The House | A “vivid” account of the events that divided Cyprus: Bambos Charalambous reviews ‘Cyprus 1974’

21 July 1974, Nicosia: Royal Navy helicopter evacuates local Cypriots following bombing of the area by Turkish planes I Image by: Associated Press / Alamy

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It will be 52 years in July since the events of 1974 which left Cyprus divided.

 They led to the United Nations peacekeeping force patrolling the green line running east to west across the island, separating the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities and splitting the capital, Nicosia, in half.

Conspiracy theories still abound about the events leading up to the division of the island – these include the CIA acting out of serious concern about the socialist leanings of Archbishop Makarios, or Nato wishing to appease two of its members, Greece and Turkey, or the Greek military junta seeking to take over Cyprus – all have been woven into the mythology of how Cyprus came to be divided.

It is therefore timely that Andrew Southam’s Cyprus 1974 sets out to debunk these conspiracy theories and instead show that it was the tragic confluence of events and lack of preparedness internationally that led to the failure to stop the island’s division.

Southam starts off by giving an overview and then proceeds to explore the thinking behind the actions (and, in some cases, inaction) of the main protagonists due to political and international pressures at the time.

It is timely that Andrew Southam’s Cyprus 1974 sets out to debunk these conspiracy theories 

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For example, in Washington DC, Southam rightly explains that with the Watergate scandal consuming so much of president Richard Nixon and his staff’s time and energy – and with the Paris Peace Accords for Vietnam, the fallout of the Yom Kippur war and the Middle East oil crisis all needing urgent attention – US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, had plenty on his plate.

Flitting seamlessly from one nation to another, and through the use of archive material, Southam paints a vivid picture as to what was going on at the time.

The way this book is structured makes it easy to envisage it being a made into a TV documentary or a film. There is some repetition, which Southam acknowledges from the outset but only in so far as it is relevant to recap and progress the chapter further.

The book is well-researched and very readable even if you have no prior knowledge of the events in Cyprus in 1974. 

It makes a strong case against the conspiracy theories but, 52 years on and with many of the key actors long since departed, misinformation will continue to persist. This should take nothing away from Southam’s book and the articulate way in which he deconstructs each theory. The book is well worth a read and I would highly recommend it.

Bambos Charalambous is Labour MP for Southgate & Wood Green

Cyprus 1974 – Conflict in The Mediterranean: No Control, No Conspiracy

By: Andrew Southam

Publisher: Pen & Sword