NICOSIA – The revised and expanded edition of the book ‘Guilty’, by Michail Ignatiou and Kostas Venizelos, highlights the role of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the coup by the Greek junta that targeted Archbishop Makarios as well as the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. The book was presented on the evening of September 2 in the packed ceremonial hall of the Archangelos Cultural Foundation in Nicosia. Among those attending the event were President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides, ministers, politicians, and Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos.
The book, which, with new documents and evidence, ‘convicts’ Henry Kissinger as one of the chief guilty parties who orchestrated the tragedy of Cyprus, was discussed by journalist Tom Ellis, director of the English-language edition of the Athens newspaper Kathimerini, University of Cyprus historian and professor Petros Papapolyviou, Member of Parliament for the Second District of Piraeus Nina Kasimati, and the two authors, Venizelos and Ignatiou.
Speaking from the podium at the event, Ellis said that the contribution of the two researchers to the historical investigation of the events of 1974 “is of the highest order, both for Greece and for Cyprus.” He pointed out the decisive significance of the word ‘bridgehead’ in the communications that Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis and then-Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit had with Kissinger at the beginning of the first phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, as revealed in the book.
President Christodoulides congratulates Michail Ignatiou following the presentation of the book Guilty, concerning the role of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Turkish invasion. The book by Michail Ignatiou and Kostas Venizelos was presented at an event in Nicosia. (Photo: STAVROS IOANNIDIS/PIO).
Kasimati, the Member of Parliament for the Second District of Piraeus who had been elected with SYRIZA, said that the book “sets out a wealth of evidence and plunges to great investigative depth, yet it reads in a single breath. It is imperative that it be read by the general public and certainly by the entire political class in Cyprus and Greece,” she stressed.
“Making use of recently declassified documents, secret cables, telephone conversations, and personal testimonies, Venizelos and Ignatiou reconstructed the behind-the-scenes events of the Cyprus tragedy, with Henry Kissinger at the organizational forefront,” Kasimati said, adding that “they take historical and journalistic research one step further.”
“The book proves that the Ioannidis junta, the United States, and Turkey were in consultation to partition Cyprus,” she emphasized.
Petros Papapolyviou, associate professor of modern Greek history in the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Cyprus, said that the book is very important and constitutes a landmark in the historiography concerning 1974. At the same time, he pointed to the authors’ evidence-based discourse, avoidance of sensationalism, and seriousness, which, as he said, distinguish the book’s authors.
The book by Michail Ignatiou and Kostas Venizelos was presented at an event in Nicosia. (Photo: STAVROS IOANNIDIS/PIO).
The guilt of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Cyprus tragedy of 1974 “is proved triumphantly and beyond dispute,” he noted, adding that the “invisible dictator,” Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis, was also guilty of the Cyprus tragedy.
One of the book’s authors, Venizelos, said that the research for the book lasted many years, noting that “this was our obligation to historical truth.” The research proves Henry Kissinger’s guilt beyond any reasonable doubt, he pointed out.
Venizelos further noted that the establishment of a bridgehead in the Kyrenia area during the first phase of the Turkish invasion of 1974 had been agreed upon among the United States, Greece, and Turkey. He added that the second phase of the invasion had been agreed upon between the United States and Turkey following the collapse of the Greek junta.
The book by Michail Ignatiou and Kostas Venizelos was presented at an event in Nicosia. (Photo: PETROS PETRIDIS).
The book’s other author, Ignatiou, said that his journey in search of the truth about the Cyprus issue began in 1989, describing it as “a profoundly moving experience.”
“We now know precisely what happened in 1974,” he stressed.
The union of Cyprus with Greece was an illusory dream that the conspirators used as a vehicle for their plans, he emphasized, adding that the Greek-American CIA agent Gust Avrakotos gave Ioannidis the green light to carry out the coup of July 15, 1974.
Addressing President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides, he characteristically told him: “Mr. President, guard Cyprus as the apple of your eye.”
