The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
HISTORY
OF ATHENS
The
Greek Military Junta
(Regime of the Colonels)
The Cyprus Dispute and fall of the Junta
1955-1959: EOKA campaign and creation of TMT
In
January 1955, Grivas founded the National Organization of Cypriot
Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston – EOKA). On
1 April 1955, EOKA opened a campaign against British rule in a
well-coordinated series of attacks on police, military, and other
government installations in Nicosia, Famagusta, Larnaca and Limassol.
This resulted in the deaths of over 100 British servicemen and
personnel and Greek Cypriots suspected of collaboration.
In
1957 the Turkish Resistance Organization (Türk Mukavemet
Teskilati – TMT), was formed to fight EOKA. In response
to the growing demand for enosis, a number of Turkish Cypriots
became convinced that the only way to protect the interests and
identity of the Turkish Cypriot population in the event of enosis
would be to divide the island into a Greek and a Turkish sector,
a policy known as taksim ("partition" in Turkish).
By
now the island was on the verge of civil war. In December 1958,
representatives of Greece and Turkey discussed the concept of
an independent Cyprus, i.e., neither enosis nor taksim. Subsequent
talks yielded a compromise agreement supporting independence,
laying the foundations of the Republic of Cyprus. In London, the
Greek and Turkish representatives were joined by representatives
of the Greek Cypriots, the Turkish Cypriots (represented by Dr.
Fazil Kucuk), and the British.
The
Zurich-London agreements that became the basis for the Cyprus
constitution of 1960 were supplemented with three treaties - the
Treaty of Establishment, the Treaty of Guarantee and the Treaty
of Alliance. Greek Cypriots, especially members of organizations
such as EOKA, expressed disappointment because enosis had not
been attained. Turkish Cypriots, however, welcomed the agreements
and set aside their demand for taksim.
According
to the Treaty of Establishment, Britain retained sovereignty over
256 square kilometers, which became the Dhekelia Sovereign Base
Area, to the northwest of Larnaca, and the Akrotiri Sovereign
Base Area to the southwest of Limassol. Cyprus became independent
on 16 August 1960.