15 JULY 1974: This is how Cyprus was betrayed…

15 JULY 1974: This is how Cyprus was betrayed…
15 July 2024, “Haravgi” newspaper
The coup and the invasion were a twin crime, two sides of the same coin and the result of a conspiracy launched over many years by the most sinister circles of the USA and NATO. Plans for partition, “double union” [Note: the division of Cyprus between Greece and Turkey and hence the dissolution of the Republic of Cyprus], attempts to physically eliminate President Makarios and a series of machinations that led to the culmination of the treachery committed by the Greek Junta and EOKA B who handed over half of Cyprus to Turkey, implementing imperialism’s plans.
How the tanks moved
According to the finding on the “File of Cyprus” commissioned by the House of Representatives, at 5.00 a.m. on the morning of 15 July 1974 the leader of the coup, Brigadier General M. Georgitsis, who was replacing the Chief of the General Staff, G. Denisis, who was absent in Athens, had gone to the Greek military contingent in Cyprus (ELDYK) camp to coordinate the military operation. (…) At 8.17 a.m. with a signal to the Office of the Chief of the Greek Armed Forces (AED) and marked “Top Secret (EX) and Lightning Strike”, M. Georgitsis informed Athens of the start of the coup.
At 8.20 a.m. tanks, armoured vehicles and Commandos attacked the Presidential Palace, first from the front entrance and then from the exit, located on the east side on Demosthenes Severis Avenue.
At the same time, attacks were also carried out on the Central Police Headquarters, the Special Reserve Army corps [loyal to Makarios and the constitutional order) camp and the state-owned Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (RIK), as well as the Nicosia International Airport.
With the tanks and the army on the move, EOKA B also took up arms. Shortly before 10 a.m., the coupist-controlled RIK begins to transmit the following announcement: “This morning the National Guard intervened to stop the civil war between the Greeks” and that the main purpose of the operation is “to restore order”. “The National Guard”, it adds, is “at this moment is in control of the situation. Makarios is dead…”.
The lies are relayed, even though Makarios manages to escape capture and shortly afterwards from Paphos speaks to the Cypriot people and refutes the coupists who proclaim a so-called “government of national salvation”.
The coupists immediately begin mass arrests in the areas they control, conducting searches whilst ordering everyone to stay at home. The dead and wounded are piling up in the Nicosia General Hospital and mass graves are opened. The same happens in the other towns too. The democratic forces and the Special Reserve Force resist the fascist coup executed by the US-led Greek junta and EOKA B. A heavy price was paid by the Left and AKEL, which resisted EOKA B and the fascist coup like nobody else.
Despite the resistance, the coup prevailed and Nikos Samson was “sworn in” as so-called “President” by the then deposed [pro-coupist and anti-Makarios] Bishop of Paphos, Metropolitan Gennadios, who was restored to his position by the Holy Synod in 1982.
At 5 in the morning of 20 July the brutal Turkish invasion began, completing the twin NATO crime against the people of Cyprus.
Coup plans by Grivas and others
The coup of 15 July 1974 was not some spontaneous action. It was the culmination of subversive illegal activities that lasted for several years with the Greek Junta, Grivas and EOKA II as the central protagonists, carrying out the plans of the imperialists of NATO and the USA.
Certain forces and circles are claiming that the coup would not have taken place had Grivas been alive [Grivas died in January 1974]. This is an erroneous false claim. Proof of this are the coup plans drawn up by or under the orders of Grivas, as confirmed through the Parliamentary Findings on the “File of Cyprus”.
According to the Parliament’s Finding, “on 19 December 1971, EOKA B circulated a secret document under the code name “Operation Sfendoni”, which was prepared on the instructions of G. Grivas (code name ALEXANDROS), which was an operation to take over the Police Headquarters, the Police Company, which was located near the Police Headquarters and RIK”.
The finding also refers to the numerous plans such as “Apollo”, “Grothos” prepared by EOKA B leader Syros, “Antapodosis” by another EOKA B leader Karousos, “Typhon” by Syros, “Thunder” and “Alopix”, and even a plan prepared by Grivas himself with the code name “NIKI” [Victory].
The final decision for a coup was taken on 30 June 1974 and the final order was given in a meeting on 2 July, refuting the claims that Makarios’ letter to the Greek Junta had brought about the coup. Makarios’ letter was delivered to the Greek dictators on 3 July…
NATO, the coup and the planned invasion
The Finding of the “File of Cyprus” also confirmed the methods and planning of the twin imperialist crime of 1974 against Cyprus with the Greek junta and EOKA B as accomplices: “A top secret document of NATO Secretary General Joseph Luns, dated 12 July 1974, refers to his agreement to the decision of US Secretary of State Sisko to support Turkish troops in their landing (in Cyprus) during the violent overthrow of Makarios.” As noted in the Finding, “Turkey’s intentions to invade Cyprus were also known to Great Britain for some time prior to its occurrence.”
The American involvement in the events in Cyprus, as is evident from the Findings of “File of Cyprus” commissioned by the Greek Parliament, is undeniable, even if a big effort is underway to distort this truth. The Finding in question reveals that “the US was actively involved in the decision to overthrow Archbishop Makarios, assuring {Greek dictator] Ioannidis that Turkey would not intervene”.
The main target: the The Left
The Finding of the “File of Cyprus” stresses that while Ankara was preparing for an invasion, the leadership of the National Guard had as its first target the “internal enemy”, i.e. any Cypriot who was not a fellow traveller, but not the danger from Turkey, which they systematically downplayed. The Finding notes that the military leadership was informed in detail of Turkish moves from 17 July onwards without the necessary measures having been taken.
Indicatively, it is stated that the necessary reinforcement of the positions on the Kyrenia coast was not carried out, and stressed in the Conclusion: “Judging from the facts, on the contrary, it is clear that all the actions taken by both the Greek Junta and the coup leadership of the National Guard were aimed at confirming the Greek direct involvement in the coup, as well as at weakening the National Guard’s positions in the Kyrenia area”…
Indicatively, suffice it to mention that the forces ordered and to pursue President Makarios in Paphos “were numerically superior to those sent on 20 July 1974 to confront the Turkish beachhead in the area of the invasion”!
The main target, however, was AKEL and the mass organisations of the Left more broadly. This was also expressed in the fascist attacks launched by EOKA B that preceded it, and in addition to the state targets, they also attacked the People’s Movement. The fascist attacks were just a foretaste of the killing that followed the coup d’état that brought the Turkish invasion.