An interview with Turkish Cypriot activist Öz Karahan by Dimitris Konstantakopoulos for DefendDemocracy.Press and Militaire.Gr
In July 1974, the CIA-installed military junta in Athens carried out a coup in Cyprus and attempted to assassinate President Archbishop Makarios, a leading figure of the international anti-colonial struggles and of the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as a close friend and supporter of the PLO—the “Red Priest,” as the Americans called him.
The 1974 coup in Cyprus was a faithful replica of the bloody coup in Santiago, Chile, in 1973 and is considered one of the four major crimes of Henry Kissinger. At the time, Kissinger was all-powerful in Washington, holding simultaneously the offices of U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. Cyprus was of interest to Kissinger not only because of the broader dynamics of the U.S.–Soviet confrontation in the Mediterranean, but also because this island—of enormous strategic importance for the control of the Mediterranean—had always attracted very intense “interest” from Israel. It was there where Zionism wanted at the beginning to install the Jewish state. It is widely believed that Kissinger was the architect of both phases of the Cypriot tragedy of 1974, namely the coup by the “Greek” junta and the Turkish invasion that followed a few days later. According to some recent studies, he most likely did not even inform President Nixon—preoccupied at the time with Watergate—of his plans.
A few days after the coup, Turkey invaded the island, invoking the need to restore constitutional order and to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority (18% of the total population). Although legality was restored within a few days and the Turkish Cypriots were in no danger whatsoever, Turkish troops not only remained on the island but also dramatically expanded the territory they occupied through a subsequent military operation and a campaign of mass ethnic cleansing carried out in August 1974, following a series of intensive consultations between Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit and Kissinger. Despite a number of UN Security Council resolutions calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the island, those troops remain to this day. In 1983, the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” was proclaimed in the northern occupied part of the island, a state recognized by no country other than Turkey.
One of the reasons invoked by Ankara for all this was the need to protect the Turkish Cypriots. Yet the Turkish Cypriots soon became a minority even within the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” on the one hand due to the settlement of a very large number of settlers from Anatolia, and on the other because many Turkish Cypriots chose to emigrate, as a result of the repressive policies of the Turkish army as well as their many differences with the settlers.
We discuss all these issues, and also the role of Israel in Cyprus, with Öz Karahan, a Turkish Cypriot activist and contributor to the daily Avrupa (former Afrika), one of the main bastions of the Turkish Cypriot democratic opposition in the northern part of the island and a frequent target of threats and bombings. He also writes for the Cypriot Cumhuriyetçi newspaper, published in Cyprus.
From a young age, he was involved with the predecessor movements to the Union of Cypriots, which were active since the wave of protests in the occupied areas of Cyprus against Turkey in 2011. After studying at the Anglo-American University in the Czech Republic, he pursued further studies in World Politics and Conflict Analysis at the United Nations University for Peace and he then proceeded with his education in Communication for Development at Malmö University.
Oz Karahan has been a contributor to numerous projects and events organized by leading progressive organizations at both international and regional levels around the world. At the 7th International Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), he was elected as a member of the International Coordination Committee and as the Vice Chair for Europe of the organization.
As part of the electoral cooperations of the Union of Cypriots, he participated in the 2019 elections on the Jasmine Movement independents list alongside Şener Levent, and in 2024, on the Green Party of Cyprus list, as a candidate for Member of the European Parliament.
When I ask him if he is not afraid because of what is saying, writing or doing, Oz Karahan answers that that after some time you get accustomed to this situation. “Anyway”, he adds, “you are or you are not afraid, there is no other way to live a decent life”
