myself and my family, were
violently thrown out of their houses,
turning 1/3 of the population into refugees.
Killing
of civilians and repeated
rapes
of women of all ages took place.
Hundreds
of people, including children, women
and
pentioners had been tortured and
savaged
during detention by the Turkish army.
37%
of the Island's territory went
under Turkish
Military
occupation.
Cyprus is
a small country, but with a cultural tradition of
thousands
of years. Throughout its long history, it has been
the object
of international rivalries. The powers of the day
sought to
dominate the Island. After centuries of foreign rule and
after a
hard guerrilla war against the colonial power, Cyprus
became an
independent state in 1960. A new member of the UN.
In order,
however to ensure security, the newborn Cyprus
Government
created the National Guard which fortunately, on the morning of 20th July
19974, was called to defend the island.
At exactly
5:30 in the morning, Turkey launched an invasion with
40,000 troops
against Cyprus. Once more Cyprus had fallen
a victim
to the international rivalries and to the danger of
its strategic posotion. The newly created army was unabled to
defend the
Island since it was outnumbered and outgunned
by the Turkish
troops.
