After 40 years, this has noteven started, making one wonder if it ever will.But two recent developments could potentially change the dynamic byturning Turkish Cypriots against the status quo: (1) their frustrationat being excluded from the incipient gas and oil bonanza on the islandand (2) their growing resentment toward the ever-more autocraticIslamist overlords in Ankara. As the occupation is ostensibly fortheir benefit, if Turkish Cypriots want it ended, they just might makeit happen.Also to note: the Republic of Cyprus (the southern, official part ofthe island) has, as I put it in recent article titles, both stepped onthe world stage and joined the Middle East. It held the presidency ofthe European Union, prompted a world-shaking economic crisis, isbecoming a significant energy exporter, and has newly-close links toIsrael, the military powerhouse of its region. The "Cyprus Problem"now matters more to the outside world, which could be constructive.The occupation that began on July 20, 1974, still brings muchsuffering to what could be an idyllic Mediterranean island. It must bebut a memory by the time the fiftieth rolls around.Occupation and even wholesale slaughter was not a new concept for theTurkish government. During World War I, the government of the OttomanEmpire killed approximately 1.5 million Armenians through massshootings, forced marches, exposure, and starvation. It could not havetaken place without WWI, which radicalized Turkish public opinion andfreed the "Young Turks" from the constraints of international law. Butthe stage for genocide was set on February 8, 1914, when Europe'sGreat Powers forced the Turks to accept reforms they viewed as anexistential threat.An ancient ethnic group attested as far back as the sixth century BCE,the Armenians weathered the rise and fall of empires for millenniabefore the Ottoman Turks finally conquered the multiethnic Caucasusregion in the 16th century CE. During the heyday of the OttomanEmpire, the Christian Armenians enjoyed considerable religious freedomand legal autonomy under the Ottoman "millet" system, which allowedreligious minority groups to live by their own traditional laws.http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8035:tragic-40th-anniversary-of-turkish-invasion-of-cyprus-marked&catid=106:international&Itemid=289 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onjig Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Our children's Gunkahayer, is from Cyprus, was there before and during the invasion. He described how the English came first. saying you don't need these big guns anymore. { Refering to the large long range cannons on the hills, he called them mountains, these cannons were death to an invading fleet.] Well the English took the cannons. Later during the turkish invasion English ships were not far off watching their ally land and kill their way across Cyprus until they had the agreed upon portion of the island. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yervant1 Posted July 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 I guess furkish delight and business tastes better than human life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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