Cyprus President Nicos Anastiades offered formal condolences on the death of Queen Elizabeth II and signed the condolence book at the at the residence of the UK High Commissioner on Monday, but the Greek Cypriot reaction has either been muted or hostile.
Heard speaking English at the Nicosia farmers’ market last Saturday, my friend and I were accosted and loudly cursed by a Greek Cypriot as loyal subjects of the queen.
When British friends on holiday in a Cypriot hill village greeted an acquaintance, he told them, “I feel sorry for the death of your queen, but don’t expect sympathy from Greek Cypriots.”
Many Greek Cypriots are bitter over the absence of a royal pardon in the hangings of nine young men who had taken up arms against the British occupation. Poet Evagoras Pallikarides (19) was the last to hang in March 1957. He was sentenced to death for possessing a non-functioning weapon when arrested. The governor of Cyprus, Field Marshal Sir John Harding, who was dispatched to crush the revolt, found “no grounds for exercising Royal Prerogative of Mercy”.
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The gallows and graves of the nine, and four other resistance fighters who died of wounds in clashes with British forces, are in a cemetery in Nicosia’s central prisons and are visited regularly by Greek Cypriot schoolchildren. A sign proclaiming “The brave man’s death is no death at all,” is on display along with photographs of the men.
Greek Cypriots also resent Britain’s refusal to act against the Greek junta’s 1974 coup against president Makarios which led to the Turkish invasion and division of the island. Under the agreements granting Cyprus independence, Britain was obliged to act when the other two guarantor powers, Greece and Turkey, violated the territorial integrity of the republic. Since Cyprus had, as the price of independence, ceded 256.4 square kilometres of its territory for British sovereign military bases, Britain had the means to intervene.
Queen Elizabeth was greeted with unprecedented protests when she attended the 1993 Commonwealth Summit in the city of Limassol. Greek Cypriot doctor Harris Aristidou smashed the windshield of one of the two royal Rolls-Royce limousines parked in a police garage.
In Nicosia, upon arrival at Famagusta Gate in the 16th century walls to receive the key to the city, the queen and prince Philip were greeted with jeers and cries of “Go home!” from Greek Cypriots.
In May of this year, due to hostility expressed by some Greek Cypriots, a concert celebrating the queen’s platinum jubilee was shifted from the ancient theatre at Curium to the British base at Episkopi.
Britain’s colonial legacy was meagre. Cyprus has no major monument of the empire, government offices were largely in barrack-like buildings, roads were poor, and town planning was haphazard.
But despite Britain’s colonial legacy, relations between Greek Cypriots and Britons are warm. Many Greek Cypriots have dwelt in or have relatives in the large diaspora community in Britain and young Greek Cypriots go to Britain for higher education.
