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Hostage to History: Cyprus from the Ottomans to Kissinger

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As time marches on the true circumstances relating to the Cyprus 'problem' (an euphimism, if there ever was one) become slowly but surely known: Hitherto secret Western papers are running their archive course and getting declassified; aging British and American diplomats write their memoirs and, inadvertently or not, let slip; and more and more political scientists, disillusioned with 'the ally that is Turkey', take a harder look at its policies and practices.

This wasn't the case in 1984 when this book, simply titled 'CYPRUS', was originally published. The cold war was still hot and, silly as it now seems, there was widespread phobia about 'supplying' the Soviets with 'propaganda' material. Understandably perhaps the Western establishment was not very keen on writers exposing dirty tales - and none too friendly. Turkey's invasion of Cyprus was barely 10 years old - too close for most politicians' comfort to have a book out that contradicted the official line. And Turkey itself was still a most esteemed ally, not to be downplayed.

It is in this setting that 'CYPRUS' hit the news stands. It created something of an uproar. In the corridors of power on both sides of the Atlantic Mr. Hitchens's name was derided; in the populist Press he was dismissed as a 'communist' (as if this was somehow reason to belittle his writings); and Turkey declared him a persona non grata.

But why? Simply because C. Hitchens had not been content to adopt the simplistic view as put forth by Whitehall and the Whitehouse. He dared to offer an alternative explanation of the Cyprus 'problem'. What's more, he had done his homework well. His thesis was deeply researched and persuasively argumented. And it posed some agonisingly embarrassing questions to high ranking British and American Tsars, most notably Henry Kissinger.

'CYPRUS' is now long out of print; thankfully it has been re-issued in its present guise as a Paperback with new prefaces and afterword. It also has a grandiose new title - don't let it scare you into thinking this is a boring History textbook: this is a compelling revelation of how big powers play chess using small countries as expendable pawns. It is a frightening recount of how rulers, to satisfy their ego, may steer policy towards mad avenues that result in the destruction of thousands.

And it is the sad story of how the people of Cyprus, Greeks and Turks alike, were brought to destitution through the skillful and not-so-skillful manipulation of outsiders. In fact, Mr. Hitchens superbly demonstrates his case that Cypriots had very little, if anything, to do with the grand designs that culminated in the catastrophic 1974 Turkish invasion of the island.

The Cyprus 'problem'? Don't look now, Mr. Hitchens is laughing.

A must-have book for any free-thinking spirit. A bold treatise by a political scholar worthy of the name.

This is a book about international political intregue which reads almost like a spy-cum-action thriller. It is not fiction, however. To paraphrase Orwell, these things actually happened.

There are, as Hitchens acknowledges, those who will accuse him of creating a huge and unlikely conspiricy theory with this book. Yet, to those who care to follow him, there is plenty of confirmation for his conclusions. They make disturbing reading.

The Cyprus problem is not, he states, the result of ancient ethnic rivalries. Indeed, he notes how the old cliche that Greek and Turkish Cypriots have always lived peacefully together is actually true, and that, for example, during the American-backed Greek coup in Cyprus and the subsequent Turkish military occupation of the island in 1974, Greek and Turkish Cypriots sheltered together and helped each other. Rather, Hitchens shows convincingly, the division of the island is the result of foreign power-games, led by the cynical foreign policies of Lyndon Johnson, Nixon and Kissenger, who used Cyprus as a pawn in an international political game without care for or reference to the inhabitants of that island.

Hitchen's book provides a necessary antidote to the increasingly common glib commentators in the media whose lazy research, and ignorance of history, makes them automatically see the Cyprus problem in terms of ethnic rivalries brought on by the Cypriots themselves. As Hitchens shows, in his highly readable account, the people of Cyprus are the least to blame for their 'problem'.

Christopher Hitchens earns his right as the author and narrator of this book to stricken from its pages the journalistic short-hand and gratuitous reference to "the Rape of Cyprus." In preparing this book, he sat through hundreds of hours of video-taped graphic testimony of Greek Cypriot rape victims, documented by the High Commission for Human Rights after the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974. Hitchens says he would prefer to use the Greek verb "kataklepse" which is the passive form of "ruined". As in "it was then he ruined me". But that would be Greek to most of us, and deciphering the message of Cyprus is difficult business alone.

Who the "ruined" Cyprus?

According to Christopher Hitchens, everyone but the Cypriotes themselves, and those Cypriotes involved in island politics who did make lasting contributions to chaos did so under duress or as a result of Britain's "last colonial effort" (whatever, if excluding Northern Ireland, that may be). Furthermore, Hitchens asserts, a conspiracy of international desires to see Cyprus fragmented and destabilized holds troubled Cyprus in check today.

Hitchens' text is often scored with insightful and lyrical passages, but it has two striking problems. We confront the first problem in the first four pages: the title misleads us. Contrary to the title's claim, this is not a thorough and balanced history from the Ottomans to Kissinger; it does not cover broadly the early conquests and settlements of the island, but instead, is a narrative which relies on some historical background (hence the four pages of honorable Ottoman mention at the beginning). The book focuses primarily on the years of the Greek junta, Britain's duplicitous role as island guarantor, and the intrepidly arrogant memoirs of then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and agonizingly arrogant policies orchestrated by the British Foreign Office and British Foreign Secretary James Callahan.

