End of Empire (1985), chapter 10: Cyprus

End of Empire chronicled the last days of British rule around the globe, through the remarkably candid reminiscences of both colonizers and the colonized.
The series, a Granada Television production, uses old newsreel film and interviews with former British and colonial officials.

[@francescaruby1150]

This series is so interesting. Thanks for sharing .

[@stelios-1821]

This report is of great historical significance because of the people who talked in. I liked most of the Greek Cypriots who talked to the camera, they came across cool and calm.

[@paddy864]

Greek are you?

[@gandalfthewhite9864]

I love this series thank you uploader

[@brunothor2696]

Thank you!!

[@dumespune]

Bruno Thor nah nah. Thank you

[@humanforfreedom9583]

Its interesting to note that this was one of the few liberation movements that was right wing, in the conservative revolutionary nationalist style. Most of the liberation movements of that era were left wing and socialist. This was completely different. Respect. A true nationalist movement.

[@johnhopkins494]

Interesting observation. Perhaps because there was in Cyprus an existing hierarchy and organisation - the church - around which to organise whereas in places like Vietnam or China 'Marxism' provided that structure.

[@nemo6686]

Except it wasn't a liberation movement but a take-over by Greece - unwelcome to the Turkish minority. Had Makarios arrived and sought independence by peaceful means - what he eventually agreed to in London - then he may have been successful, but instead he brought Grivas over to achieve Enosis by violence. Grivas would later return from Greece to supplant Makarios in a coup, prompting Turkey's invasion. Makarios's ego caused thousands of deaths and today's division of Cyprus,

[@johnhopkins494]

@@nemo6686 Thanks for that. I'm no expert on the history of the area but note that in various parts of the world leaders fan ethnic divides for their own advantage. Would the British have responded positively to a peaceful campaign to achieve peace?

[@nemo6686]

@@johnhopkins494 I'm sure Britain would've looked favourably on a peaceful campaign for *independence*. India was already independent by 1955 and it was obvious that the empire was in decline. It's not just the method, but the goal too, and Makarios's goal of union with Greece was the greater problem.

[@mdp1231]

​@@nemo6686still you have no idea

[@mickiyelly1960]

A very good series!

[@nickprohoroff3720]

I must apologise to the lovely Brits i know, but,,,, the lowering of the flag in the intro, symbolising the end of the Empire. Warms the cockles of my heart.

[@flashtin166]

dammit, I still wanna see 5

[@briansmith9439]

This is a pretty good substitute for the missing Malaya episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnO1foWcZa-JgMU

[@kilpatrickkirksimmons5016]

This is an underrated fuckup of the British Empire. It ranks up there with Palestine and India. But, Makarios miscalculated pretty badly on more than one occasion. If your opponent gives an inch, take it. Don't just stand around waiting for them to give a mile.

[@nemo6686]

Seems to me Makarios gets 99.9% of the blame for a pointless campaign of murder and today's divided island. Two screw-ups by the British: *never* say "never" to self-determination; and the COGS may be a great soldier, but he wasn't much of a peace-maker - failure to adapt lessons from the Malaya campaign being an obvious one.

[@desman05]

This Makarios is truly one of a kind. Reminds me of Emperor Palpatine in how he unveiled himself.

[@lawfulcorruption]

Poor Cyprus, I was born there, my Nan died there, we have roots there, IT is not Cyprus anymore, It is only for the Rich Russians and other foreigners.

[@DipakBose-bq1vv]

At least Russians made Cyprus rich but the British and Turks ruined it.

[@lawfulcorruption]

Mmmmmmmm, I wondered why the banks confiscated their clients savings.

[@nerimanzerzavatci477]

you fight to get the brits out.... but now you are overpopulated by the Russian Mafia.... south cyprus is ruined. You are russias puppets now.

