Turkish Resistance Organization

. [Roni Alasor, “Sifreli Mesaj: “Trene bindir!” ISBN 960-03-3260-6] pn

General Daniş Karabelen, in charge of unconventional warfare office of Turkey,cite journal|url=http://www.aksiyon.com.tr/detay.php?id=30244
accessdate=2008-09-22
title=Türkeş TMT'yi benden öğrendi, boynuma sarıldı
first=İbrahim
last=Doğan
volume=701
journal=Aksiyon
date=2008-05-12
language=Turkish] was leading the irregular Turkish Cypriot attacks on Greek Cypriot properties. The Turkish state in 1950's had sent to Cyprus Turkish officers and special forces veterans who arrived secretly and presented themselves as bankers, teachers and business men and trained Turkish Cypriots in tactics of unconventional warfare. [Roni Alasor, “Sifreli Mesaj: “Trene bindir!” ISBN 960-03-3260-6 ] pn In response to the growing demand for Enosis (union of Cyprus with Greece), a number of Turkish Cypriots became convinced that this was the only way to protect the interests and identity of the Turkish Cypriot population against a militant Greek Cypriot threatFact|date=November 2007. TMT has also used the symbol of the Gray Wolf ( _tr. Bozkurt), an important figure from Turkish mythology.

The TMT was active mainly between 1958 and 1974, promoting partition (in Turkish: Taksim) of Cyprus. It has been accused by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus of numerous acts of terrorism against Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots alike. TMT claims that their efforts were simply in response to a real threat against their community by EOKA, and after 1963, by the Cypriot Government (which by then was almost exclusively Greek Cypriot in makeup).

It was supported logistically and militarily by the Government of Turkey. While not as well armed as EOKA Fact|date=February 2007 and the Greek Cypriot government forces Fact|date=February 2007 (both supported militarily and logistically by Greece), TMT members managed to hold their own during the 1963-64 inter-communal violence (see Erenköy).

In 1963, TMT was partly responsible for the creation of numerous small Turkish Cypriot enclaves throughout the island, into which the majority of Turkish Cypriots were forcibly concentrated.Fact|date=February 2007 The organization was the body responsible for the defense of these enclaves between 1963 and 1974. TMT has been held responsible for numerous murders of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots between 1957 and 1974, and for mass executions of Greek Cypriot civilians during the Turkish invasion in 1974.Fact|date=February 2007 It was finally disbanded after the Turkish invasion in 1974.

ee also

*Operation Atilla
*Cyprus dispute

References