Such bottle-necking of the b! ook's intended focus was bound to creep in to the author's judgement: Much of the meticulously woven narrative and documentation unravels as the author wields a loaded gavel. Judgements of any accomplishments the two statesmen mentioned above might have made toward real settlements for peace in Cyprus are thus tainted as they play out before us on the page.

The second textual problem is the historically inaccurate premise that Greeks, Turks, and Jews lived side-by-side on the island for millennia without native friction. This borders on the absurd. Historians will see the unbalanced scales and adjust them accordingly. But not all readers will: some will accept this premise without resistance as many have done with a generation of starry-eyed new histories of Bosnia. Good things can be said of Cyprus; but paradise it was not. Nor can it ever be.

The best writing in this book is found in the not-one-but-three prefaces and afterward, all provided by Hitchens, which brings us up-to-date on the recent blood spilled on the Green Zone in the summer of 1997. These four inserts alone summarize the issues and provide us with the quality and concision of writing we expect from the universally admired Hitchens. Everything in the middle is methodically documented, but alas...

Highly informative, interesting, and moving. Necessary reading for anyone interested in the Cyprus problem.

I applaud Hitchens for his important contribution to this serious issue of human rights negligence. America has to start taking responsibility for some of its fatal errors. This book will definately open your eyes to a country that really needs American political pressure now!
See also: http://cypruscandor.blogspot.com/

While I admire Hitchens simply for bothering to write the book in the first place (the rest of the world has either forgotten about us or doesn't care) he fails to make any real impact. Yes, he documents very well the role of the superpowers and their desire to see Cyprus partitioned. But he tends to overlook the expansionist nature of Turkey : What of the countless massacres of Greeks, Armenians, Kurds (and, quite often, their own citizens) by the Turks, be it during the Ottoman period or today by the secular Turkish state ? Instead we are given a very narrow synopsis involving Kissinger, the Soviets and a few demented Greek generals. What we see in Cyprus is simply history repeating itself: slow shrinking of Orthodox Christianity and Hellenic culture as a result of Western-sanctioned Turkish aggression. The rest is just detail.

As much as I admire Christopher Hitchens, when it comes to Cyprus, he completely loses his mind. With this book, Hitchens falls into the intellectually lazy trap of forming his conclusions before seeking out material to support them. Essentially, he makes an argument, and then asks the reader to take his word for it. Although replete with quotes, the book contains almost no citations that the reader can trace to a source.

Hitchens makes it all seem so simple: the Cypriots and Greece are the virtuous ones, while the Turks, Britain, and the US are the villains. But anyone who has spent any time at all seriously researching this subject knows this just isn't so.


The book also contains so many historical howlers that anyone quoting it does so at his own peril. Because of its formulaic structure it might appeal to a popular audience, but has virtually no scholarly value. I, for one, am waiting for Mr. Hitchens to re-visit this subject, do the actual research, and come back with a book worthy of him.

The author's lack of research or lack of displaying his findings is evident from the first pages which mentions the Turkish conquest at Famagusta ends with the brutal flaying of the Italian commander. However if a research was conducted into this event then it would be found that the Turkish commander had made approach to the Italian commander in truce giving compliments to the bravery and endurance shown, and had asked for the release of the Turkish prisoners. Satisfying this the Italian commander and his troops was promised a safe passage back to his motherland. But history reveals that the Italian, had instead ordered the killing of the Turkish prisonsers, which in response to this the Turkish commander was angered and ordered the same be carried out to the Italian commander. It is this kind of vacuum of facts that are often left in books which unfortunately does not portray the absolute truth. Although this book does attempt to remain unbiased, it shys away from the mention of alarming events which would prove that the Turkish military intervention (known to Turks as the Peace Operation) was necessary to establish a peace on the island by seperating the two ethnic communities, after one of them containing the Greek Cypriot Junta planned an ethnic cleansing of the Turkish Cypriots.

This book merely concentrates on the behind the scenes events , dealings and possible motives between four nations, with not so much discussion of the Turkish participation.

Such books need to address the issue that the politics revolving around the events, leading to the Military Operation, were taken advantage of by outside powers to establish their own needs within the region. Some form of action had to be taken by some entity in order to protect the Turkish Cypriots, with all else failing (UN Peace keeping forces) including diplomacy between Turkey, Greece, Britain and USA, the result was the military operation. The point is that human life had to be protected and Turkey acted as a last resort in the way that it did. Therefore such history books must be wary when they lack they lack any mention of the social circumstances that would set the scene.

The 'Genocide Files' by Harry Scott gives a good acount of the actual events between the two communitites that will simplify the Cyprus issue in understanding the stance taken by Turkey.

I am a Kurdish Turk and I know quite well how Turks can treat minorities, and like many empires Turks have been quite violent as well. The most powerful has always been the most violent. Ottomans, English, Germans, French and now USA. When I was reading this book, I got a sense of deep hatred against Turks, Christopher hitchens tries hard to hide his hatred agains Turks but he fails.

i read this book to begin my quest to read everything by the author hitchens. i know very little about cyprus so i cannot argue any points written by the author. im new to his style of writing but i admire his courage to put forth a different notion and expose the conventional way of thinking because it takes more work to do so.