[@nerimanzerzavatci477]

Again this indian with no real knowledge of Cyprus talks CRAP. Russian is holding cyprus up which would otherwise go Bankrupt. (south cyprus) Mafia money as Russia is also bankrupt. street names and schools now in russian language. The greeks are held to ransom and they dont know it yet. Now go sort your CAST system out

[@mattfoley4425]

Even if that nonsense is true, Turkish held Cyprus can only exist because of help from Turkey. Northern Cyprus would collapse without Turk funding their ridiculous occupation. I would rather have the Russians than the Turks. Now stop spreading idiotic lies.

[@willhovell9019]

Ernie Bevin was given a paper on Cypriot independence , protection of the Turkish minority and retention of British sovereign bases. Bevin told the official that he needed an 'oliday , recommend Hove . Sources :Prof. David Reynolds and British Cypriot Andrew Adonis. Missed opportunities and allowing the poison of nationalism and right wing subversives to take root

[@Odo55]

LOL Mikarios and the other guy riding in that white cadillac, standing and waving to the crowd. What a bunch of clowns.

[@micheypatsa]

LOL. You jealous bitch.

[@micheypatsa]

Be mad theyre better than you.

[@aristotleonassis5792]

@Celtic Bhoy yes the slave trade was very civilised and the terraces showed British people fighting each other!! The Cypriots were highly literate like most colonised places. The problem with new born civilisations is that they think they’re more educated than other people not knowing where their education system came from. Makarios outsmarted the junta, Kissinger and the British and he was a poor child from goat herders. Which western democratic country has ever elected anyone that’s not surrounded by an economic powerhouse?

[@clawsewitz4316]

@@aristotleonassis5792 Isn't it essentially part of the Greek Tradition that anyone could become Emporer of the Byzantine Empire? If the Emporer lost God's blessing, than he also lost God's protection. The office of Emporer was so stable that even the dead Emporer Constantine remained seated on his throne for 1/2 a year until his successor was available.

[@peterbradshaw8018]

Am I correct in saying the archbishop was blackmailed into signing or else his relationship with a boy would be revealed.

[@Jame243]

Wow! At least PEACE was achieved for now! EOKA and Grivas and Makarios failed to produce ENOSIS! Afterwards we have the JUNTA and the partition of Cyprus. They should have stayed united with the British Empire, the British Commonwealth! That way Cyprus would have been ALWAYS united! Wrong to dissolve the British Empire in Asia and Africa and in Cyprus! For the sake of PEACE! The British Empire was Christian! Ruled by an anointed Christian Monarch. The British Christian Empire was the successor of the Christian Russian Empire, which was the successor of the Byzantine Empire, which was the successor of the old Christian Roman Empire founded by Constantine the Great! Who came from York England originally! So as the Queen is anointed and crowned by the Christian Church she represents the continuation of the Christian Empire. England is the 4rth Rome! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! RULE BRITANNIA!

[@paddy864]

Yes, i heard that too, nice work MI6!

[@marcusclark5330]

you are completely right...by her majesty's armed forces no less

[@mrhonest1302]

Watch.....1974 Cyprus Conflict Ambiguous Differences on youtube.....Its for ......ALL.....Cypriots to stop and think.

[@marycahill546]

From 1964 until even now in 2018 Canadian peacekeepers have been serving in Cypress.

[@paddy864]

Hopefully, they've been spelling it properly.

[@nikd545]

Also why the fuck the British had problems with the unification of Cypurs with Greece? It's like denying Birmingham unite wtih England. Holly shit before i see this series could not realize how much imperialistic and infoerior complex English is.

[@alnash1433]

Nik D because the different is, cyprus was british colonial teritory, its not belonged to the greece

[@nikd545]

My dear Cyprus has Greek population since ancient times.

[@nerimanzerzavatci477]

Idiot get a brain

[@nerimanzerzavatci477]

Not really The first undisputed settlement occurred in the 9th (or perhaps 10th) millennium BC from the Levant. Next came ancient Egyptions. So shut up until you read real history.......Greeks from greece came later. stop claiming firsts in everything cos you really not.

[@nikd545]

TURK get a brain.

