Other

The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies

Volume: 18 Number: 2 December 27, 2018
TR EN

The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies

Abstract

Following the developments in the last months of 1963, the Republic of Cyprus, declared in 1960, was ended and the conflicts between the two communities on the island started again. Turkey followed closely the situation of Turks on the island. Turkey made it clear that it would not hesitate to conduct a military intervention on the island in order to protect the Turkish Cypriots. In 1964, the Turkish government planned a military intervention in the island, but it was stopped by the U.S. In November 1967, a new crisis emerged on the island after the Greeks attacked two Turkish villages on the island. Turkey began preparations for a military operation in the island. This study analyzes the developments before and after the 1967 crisis. Turkey and Britain were one of the guarantor powers of the Republic of Cyprus. Their approach to the crisis was examined in the light of archival documents. This study showed that while Turkey was ready to perform military intervention on the island, the British government was opposed to it. Britain tried to prevent a possible Turkish military intervention. Starting from the crisis of 1964, the increasing American influence on the Cyprus problem helped this policy of the British. The British were happy that the 1967 crisis was ended without Turkish intervention on the island. On the other hand, Turkish public opinion was disturbed by the Turkish government’s policy during the crisis. The Demirel government was criticized for not allowing a military operation. This study made an examination of the 1967 Cyprus crisis in the framework of British and Turkish policies.

Keywords

References

  1. BibliographyArchival SourcesThe National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom:Foreign Office, Central Department and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)Public Record Office (PRO): FCO 9/72, ‘note a conversation between the Commonwealth Secretary and the Cyprus High Commissoner, Mr. Ashiotis, in the Commonwealth office’, 20 September 1967.PRO: FCO 9/72, ‘Cyprus’, letter of the Cental Deparment of Foreign Office, 25 September, 1967.PRO: FCO 9/72, Foreign Office’s Cental Departmet memorandum on the Cyprus problem, 9 October 1967.PRO: FCO 9/72, telegram from the British High Commissioner to Cyprus, Sir. Norman Costar, to Commonwealth Office, no: 885, 18 October 1967.PRO: FCO 9/73, ‘record of a meeting between Mr. Spyros Kyprianou and the Commonwealth Secretary held at the Commonwealth Office’, 23 October 1967.PRO: FCO 9/73, ‘H.M.G.’s attitude to the Greek-Turkish dialogue’ report from the Central Department of Foreign Office to John Beith, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the British Foreign Office, 26 October 1967.PRO: FCO 9/73, ‘Cyprus’, report of the Central Department of Foreign Office, 20 March 1968.PRO: FCO 27/166, ‘position of UK government in international law in relation to threatened Turkish action against Cyprus’, ‘Advice of Law Officers’, 24 November 1967.PRO: FCO 47/156, ‘Cyprus: possible Turkish invasion and precautions for British citizens’, 1967 Jan 01-1968 Dec 31.PRO: FCO 51/47, ‘the Turkish Attitude to Cyprus 1945-1967’, Foreign And Commonwealth Affair‘s Research Department Memorandum, 4 December 1968.Cabinet Papers (CAB)PRO: CAB 128/42, ‘Post War Conclusion’, CC (67), 68th conclusion, 23 November 1967.PRO: CAB 128/42, ‘Post War Conclusion’, CC (67), 69th conclusion, 30 November 1967.
  2. Records of the British Minister of Defence (DEFE)PRO: DEFE 11/539, ‘Cyprus’, telegram (secret) from the British Embassy in Ankara to Foreign Office, no: 1849, 24 November 1967.PRO: DEFE 11/539, ‘Cyprus: renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Force in Cyprus’ confidential letter from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, George Brown, to the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson’, 30 November 1967.PRO: DEFE 11/539, ‘Cyprus’, telegram from the British ambassador to Moscow, Sir Geoffrey Harrison to Foreign Office, no: 1949, 23 November 1967.Official Turkish Primary Documents:Dışişleri Bakanlığı Belleteni (The Bulletin of the Foreign Ministry), Ankara: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1967.Millet Meclisi Tutanak Dergisi (MMTD), (Official records of the Turkish National Assembly).United Nations:UN Security Council Reports for the period 13 June to 8 December 1967, (S/8286).UN Security Council, 16 November 1967, Secretary’s General Report on the Ayios Theodhoros-Kohinou Incident (S/8248).Books, Articles and Newspapers:Ahmad, Feroz. The Turkish Experiment in Democracy, 1950-1975. London: C. Hurst for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1977.Akşam, 17 November 1967.Armaoğlu, Fahir. “Crisis the Cyprus Question Initiated in Turco-Greek Relations.” International Review of Military History. No: 67, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, (1988): 227-250.Bahcheli, Tozun. Greek-Turkish Relations since 1955. London: Westview Press, 1990.Bölükbaşı, Süha. Superpowers and the Third world: Turkish American Relations and Cyprus. Lanham: University Press of America, 1988.Coufoudakis, Van. “United States Foreign Policy and the Cyprus Question: A case study in Cold War Diplomacy”. Conference Proceedings U.S. Foreign Policy toward Greece and Cyprus, The Clash of Principle and Pragmatism. ed. Theodore A. Couloumbis & Sallie M. Hicks. Washington D.C.: The Centre for Mediterranean Studies, 1975. 106-138.Denktash, Rauf. The Cyprus Triangle. Nicosia: K. Rustem & Bro, 1982.Fırat, Melek M. 1960-71 Arası Türk Dış Politikası ve Kıbrıs Sorunu. Ankara: Siyasal Kitabevi, 1997.Göktepe, Cihat. “The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and its Effects on Turkey's Foreign Relations”. Middle Eastern Studies. 41: 3, (2005): 431- 444.Hale, William. Turkish Foreign Policy, 1774-2000. London: Frank Cass 2002.Harbottle, Michael, The Blue Berets. London: Cooper, 1974.Hart, Parker T. Two NATO Allies at the Threshold of War: Cyprus, a Firsthand Account of Crisis Management, 1965-1968. London: Duke University Press, 1990.Hitchens, Christopher. Hostage to History: Cyprus from the Ottomans to Kissinger. New York: Verso, 1999.Kuneralp, Zeki. Sadece Diplomat: Hatırat. İstanbul Matbaası, 1981.Mallinson, William. Cyprus: Diplomatic History and the Clash of Theory in International Relations. London: I. B. Tauris, 2010.Papandreou, Andreas George. Democracy at Gunpoint: The Greek Front. London: Andre Deutsch Limited, 1971.Stearns, Monteagle. Entangled Allies: US Policy Toward Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1992.The Times, 1 December 1967.Uslu, Nasuh. The Cyprus Question as an Issue of Turkish Foreign Policy and Turkish-American Relations 1959-2003. New York: Nova Publishers, 2003.Vance, Cyrus. Hard Choices, Critical Years in American Foreign Policy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.Wiener, Sharon Anderholm. “Turkish Foreign Policy Decision-Making on the Cyprus Issue: A Comparative Analysis of Three Crises.” Ph.D. Thesis, (Duke University: 1980).Yavuzalp, Ercüment. Kıbrıs Yangınında Büyük Elçilik. Ankara: Bilgi Yayınevi, 1993.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Other

