Clever Turkish politics
Christopher Hitchens
In 1955, the year that the Greek Cypriots began their revolt against the British oc- cupation, Charles Foley was editor of the Times of Cyprus. In his humorous and in- telligent book, Island in Revolt, he describ- ed a cocktail party given by the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish mainland establish- ment, at which he met: `Mr Hikmet Bil, from Anakara on an important mission. He was helping Dr Kutchuk to organise the Turkish National Party of Cyprus, which was becoming increasingly vocal in urging stronger action against terrorism. The party was to be renamed the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, which sounded original, if mildly seditious... the party's new title was an- nounced. No objection was raised by the government and no questions were asked of Mr Bil, a foreign national concerning himself in colonial politics.'
A few weeks ago, in the middle of a sweltering August, I went to see Mr Rauf Denktash in his office in Turkish Nicosia. This involved, among other things, putting My watch back one hour in order to con- form with the edict that makes northern Cyprus keep Anatolian time. With a tape whirring (supplied not by me but by an assistant of his) Mr Denktash assured me roundly that he would soon proclaim himself the president of an independent state. The interview was relayed by Reuters and picked up by the BBC. I was therefore not surprised when the Foreign Office and the State Department declared themselves to be utterly surprised by his declaration of 15 November. The experience of recent Cypriot history is that the Turks really mean what they say — and that nobody believes them.
Of course, Cyprus used actually to be Turkish, in the sense that it was an Ot- toman possession by conquest for three centuries. What makes the Turkish Cypriot minority different from all other minorities is that it never accepted the loss of the island by the motherland, and has striven ever since to bring the motherland back. Mr Denktash, who is one of the most agile and ruthless politicians in the Levant, has waited over 20 years for this moment.
When the British let down the Turks, by leaving the island four years after the Suez fiasco had made its occupation redundant, the Turkish Cypriot leadership were induc- ed to drop their demand that the island revert to Turkey. In the post-1945 epoch, with Cyprus the only European territory re- maining a colony and with its population more than 80 per cent Greek, such high- handedness could no longer be justified. In- stead, the demand for partition was raised. Archbishop Makarios, who had just become the first Cypriot to govern the island in nearly a thousand years, was not prepared to surrender newly-won autonomy so quickly. In spite of pressure from the United States to share the island between Greece and Turkey and thus to 'cut a deal' with NATO, he managed to stay on the high wire for 14 years. When he finally fell, it was to a blow from Greek fascists who revived the ideal of 'enosis' which he had originated and which he now sought to palliate.
Mr Denktash and the Turkish army were not slow to seize that chance. The 1974 in- vasion took the northern third of the island by storm, and brought the Turkish army back into politics. Mr Bulent Ecevit, who let the soldiers off the leash, is now their prisoner, banned from public life and in and out of detention like a fiddler's elbow. The most prosperous and productive part of Cyprus is in Turkish hands. Nearly 200,000 Greek Cypriots have been forcibly `resettled'. The strategic position of the island, lying under the shoulder of Anatolia, means that the military advantage of Turkey is always assured. But its Greek- speaking majority means that its invasion and partition can never be accepted by Athens. Here is another legacy of the British policy of 'divide and quit'.
Lord Caradon, who in one of his many previous incarnations was Governor of Cyprus, once wrote that the aim of Turkey in the island was to be 'master in the north and partner in the south'. That seems to be the message of the latest Turkish move. Having proclaimed a separate state, Mr Denktash announced that he is now anxious to talk about federation. This is like trying to build a bridge from the middle of the river. The Turkish Cypriots have declared their independence or secession from the republic, but they have also made a declara- tion of dependence on Turkey. Every facet of the northern state, which was complete in most respects before 15 November, il- lustrates that: Turkish currency, Turkish newspapers, Turkish time, Turkish soldiers (to the number of perhaps 30,000), Turkish settlers and workers imported to work the fields, Turkish airlines and the Turkish flag. In an absurdly revealing fashion, the authorities even use the Turkish word for the island (`Kibris') when speaking or writing in English. Not even the most con- secrated Greek Cypriot calls it `Kypros' in the same way.
It is not every day that a NATO ally in- vades a member of the Commonwealth (though the practice seems to be swelling in popularity). But the Turks have a guileful patience that makes up for the crudity of their demands. The proclamation of their new 'state' came hours after President Reagan signed an aid Bill for Ankara totall- ing $700 million, days after a slightly shady `generals election' and days before the Greek-influenced congress went into recess. This is clever politics, and belies the racial cliche of Turkey as a country lacking in sophistication. When Disraeli acquired Cyprus from the Sublime Porte, in ex" change for some fake guarantees for the Sultan against the Czar, Gladstone describ- ed the move as an act of perfidy `seldom
surpassed and never equalled in the annals of nations'. Mr Denktash, who once wrote that he had been too friendly to the British colonial regime, seems to have learned from it nonetheless.
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