[@falseprofit4u]

Nationalist patriotism is always criticised as right wing extremism, they were simple demands of the Greek Cypriots, brittish out and independence, no more subjugation of people who felt like an underclass tenant in their own country, the Turks were made to.fear this desire of the Greek Cypriots by the English who sought to rule by division as their usual modus operandi, the rest is history with the finale of 1974 aided and abetted by English military intelligence support, Turkey and England both got the best outcome.

[@januszkowalski5345]

The terms "Greek Cypriot" and "Turkish Cypriot" were invented by the Brits for political and manipulative uses to avoid "Greeks" and "Turks" or even more precise and better terms "Christians" and "Moslems" as these so called "Turkish Cypriots" were either totally alien to the island being descendents to the Ottoman occupying forces or were local Greeks converted to islam. With equal right one could call "English Cypriots" the personnel of the British troops and administration stationed in Cyprus and served by the local population. It's interesting to note that today the overwhelming majority of those "Turkish Cypriots" , once so warmly described by the British media and so valiantly "defended" by the Turkish warlords , have disapeared in the island emigrating to any place except Cyrpus while the "independed" local Turkish authorities have massively settled in their place semi-literate peasants from Central and Eastern Anatolia. Nowadays they are the "Turkish Cypriots". One should also observe that Britain officially promised to incorporate Cyprus into Greece in October 1915 if the latter joined hands with the Entente. The Greeks indeed entered the war in 1917 but the promise was dismissed and forgotten as the Empire widely extended its frontiers in Cyrpus' vicinity in the Near East and showed no intention to set anybody or anything free. Also in 1941 during the campaign in Greece the Brits came back to their promise but again with no serious intention to keep it.

[@nerimanzerzavatci477]

BTW Greek cypriots have more arab blood and DNA than greek........... go stick that where the sun dont shine, TRUTH AND FACT BYE LOSER

[@januszkowalski5345]

Neriman Zerzavatci I am glad that we at least agree that the turks take their origin from a zoophiliac union betwen Ashina , the ancient Ataturk, and a bitch dog . This explains rabies and barking as a normal condition for a turk. ;)

[@nerimanzerzavatci477]

i shall block you now as you are obviously insane, in need of high medication, any sane person will see you are a danger to yourself, i am also reporting you .

[@gregorystarks2514]

British Colonialists trying to justify their stranglehold on a foreign country and its people ! A great deal of leader crazyness !

[@lenoskouzapa3365]

And all this for couple of bases in akrotiri.

[@IstorikesMnimesEOKA]

LONG LIVE EOKA! LONG LIVE DIGENIS!!

[@micheypatsa]

ZHTO!!!

[@januszkowalski5345]

