Issue Date: November 29, 1967
Greek-Turkish Crisis:Cyprus Clash Poses Threat
A communal clash on the island of Cyprus November 15-16 threatened to precipitate war between Greece and Turkey. The Ankara government warned Greece that its forces would invade Cyprus to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority there unless Greece withdrew its troops from the island. Turkey backed its threat by mobilizing army, air and naval units and massing forces at the Turkish port of Mersin, 80 miles north of Cyprus.
International efforts to head off a Greek-Turkish clash were undertaken by a special U.S. envoy, Cyrus R. Vance, by the UN and by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which Greece and Turkey were members. [See 1967 Cyprus: Greek-Turkish Talks]
The communal fighting erupted November 15 in the southern villages of Ayios Theodoros (mixed population) and Kophinou (all Turkish) and caused the death of 24 Turkish Cypriots and 4 Greek Cypriots. The first clash took place when a force of Greek Cypriot police led by National Guardsmen attempted to resume patrolling the Turkish area of Ayios Theodoros, where a patrol had entered November 14 but had been warned by Turkish Cypriots not to return. On approaching the village November 15, the patrol was stopped by a tractor on the road and was fired on when it tried to remove it. The Greek Cypriot force returned the fire. The fighting quickly spread to neighboring Kophinou, 2 miles away, where another Greek Cypriot patrol was fired on. The violence ended early November 16.
A communique issued by the Cypriot government November 15 said the National Guard had "neutralized all resistance" in both villages.
A spokesman for the UN Emergency Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) said November 15 that the UN had protested to the Nicosia regime against interferences with UN forces in the area. The note said the National Guard had disarmed UN troops, seized UN weapons and disabled UN radio equipment.
A statement by the Turkish Cypriot community November 16 charged that (a) the attack on Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou was an all-out military operation involving 3,000 Greek Cypriot troops, 40 armored vehicles and heavy artillery, and (b) the Greek Cypriots had fired indiscriminately on the inhabitants of the villages and had broken into homes, where they looted "everything they found in a frenzy of hatred."
Turkey's first reaction to the crisis came November 16 when it warned the U.S., Britain and the UN that it would intervene militarily unless the shooting stopped at Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou. The Ankara regime alerted its air and ground forces, and Turkish naval units sailed for Mediterranean waters off Turkey's southern coast. Turkey November 17 started air force reconnaissance flights over Cyprus.
The U.S. November 16 appealed to the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities and to King Constantine of Greece for restraint. UN Secretary General U Thant had discussed the crisis in separate meetings with the UN delegates from Greece, Turkey and Cyprus November 15.
Turkey was reported to have called on Greece November 17 to remove its troops from Cyprus. A note delivered to Athens was said to have included these other demands: removal from Cyprus of General George Grivas, commander of the Cyprus National Guard and of the Greek troops on the island (Grivas left for Athens November 19 for consultation with Greek government officials); compensation for the deaths and damage in Ayios Theodoros; a guarantee that similar incidents would not recur; the lifting of restrictions against Turkish Cypriots currently confined to their communal enclaves. (An estimated 8,000-12,000 Greek soldiers were stationed on Cyprus although only 950 were authorized under the 1960 London and Zurich agreements guaranteeing Cyprus' independence. Turkey had several hundred more troops in Cyprus than the 650 permitted.)
Greece replied November 22 and reportedly rejected the Turkish demands. The delivery of the reply was announced by Greek Foreign Minister Panayotis Pipinelis (who had been appointed to his post November 20). Pipinelis denied that the Turkish note was an ultimatum. "Our main concern," he said, "is to ease tension." Turkish Foreign Minister Ishan Sabri Caglayangil also affirmed that Turkey had put no time limit on its demand for the removal of Greek troops from Cyprus.
Cypriot President Makarios said in a broadcast November 24: Turkey "may force war on us. Whether the war which threatens...will be avoided or not does not depend on us.
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