History of Cyprus Volume 4
written by Hera Genakritou
Publisher Nikos Chr. Pattihis, Fileleftheros, Nicosia, Cyprus 2012
cover illustration by Kyriaki Costa
Volume 4 covers the British Crown Colony to European Union membership
Excerpts from the book, courtesy of Hera Genakritou & Publisher Nikos Chr. Pattihis, Fileleftheros.
Island for sale
With the promise to help the Ottomans in the event that it were attacked by Russia, the British became masters of the island in 1878. In return, they promised to pay the Turks £92,800, which they were obliged to pay every year.
The fight of EOKA
Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston
When the Cypriots saw that the British were not going to accept the Union of Cyprus with Greece, they organized themselves to claim with arms their right to self-determination.
President Archbishop Makarios III
In 1950, Archbishop Makarios II died and in his place was elected, at the age of 37, Makarios III, whose name was to be associated with the most important events of the modern history of Cyprus.
Makarios' exile
Even after removing Makarios as the Cypriot leader, the British were unable to stamp out the EOKA movement but they arrested many EOKA fighters. Some of the fighters were marched to a gallows and hanged.
The 1974 Cypriot coup d'état
By 1974, a military junta that had taken over the Greek government since 1967, aided by EOKA II, ordered the organisation to overthrow President Makarios and take the presidential palace. Five days later, Türkiye invaded Cyprus.
The consequences of the Turkish invasion
The end of the Turkish invasion finds Cyprus bleeding and counting its wounds. There are thousands of refugees who take refuge in tent camps, thousands of the dead, the injured, the missing…