It's a very skewed account of what was going on in Cyprus at the end of the British rule there. The Brits as always blame everyone except themselves for the bloody wounds they have inflicted to bleed for ever. First, they forget to mention that Turkey had NO RIGHT whatsoever to have a say in the Cyprus problem, let alone intervene there militarily and grap more than a third of its territory . Under the Treaty of Lausanne signed on July 24, 1923 "Turkey hereby renounces all rights and titles whatsoever over or respecting the territories situated outside the frontiers laid down in the present Treaty and the islands other than those over which her sovereignty is recognised by the said Treaty" (Article 16) and Article 27 stipulaytes further that "No power or jurisdiction in political, legislative or administrative matters shall be exercised outside Turkish territory by the Turkish Government or authorities, for any reason whatsoever, over the nationals of a territory placed under the sovereignty or protectorate of the other Powers signatory of the present Treaty, or over the nationals of a territory detached from Turkey." So bringing in Turkey to the Cyprus issue unilaterally on the part of Britain was in itself an illegal and cynical move motivated solely by egoistic political considerations. If they wanted to create a genocide in Cyprus , then who could be a better choice for them than the Turks with their notorious record of repeated genocides - the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian ones? Second , they focus so much attention on EOKA and Grivas in the film that they have no time to duly clarify the role of the Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı or MTM , a notorious Turkish terrorist organization founded by Dentash himself who poses in the documentary as an innocent victim of Greek "persecutions" and the Turkish army officer Rıza Vuruşkan with roots going back to Ankara long before EOKA's creation and with its various ancestors like the Volkan co-funded and co-founded by British special operations officers in an attempt to destabilize the situation from within. Interestingly enough, the MTM called themselves "mujahedin" and with Britain's consent conducted a jihad in Cyprus under the no longer hidden guidance of senior Turkish politicians and generals like Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Daniş Karabelen who was the head of the unconventional warfare office in Turkey! The MTM was responsible for many murders and assaults in false flag operations like the bombing of the Turkish Information Bureau. "Secular" Turkey supplied its jihadists with weapons and amunitions. On October 18, 1959 - probably by mistake - a Brtish patrol stopped a Turkish ship"Deniz" and found it full of amuntions...But what do we hear instead? The Greeks were the terrorists and Turkey was so "concerned" about life and security of the "peaceful" Turkish minority... Third, Makarios did not change his mind about the Enosis whose outspoken and ardent champion he had always been ,out of a sudden as soon as he saw the irresistible goodness of heart of Marshal Harding. The reason was more typically British and base. MI6 had found out a dirty secret from Makarios' early private life . He shall have seduced a boy and now was blackmailed by the Brits into reneging on his life-long dream of Enosis in the interest of Britain to keep Cyprus small, defencelees, impotent, isolated and divided so that Britain (and/or the US + Turkey ) may stay unchalleged for ever in this geostrategic key-point of the globe.

[@mariosassiotis2697]

It’s interesting how much you know and you are not Greek Cypriot

[@paulfletcher2029]

A priest raping a child what a surprise. Thankfully the power of any church is now curtailed thanks to secular education. Next on tge list of curtailment is Islam . Read the book titled Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A beautiful. Intelligent thoughtful lady from Somalia who became a Dutch member of parliament now lives in exile in the U S A because the Muslim clergy are terrified of her as she exposed the faults in Islam and issued a fatwa or death sentence against her.

[@aristotleonassis5792]

If it were true about Makarios the British would’ve used it. They wanted him out.

[@januszkowalski5345]

@@aristotleonassis5792 "Prendergast and Philip Kirkby Green were a formidble team and ,with Megan's support, they devised a joint MI5-SIS scheme codenamed Operation SUNSHINE to trace Grivas ...technical arrangements ...included placing surreptitious taps on Makarios's private telephone while (Sir) Stephen Hastings was transferred from the Paris station to be "in at the kill". ..hw as an experienced case officer and ran an agent who had been recruited from inside makarios's immediate entourage. SUNSHINE also involved a fall-back plan , which developed out of the evidence that was accumulated of the Archbishop's rather unusual homosexual proclivities...Exactly, what occurred to persuade Makarios to change his mind and co-operate has never been revealed , but it is known that he made no attempt to contact Grivas to get his advice. One possible explanation for the Archbishop's uncharacteristic reversal is the likely impact the disclosure of the material that had been gathered during SUNSHINE relating to his private life would have had on Cyprus." Nigel West, The friends britain's Post-war secret Intelligence Operations p.77-78 I've found this book buried among other "outdated" materials released by the CIA on their site . )

[@januszkowalski5345]

@@aristotleonassis5792 Actually , they needed him to implement the first part of their unholy scheme " NO Enosis" but weak and unstable Cyrpus instead with British military bases on it. Part two "Cyprus for Turkey" was to come a few years later with the new transatlantic masters of the universe and Kissinger. Note that it has never been a British policy to get rid of a politician they can easily blackmail for somebody against whom they don't have some dirty means and ways of influencing. Quite the contrary! So they preferred to keep him in office after 1960. In 1974 the CIA-run military junta in Athens was prodded to carry out a coup d'etat on Cyprus and to kill Makarios . The real reason was hidden from them by their American masters. The turks needed a pretext to intervene militarily. And the CIA did not disappoint their staunch turkish allies. The stupid Greek colonels somehow thought that being pathological anticommunists and servile American bootlickers would always be appreciated by their masters. It wasn't. It was one of those instances about which Kissinger used to joke "To be America's enemy is dangerous but to be its friend is fatal." ; (

[@jemlittle1787]

Its amazing how racist a priest can be. Its impossible to coexist with someone who does not want you to exist at all !

