Memorial honors British soldiers killed on Cyprus

I can understand why the Greeks are upset: the British were occupation troops who used our people, the Turkish-Cypriots, to do the dirty work, like torture and murder... The next would be if the Germans demanded to have a memorial for the SS troops that died while occupying France, Belgium, Denmark etc. The British are no more friends of the Turks than they are of the Greeks...

Yes, Dmitri. A terrorist faction, under national laws and the ICC, are your liberators. It just goes to show doesnt it, the true, twisted agendas of the Greek community. Hell, why dont we go to America and tell them the perpretrators of 9/11 where Palestinian liberators. I am truly horrified by these Orthodox posters.

Falsificating the historic facts does not do any good to you or to your country. I can understand this move by the occupied Cyprus government as a pledge for sympathy but alas, this article ridicules the act. You can say anything you like about EOKA but this will not change the fact that, with their limited means, they fought with success against one of the best organized ARMIES, that occupied their country.

Hurriyet, one mans terrorist is another man liberator, "most of them killed by the terrorist organization EOKA" the British killed in Cyprus were military persons, EOKA did not 'go after' civilians, they wanted the british of cypriot soil, however all death is wrong but please publish factual articles

Haha kaya the greeks were the ones who killed themselves to free themselves from the nazis..the same thing happened in cyprus..causse when you are a small country or a small island against millions and you go to kill yourself against people like you who want to kill you ans steal you you are a hero not a murderer..Cause if the greeks were not brave enough against you or the nazis today the history will be different..i am really sad of you cause you do not know what a brave person and with morelity means...And you will remain always a immoral ...coward who thinks that killing innoncent people is the same thing with being a hero..

ok ,not all of you..Some of you..Do you recognize it?Do you know that these 10 years the dead people that were found trying to pass the eagean through the turkish coasts with h help of turks of course were 1300 and 800 that we know that are ignored..And imagine how many we do not know and count..you know about some more too..And all this for money ...when someone has blood on his hands i do not know if he can speak..

Im sure that would suit you just find Peter, considering the disgustingly racist and biased approaches of the ECHR. Turkey's geopolitical interests are irrelevant. The liberation happened because its diaspora was being slain at the hands of EOKA to unite Greece with Cyprus - in essence, Greece supported a regime of genocide to achieve ITS geopolitical interests, far less than Turkey. Have you forgotten the coup of samsun? Kurds are not being openly murdered and killed like the way Greeks where doing to the Turkish Cypriots before and during 1974. Granted, riots, combined with the uneccessary use of force by the Turkish police force, paticularly in the 90's, led to alot of Kurdish dead - i condemn there inequality under the law and such prejudices against them. But the current administration also upholding the continued protection of the Northern Turkish Republic of Cyprus is also the same administration which has launched major Armenian, Alveli and Kurdish initiatives. Why should the current leadership or the leadership that ordered the liberation of Cyprus be accused of double standards when such opressive laws was commited by administrations after their rule? Its clearly a violation of our modern, enlightened and positivist constitution. And how is Greece, supporter of EOKA and its genocide, along with the undemocratic coup which ruptured the islands chances of remaining conjoined, not be accused of being hypocrits? You compare Cyprus to the US invading Mexico - how pathetically ignorant of you. You seem to forget that Cyprus was ottoman lands, obtained from its previous owners by legitimate political and military means, and then illegally handed down to the Greeks. The creation of the Northern State isnt the UN's problem - nobody questions its legitemacy. Its Turkeys forces deployement in this area which has resulted in the embargo. Peter, how hard do you think it will be for Turkey to snap its fingers for the Islamic Conference Nations to recognize Cyprus if the UN cannot pull through with a peace deal? Syria has already partially recognized it and the ME countries are on standby to follow suit. Ultimately, it falls down to the Greek's willingness to compromise and let go of claims that the Maras belongs to them.

