Lb Sainine peeeong , QAP oe peony: a gS is By J.J. Johnson NICOSIA, Cyprus As the taxi turned left on Makarios Avenue, the driver glanced over his shoulder and said angrily, “The Americans scream about Soviet troops in Af- ghanistan, but they say nothing about the Turkish troops who have occupied 40% of our land for the last six years. “T don’t know if you’re American,”’ he said half — apologetically, ‘‘but I must tell the truth. The Ameri- cans want only to use the people of Cyprus.”’ I told the driver that I indeed am a U.S. American, but that I also agreed with him: More than enough evidence exists to support the oft-stated claim that the main aim of U.S. monopolies and the Pentagon is to turn Cyprus into an “‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ by forcing the small island republic into NATO. In fact, the U.S. military has created a formida- ble axis of military bases to encircle the oil-rich Middle East area, and Cyprus remains a key link in.that encirclement strategy. One obstacle, however, stands in the way of the U.S. imposition of its military will — the desire of the Cypriot people for sovereignty, independence and peace. Cyprus is an ancient idyllic island in the warm blue seas of the Eastern Mediterranean. It lies at the meeting point of Asia, Africa and Europe, a factor which has strongly influenced its history, culture and destiny. It was here that Aphrodite, the mythical Greek goddess of love, emerged from the sea. Its climate, its variety of abundant fruit and flowers, its mountains, forests and seemingly endless miles of beaches make Cyprus a truly ‘“‘paradise island.” Some 80% of Cyprus’ population are of Greek ori- gin and 18% are Turks. Armenians and Maronites are the largest of the other minority groups. The Greeks and Turks, until the invasion of July 20, 1974, by the Turkish army, lived side by side in cities and villages and the distribution of population was. more or less uniform. Yet outside interference historically has haunted the Cypriots. The island has always been viewed as a United Nations United Nations strong strategic point in the Eastern Mediterranean and was used as such by the British who ruled over the island for 82 years. Even during the period of armed struggle by the Cypriot national liberation forces be- tween 1955 and 1960, the British did their best to pro- mote rivalries between the Greek and Turkish Cyp- riots. The fanning of chauvinism between the two groups remains the major weapon used by the U.S. monopoly interests to cripple the independence struggle. Andreas F antis, a member of the Cyprus House of Representatives and assistant general secretary of the Progressive Party of Cypriot Working People (AKEL), diseussed this problem and the role of the CIA and the U.S. military in his country, during an interview in his office in Nicosia. “The constitution imposed on us after the agreeement worked out in Zurich and London gave the Turkish community powers far in excess of their population. Our restricted independence also gave Britain 99 square miles of our territory and 32 other points all over the island as sovereign bases. “Many of the schemes were rebuffed by our people, but we were forced to make some conces- sions,” Fantis noted. However, the undemocratic provisions of the Constitution proved to be a source of friction between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. In addition to the sowing of divisions between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, two major objectives of the CIA and NATO were the removal of Archbishop Makarios and AKEL. Makarios, a leader of the inde- pendence struggle and one of the founders of the non- aligned movement, was the first president of the re- public. AKEL, the Marxist-Leninist party, led by Ezekias Papaioannou, is the oldest and largest politi- cal party on theisland. AKEL polled 40% of the vote in the 1970 elections. From 1962-1971 three books on Cyprus were au- thored by Thomas W. Adams and Alvin J. Cottrell. “The main purpose of these books,’’ Fantis said, ‘twas to slander our party (AKEL) and to pave the way for the fascist junta putsch and the Turkish inva- sion of July 1974.” Simultaneously, plans were being hatched for the armies of both Turkey and Greece to land i in Cyprus and partition the country. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DEC. 5, 1980—Page6. 4 indicating in blood the occupied area. (Far right, top) Turki | listening to music by Canadian contingent of UN Peace Keep Nicosia. They are demanding higher pay. “It was recently disclosed,”’ faniss said, “that — the CIA spent $40 million in 1973 and another $20 million in 1974 in our country.”’ Apparently the money was spent for the prepara- tion and execution of the fascist coup of July 15, and " the Turkish invasion of July 20 in 1974. Also, both of the fascist terrorist organizations in Cyprus were funded by the CIA. EOKA B, a Greek © Cypriot terrorist group, and T.M.T., its Turkish Cyp- riot counterpart, received their blood money from the same hands. The so-called Acheson plan has formed the basis — of U.S. policy-towards Cyprus from as early as 1964. Dean Acheson, secretary of state under President Harry Truman, was dispatched by then President — Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to work out a settlement in Cyprus on the basis of U.S.-NATO interests. The plan — called for the partition of Cyprus between Greece and Turkey and the elimination of Makarios and AKEL. The militancy of the Cypriot people prevented im- plementation of these plans. — Thus, on the morning of July 15, 1974, tanks under ~ orders of the Greek junta officers rolled along the streets of Nicosia towards the Presidential Palace. By — that evening Cyprus was under the command of the officers of the Greek junta. Five days later, Turkish paratroopers landed at the Nicosia airport in order to “‘restore freedom and democracy.” Shortly thereafter, democracy was re-— stored in Greece with the collapse of the junta. How- © ever, the Turkish troops have yet to leave Cyprus. By the first week in August of 1974, the Turks had occupied 40% of Cyprus. The area then accounted for 70% of the gross national product and 65% of the tourist industry. Some 200,000 Greek Cypriots, evicted from their land and homes, became refugees. Unem- ployment in the island reached 86,000 or 39% of the population. To fill the vacuum created in the occupied ter- ritories by the eviction of the Greek Cypriots, 50,000 Turks were brought from the mainland. @ Ezekias Papaiannou, the general secretary of — AKKEL, stated last month at an international confer- _ ence in solidarity with the people of the Persian Gulf States: _ “No amount of propaganda, however cunning or sh ¢ ; Photos (Far left) Greek Cypriot woman standing in the doorwé id 4 A f a 4 A B ueaeta, 2 Riga = PW es (: re ree wis ¥ . " ‘Va Oe ger” ks Ne a anus a ee ee EL EG