[MGSA-L] Greece hands Cyprus secret files on 1974 coup

[June Samaras]

https://www.ft.com/content/cd1705e4-6867-11e7-8526-7b38dcaef614

Greece hands Cyprus secret files on 1974 coup

Athens yields to demands to reveal its role in run-up to Turkey’s invasion
of the island
Read next
Turkey marks anniversary of failed coup

YESTERDAY by: Pavlos Papadopoulos in Athens

For years a basement in Athens has harboured a secret: a trove of documents
relating to one of the most traumatic events in modern Greek history, its
role in the 1974 Cyprus coup.

Three rooms under Greece’s foreign ministry have contained the 21,000 pages
of the “Cyprus File”, documenting the chain of events that led to the coup
by the then military regime in Athens against Archbishop Makarios, the
island’s leader. The coup prompted a Turkish invasion of Cyprus days later,
leading to the division of the island that has subsequently haunted
regional politics, while it also sparked the collapse of military rule in
Greece.

Cyprus has been demanding for years that Greece hand over the information
to try to clear up many unanswered questions surrounding the run-up to the
coup — and Greece has finally agreed. On Friday — a day before the July 15
anniversary of the coup — Nikos Voutsis, president of the Greek parliament,
flew to Nicosia and handed the 134 files to Dimitris Silouris, his
counterpart in Cyprus.

Greece’s parliament had approved the handover in a unanimous vote on
Tuesday. Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, said the decision “constitutes
an unfulfilled debt of the Greek state towards the Cypriot people”.

Even on the eve of the handover, however, Mr Voutsis sparked further
controversy by admitting that 11 of the files had been lost, while Greek
government sources say the most sensitive information may remain classified
for the time being. The revelation of the lost documents has prompted
speculation that the complete “Cyprus file” will never be fully revealed.

Opening the files was one of the main pledges of Andreas Papandreou, the
Socialist leader, as he became Greek prime minister in 1981. It took five
more years before a parliamentary committee of inquiry started gathering
evidence, hearing some 130 witnesses.

The committee completed its work in 1988 but while a general statement of
findings was released, the bulk of the documents were declared classified
and languished for years in parliament, then in the cellars of the foreign
ministry.

Greek historians and ministers say the documents contain evidence of the
Greek junta’s secret plans to overthrow Archbishop Makarios, alongside
confidential information about his power struggle with the Cypriot National
Guard as well as EOKA B, the Greek Cypriot nationalist paramilitary
organisation that sought union with Greece. The documents also outline the
role played by the UK, US and Nato at the time of the coup.

Tension has simmered for years between Greece, Cyprus and Turkey over the
coup and its aftermath. Turkey’s invasion, which Ankara said was intended
to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority and prevent annexation by Greece,
led to Cyprus being partitioned into two states separated by a UN buffer
zone.

The internationally recognised government of Cyprus controls the southern,
Greek Cypriot portion of the island while Turkish Cypriots maintain a
self-proclaimed independent state in the north, recognised only by Ankara
and garrisoned by Turkish troops.

Cyprus’s government has welcomed the handover of the files. Kyriakos
Kenevezos, Cyprus’s ambassador to Greece, says it “will clarify the picture
of what actually happened and demolish whatever myths, positive or
negative, might have been developed during all these years”.

Not everybody agrees. Some observers worry it might increase tension
between the two Cypriot communities, just after the collapse of the latest
UN-brokered talks in Switzerland to try to resolve the island’s future.

Costas Tasoulas, a former Greek defence minister and opposition MP, says
the documents “will reveal as even more repugnant the unlawful Turkish
invasion and the subsequent occupation of Northern Cyprus for 43
consecutive years”.

Tensions are also rising as Cyprus ploughs ahead with attempts to exploit
sizeable offshore gas resources, resisted by Turkey, which this week sent
frigates to monitor the start of drilling by a consortium led by Total of
France and Eni of Italy.

However Harris Pampoukis, a former minister in the centre-left government
of George Papandreou and now a law professor at the University of Athens,
says more knowledge of the events of 1974 “would enhance the efforts for a
sustainable solution to the Cyprus dispute”.

Cyprus’s government has assigned historians to study the file and says it
intends to publish documents after a few months — but not all on the island
believe they will reveal many secrets. Those that do emerge may continue to
be seen differently by those on opposite sides of an entrenched political
divide.

While the files have value for researchers the suspicion is that the
documents will once again be left to gather dust, The Cyprus Mail newspaper
said this week.

“It is very difficult to see how they will be useful to the politicians
that have been clamouring for their hand-over for years,” an editorial
said. “The irony is that our politicians have dogmatic views about the
events of 1974 and will never accept any information that diverges from the
narrative they have been repeating for decades.”

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June Samaras
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June Samaras
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