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Cyprus, 1974:
Turkish Point of View
The history of Cyprus has been formed by the various peoples
arriving at that beautiful island for tens of thousands of years,
some of the more recent being Greeks, Romans, Byzantine, Crusaders,
Ottoman Turks and British. The Ottoman Turks conquered the island in
1571 and were forced to make an agreement with Great Britain in 1878
which gave the British authority. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed
after the first World War, Britain annexed the island fully with its
mixture of a majority Greek population and a Turkish minority. After
the end of the second World War Greek partisans formed the EOKA
freedom movement which fought the British until 1960, obtaining
independence for the island. The Turkish population constituting
probably 20-25% of the population was largely neutral in this
effort. The new Cypriot state guaranteed, together with Greece,
Turkey and Britain, the rights of the Turkish minority and they were
given a place in a common parliament. Soon after, however,
prosecution and harassment took place against the Turkish minority
and it came to clashes in 1960, 1963 and 1970 at which time the
Turkish Air Force intervened. From 1964 onwards peace troops from
the United Nations subsequently separated the two populations. The
situation deteriorated in 1967 when the Greek military took power in
Greece and the country was declared a republic in 1973. Greece
claimed Cyprus as a part of the motherland. Since the events in 1974
Cyprus has been divided into two parts according to population, a
southern Greek and a northern Turkish divided by a United Nations
"line of peace".
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Pre-operation events
On July 15, 1974 the Greek Nikos Sampson initiated a military coup
on Cyprus and Archbishop Makarios was forced to abdicate his
position as president. This event and an escalation of attacks on
the Turkish minority caused great concern in Turkey.
By the 16th Turkish military forces were put on high alert and
several units went ahead with their wartime deployments. Light T-37C
FAC and attack aircraft of the 122. Filo pilot training squadron at
Çigli were dispersed to Çumaovasi south of Izmir. The all-weather
interceptor 142. Filo at Mürted went to Balikesir. The F-5A daylight
interceptor unit, 152. Filo, dispersed from Merzifon to Yenisehir.
The 181. Attack Filo with F-100Cs and Ds was flown from Diyarbakir
to Antalya and its co-located reconnaissance 184. Reconnaissance
Filo was sent to Inçirlik. 182. Filo with F-102As went from Mürted
to Eskisehir whereas the F-104G unit, 191. Filo was redeployed from
Balikesir to Mürted. The important sea surveillance unit, 301. Filo
with S-2Es at Bandirma, was sent south to Antalya. At the same time
mobile radar units were placed on the southern coast of Turkey,
opposite Cyprus.
After hectic, but futile negotiations, where Britain failed to
assert for a return to a normal situation on Cyprus, war operations
were started by Turkey on July 20th, in order to protect the Turkish
population. The actual war operations, which followed plans already
prepared in 1960 when the Turkish population on Cyprus was
threatened, were implemented in two stages. The first from July 20th
until 1700 hours on the 22nd when the northern outskirts of Nicosia
were taken, and with only defensive and transport air operations
performed on the 23rd. The second stage which lasted from August
14th until an armistice was affected at 1900 hours on the 16th,
resulted in the Turkish Army seizing Farmagusta.
July 20, 1974
On July 20th at 0449 hours a RF-84F reconnaissance aircraft was
launched from the Inçirlik Air Base as the first action.
The assault on the island itself was planned for 0600 on the 20th,
with an airborne assault at Gönyeli (10 km NW of Nicosia) by 19
C-47s and at Kirni by six C-130s and eleven C-160Ds. All went well,
but three aircraft were hit by anti-aircraft fire. A C-130 and a
C-160 only sustained light damage, whereas C-47 no.6035 caught fire
and only barely made an emergency landing near Silifke on the
Turkish mainland.
Meanwhile commando soldiers and Navy Seals secured the coastal road
and initiated the seaborne landing at Karaoğlanoğlu 6 miles west of
Kyrenia (Girne). A large force of 72 transport helicopters of
various types of UH-1s from all Turkish forces had been put under
command of the 2nd Army’s helicopter Regiment. This force assembled
at a temporary operating area near Tasuçu, at the southern most
point at the mainland Turkey. From here a combined assault into the
areas taken by the airborne troops started at 0707 hours. Ten
helicopters were damaged by ground fire as they approached in the
perfect V- formation. Later in the day tactics were changed into
sudden low level approaches and only two more helicopters received
hits.
After intensive attacks from the air a second wave of airborne drops
was affected by one C-47, 12 C-160s and six C-130s at 1255 and a
third wave consisting of six C-160s and three C-130s just before
sunset. These last two waves did not take any anti-aircraft fire.
Air operations terminated at 2115 hours on the first day after 6000
troops had been put ashore and a bridgehead secured.
The first day of operations included 117 ground attacks, 64 airborne
assaults, 18 reconnaissance missions and eight air defence sorties.
Air Force losses were one F-100D (55-3756) of 171.Filo, one F-100C
(54-2042) of 132.Filo, one RF-84F of 184.Filo and the one C-47
(6035) making a crash landing. The only Air Force aircrew fatality
was 1.Lt. Ilker Karter of the 184. Filo, the pilot of the RF-84F.
