This book explores the origins, conduct, and failure of Greek Cypriot nationalists to achieve the unification of Cyprus with Greece. Andrew Novo addresses the anti-colonial struggle in the context of: the competition for the nationalist narrative in Cyprus between the Left and Right, the duelling Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot nationalisms in Cyprus, the role of Turkey and Greece in the conflict on the island, and the concerns of the British Empire during its retrenchment following the Second World War. More than a narrative history of the period, an analysis of British policy, or a description of counter-insurgency operations, this book lays out an examination of the underpinnings of the enosis cause and its manifestation in action. It argues that the strategic myopia of the enosis movement shackled the cause, defined its conduct, and was the primary reason for its failure. Divided and occupied, Cyprus, and the world, deal with its unresolved legacy to this day.

Charles Foley and W. I. Scobie, two journalists intimately familiar with the events in Cyprus during the period of Grivas-led EOKA (Ethnikí Orgánosis Kipriakoú Agónos) movement against British colonial rule from 1955 until independence in 1960, present an account involving some of the major participants in the struggle, particularly the leader of EOKA, Georgios Grivas.

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq brings back into focus an analogous recent event which, however, remains unresolved: the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. Both invasions are characterized by a number of parallels, including condemnation by the United Nations and systematic attempts by the aggressors to eliminate the identity of the conquered regions in an effort to absorb them into their domain. The invasion of Cyprus differs from that of Kuwait in one essential respect: whereas Iraq's invasion was based on the decision of one man, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the roots of Turkish aggression against Cyprus can be traced to ideological and political developments dating to the 1950s. Through his exhaustive research of the Turkish diplomatic and political literature of the last half century, Dr. Ioannides examines the ideological foundations of Pan-Turkism - Turkish irredentist nationalism. He demonstrates how this ideology and the manipulation of Islamic sentiment in Turkey became critical factors in the development of Ankara's policies toward Greece and Cyprus. The Turkish government-sponsored colonization of occupied Cyprus by Muslim settlers from Anatolia and the ongoing systematic destruction of the physical evidence of its Greek and Christian character (i.e., the despoliation of churches and their conversion into mosques or the changing of place names from Greek to Turkish) can be understood in this context. In a digression, the author explains and links to this phenomenon the destruction of the Greek minority in Turkey and most of its religious and communal institutions between 1955-1964. This ground-breaking study also examines Turkey's domestic dynamics and identifies dozens of personalities in the political arena, in the military and in the foreign service, who contributed to the development of this new, post-Ottoman imperial vision. The book is certain to stimulate discussion among policy analysts, diplomats and historians, particularly in light of the unhinging of power balances in the Middle East.