Sinan and timur Turkey is in Cyprus to serve her own geopolitical interests. The Turkish Cypriots are used to achieve that. There is peace today on the ground because there is no reason for Turkey to fight after she got what she wanted. The war is in the political arena and that is where Turkey is bleeding. If you sum up the cost of the invasion, the money Turkey is sending to maintain the north part and its army there, the number of people killed, the trouble is meeting in the political arena etc etc was it really worthy given that the problem is still open and many people Greek and Turkish Cypriots are very unhappy with losing their houses and properties. Dividing Cyprus by force on ethnic considerations when the world is becoming multiethnic in violation of human rights cannot form a peaceful solution. It will add to Turkey's problems for years if not centuries the same way the Armenian Genocide, the Kurdish issue are taking resources away creating animosities in future generations etc. What about thinking of a unified Cyprus member of EU, a democratic Turkey member of EU where all people irrespective of their ethnic roots are respected and their rights are protected. So many Europeans achieve that. Why shouldn't the Turks achieve that too?

I read all the comments written by Turkish people and I notice the following: 1. No one ever mentions TMT and the slogan partition or death 2. No one mentions the burning of houses and the killings and tortures of the Greeks of Istanbul in 1955 under the slogan Cyprus is Turkish 3. No one seems to be aware that 4 months after the signing of the Zurich London agreements the British arrested a Turkish ship in the process of unloading considerable number of weapons for TMT close to Kokkina. Just 4 months after signing. 4. No one seems to be aware of the many atrocities that TMT committed in Cyprus against innocent civilians in order to promote the idea of partition claiming that Turks and Greeks can no longer live together. If anyone needs specific examples of killings I can provide them. I am wondering whether they live in a society that controls all the information and in the process they forget to honor their own people for fighting and killing Greek Cypriots including many civilians in order to achieve partition. Instead they are honoring the colonial soldiers who should not have been fighting in Cyprus in the first place. Let us hope that Turkey will evolve to a truly democratic country where people like Pamouk Orhan and others can speak freely without been afraid of their lives so that the Turkish people can learn their true history rather than the one passed to them by the Turkish military.

Well said Kaya. To all the morons writing comments along the lines of "you're a Turk, you can't comment on ethnic cleansing as you're all MURDERERS!!!1!1": just get off the internet, converse with people at your own level, instead of littering the internet with nonsensical, racist drivel. Hey, you could gather up some other bigoted hate-mongerers like yourself and have your own "We hate teh Turks" club. Just keep yourselves to yourselves though. Oh, and don't breed - for humanity's sake :)

these people are ridiculous ..The joke of the world..If you think the whole rticle it seems like a circus..It is not the first time..but ok//

gregoire i invite you to trnc and ask around what people know. went through prior to 1974 denial will get us to your way of thinking . there is peace on the island now, yes people have lost homes but thats a price worth paying for peace.

Interestingly, no one seems to remember and condemn EOKA's mass killing of civilian Turkish Cypriots which was the real reason behind Turkish invasion, protecting lives of defenceless people. Let's also remember mass graveyards!

Mr Philip Read your comments about freedom of religion in Cyprus are half true. It is true that during the Ottoman empire the Greek Orthodox Church enjoyed a lot of freedom. What you do not add is that the Church was the collector of taxes for the Sultan. In Cyprus the differences between Turks and Greeks are not the religion. No Turkish propaganda ever stated that the Turkish Cypriots were prevented from carrying out their religion. Many Churches were build next to Mosques in mixed villages and the two religions co existed with absolutely no problem. One reason is that neither the Greek Cypriots nor the Turkish Cypriots are religious fanatics. If you can take a trip to Cyprus and I encourage you to do so please visit the churches in the occupied part and the Mosques in the Southern part of the Republic of Cyprus. The results will be very shocking to you as they will nullify the statements you made.