Publication Date

December 27, 2018

Submission Date

October 17, 2018

Acceptance Date

December 13, 2018

Published in Issue

Year 2018 Volume: 18 Number: 2

APA
Coşkun, Y. (2018). The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies. Türk Dünyası İncelemeleri Dergisi, 18(2), 377-398. https://doi.org/10.32449/egetdid.471803
AMA
1.Coşkun Y. The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies. TDID. 2018;18(2):377-398. doi:10.32449/egetdid.471803
Chicago
Coşkun, Yasin. 2018. “The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies”. Türk Dünyası İncelemeleri Dergisi 18 (2): 377-98. https://doi.org/10.32449/egetdid.471803.
EndNote
Coşkun Y (December 1, 2018) The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies. Türk Dünyası İncelemeleri Dergisi 18 2 377–398.
IEEE
[1]Y. Coşkun, “The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies”, TDID, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 377–398, Dec. 2018, doi: 10.32449/egetdid.471803.
ISNAD
Coşkun, Yasin. “The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies”. Türk Dünyası İncelemeleri Dergisi 18/2 (December 1, 2018): 377-398. https://doi.org/10.32449/egetdid.471803.
JAMA
1.Coşkun Y. The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies. TDID. 2018;18:377–398.
MLA
Coşkun, Yasin. “The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies”. Türk Dünyası İncelemeleri Dergisi, vol. 18, no. 2, Dec. 2018, pp. 377-98, doi:10.32449/egetdid.471803.
Vancouver
1.Yasin Coşkun. The Cyprus Crisis of 1967 and The British-Turkish Policies. TDID. 2018 Dec. 1;18(2):377-98. doi:10.32449/egetdid.471803

by-nc.png  Journal of Turkish World Studies is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.