The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Why the Island of Cyprus Is Still Divided

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

From the Egyptians and Persians to the Romans and even Alexander the Great, the island of Cyprus has been ruled by a revolving door of empires. Today, it is partitioned between Turkish and Greek Cypriots. How did we get here? What caused this island to be carved into two? And why does it remain divided? With animated maps and guest Major-General Alain Forand, this episode of Forgotten War digs into the millennia-old history of Cyprus and the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974 that led to its partition. This video was made in partnership with Canada Company. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peacekeeping does not work if there is fighting because it's no longer peacekeeping. It would be peacemaking which is completely different. In 1974, Major General Alain Forin, as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus, found himself in an impossible position. The mission was to be between the Turkish Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot. Forin patrolled the Green Line, a demilitarized zone separating the Turkish and Greek populations, established in 1964. But by 1974, both sides were at war. To understand this

conflict and how the general got here, we need to go back. Cyprus has, due to its strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, long been a coveted island. It has been ruled by a revolving door of empires over thousands of years. In 1570, the Ottoman, or Turkish Empire, stormed the island and took it over. This marked the beginning of the influx of Turks to Cyprus. Up to that point, it was predominantly Greek. Fast forward 300 years, and the Ottomans hand over control of the island to Great Britain. But the Ottomans still technically own the island. This won't last for long.

In 1940, the war came and Turkey was with the Germans. So Britain annexed the island. Cyprus became an official crown colony in 1925. By the 1950s, Cyprus was a powder keg, ready to explode. Many Greek Cypriots take to the streets, demanding an end to British rule, and to become a part of Greece. This is known as Enosis. This created quite a lot of problems, especially with the Turkish Cypriot,

who felt they did not have a space that belonged to them. It was all inkly surrounded by Greek Cypriot. The Turkish population, once dispersed throughout the island, had become concentrated into Turkish-only areas. They favored a two-state solution, a partition of the island. This is known as Taksim. a partition of the island. This is known as Taksim. In 1955, a Greek-Cypriot paramilitary group

bombed government buildings and killed British and Greek opponents of Enosis. That same group later targeted and killed Turkish-Cypriot police in an effort to provoke riots in the capital city of Nicosia. In 1959, Britain, Greece, and Turkey got together to come up with a solution, which gave neither Greek nor Turkish Cypriots what they wanted. Instead, Cyprus became an independent republic.

A power-sharing agreement was drawn up, and Britain still remained on the island, retaining two sovereign military bases. Three years later, the power-sharing agreement fell apart. Violence erupted. At this stage, the Turkish Cypriots were declaring that it would be impossible ever again to live in harmony with their Greek compatriots. And there was a lot of killing and, you know, barbarian on both sides. 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots are killed. More than 100 Turkish Cypriot or mixed villages are attacked, and roughly a quarter of the Turkish Cypriot population is displaced.

That's when the United Nations was asked to provide military support. UN peacekeeping forces arrived in 1964 and for the next decade attempted to enforce a fragile peace. This came undone in the summer of 1974. On July 15th, a coup was launched by the Cypriot National Guard. It was led by officers from mainland Greece. Five days later, Turkey invaded Cyprus from the north. Five o'clock, I think it was around five o'clock, somebody said, look, there's parachutes coming.

Forin looked up and saw roughly a thousand Turkish paratroopers dotting the sky. And then a couple of hours after that, there was about 2,000 other infantrymen that came by helicopter, you know, that landed also in the same area. And then the firing started, all over the place,

both from the Greek side, the Turkish side. And I said, the situation, you know, is impossible. The UN blue helmet and the UN flag signals peacekeeping. And you do not fire on peacekeepers. But Forin found these symbols of peace transformed his men into targets. Thus we had no vehicle protection. Our guys were doing patrol in bicycle. The last time I looked it does not offer too much protection.

Since Forin found himself in an active war zone, on July 23rd, he convinced the British to lend him a lightly armored vehicle known as a ferret. So with the bit, I start to patrol. A mortar fell on a nearby first aid station. Those rushing, trying to put out the fire, were attacked. Forin was ordered to protect them. So when I arrived there, everything had burned.

Forin began to leave the charred first aid station, but something caught his eye. I saw some parishes running around and said, what the hell is going on? Two of Forin's men, Captain Normand Blacquiere and Private Michel Plouffe, were escorting Turkish soldiers who were fleeing a failed attack on a Greek location. The Turkish soldiers feared without an escort,

they would be slaughtered. And as they were going to escorting, I think there were eight or nine Turkish soldier, the Greek start to open fire. And I think there was four or five Turks that were killed plus three or four that were wounded and Blackyar was in both legs and then Clouffe covered in. So I decided immediately to send the ferret to a location. I said, go there because I'm going to go and get Blackyar and Clouffe, but if they fire at me, I will give you the order to fire.

So I dive in to get the blacky eye. As Forin crawled to his men, the Greeks opened fire. With bullets flying towards him, he turned around and gave two signals. One to the Brits manning the ferret, and another to his men on the 50 caliber machine gun. They returned fire. If the caliber has a sound, you know, boom, boom, boom, it's really fantastic.

When you're there, you hear that sound, you say, my God, I'm protected. Even with this protective cover, the Greeks still continued to fire on Forin. Just as I was going down, Clouffe was hit by a bullet. It went through his helmet and through his mouth. So when I arrived there, he opened his mouth and he had the bullet in his tongue. And we start laughing, crazy, you know, you react in those circumstances.

Forin then dragged Blacquiere, who was shot in both legs, up the creek to safety. But he still had one man in danger. Then I went back to get Clloif and get him out. Forin rushed his men to the hospital. They were able to save Blackyard and Tloif, just a little bit of a surgery and he was okay. Forin was awarded the Star of Courage,

the second highest award for bravery in Canada. I just did my job, you know, so for me it was great that they gave me the medal, but we were a team, you know, that's the mentality that we try to instill in all our soldiers, so to me I was only doing my job, normal. Fighting continued throughout the summer. There was a mass exodus moving north and south. More than 150,000 Greek Cypriots and almost 50,000 Turkish Cypriots became refugees on their own island. By the time a ceasefire was negotiated, Turkey had taken

over a third of Cyprus. The UN buffer zone was reestablished and extended, carving the island into two. And not much has changed since then. There's still a lot of friction between Greece and Turkey. I think it will take a long time if ever, you know, that they are reunification and that they're able to go back to a certain form of conciliation that they had in the past. For now, the Greek southern portion is a member of the European Union, and the northern Turkish side is currently recognized

by just one country in the world, Turkey. 28 Canadian peacekeepers have died in Cyprus. UN peacekeeping forces remain there to this day, patrolling the Green Line. Forin believes the Canadian Armed Forces can still play an integral role in stabilizing the world, much as they did in Cyprus. But he sees an under-resourced military

that is not what it once was. I don't see the future, you know, being rosy. That's unfortunate. The world is here, you know, it's surrounding us. So if problems arise somewhere, it will have an impact on us eventually. And if you're not able to try to help them, then that problem will become yours at one point or another, whether you like it or not.