Mary Southcott – 16/11/2024
What does Cyprus learn from discussions of settler colonialism. Whether settled for trade or geopolitical reasons, these colonies have in common the coloniser’s shaping of landholding, laws, and race relations. Does Settler colonialism apply to Cyprus? And if not, why not. In the recent discussions of the British Empire, Cyprus does not figure, is it because it is too small to matter or because it doesn’t fit in. The recent cases of illegal treatment in British colonial prisons of Cypriots went to the High Count but it was the Kenyan incidents which got coverage. Where are the parallels with Northern Ireland? The Black and Tans were sent to the Middle East in 1920 to support the Balfour Declaration of the state of Israel but their modus vivendi in Cyprus was divide and rule. When Cyprus joined the EU, this was the time for nation building for the people of Cyprus to become EU and Cyprus Citizens not Greek and Turkish Subjects coloured by the decisions of Britain, Greece and Turkey. But Cypriots need to know their own history.
Bristol, where I have lived since 1975 used to house the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. It was established in 2002, exploring the history and effect of British colonial rule on the rest of the world. It was closed to the public in 2008/9 and went into voluntary liquidation in 2013. If covered the Slave Trade, not sure it covered Ireland but its statement on Cyprus was stand out imperialist. “The Greeks and Turks were fighting when the British arrived in 1878 and they were still fighting when Britain left.” Two things wrong here. First, it completely ignored British divide and rule. Although Henry Kissinger’s book chapter was entitled “a Study in Ethnic Conflict”, he admitted to Cyprus being his only mistake in 1979 when he appeared on Parkinson. So this analysis ignores the fact that since Independence in 1960, there are not Greeks and Turks in Cyprus but citizens of an independent country, Cyprus, not subsets of Greece and Turkey with the nation building which should have accompanied Independence or at very least the accession to the European Union.
Second of course, Britain did not leave. They thought they wanted Cyprus as a base but they only really wanted a base in Cyprus. They have the Sovereign Base Areas. These we have seen used by the USA in both the Iraq War and today in the support for Israel, rearming and surveillance. We are not allowed to talk about this. In the UK there is a D Notice, an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security. There was also a D Notice on GCHQ, in Ayios Nicolaos, when trade unions were banned in 1984. The arrest of Crispin Aubrey, John Berry and Duncan Campbell and the ABC trial in 1977/8 for infringing the Official Secrets Act for writing what was talked about openly in Cyprus. Now people living in the UK need to rely on Al Jazeera and Declassified UK. Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece, a British Liberal Democrat peer of Turkish Cypriot background, “It’s long overdue these British bases in Cyprus were handed back to the Cypriots”. This will not happen as tied up with Britain’s relationship with the USA and arguably saved even more of Cyprus being taken over by the Turkish military. The USA and NATO depend on the SBAs in Troodos, Ayios Nicolaos and Over the Horizon surveillance for many operations in the Middle East and further East to Okinawa in Japan.
Although all the White Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and America, before Independence, all engaged in Ethnic Cleansing of their indigenous population, this white supremacism has gone out of favour in the 21st century and Israel stands condemned of Apartheid and Genocide. Britain had to leave Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. So that leaves Cyprus and Malta and Ireland all in the EU. Cyprus has more in common with Ireland until it gained its Independence in 1921, perhaps with Northern Ireland since the Troubles. Both became members of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973 at the same time as the UK. Ireland didn’t leave the EU after the UK’s Brexit referendum whereas Northern Ireland did which created huge problems.
Winston Churchill contributed to sending extra police from England to Ireland to fight the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Troubles. They were called the Black and Tans, their name coming from the mixture of uniforms they wore with green caps and tan (pale brown) uniforms. When Irish independence was won, Winston Churchill was involved in moving the Black and Tans to the Middle East to support the putative Israel state and create divisions between Arab states to ensure they didn’t unite (or now to help the Palestinians). This was after the Balfour Declaration in 1917 which enabled the Zionist project of building a Jewish State in Palestine.
Ronald Storrs, the British governor of Jerusalem, said the idea was to create a Jewish Ulster in Palestine. Storrs moved to Cyprus in 1926 as its British Governor. The Black and Tan clearly taught those supporting a Jewish state well and now Netanyahu’s Israel. Their modus vivendi was to retaliate against the civilian population. We have since 7 October 2023 seen the term Settler Colonialism applied to Israel. Since the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and particularly since the establishment of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948, we have seen the indigenous people of the region removed, their land stolen, some bought, many Palestinians killed until many more than 40,000 have died in Gaza at the hands of the ironically called the Israeli Defence Force, IDF, and now the West Bank by Jewish Settlers. Cyprus recognised the State of Palestine in 1988 immediately after its declaration.
Another of the things which links Cyprus, to what was going on elsewhere in the British Empire, in Kenya, Malaya, Oman, Cyprus and Northern Ireland, is the late General Sir Frank Kitson, who worked in all these countries where the British used torture. He is said to have viewed the people in these countries as little more than laboratory rats to test his military theories.
When I first came to Cyprus I met someone who had two white round patches on his dark hair and told me that he had been tortured when in British prison by a Turkish Cypriot. Of course, it is understandable that people took jobs in prisons and the police force but those Greek Cypriots who were beaten up or tortured blamed the Turkish Cypriots not the British who oversaw this. It has a legacy of divide and rule as does the practice of releasing prisoners close to the village of the other community in the dark knowing they would be attacked. It was total war at grassroots level. General Sir Kitson himself said that should have killed more (see his obituary here: https://www.declassifieduk.org/the-general-who-terrorised-the-colonies/).
The UK have just returned the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, following an International Court of Justice Decision, although Diego Garcia remains an American US Base remains in Diego Garcia. Cyprus and Cypriots needs to sort out their answer various questions: why it didn’t get true independence or have its indigenous population wiped out only partition and ethnically cleansed into two states. The Republic of Cyprus, as the recognised state, needs to do much more to include the other traditions in Cyprus in their foreign and domestic policy, in their High Commissions and Embassies and museums, not just Greek history and language. It needs to show it is capable of representing citizens of Cyprus whatever their ethnicity or language. Cypriots need to reassess its history, not of course just in the south but in the north, but the flag flying, national anthems, and the celebration of national days of Greece and Turkey confuse the message or give an appearance of Two States. It needs to challenge the ethnic cleansing and instead of allowing the divide and rule Cypriots need to work together for reunification. Also to produce material which shows how the divide and rule worked and avoid the traps. And see the connections with what is happening elsewhere in the world.
