This post was most recently updated on January 6th, 2023
The Greek Cypriots wanted to incorporate Cyprus into Greece after the independence, but the Turkish Cypriots didn’t like the idea. Greek Cypriots created a movement “Enosis” and in return, the Turkish Cypriots started a movement and called it “Taksim”.
The main objective of Taksim was to divide Cyprus into Turkish and Greek Portions.
The Turkish Cypriot population initially advocated the continuation of the British rule, then demanded the annexation of the island to Turkey, and in the 1950s, together with Turkey, established a policy of Taksim, the partition of Cyprus, and the creation of a Turkish government in the north.
Turkish Cypriots were alarmed by the Greek Cypriot calls for ENOSIS, as they saw that the union of Crete with Greece had led to the exodus of Cretan Turks.
Turkish Cypriots also viewed themselves as a distinct ethnic group of the island and believed in their having a separate right to self-determination from Greek Cypriots.
Nationalistic slogans centered on the idea that “Cyprus is Turkish”, and the ruling party declared Cyprus to be part of the Turkish homeland and vital for its security.
Upon realizing that Turkish Cypriots were only 20% of the islanders, and so annexation was unfeasible, the national policy was changed to favor partition.
The slogan “Partition or Death” was frequently used in Turkish Cypriot and Turkish protests in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s.
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