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Seeing how things were playing out, [[Polycarpos Giorkatzis]], the then Minister of the Interior and Defense, requested the intervention of the [[Cypriot National Guard|National Guard]] to restore order in the area, this request, however, was turned down by [[Georgios Grivas|George Grivas]] due to the fact that he believed that with the National Guard getting involved in the matter, it could have dire consequences on [[Cyprus]], such as the removal of the Greek Division (10k soldiers) from Cyprus. <ref>Παπαγεωργιου, Σ., Επιχειρηση Κοφινου. 2nd ed.</ref>
Seeing how things were playing out, [[Polycarpos Giorkatzis]], the then Minister of the Interior and Defense, requested the intervention of the [[Cypriot National Guard|National Guard]] to restore order in the area, this request, however, was turned down by [[Georgios Grivas|George Grivas]] due to the fact that he believed that with the National Guard getting involved in the matter, it could have dire consequences on [[Cyprus]], such as the removal of the Greek Division (10k soldiers) from Cyprus. <ref>Παπαγεωργιου, Σ., Επιχειρηση Κοφινου. 2nd ed.</ref>


After pressure from the [[Minister for National Defence (Greece)|Minister for National Defence]], [[Grigorios Spandidakis]], Makarios and Grivas reluctantly agreed to give an Operation the Green Light. <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaDOqdCYl5o</ref> <ref>Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.41.</ref>
After pressure from the [[Minister for National Defence (Greece)|Minister for National Defence]], [[Grigorios Spandidakis]], Makarios and Grivas reluctantly agreed to give an Operation the green light. <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaDOqdCYl5o</ref> <ref>Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.41.</ref>


==Plan for the Operation==
==Plan for the Operation==

Revision as of 19:50, 17 June 2022

Witchunter63/sandbox
Cyprus._UNFICYP-_1969_(8385496677)
Witchunter63/sandbox is located in Cyprus
Kofinou
Kofinou
Witchunter63/sandbox (Cyprus)
Date15th November 1967
Location
Kofinou, Larnaca
Result

Greek Victory [1] [2]

  • 1000 People displaced from their homes
  • Turkey fails to create the corridor of enclaves it had aimed to do
  • One of Turkeys most important strongholds has been weakened
  • General Grivas and the 10k soldiers from the Greek division removed
Belligerents

 Cyprus

Political backing by:

 Greece

 Turkey

Political backing by:

 United Kingdom
 USA
 Canada
Commanders and leaders
President Makarios
General George Grivas
Georgios Papadopoulos		 Rauf Denktaş
Cevdet Sunay
Süleyman Demirel
Units involved

Cypriot National Guard

  • 31st Commando Battalion
  • 32nd Commando Battalion
  • 21 EAN
Cyprus Police

Turkish Resistance Organisation
Turkish Armed Forces


National Intelligence Organization (Turkey)
Strength
1000 (Approx.) Estimated at 400
Casualties and losses

1 killed

2 injured

24 killed

9 injured


Kofinou Area and its importance

Kofinou is a village, in the Larnaca District of Cyprus. Before the events of 1967 (Operation Gronthos), it had a majority Turkish population.[3] Before the bypass built in the 1990s, the roads between Larnaka, Limassol and Nicosia trisected, making it of significant strategic importance to anyone that had control of it. [4]

Events prior to the Operation of Kofinou

After the Crises of 1963/ 1964, the Kofinou exclave had become a major stronghold for the Turkish-Cypriots, where-in-which they would stop oncoming traffic and at times fire upon vehicles leading to many confrontations with authorities. [5]

Prior to the events that happened at Kofinou, there was another Greco-Turkish conflict that had just ended which some believe led to the events of Kofinou and this was what happened at Evros in September of 1967 where Greece and Turkey had a meeting.[6]

From the Spring of 1967, elements of the Cypriot National Guard had been ordered to go to the area under the pretext to prevent the Turkish forces from creating enclaves that encompassing the villages, Softades, Kivisili, Aplanta, Alaminos, Menogeia, Kofinou, Mari and Agios Theodoros, which if enclaves were created, would have connected them well to the sea. In the Summer of 1967, Turks in the area began to place obstacles at the trisection. At the orders of a Turkish Army Lieutenant who was in charge of the enclave at Kofinou, the Turkish population in the area were told to prevent Cyprus Police patrols in the area and in some cases shots were fired at members of the Force. Turkish Military Command in the area also proceeded to add machine gun positions from which they could (and in some cases would), fire upon oncoming vehicles. At one point, the Turks also detained members of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. [7] [8]

Seeing how things were playing out, Polycarpos Giorkatzis, the then Minister of the Interior and Defense, requested the intervention of the National Guard to restore order in the area, this request, however, was turned down by George Grivas due to the fact that he believed that with the National Guard getting involved in the matter, it could have dire consequences on Cyprus, such as the removal of the Greek Division (10k soldiers) from Cyprus. [9]

After pressure from the Minister for National Defence, Grigorios Spandidakis, Makarios and Grivas reluctantly agreed to give an Operation the green light. [10] [11]

Plan for the Operation

The operation was created in order to clear the area of any Turkish resistance. To do this, there would be the use of a Commando Battalion backed by armoured elements from the 21 EAN and from the Artillery unit. On the 14th, the area was surrounded by forces from both Cyprus Police and the National Guard. [12] The Commanders of the Operation were temporarily placed in Skarinou Police Station. [13]