Mr Kaya the Cyprus problem is that of outside interference and in this case that of Turkey to accomplish her geopolitical interests. The rights of the Turkish Cypriots were violated not to a lesser extend than those of the Kurds in Turkey yet no Turk can see the double standards here. The number of Kurdish villages burn and destroyed, the number of Kurds executed is an insignificantly small percentage of what happened to the Turkish Cypriots even at the worse times. When you tell Kurdish people what rights the Turkish people had in Cyprus they would tell you that this is what they want today in Turkey. Turkey used the Turkish Cypriots to create a conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and used fear and dramatization of certain events to pursue the policy of partition. Trying to create a country on land taken away by force in violation of numerous UN resolutions and of basic human rights is a failed effort. No country will recognize it as if they do the UN and Security council as well as all human organizations will mean nothing and we will all be at danger. Imagine Russian invading Turkey and establishing a Kurdish State. United states invading Mexico and establishing a country for the Mayas or American Indians etc etc. And if you tell me that the rights of these minorities are not violated I will say that I want to hear it from the minorities. Every minority can find reasons to prove that its rights are violated. So if you do not believe that Turkey should be cut into pieces in order to give a country to the Kurds, Alevis and other minorities whose population is significantly higher than that of the Turkish Cypriots then do not talk about two countries in Cyprus. Partitioning Cyprus into two countries based on ethnicity when the rest of the Europe and the world is becoming multi ethnic simply because it serves the geopolitical interest of Turkey is barbaric and anachronistic. No country will ever recognize this fictitious state formed by the violation of every single human right principle. So let us look for a solution that stops outside interference, one that serves the interests of Cypriots Greek and Turkish in line with European principles and international law.

NIKO you are a sick individual, their deaths were not their fault, the only ones to blame are EOKA a terrorist organization, comments like yours prove what blood thirsty evil creatures you are, and if they could do that to British soldiers just imagine what they did do to Turkish Cypriots and what they could have done if Turkey hadn't intervened! Just goes to show how important Turkey's Military presence is in Cyprus!

Dear Kaya, I will start from the end. I know many many many Greeks and Turks who are friends. They are so close to one another (that is probably why they are fighting!). I want to see friendship and peace. And I know that Greeks and Turks in many times in history did live happily together, they still do in some parts, but there is also a lot of bitterness. But that is something that can be fixed and people should not wait for their governments or their media to do so. For Cyprus, I just want to see the army out, I dont care if there are twenty states there, though I cannot see why there has to be more than one in an EU country. If you look at the EU, you will realise that in every country the regions are equally important as the countries themselves. Whales and Scotland are as distinct from England as the UK is from France in many ways in the EU. As there are no borders between countries, and with the Lisbon treaty now there will be little sovereignty with national governments, the EU becomes a large ocean of freedom: so no particular need to worry over one, two or twenty states. The power of the veto in the EU, under the lisbon treaty, is going sir, oh yes. Except of course a few matters that will also eventually change. My friend Kaya, I will not agree with you however on the Greek - Turkish war. I do agree that people get killed in a war. I do agree that part of todays Turkey was occupied by Greece. But Greece was the only country of all the countries that occupied Turkey (as a result of Turkey's participation in the 1st world war) together with the UK, France and Italy, that controlled an area with a majority Greek population. The other countries were colonialist countries, Greece was not. And in its occupation of this part of Turkey, Greece did not kill (or expel) all the Turks that were living in there. But once the 10 year Greek rule ended (in what Turks today call the war of independence) the Greeks of Izmir had an option: die or swim. The population of Greece before what Greeks call the Asia Minor catastrophe was 4000000. After it it was near 6M. Just about every Greek has a relative or very close friend that was expelled or killed in what Turks call 'the war of independence'. You can ask your Greek friends about it, I can tell you what I know: This is what people call today, in the politically correct and sentimentally neutral speech, 'a disproportionate use of force'...that war does not explain. But I must once more protest that we should not be worried about history, people should look ahead on building bridges and solving their great problems in simple sustainable ways, otherwise other countries will play the great game against you and your countries, and there will be more Britains, USAs, or other colonialist powers of the logic 'divide and rule'. If Greece and Turkey did not invest in their military they would both be very wealthy countries. Much more wealthy than now, happier, more educated, and ultimately ...safer. The enemy is not accross the border. The enemy will use both countries against each other. They always have done.

Yioryos: So did the Swiss and the Swedish. Considering its geopolitical location, it would have been a huge mistake to ally ourselves in the midst of battle. The Nazi empire would have undoubtably won, the state of the Turkish armed forces at the time was horrendous because of the wars that lead to its 1930 establishment and the huge Ottoman bills it had to pay off during that era. It would have lead to the economic and militarialistic collapse of the country. Its not like the Nazi army where far away; the Germans shared a boarder with us when they invaded Greece. Still, what relevance does this have to the topic at hand? Also, Turkey's vital role during the Cold War, the Afghanistan and Iraqi invasions, and its NATO position (having the second biggest army in the organization) im sure makes up for much of our lost time in defending the modern world from threats. Im sure if it comes to it, the Americans will be using our land to step into the boarders of Iran. Who knows? At the end of the day, we do not see ourselves as an Eastern power or Easterners; but a Southern European and Mediterranean one just like Greece. Our contributions to Europe's energy security and military security from Arab countries can also not be overseen.

