In December 1963 there was a more ominous reaction from the Turkish Government - the rebellion against the state launched by T.M.T. (the Turkish terrorist organisation in Cyprus), and threats of invasion and acts of aggression by Turkey itself, which used the President's proposals for amending the Constitution as an excuse for putting into effect her long-prepared plan for the partition of Cyprus.
The Vice-President publicly declared that the Republic of Cyprus had ceased to exist, and along with the three Turkish Cypriot Ministers, the Turkish Cypriot members of the House as well as the Turkish Cypriot civil servants, withdrew from the Government. On the false pretext that the Government of Cyprus and its forces were about to annihilate the Turkish Cypriot minority, the agents of Turkey in Cyprus, controlled by Turkish officers from Turkey, resorted to the forcible movement of sections of the Turkish Cypriot population, not for their protection as alleged at the time but in order to create compact Turkish areas and bring about a geographical separation of the Turkish minority from the Cypriot people. The Turkish contingent stationed in Cyprus under the Treaty of Alliance, assisted the rebels by moving out of its barracks and illegally deploying in the northern part of Nicosia in hostile occupation of Cyprus territory.
That the underlying reason for obstructing the Constitution was to further Ankara's partitionist plans was openly admitted by the Turks themselves. Given below are some of their statements on the subject, together with press reports:
New York Times, 31.12.1963
Vice-President Fazil Kutchuk said today that the Cyprus Constitution no longer existed
because these was "no possibility" of the Turkish and Greek communities living together
on the island. Dr. Kutchuk, leader of the Turkish Cypriots, declared: "the Cyprus
Constitution is dead".
New York Herald Tribune, 31.12.1963
"The Cyprus Constitution is dead", Dr. Kutchuk, the leader of the island Republic's
Turkish community, told reporters. Asked if he wanted Cyprus partitioned between the
Turkish minority and Greek majority, he replied: "Call it partition if you like".
Special News Bulletin, 5.1.1964 (issued by the Turkish Cypriot leadership)
Dr. Kutchuk: "I am a Vice-President elected by the Turks of Cyprus and I shall continue to
perform my duties towards them. It is out of the question to collaborate any longer with a
Government responsible"
Public statement by Kemal Satir, former Vice-President of Turkey, 1964:
"Cyprus will be divided into two sections, one of which will join Turkey".
Statement by F.C. Erkin the then Foreign Minister of Turkey to an Athens newspaper in
June 1964:
"The radical solutionÉ would be to cede one part of Cyprus to Greece and the other,
closest to the Turkish Asiatic coast, to Turkey".
Address by the then Prime Minister of Turkey, Ismet Inonu, before the Turkish National
Assembly, with reference to the Geneva talks of that year:
"Officially, we promoted the federation concept, rather than the partition thesis so as to
remain within the provisions of the Treaty".
It is worth noting that the agenda of the Council of Ministers was continuously sent to the Turkish Cypriot Vice-President and the Turkish Cypriot Ministers many months after the 1963 incidents, but they obstinately refused to attend the meetings in order to prove that the state no longer existed.
