WI: British intervention in Cyprus, 1974?

HeWhoIsMe

Banned
On the other hand beating the Turkish invasion force, before the eachhead was stable enough is soething both Great Britain and probably Greece could have managed, were tey to commit forces in the area.

I don't know about the Brits. My main objection is that they wouldn't have enough time to reinforce their land forces on Cyprus before the crap really hit the fan. Provided of course that the Turks would still decide to push on with the operation despite the prospect of getting involved in a war with the UK.
I know next to nothing about British naval presence in and around Cyprus at the time, but I guess, that if a carrier task force was conveniently nearby it would be of great assistance indeed.

On the other hand, with the forces present on Cyprus both on the Greek Army and Cypriot National Guard side, there simply was no way to stop the Turkish advance once they had established themselves on the beaches. Especially once the Turks landed the first M-47s and M-48s the game was practically lost on the Greek/Cypriot side, which had no armored units to speak of, other than a few T-34s and troops were casually transported around using civilian buses. Also at least an M-48 and a M113, were actually captured from the Turks and used against them...

The Greeks had a 209 sub on its way to the invasion area, which the Turks basically would have a very difficult time tobspot and sink. Furthermore Greece was planning a squadron sized F4 strike. Commiting the bulk of the Grek navy was also an option, which at that time was stromger tham Turkey's. And with the Turkish landing fleet in Cyprus, there's not much need to defend the Aegean islands.
Great Britain had substantial forces in the area and access to its air power on the island. If they were to commit those forces, Turkey would be toast.

True that. If the Turkish flotilla off the Northern Cyprus coast was attacked in any meaningful way, it would have propably given way. With all due respect to the Turks...they had already bombed their own ships a couple of times causing significant casualties and confusion.
If the HN or the HAF was anywhere close to contribute to this, or if the RN were somehow involved in the thing, the Turkish naval force would have been in serious trouble. And without them supporting, reinforcing and resupplying the landed forces, we could have seen a very different outcome on Cyprus.

I always pondered, what would happen, if Cyprus asked the Soviet Union for help at the beginning of the invasion, sensing Greece would not help them. Say, Cyprus asks the Soviet Union for help, giving bases on the island to ghe Soviets and joining the Warsaw Pact in return.
WWIII is very probable then,
Would all NATO countries stand by Turkey, now that it's Turkey being ghe aggressor, the Soviet Union the defender of the "helpless" Cypriots and UN resolutions condemning Turkish actions and allowing the Soviets to say, they are merely enforcing UN resolutions?

I believe, this would severely strain NATO. For one I don't see Greece, simply abandoning Cyprus, even if Cyprus decided to "join" the Warsaw Pact and "formally" cut off relations with NATO members, like Greece. It would have been very awkward, what with Greece having to pay lip service to the NATO while at the same time covertly supporting "Soviet" Cyprus. NATO would probably figure this out sooner or later and apply pressure on Greece to pick camps and stop playing on both fields.

I can easily see Turkey playing this to their advantage by claiming that a hostile USSR blatantly intervenes with their operations, which were justified by the Guaranteer Treaty in the first place. Sympathetic ears, to their side of the story would be found throughout the Western world.

Funnily enough, though, with NATO(sans Greece) fully behind the Turks and the USSR behind Cyprus, there's a chance the conflict is averted since cooler head prevail on both sides, and everybody decides Cyprus is not worth starting WW3 over.

^^All this would probably apply if the USSR decided to step in and tie Cyprus to their chariot early on, before July 1974.

I think that things would have been much different if the USSR decided to step in after the Turks had already achieved their spoken goals during the initial phase of their invasion, when it became obvious that they were going to simply grab the rest of Northern Cyprus just cause they could.

I don't know how or why the USSR would work its way into this crisis though...

^^That would have been a whole different ball game, if it came to be.
 
Greeks brought it on themselves by breaking the Constitution of Cyprus and rights of Turks in Cyprus.
So simply, they get what they wanted.
;)

abc123 brought being kicked for a week upon himself by justifying ethnic cleansing. So simply, he gets what he wanted.

;)
 

abc123

Banned
abc123 brought being kicked for a week upon himself by justifying ethnic cleansing. So simply, he gets what he wanted.

;)

As I allready said in a PM, I wasn't even reffering about ethnic cleansing, I was reffering about Turkish invasion of Cyprus and division of Cyprus.
And I don't support or justify any ethnic cleansing nor explicitly or implicitly.
 
As I allready said in a PM, I wasn't even reffering about ethnic cleansing, I was reffering about Turkish invasion of Cyprus and division of Cyprus.
And I don't support or justify any ethnic cleansing nor explicitly or implicitly.

Yeah, I was originally going to kick you, then reread your post and made it a warning, which is why I said I kicked you but you aren't kicked.
 
To give him his due...

...This old Philhellene never thought the OP was more than just an ATL on UK involvement in the defence of a sovereign Cyprus. On the diplomatic front, I could see the Foreign Office insisting on the maintenance of the original Cypriote constitution. Britain was having to keep the fanatics of both sides apart - it's not fun being the world's policeman.

I think that Turkey wanted a military victory and that, even if the old Constitution was restored, that invasion would have occurred. Of course, the Cypriotes might have asked Britain in as guarantor in return for a period of direct rule from London. Stranger suggestions flew around during the Fall of France...
 
Top