Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus 1954-1959, and: To kypriako zetema 1878-1960, he syntagmatike ptyche

Abstract

Reviewed by: Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus, 1954–1959, and: [inline-graphic 01i][inline-graphic 02i] Van Coufoudakis Robert Holland, Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus, 1954–1959, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 1998. Pp. 340 and index. $95.00 cloth. Evanthis Hatzivasileiou. . Athens: Ellinika Grammata. 1998. Pp. 204. The Cyprus problem continues to be the source of interesting new studies. Robert Holland is a Reader in Imperial and Commonwealth History at the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Evanthis Hatzivasileiou is a young Greek historian who has contributed both to the study of Cypriot colonial history and to the publication of Karamanlis’s memoirs. Robert Holland’s book is a “must” reading for anyone interested in British decolonization policy in general and in the Cypriot quest for enosis and for eventual independence in particular. Based on primary sources, this book is the first detailed study of the British response to the Cypriot and the Greek demands for enosis. His minute analysis of British documents begins with a summary of [End Page 184] colonial policy from 1878 to 1950, with particular emphasis on the Greek Cypriot uprising of 1931 and its consequences. The book goes on to discuss the “crisis of trust” during the failed negotiations from February 1950 to April 1955. The nine chapters that follow constitute the most in-depth analysis of British colonial policy on Cyprus that has ever been written. These chapters show Britain’s conflicting domestic and foreign policy considerations as it attempted to cope with the loss of an empire in the aftermath of the second world war, the pressures generated by British perceptions of the country’s strategic role in the Middle East and in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the political dynamics in the Greek-Cypriot community. Holland provides the most detailed account of how ethnic coexistence came apart under these intense pressures and the calculated British policy of bringing in Turkey to deflect Greek and Greek-Cypriot enosis demands. Holland’s analysis of primary sources documents in minute detail how Britain introduced Turkey as a party of equal interest in the dispute, and how Britain presented the idea of the island’s partition on 19 December 1956. However by 1957, Britain’s policy came to be controlled by Ankara. By the fall of 1958, Turkey had gained a stake in the government of the island and had instigated the de facto partition of Cyprus. Meanwhile, the British colonial administration and security forces lived in a military enclave cut off almost entirely from the general life of the island. By the spring of 1959, it was the Turkish foreign minister, Zorlu, who called for the commutation of two death sentences of Greek-Cypriots and brought about the delay in the publication of laws implementing the “Macmillan Plan.” Finally, the other interesting insight in Holland’s book concerns the role of two American consuls, Courtney and Belcher, during the emergency period in Cyprus. Both diplomats understood the issues involved in the Cyprus problem and Britain’s failing policy. Washington remained well informed throughout this period, reluctantly intervened at critical times, but in the final analysis it too allowed regional and NATO related strategic considerations to determine its Cypriot policy. Holland should be congratulated on his important contribution to the study of Cyprus and to Britain’s decolonization policy. Hatzivasileiou’s book relies on an extensive bibliography to document the constitutional history of Cyprus during British colonial rule (1878–1960). The focus of this book is on the evolution of 80 years of constitutional history on the island, rather than on a detailed examination of specific constitutional proposals. The island’s constitutional evolution was affected by the forces of nationalism, by external political influences, by the colonial administration’s interaction with the two communities, and by the political struggles within each of the two Cypriot communities and among and within British political parties. The author shows Britain’s failure to encourage bi-communal understanding and its reliance on the minority community to blunt the Greek-Cypriot demands for self-determination and enosis. The accumulation of these forces led to Britain’s spasmodic policies that ranged from offers of limited political participation...