A poignant symbol of Cyprus’ enduring trauma

The slogan “I do not forget” belongs to the author Nikos Dimou, as does the image of a bleeding, divided Cyprus. Arguably the most recognizable political image of the last 50 years, it describes the foundational event, the founding trauma of the Metapolitefsi (Greece’s transition to democracy following the 1967-74 military dictatorship), the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

“The emblematic ‘I do not forget’ slogan was created on the morning of August 14, 1974, when I learned that ‘Attila II’ had cut Cyprus in two,” Dimou tells Kathimerini, referring to the operation name of the Turkish invasion. “I heard the news on the radio and envisioned this image, the ‘Attila Line’ as a stream of dropping blood. I went to the office, heavily burdened with sadness, and called [his company’s] design director Dionysis Georgiopoulos, gave him a map of Cyprus, the idea and instructions to write “I do not forget.’”

According to Dimou, “I do not forget” refers not only to the invasion of 1974 but also to all the opportunities to resolve the Cyprus issue that were lost up until 1974 and many others that have been lost since. It is a constant reminder of the ongoing responsibilities in the Cyprus issue. Therefore, the slogan and the image encapsulate not only the trauma of 1974 but the overall history of the Cyprus issue from 1960 to the present.

“We printed 150,000 stickers over those days. We sent them to newspapers and were inundated with requests. At some point, we gave the design to those who requested it to print posters and stickers themselves. We translated the slogan into many languages.” Hundreds of congratulatory letters arrived at the advertising agency, the most important one from Archbishop Makarios himself.

The first visit

Dimou had visited Cyprus for the first time in the fall of 1971, traveling around the island in a rented right-hand drive Mini Cooper. He was enchanted by the beauty of Kyrenia, Bellapais, Salamis and Famagusta but was disturbed by the images of Turkish villages that were fenced off with controlled entry and exit.

The German-educated author sensed the accumulated tension, understanding that things could go very wrong, very suddenly due to the simmering tensions between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, the latter of which then made up about 20% of the total population. He discussed this issue with the president of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios, introduced to him by a friend.

According to Dimou, Makarios did not believe that the Turks would ever dare to invade Cyprus due to Nicosia’s participation in the Non-Aligned Movement. However, this discussion took place well before the coup against him, which triggered the invasion, giving the Turks an excuse to proceed with military actions.

Neither Makarios nor Dimou could have imagined that in less than three years, Cyprus would change drastically and the until-then unthinkable, the Turkish invasion, would become a reality. The painful consequences of this development persist to this day, despite numerous efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue.

At that time, Dimou was an advertiser, having founded the advertising company Delta-Delta Dimou in 1965, which was very successful. The company was sold to an American group in 1983 and since then, Dimou has dedicated himself to his writing, becoming one of the most widely read and active Greek authors, having written 63 books. During the 18 years he was an advertiser, his company was also known for its public service initiatives, raising awareness about serious issues that received little media coverage through paid announcements.

‘We printed 150,000 stickers over those days. We sent them to newspapers and were inundated with requests’

His engagement with Cyprus began during his student years in Athens in the 1950s when he participated in demonstrations for Enosis (union with Greece). Later, as a postgraduate student in Munich, where he studied philosophy and English literature, he recalls receiving propaganda leaflets about Cyprus from Athens but was disappointed by their quality and did not like to distribute them. He also remembers the Zurich talks in 1959, and although he agreed with George Seferis, the Nobel Prize laureate and diplomat, he says he accepted the compromise, considering it better than a continuous civil war on the island.

He was pleased to hear about the Acheson Plan in 1964 (named after the then US secretary of state Dean Acheson), which proposed the union of Cyprus with Greece on the condition of granting the Turks a military base on the Karpasia Peninsula. Georgios Papandreou, the Greek prime minister at the time, summarized the plan by saying, “They are giving us an apartment building in exchange for a small penthouse,” but he believed that Makarios was not willing to accept it.

Dimou reminds that the Acheson Plan included the return of Greeks expelled from Istanbul and the restoration of the legal status on the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. Former foreign minister Evangelos Averoff wrote a two-volume work on the Cyprus issue, which he called “Lost Opportunities: The Cyprus Question, 1950-1963.” Dimou agrees with the essence of this phrase.

The background

How did the advertiser-turned-author come up with the “I do not forget” slogan one morning in August 1974? First of all, those under the age of 55-60 who were not born or were very young when the events occurred should know that the Cyprus tragedy did not begin and end in a flash but unfolded slowly over a month – from July 15 to August 14, 1974. The first nine days of this period were the last of the dictatorship, and the next 20 days were the first of the Metapolitefsi.

The coup against Makarios orchestrated by the Greek junta of the “invisible dictator” Dimitrios Ioannidis aimed to impose “Union with Greece” (which Makarios did not want) and was launched on July 15, 1974. Initially, the news circulated that Makarios had been assassinated, but it soon became known that he had taken refuge in the British base of Akrotiri and then went to Malta. From Malta, he traveled to London and from there to New York to speak at the UN about Cyprus.

The junta in Athens, incredible as it may seem, had no plan to replace Makarios and in the hours that followed, hastily placed the journalist and Famagusta MP Nikos Sampson in this position. Sampson was a “red flag” for the Turks because he had participated in purges against Turkish Cypriots in 1964.

In Ankara, Bulent Ecevit, Turkey’s prime minister at the time, announced that he would not accept the development. He sent an ultimatum to Washington and Athens, demanding Sampson’s resignation and the start of negotiations for the formation of a federal government. He threatened that if his demands were not met, Turkey would invade Cyprus. Athens rejected the Turkish demands, leading to Turkey invoking the London and Zurich agreements, which allowed intervention by guarantor powers in case of danger to a community, and initiating “Attila I,” landing 40,000 soldiers on the island at dawn on July 20.

The National Guard of Cyprus tried to repel the invaders, but the Turkish forces were strongly supported by air. Despite calls from the UN Security Council demanding that Turkey cease operations, they continued until July 22, and Turkey occupied 4% of Cyprus. On July 21 and 22, the clandestine airlift operation involving the transportation of Greek commandos to Cyprus resulted in tragedy as the Noratlas aircraft was shot down by friendly Greek-Cypriot fire near Nicosia Airport due to poor communication among Air Force staff.

The news of the invasion led the junta in Athens to immediately declare a general mobilization, but it failed to execute it successfully. The lack of organization, the ensuing chaos and the sense of losing control over the Army in the face of a potentially simultaneous Turkish attack in the Aegean or Thrace caused the regime’s rapid collapse. Democracy was restored on July 24 with the return of former prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis from Paris and the formation of a national unity government. On the same day (July 24), Sampson resigned, and negotiations between Greece and Turkey began in Zurich.

In Zurich, Greece was represented by Georgios Mavros, foreign minister of the national unity government. His Turkish counterpart, Turan Gunes, demanded the establishment of six autonomous Turkish-Cypriot cantons in northern Cyprus, which was not accepted by the Greek side. On August 14, the negotiations collapsed. New Turkish military operations were launched, known as “Attila II.”

Despite the strong resistance of the National Guard, consisting mainly of Greek officers, northern Cyprus was lost in a few hours. The invasion spread to 36% of the island and stopped at the “Attila Line,” extending 180 kilometers and bisecting the entire island.

Nikos Dimou saw this “Attila Line” as a “knife wound,” inspiring the image and slogan that marked the Metapolitefsi and, unfortunately, remains relevant to this day.