[@micheypatsa]

Shutup brit.

[@jemlittle1787]

@@micheypatsa truths are hard to swallow huh

[@micheypatsa]

@@jemlittle1787 Like your country being shit.

[@jemlittle1787]

@@micheypatsa is it not the same country as yours? Or are now happy to admit we have the right to exist on our own land, thanks buddy.

[@turkishcypriot8013]

@@jemlittle1787 well said brother I salute you

[@gimpyraver]

Ha Cyprus and Rhodesia are they whole?? Are they still around. No to both. Shock horror

[@micheypatsa]

You know Cyprus is still around right.....

[@lagarto83]

@@micheypatsa Half of it is.... the other half is with the turks :) :) :)

[@micheypatsa]

@@lagarto83 All Greek. Occupied (not even half, you couldn't even invade correct) like 35% by turks.

[@lagarto83]

@@micheypatsa Not me! I am not turk my friend. In fact my ancestors fought the Ottoman Empire for two centuries. I am from Portugal.

[@micheypatsa]

@@lagarto83Lol portugal.

[@noddyholder79]

The arrogance of British imperialists knows no bounds.

[@nemo6686]

How? For the few decades Britain was in control prior to Makarios's arrival, Cyprus was stable and secure, for all its people. Then the Greek Archbishop arrived and launched a terror campaign for unification with Greece - not welcomed by the 20% Turkish minority. If Makarios had arrived seeking independence for Cyprus - as he eventually agreed - don't you think his chances would've been substantially higher? Imagine: no murdered mothers, no meddling by the Greek 'Colonels' in the 70s and no Turkish invasion.

[@KingsComputer-kd9gu]

Νίκος Σαμψών ολεεεε

[@mango2005]

Another mess.

[@andyburge7358]

I was born on that beautiful island and have many Cypriot relatives. The modern history of Cyprus is explained by one factor - right-wing nationalism. EOKA was led by Grivas, a right-wing fascist who appealed to uneducated Cypriots that Enosis would be in their interest. In fact, Greece had never had any connection, political, economic or geographic with Cyprus. Grivas was driven by one thing only - a hated of Turkish Cypriots. In the early 70s, another right-wing fascist started EOKA B - Sampson. He used exactly the same tactics as Grivas in brainwashing the uneducated into hatred of the Turkish Cypriots. As a result, Turkey used the opportunity to invade, divide the Island and dispossess 000s of families - Make no mistake, the Greek Cypriots are responsible for the mess that Cyprus is - nobody else

[@micheypatsa]

Shutup brit, all these years later youre still talking your shit.

[@paulfletcher2029]

You speak the unvarnished truth thank you.

[@paulfletcher2029]

@@micheypatsa The truth hurts Apricot patriot does it not.

[@paulfletcher2029]

@Antonakis Antonevris hmm keep your mouth shut you say to one writer who lived in Cyprus. Grivas like Samson was a murderous fanatic. That silly moustache of his. Greater in length though than Adolph Hitler's

[@micheypatsa]

@@paulfletcher2029 Oh shutup cry more turk.

[@nerimanzerzavatci477]

why is a so called religious leader involved in Politics....... he should be for peace, but obviously not

[@aristotleonassis5792]

He was. He opposed Enosis, the American backed junta and British machinations.

[@mikem8211]

Because without the church there would be no Greeks left. We owe are existence to Jesus Christ because apparently despite being 82% of the population it was never ours

[@kasinski123]

tough to care what the general thinks when he is missing a couple of teeth