In Turkeys Image: The Transformation of Occupied Cyprus Into a Turkish Province (Subsidia Balcanica, Islamica & Turcica)

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq brings back into focus an analogous recent event which, however, remains unresolved: the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. Both invasions are characterized by a number of parallels, including condemnation by the United Nations and systematic attempts by the aggressors to eliminate the identity of the conquered regions in an effort to absorb them into their domain.
The invasion of Cyprus differs from that of Kuwait in one essential respect: whereas Iraq's invasion was based on the decision of one man, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the roots of Turkish aggression against Cyprus can be traced to ideological and political developments dating to the 1950s. Through his exhaustive research of the Turkish diplomatic and political literature of the last half century, Dr. Ioannides examines the ideological foundations of Pan-Turkism - Turkish irredentist nationalism. He demonstrates how this ideology and the manipulation of Islamic sentiment in Turkey became critical factors in the development of Ankara's policies toward Greece and Cyprus.
The Turkish government-sponsored colonization of occupied Cyprus by Muslim settlers from Anatolia and the ongoing systematic destruction of the physical evidence of its Greek and Christian character (i.e., the despoliation of churches and their conversion into mosques or the changing of place names from Greek to Turkish) can be understood in this context. In a digression, the author explains and links to this phenomenon the destruction of the Greek minority in Turkey and most of its religious and communal institutions between 1955-1964.
This ground-breaking study also examines Turkey's domestic dynamics and identifies dozens of personalities in the political arena, in the military and in the foreign service, who contributed to the development of this new, post-Ottoman imperial vision. The book is certain to stimulate discussion among policy analysts, diplomats and historians, particularly in light of the unhinging of power balances in the Middle East.