Dear Philip, how twisted can your logic be? And how ignorant your comments! I have nothing against Britain today (I must say this so that fellows like yourself dont try to eat me... : ) Under Ottoman Rule...until the British took over. So, how many turkish indigenous people where there when the Ottomans took over? And how many british indigenous people are there now in Cyprus..or were there ever? People must be so grateful that there was Ottoman or British rule, right? Perhaps, we should let the French occupy your country, provided of course they let everyone practice their faith... And when you refer to Ottoman rule, you cannot generalise like that: for hundreds of years you could be Christian, but that meant that you were a second class citizen, you could not be part of the elite, you could not get officia. These were reserved for the Muslims. The Republic of Cyprus I will have you know not only has (until today) vacant seats in its parliament for Turkish Cypriots (this is muslims, aren't they?) and has Turkish as its official language. And may I remind you Cyprus today and since Britain left, is not a colony but a free country that British people with a mentality like yours have left crippled still reaping the benefits...and reminiscing the grandeur of their past colonial days. Long live Victoria (she does, she is still around!). The reality in Cyprus today is the one that it is. We cannot dwell into history, but we can make sure some things improve. And one of them is the end of militaristic rule in the north, for the sake of the Turkish Cypriots (who find themselves a minority not to the Greek Cypriots but to the tens of thousands of immigrants from Turkey). Britain has had it very well, and they now can feel smug about it, but the stark realities are faced by the Cypriots of today, who live in the only country in Europe with a wall in the middle. Break it, break it and live together in peace.

I think this is the last time i am writing here, suddenly most readers have become experts on what is quite complex politics.They are also able to distinguish who is a terrorist and who is not. I thought this was a serious comments column, were people write their thoughts (not whatever comes to their mind) and share them with other fellow readers, by trying to understand their point of view, but I was obviously wrong (or luck of humour as sb quoted earlier, as i dont see the 'funny' side of such accusations).

Niko: I think you should think twice before assuming im a Muslim just because i am a Turk. I am not a Muslim. LOKO: Amusing post. Again, another Greek rewriting history, is it of any suprise? From what i can recall from historical FACT, the only Greek killing Ataturk done was the war against the Greeks to end their occupation of our land. Its called the Turkish war of independance. You did it to the Ottoman empire too, i dont see you mentioning that as to no suprise (Greek war of independance, remember?). How do you pin a war "mass killing against the Greeks"? Its called war. Both sides where soldiers, hostile and equally capable of attacking eachother. Infact i believe there was 4 thousands more Greek soldiers when we took our land back from Greek invasion. Is that how you tone down the embarrasement of defeat? Oh, and while im at it, the Armenian genocide happened during Ottoman rule in 1915 - nothing to do with Ataturk. Just goes to show how rusty your convienient interpretation of history is. Gregoire: Turkey didnt believe it was his territory at any point of time. But he did believe the minority diaspora on the island deserved to be better treated than forced into enclaves. Hence, the liberation you guys so desperately despise. I respect your point of view regardless and thankyou for your comment because i share the same views in that respect. My concern is however - i genuinely believe that the only solution in Cyprus belongs to a two state solution. Why should we bother with current negotiations? History has taught us it does not work, Greece only supports our EU entry because they believe it would soften our stance on Cyprus. It is a shame that once, a Greek and a Turk where Ottomans (im not advocating the empire here, but its true - think about it), and not Greek or Turkish, and Cypriots, not Greek or Turkish. Today, in a majority at least, we call ourselves enemies.

I bet no-one bothered to look at the crosses outside the Houses of Parliament in London on Remembrance Sunday. You'll find plenty of Greek and Cypriot ones but none for Turkey, which conveniently remained neutral during WWII... For those of those of you still denying history, look up the Battle of Crete and the Royal Hellenic Army in the Middle East. Where was Turkey when we were dying against the Nazis..? It seems no one remembers Turkey's non-aggression pact of 18 June 1941 that the Turks signed with the Nazis, or the fact that they declared "war" in February 1945 after the war was practically over...

