The root causes of the conflict in Cyprus between the Greek majority and the Turkish minority deserve a careful and balanced presentation of the historical events surrounding the birth and later division of the island republic.

The Turkish Government, in 1974, decided to intervene in Cyprus under Article 5 of the Treaty of Guarantee simply because it could no longer ignore its treaty obligations and stand by idly to watch the systematic killing of Turkish-Cypriots, the safety and well-being of whom it had pledged to guard. Nothing can better make the case for the Turkish intervention than the following witness accounts:In a Greek Raid on a small Turkish village near Limassol, 36 people out of a population of 200 were killed. The Washington Post, July 23, 1974

The human mind cannot comprehend the butchery of the Greeks. The Greek National Guard have displayed unsurpassed examples of savagery. Entering Turkish homes, they ruthlessly rained bullets on women and children. The Voice of Germany, July 30, 1974

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The world is not going to stand idly by and let you turn this beautiful island into your private abattoir. U.S. Secretary of State George W. Ball addressing Archbishop Makarios, from Ball’s memoirs The Past Has Another Pattern, pp. 341-347

We went tonight into the sealed-off Turkish Quarter of Nicosia in which 200 to 300 people had been slaughtered in the last five days. We were the first Western reporters there and we have seen sights too frightful to be described in print. Horror so extreme that the people seemed stunned beyond tears. Daily Express, December 28, 1963

President, Turkish Student Association