The 'Cyprus Emergency’ and India’s nuclear mango deal
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Hello and welcome to the History Hour with Max Pearson. This week's BBC World Service Witness History Stories. Coming up, the controversial nuclear deal between the US and India in 2006, sweetened by mangoes. Mangoes was our diplomatic calling card, you might say. You know, mangoes were the gift Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Queen Elizabeth on her coronation. Also, Norway's racially motivated killing which sparked a mass rally in Oslo. His life was brutally stolen because of that kind of ideology and that there are differences between people when it comes to value. Plus a fight for freedom following questionable convictions in Mauritius and how Tunisian independence brought new rights for women 70 years ago.
The equal rights law was the biggest ever gain for Tunisian women. President Bourguiba said he was not just the liberator of Tunisia, but a liberator of Tunisian women as well. But first, at about the same time as Tunisia gained its independence from France, the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters, or AOKA, launched an armed campaign to end British colonial rule and bring about the unification of Cyprus with Greece. Ben Henderson has been speaking to a former Cypriot lawyer who was imprisoned by the British for almost two years during that time. Cyprus, ruled by Britain for nearly 80 years, but overwhelmingly Greek in population, hits the headlines again.
Eoka wanted the island to be united politically with Greece, a movement known as Enosis. The cause was supported by a young Cypriot lawyer called Rhenos Lysiotis. In 1955, he often represented those accused of involvement with Eoka in court. On one occasion, two young men and a teenager shot dead a British soldier. Rhenos was tasked with saving them from the death penalty.
looked at me and they said, Mr. Reynolds, we know we are going to die. What we need from you is to save the kid because he's underage. And he looked at them and said, why? Am I not good enough to die with you? I'll never forget that. That night, many people were gathered outside the prison, and they were singing until we heard a voice. They are taking them. The other prisoners were shouting. They were taken to the gallows. Then we heard the Greek national anthem and a horrible voice of the gallows. Bang! And then silence.
In 1956, Renos joined AOKA formally and was appointed head of its youth wing in Nicosia, Cyprus's capital. His role included gathering intelligence, organising demonstrations and rallying support for the group. But he was still friendly with some Brits living on the island, particularly a husband and wife called Arthur and Tuna and their two young children. One day, the family invited Renos to join them for dinner at a local pub.
Oh my God, I froze because I knew that that night they would throw grenades and bombs everywhere that British people or army frequent. Oh my God, what am I going to do now? Go away? Say I'm busy? But I thought, these are my friends. So I said, no, no, no, Tuna, we don't go out tonight. He said, what? Why? No, Tuna, I said, let's stay home and have dinner here. Tuna said, no, Tim, I'll go and prepare something in the kitchen myself. We don't go out. When the bombs exploded that night, Arthur and Tuna realised that I knew. So I got up, they embraced me, and they said thank you.
Did you ever participate in the violence yourself?
No. My duty, as I told you, was demonstrations, leaflets, and also the political side of the okra.
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