Cyprus was part of the Ottoman (turkish) empire for decades until the British took over. Under Ottoman (turkish) rule Orthodox Christians were allowed to practice their own religion. It is a pity the Orthodox Christians could not offer the same coexistence with the Turkish Muslim minority when Cyprus gained independance.

I am sorry Timur but you obviously know very little about historic facts, you also know very little about the way history is shaped. You are continuing your hate speech in a way characteristic of militaristic apes. May the turkish, british, greeks, cypriots and others rest in peace indeed. And may the governments and people like you realise that welfare does not lie in militaristic states or militaristic protection, it lies in a peaceful environment, where education, freedom of expression, health and culture thrive...where people live happily together. In this world (which does exist my friend - in Europe it is called the EU) armies have a very little role to play.

more turkish cypriots died from bloody hands of greek cypriot eoka terrorist. but this will never happen again. british and turkish souls can rest in peace now

Rhodes has a thriving Turkish population. In fact the richest people in Rhodes are Turks. They have never been expelled or exchanged. The Cretan Turks were exchanged. I know of people whose grandfathers were crying when the Turks left from Crete, and I have met Cretans who left Crete in the 19th c. in Syria and in Turkey and they love Crete longing to go back. This is not to say there was no fighting between the two communities, there was a lot of fighting and it has been recorded in many different historical sources. But Crete is a different example from Rhodes and different from Cyprus. Crete was under Ottoman rule and the Christians then were revolting against the rule of the Ottoman state (they did several times). Ethnic cleansing did happen in Crete, together with Turkey and Greece: there was an exchange of populations between the two countries, but that is not genocide. Genocide is what happened to the Armenians, or the Greeks of Asia Minor, when they had to feel or get killed. This is not the case of Crete, Cyprus or Rhodes.

A terrorist for one is a hero for another. I condemn taking people's lives for whatever purpose. But you guys fail to see that commemorating one side or another only plays into the hands of people who want to promote conflict. EOKA fighters or terrorists, were fighting British rule or British colonialism, the first outcome was an independent Cyprus about which Turkey was not happy (as it believed it was its own territory) and Britain was not happy. As it has happened many times over in British 19th and 20th c history, the Brits played the Muslim minority (called Turkish) against the Christian majority (called Greek) and they managed, until today, to have a great say over the sovereignty of this island. They left from Cyprus but until today maintain military and political rule over a small part of the island (Akrotiri), which they would not have if they did not play so carefully Turkey and Greece against each other. The result is a Guantanamo bay of Cyprus (exactly as the US base in Cuba) in the 21st century, an age when Britain is not very relevant in world politics and does not have a great excuse in maintaining a sovereign base in someone else's country, so far away from home. We mourn all deaths of British, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, of Turks and Greeks. I am in favour of a free Cyprus, without mother countries, colonial armies, and colonialist behaviours. And I would like to make a little comment about the Turkish army. Given the Turkish track record in human rights, and given the EU track record in human rights, I do not think that the argument which Turkey uses to maintain her army in Cyprus (in order to protect the Turkish Cypriots) really holds any water. Protect them from whom? the EU? Turkey would wish to become an EU country one day, and I wish her all success, may Turkey one day be able to protect its citizen's rights as well as they are protected in EU Cyprus today. All the rest is history.

Kaya, turks are the last people in the world that should be accusing people of ethnic cleansing.....turkish history is haunted by the Ghosts of Ataturks atrocities against Greeks, Armenians and Syrians.

hey Kaya, as a muslim you should be careful throwing around the term terrorist when referring to the orthodox church. I think we both know which religion has more terrorists.

During that time, anyone who was convicted of crime would be hanged. Again the Greeks have amnesia and only see history from their point of view only. After EOKA (supported by many Greeks - even today) killed the British and forced them out, they started on the Turks. Thank God for Turkey's intervention in 1974, or there would be no Turks on the island today just like Rhodes or Crete. What painful lessons Crete and Rhodes were as the Turkish populations were wiped out - that's why today, Northern Cyprus will never be ceded to the Greeks.

