Browsing by Author "Vuorenvirta, Christian"

After World War II the Greek-Cypriot community living in Cyprus started demanding independence from the United Kingdom. And so during the heights of the cold war an organization called EOKA was formed the purpose of which was to achieve this independence and enable a union with Greece. And so followed the Cyprus war of independence (26.11.1955 – 19.3.1959). During this conflict the Turkish-Cypriot community that formed a 18% minority on the island had sided with the British since they did not want a union with Greece. The war ended with all interested parties i.e. the UK, Greece, Turkey and both communities living on the island (and with the backing of the USA and the Soviet Union) agreeing to an independent Republic of Cyprus being formed that was to be run jointly by the two communities. This did not sit well with many members of the Greek-Cypriot community. The government created was also not able to function properly. Civil unrest ensued and after a prolonged period of strife between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in Cyprus the United Nations (UN) had to intervene to prevent a possible escalation of the situation. In 1964 a force called UNFICYP (the United Nations Peacekeeping Force In Cyprus) was then formed and sent to the island to maintain the peace between the two communities whilst in the meantime UN-led peace negotiations moderated by Sakari Tuomioja from Finland tried to find a permanent solution to the Cyprus problem. Part of the UNFICYP force sent to the island was a battalion of Finnish soldiers. Opinions in Finland, when looking through press releases at the time, were divided. Some were proud that Finland was breaking free from political shackles and taking a larger role in international matters and for some it was a bad idea to antagonize the Soviet Union and send young Finnish servicemen to possibly die in a foreign country. This division also had a political nature with the right-wing supporting and the left-wing opposing. In Cyprus opinions expressed through the press also followed political ideologies. The left-wing was neutral and hoped that the UNFICYP forces would bring stability whilst the right-wing were negative and wanted all foreign forces to leave the island to decide for itself. In the meantime, the Finnish forces themselves were getting on with their tasks which they had started to find increasingly hard and frustrating as civil unrest continued. After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 opinions changed. All newspapers and political parties of the Greek-Cypriot community openly welcomed and supported the UNFICYP forces and were even open to letting these forces have a larger role on the island. In this paper we go through the events in Cyprus during the cold war period. We look at how the UN was involved and how the UNFICYP forces were formed. We see how Sakari Tuomioja from Finland was part of the initial peace-talks process. We examine what servicemen from the Finnish UNFICYP battalion thought about their mission in Cyprus and we analyze what the press thought of the UNFICYP’s involvement in 1964 and 1974.