Nasser and Cyprus

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Aug 12, 2010 at 07:17

Hi Ianus

There is so much information in al-Ahram and Cyprus makes it to al-Ahram as early as 1954 but one have to be careful as al-Ahram was the official newspaper of Nasser but nontheless al-ahram provides us with a real picture of what really was going on from an Egyptian prespective. And there is so much to read as this tragedy seems to have pre-occupied Nasser from the mid 1950's until his death in 1970. And nothing is ever simple in history but notice the following dynamics

1. Nasser made it very clear that he has no like for Turkey or for the British. He had no like for NATO or for CENTO (Helf Baghdad) and he believed that his friendship with Makarious, Tito and Nehru would some how be a counter balance to the Turks and the British and their ambitions in the area

2. Nasser's relationship with israel was much more interesting. It seems that he indeed wanted to negotiate peace with Israel as early as 1953-1954 but the gaza attack on his troops in 1954 and the Lavon affair ended any hope of any peace between Egypt and Israel. And i also understand that he warned the israelis about the rise of radical Islam as he had to deal with the Muslim brotherhood but it is too bad as the policy makers in Israel never listened to his warnings

3. Nasser admired the US and its democracy very much but when the loan for the Aswan Dam was turned down he realized that by default he must seek help from Russia so he can buy arms and get loans for his dam

4. So in the mid 1950's we have two camps: Turkey, Britain, Israel and the US and the second camp were Nasser and Makarious and the Greeks and Russia and in the back ground Nehru and Tito and yes these two camps were fluid at times

5. So this brings us to the reports about threats by Nasser and with the help of the Greeks and Russia to bomb Turkey but how far these threats were for real I really do not know and I will be looking forward to read the biography of Nasser as this very tragedy in many ways defined him and his life

>Well, with the Egyptian sources revealed our discussion becomes more and more interesting.

Well there is so much information and i would not dare give any opinion without reading his forthcoming biography

I wrote: we can learn so much from the Egyptian archives that are open to historians and reading al-Ahram which is now archived on google and it was indeed surprising for example to kow that Makarious and Nasser with the help of the Greeks and Russia wanted to bomb Turkey and declare a free and Greek Cyprus"<

>Can you tell me when this proposal was made ?

From what I can gather it was made in the early 1960's

>Anyway , if Turkey was bombing openly Cyprus in 1964 and 1974, then why should she not have been be given something of her own favourite medicine ?

My own guess is the camp of Nasser and makarious and Greece did not have the arms or the money or the assent of the US and Russia was unreliable and do not forget he died in 1970

> Only because she was well protected in her aggression against a neutral country by holy NATO ?

I suspect that NATO and CENTO and the foolish Brits and Israel and our policy makers that could not see things beyond the tips of their noses are to be blamed for allowing Turkey to get away with murder

>Reading the limited information at my disposal I am prone to conclude that Cyprus could get rid of its Turco-Anglo-Saxon protectors, guarantors and guardians and remain roughly independent only the way Nasser got rid of them , i.e. by engaging Russia and playing her off against America and NATO.

Very true

Stay tuned for the rest of my review of your post

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