I dont think any Greek poster can accurately define "colonialism". The Ottoman empires temporary rental of Cyprus to the UK is a historical fact, but the then active terrorist orthodox Greek church and propaganda machine lead to a very uncomfortable world view on what really happened on Cyprus. The fact that Greeks could even entertain the idea that a minority group intended to wipe out a majority on the island of Cyprus is in itself an amusing but blatent lie. These British servicemen died at the hands of the savage movement of EOKA, a bloody campaign to unite both sides of the islands with Greece, while the mainland took up an active role in destroying democracy and peace on the island to help the cypriots achieve this mere "dream". Most Greeks are so wrapped up in their lies to cover up their war crimes, that the majority dont even know what TAKSIM is, let alone the fact that it was only created in respone to the Greek war that was started by them. peter Joannou, the ECHR has actively been suing turkey for property violations, but because the Turkish cypriots are not recognized by international law, they are not able to sue Greece for their violations (paticularly the masses of Turkish lands on Larnaca - did that slip your mind?). So whats your point? A Greece led, undemocratic coup aimed at installing an administration to further the ethnic cleansing agenda and annexation of Cyprus led to a just respone by Turkey to save its opressed diaspora. The racist and inhumane tendencies mixed with the Orthodox Greek propaganda is what led to the bloody conflict - not colonialism. The Turks settled for a less that equal solution when Makarious and Fazil Kucuk founded the Republic of Cyprus which our friends decided to go and mess up even though they have most of the power. Themis, what you fail to understand is a liberation to give independance to an opresssed minority their rightful place on their own island is not an invasion. Not only does the fact that we settled for a less than equal solution on the island to establish a peaceful Republic, and the acceptance of the annan plan show our want for peace on the island, but it goes to show, without a seconds moment of thought, the Greeks nack and need to destroy it.

All soldiers who died should be honored. The dishonor should go to the countries and leaders who had them fight for causes that were neither moral nor humane. Colonialism is immoral and inhumane. And so is the Turkish invasion and continuous violation of human rights in Cyprus by preventing 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees to return to their homes and have access to their properties. This is something that has been reaffirmed by the European Court of Human Rights in several cases including that of Aresti and Apostolides.

What the British fail to understand, is that a struggle for independence is NEVER a terrorist act. At that time, getting rid of the colonial regime was the target n° 1. Whether this would lead to independence or union with Greece, was secondary. And please, do not mix up EOKA between 1955-1959 with EOKA B which was indeed a terrorist organisation. It is unfortunate that they have the same name

What the two persons who have already commented on this article fail to understand is that the acts committed by those hanged were those of terrorists. No more, no less. And what is also missing from their condemnation is that fact that families of servicemen serving in Cyprus during the EOKA campaign were also targeted. Women and children were killed out of hand. Enough said ?

Eleni, we dont forget the people that died in what was a nationalistic struggle (who we are not sure what the died for, union with greece or cyprus independence?) but at the same time, we were never told of the british service men that died during that time (their lives are as precious as everyone else's). In a democratic system, everything should be transparent (otherwise we end up with a one way nationalistic view), and let people decide for themselves. Since not all cypriots (both greek and turkish) were in agreement with the activities of EOKA, then it shouldnt have taken place (in my opinion). Don't forget that they were fighting for a union with greece and what we got was a troublesome independence. No one should have died in such a confusing ideologistic struggle. Those who fought the british, fought and died for glorious things like freedom for their country, but no one took the time to think about the overall context. So, my sympathy goes to everyone that sacrificed themselves in one way or another (sacrificing yourself for your country it is after all the ultimate that you can do for your country), irrespective of which side they took or what the outcome was. I dont take anybody's side here, nor giving any answers. Just looking at the facts, human side of people and transparency.

Of course, the British tend to forget the Greek Cypriots they executed (hang) between 1955-1959. They were burried in the yard of Central Prison in Nicosia. Sure, the people of Cyprus did not have the right to fight against colonialists. It is sad young sodires died to defend colonianlism.

It is sad that these soldiers had to die. But nobody is to blame but the British government. There deaths are the result of British colonialism.