The Importance of Cyprus

British bases in red.


Cyprus is important to Obama, because he wants to keep in with Turkey, which invaded Cyprus in 1974, and took over the northern third of the island.

Reportedly, Obama wants Turkey to join the European Union.

In April 2009, in Northern Cyprus, there was an election win by the nationalists who do not want a re-united Cyprus. ( A hawkish problem / Hardliners win N Cyprus election)

This result will damage Turkey’s membership talks with the European Union.

The National Unity Party, led by Dervish Eroglu, won 44% of the vote, giving it 26 of the 50 seats.

The Republican Turkish Party (CTP) won only 29% of the vote.

Mehmet Ali Talat, who is linked to the losing Republican Turkish Party, remains as president.

Talat led the campaign in favour of the UN’s Annan plan to reunite Cyprus in 2004.

But the Greek-Cypriots rejected the plan in a separate vote.

Turkey’s EU membership is opposed by Greece, France and Germany among others.



Britain has two important military bases on Cyprus.

The operation of these bases was guaranteed in the Cypriot constitution, when Cyprus became independent in 1960.

Most of the Greek Cypriots want to be rid of these bases.

In October 2007, Britain signed an agreement with Turkey, the 'enemy' of the Greek Cypriots.

This agreement is about:

1. Supporting Turkey’s EU accession
2. Helping to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots
3. Deepening the UK-Turkey defence relationship, including within the framework of NATO.

According to the Associated Press, 25 January 2008 (Status of British military basis in Cyprus to be reconsidered ...):

"The Greek Cypriot government is reconsidering the status of two British military bases on the island, saying Britain implicitly recognized the Turkish Cypriot administration in the north in an agreement signed with Ankara.

"Greek Cypriot Government Spokesman Vasilis Palmas said... that relations with Britain were being reconsidered 'through a different prism.'

"'We are reconsidering our bilateral relations,' he said, after Britain signed an agreement with Turkey on Oct. 23 that referred to the north as the "TRNC" which stands for the Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus..."

The Greek Cypriot government could reduce cooperation with the British military.

However, Cyprus is aware that Britain is its biggest trading partner, and roughly half of the 2.4 million people who visit Cyprus each year are British.

The Americans take a very strong interest in Cyprus.

In the early 1970s, Greece was run by the 'fascist' colonels who, reportedly, had been put into power by the CIA.

In Turkey, the people who pulled the strings were, reportedly, the pro-American military.

A number of books refer to a 1974 Cyprus plot involving the USA:

The Aphrodite Plot by Michael Jansen 1976, The Cyprus Conspiracy: America, Espionage and the Turkish Invasion by Brendan O'Malley and Ian Craig (published by I.B. Taurus), The Rape of Greece by Peter Murtagh, and The Wrong Horse by Lawrence Stern.

According to Michael Jansen, at http://www.greece.org/cyprus/Takism6.htm :

A deal was discussed by Greek and Turkish ministers in the early 1970s.

According to this deal:

1. Cyprus would be split.
2. A Turkish military base would be set up on Cyprus, on the Karpass Peninsula.
3. The mainly Greek part of the Island would join up with Greece.

The USA was apparently involved in what was happening.

The U.S. wanted rid of Makarios, the President of Cyprus.

Makarios was seen as being too independent minded; he had left-wing allies; he was a friend of the Arabs; he was opposed to the 'fascist' colonels who ran Greece and who were regarded as CIA assets.

According to Peter Murtagh, the Greek colonels in Athens had allowed Israeli planes to use a U.S. base in Crete to launch the air strikes on Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian air fields that 'decided the outcome of the 1967 war' before Arab and Israeli troops came together on the ground.

According to Jansen: the USA wanted its Greek and Turkish allies in control of Cyprus.

Reportedly, by late 1973, the Greek and Turkish Cypriots were becoming more friendly with each other. They had decided to keep Cyprus united.

Reportedly, Greece and Turkey tried to wreck things.

In July 1974 Greece organised a coup against Makarios. Nicos Sampson became president.

Turkey decided to carry out its plan to split Cyprus. Turkish troops took over the North of Cyprus in 1974. It is thought that the USA supported the invasion.

According to the Cyprus Mail, 13 November 1999, and the Times Higher Education Supplement, the USA vetoed any British intervention in Cyprus.

The USA "vetoed Britain's intervention in the Turkish invasion to protect its spying bases in northern Cyprus, former British Prime Minister Lord Callaghan has revealed in an interview to a British paper."

The US has electronic spying facilities in northern Cyprus.

Callaghan was interviewed for the Times by Brendan O'Malley, co-author with Ian Craig of The Cyprus Conspiracy: American Espionage and the Turkish Invasion.

"Cyprus had extreme value as a centre for electronic surveillance," Callaghan said.

According to a report in the 6 March 6 2004 edition of the Beirut Daily Star, the USA would like its troops stationed on Cyprus. ( http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/585/585p19.htm )

The UK and the US have had intelligence bases on Cyprus for many years. They have sophisticated surveillance equipment on top of Mount Troodos. The USA has its listening post in Northern Cyprus.

According to Greece's Daily Times, the USA has studied the possibility of "sending a military force to Cyprus, in the form of a peacekeeping force".


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