Operation

On November 15 1967 at around noon, the Cyprus Police and Military patrol that was coming through was fired upon by fortified Turkish-Cypriot militants who were in the hills around the areas Kofinou and Agios Theodoros and immediately the Greeks returned the fire. [14] Operators from the 32nd Commando Battalion, under the Command of Major Andrea Efstathiou and with men from a Company of the 31st Commando Battalion under Captain Kostas Ioannides received orders to clear the hills where the fortified Turks were situated. [15] [16] After a short firefight, all elements of resistance had been eliminated by the Commandos and the hills were cleared. [17] On Hill 124 however, which was just west of Kofinou village, a young, 21 year old Sergeant called Evmenios Panayiotou, belonging to the 32nd Commando Battalion, was was killed in action and was the only member of the Cypriot National Guard to have been killed in the entire operation. [18] After clearing the hills, the Commandos with Marmon-Herrington vehicles began clearing operations in the villages and specifically Kofinou, supressing any forms of resistance that was left. As a result of this operation, many arrests were made, including that of the Turkish Lieutenant who was in charge of the Turkish-Cypriot Forces, also a number of small arms and a self made anti-armour weapon, an additional 2 machineguns (Browning 0.30 cal.), some boards with plans, hunting rifles and some explosives. [19] [20] Alongside the 1 Operator who was killed, the Greek side also had 2 injuries. 24 Turkish-Cypriots had been killed in the operation with an additional 9 being injured. [21]

Consequences of the Operation

The following day, under order from the Greek Government, the Cypriot National Guard was forced to retreat from the area and after they had returned to their bases, aircraft from the Turkish Air Force began bombing areas in Cyprus and the Turkish Navy entered Cypriot waters. [22] Police patrols had also been toned down due to the success of the operation and to allow the area to calm down. [23]

As a result of the operation, what Grivas had originally feared, happened; Turkey demanded a withdrawal of the 10,000 Greek Soldiers from the Hellenic Force in Cyprus [24] which exceeded the numbers allowed in the Treaty of Guarantee and also the removal of General George Grivas [25] from the island, or it would face invasion, something which although the Greek and Cyprus government agreed to do, Turkey would still proceed to invade the island in 1974. [26]

The operation has come under a lot of scrutiny even over the last few years by many people on both sides (Greek and Turkish) and even from other parties, this is due to the fact that though Cyprus did have the right to to respond to the Turkish provocations in the area and to get rid of the Turkish extremists of TMT, it lost a lot of support because of the sheer force used to retake the area and the accusations that had come from the Turkish side about violence against civilians. It has been described by Mr. Hadjidimitriou as a Cypriot version of WMD Iraq [27] [28]

References

  1. ^ Ker-Lindsay, J. and Faustmann, H., 2009. The Government and Politics of Cyprus. Peter Lang, p.68.
  2. ^ Landis, D. and Albert, R., n.d. Handbook of Ethnic Conflict. p.305.
  3. ^ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sena.12341
  4. ^ http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Cyprus/Geo/en/Kofinou.html
  5. ^ https://www.sansimera.gr/articles/343
  6. ^ https://www.kathimerini.gr/society/919635/ellinotoyrkiki-synantisi-ston-evro/
  7. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.40.
  8. ^ https://unficyp.unmissions.org/1967-crisis
  9. ^ Παπαγεωργιου, Σ., Επιχειρηση Κοφινου. 2nd ed.
  10. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaDOqdCYl5o
  11. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.41.
  12. ^ https://www.mixanitouxronou.com.cy/stiles/sinevi-simera/i-ematiri-sigkrousi-tis-ethnikis-frouras-ke-tourkokiprion-sto-chorio-kofinou-pou-anixe-to-dromo-ston-attila-i-paremvasi-ton-amerikanon-ke-i-apofasi-tis-ellinikis-chountas-na-aposiri-tin-elliniki-mer/
  13. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.41.
  14. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.42.
  15. ^ https://www.psek.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=76
  16. ^ https://www.psek.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=76
  17. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.42.
  18. ^ https://www.bigcyprus.com.cy/destinations/kofinou/evmenios-panagiotou-monument-kofinou
  19. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.43.
  20. ^ Παπαγεωργιου, Σ., Επιχειρηση Κοφινου. 2nd ed.
  21. ^ https://www.mixanitouxronou.com.cy/stiles/sinevi-simera/i-ematiri-sigkrousi-tis-ethnikis-frouras-ke-tourkokiprion-sto-chorio-kofinou-pou-anixe-to-dromo-ston-attila-i-paremvasi-ton-amerikanon-ke-i-apofasi-tis-ellinikis-chountas-na-aposiri-tin-elliniki-mer/
  22. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.43.
  23. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.43.
  24. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1967/12/04/archives/greeks-and-turks-accept-thant-plea-in-cyprus-confrontation.html?searchResultPosition=4
  25. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1967/11/19/archives/greece-recalls-grivas-from-cyprus-turkish-jets-over-cyprus-pullout.html?searchResultPosition=1
  26. ^ http://www.revistadeestudosinternacionais.com/uepb/index.php/rei/article/viewFile/291/pdf
  27. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaDOqdCYl5o
  28. ^ Αδαμου, Μ., 2019. Δεκαετια εν Οπλοις 1964-1974. 1st ed. Αμμοχωστος: Cypriot Institute of Scientific and Historic Research, p.43.

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