The Cold War Tension in Greece and the Continuation of British Rule in Cyprus, 1945-1950

Abstract

Cyprus officially became a British Crown Colony in 1925. However, the Greek Cypriots had consistently fought for enosis which was a union with Greece. As the biggest population in Cyprus, the Greek Cypriots felt that Cyprus was qualified to be a part of the Greece state; hence they revolted against British rule. This paper will expound on the decision of the British to remain in Cyprus despite the Greek Cypriots’ effort for enosis. The existing literature concerning this issue illustrates that the strategic geographical location of Cyprus, being near to the British communication route to the Middle East and the Eastern Empire, is the apparent reason for the British retaining its sovereign power in Cyprus. The main objective of this paper is to examine the other reason for Britain to remain in Cyprus that is still absent from the literature. This paper has focused on the perspective of British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin and his Foreign Office through the method of the archival research of British records such as Bevin’s Private Papers (FO800), the Cabinet Office Papers (CAB), the Foreign Office Papers (FO371), the Colonial Office files (CO), the Defence Ministry Papers (DEFE) and the House of Commons Parliamentary Debate (HANSARD). The finding shows that the Cold War tension in Greece, which was the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), had encouraged Bevin and the Foreign Office to reject any proposals or initiatives that favoured the idea of Cyprus being returned to Greece. There was a possibility of the communist insurgents took over Greece given they had successfully formed a provisional government in northern Greece. Bevin worried that Cyprus would also turn communist if it was ceded to Greece during this crucial time. This matter would also endanger the British geostrategic in Cyprus. This was the most likely event that Bevin wanted to avoid happening.