Twelve Army helicopters received light damage and a Do.28D on a
clandestine mission crashed with all its occupants being killed.
July 21, 1974
Renewed operations were launched at 0550 hours to attack reported
Cyprus troops massing for attack. Included in the attack were Super
Sabres from 131, 132, 171 and 172.Filos. 184. Filo provided
reconnaissance support. A large convoy of 40 vehicles was spotted on
the road winding from Paphos to Nicosia and it was vigorously
attacked and destroyed at 0755. The effect of this event was that
many Cyprus troops gave up their arms as soon as an aircraft was
heard approaching. The battles that day resulted in the Turkish army
taking Kyrenia (Girne) but at the high cost of 21 fatalities.
Meanwhile on the evening of the 20th, reports had been circulating
of a Greek ship convoy having been spotted west of the Paphos
harbour, on its way from Rhodes. This serious event caused a special
alert for the radar units, and S-2Es from the 301. Filo from Antalya
were sent to investigate. The radar reports indicated Greek naval
manoeuvrering and later reports spoke of 4 destroyers and 7
transport ships. On the 21st, early in the morning, a RF-84F of 184.
Filo piloted by the Filo commander, Lt. Col. Yetkiner, made a
thorough investigation. His report was frank: "I have seen nothing!"
At the same time, however the Radar station at Anamur and a radar
sweep by the S-2Es reported several targets. The question was, is it
the US 6th fleet or something else? As the morning became day
attacks were planned on the "convoy" and the Turkish Navy confirmed
that it had no ships in that sector. At 1300 the Air Force gave the
target clear for attack, ordering the 111. Filo with F-100Ds and
141. Filo with F-104Gs to get ready to attack at 1335. Later the
181.Filo was also alerted. At 1400 the departures got under way with
111. Filo launching 16 F-100Ds at Eskisehir between 1410 and 1416
and 181. Filo launching 12 F-100Ds from Antalya between 1430 and
1503. Each of the 28 aircraft carried two 750 pound bombs.
Sixteen F-104Gs of 141.Filo each carrying a 750 pound bomb departed
from Ankara/Mürted in the time from 1443 to 1451. In addition two
more Filos, 112. Filo with F-100Cs and 191. Filo with F-104Gs were
put on ready alert. Before more could be done, however a message was
received at 1530 that the aircraft had attacked and sunk a Turkish
ship. Later F-104Gs of 191. Filo made a thorough reconnaissance of
the area north and west of Cyprus only reporting 4 small vessels. At
2010 air operations for the day were called off with a total of 203
attack and 19 reconnaissance missions, 28 air defence and 23
transport sorties flown (not including army helicopter operations).
The day however had seen the loss of four F-100s (a D 55-2825 of
111.Filo and a C.54-2083 of 112.Filo being two of them) and an
F-104G (64-17783 of 191.Filo), fortunately without casualties.
July 22, 1974
At 0506 in the early morning of the 22nd it was confirmed that the
Turkish destroyer "Koçatepe" had been sunk. Three hours later four
C-130s dropped medical provisions to the rescue forces in the waters
north of Cyprus.
Meanwhile at 1115 hours in the land battle, 15 C-47s dropped 300
paratroopers in an attack on the area south of Gönyeli, 5 km north
of Nicosia. At 1435 17 F-104Gs of 141.Filo attacked the Nicosia
airport with 750 pound bombs. This caused the fighting there to
stop. At 1535 the Turkish General Command announced an armistice
from 1700 onwards. The day had seen 122 attack and 12 reconnaissance
missions, 23 air defence and 19 transport sorties completed. An F-5A
belonging to the Greek Air Force was seen crashing after an attempt
to engage an F-102A (55-3401) flown by Capt. Onur from 142.Filo in
an air battle. (some Turkish sources claim that the F-5 was shot
down by a Falcon missile)
The day’s losses were one pilot ejecting from an F-100D (54-2238 of
172.F) and two aircraft destroyed in landing accidents, an F-102A
(55-3413) and an F-100C. All three pilots survived.
July 23, 1974
Having declared an armistice on the 22nd, only 3 reconnaissance
missions and 46 air defence sorties were flown on the 23rd. This in
response to the incident with the F-5 the day before and because of
heavy radar traffic was tracked at the Turkish Air Defence
installations. This, however could have been an indication of
electronic counter measures. During these operations an F-102A
(54-1403) from 142.Filo crashed during take-off, killing the pilot,
1.Lt. Çinar.
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By Ole Nikolajsen, Oct 28, 2003, 04:33
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Kibris
Kıbrıs Meselesi,
Barıs Harekatı ve 1970lerin Türkiyesi - Cyprus Issue, Peace
Operation and Turkey in the 1970s
Kıbrıs Meselesi ve
Barış Harekatı - Daha Kapsamlı
Kibris Krizi - Cyprus Crisis 1974 (War Simulation)
KKTC
isminin 'Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti (KTC)' olarak degistirilmesi fikri,
onerisi-patenti bize aittir... - TransAnatolie
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