Ronald Storrs and Mısırlızade Necati The Governor’s Encounter with the ‘Thirteenth Greek’
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Abstract
Relations between British colonial administrators and the Turkish Cypriots are commonly portrayed purely through the rigid framework of subservience and collaboration. Furnishing evidence through a micro-historical study of the relationship which developed in the late 1920s between Governor Ronald Storrs and Turkish Cypriot political leader Mısırlızade Necati, the paper proposes that this familiar portrayal is misleading and overlooks significant cases of conflict between the British authorities and prevailing Turkish Cypriot political forces. The argument is supported by a wider analysis of the two men’s formative experiences and in particular of the ‘public school spirit’ inculcated in Storrs as invariably in other British administrators also. Based upon such analysis it is suggested that such dispute went beyond the solely personal and that the conflictual relationship that arose in this instance was largely a consequence of the colonial inability to adequately adapt to the novel force of Kemalist nationalism in Cyprus.
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Keywords
British imperialism, colonialism, Cyprus, education, Kemalism, nationalism, Turkish Cypriots
References
Unpublished Sources
The Papers of Sir Ronald Storrs (1881-1956) from Pembroke College, Cambridge
BOX IV, Folder 1, Cyprus, 1927-1931, Letters
BOX IV, Folder 2, Cyprus, 1932, Letters
BOX IV, Folder 3, Cyprus, 1931. The Burning of Government House
State Archives of the Republic of Cyprus
Secretariat Archives (SA 1):
SA1/623/1928
SA1/698/1931
SA1/950/1926
SA1/1273/1922
SA1/1320/1928
SA1/1420/1930
SA1/1430/1930
SA1/1576/1929/1
National Archives of the UK
Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire and Marketing Board, and Related Bodies 1570-1990
(CO); Series: CO 67 (Colonial Office: Cyprus, Original Correspondence 1878-1951):
CO 67/182
CO 67/203
CO 67/219/14
CO 67/227/4
CO 67/233/14
CO 67/235/13
CO 67/237/11
CO 67/238/11
CO 67/239/14
CO 67/240/13
CO 67/244/8
Printed/Published Sources
Reference and Document Publications
United Kingdom: Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire and Marketing Board, and Related Bodies 1570-1990
(CO); Series: CO 883:
CO 883/6
CO 883/8
Cyprus Blue Book: 1930
Literature Sources
Amery, L.S. (1953) My Political Life. Volume Two: War and Peace, 1914-1929. London: Hutchinson.
Korkut, F.N. (2000) Hat›ralar [Memoirs], edited by Fedai, H. and Altan, M.H., with a foreword by Fedai, H. Famagusta: Eastern Mediterranean University Press.
Lawrence, T.E. (1962) Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph (1926 reprint). London: Penguin Books.
Storrs, R.W. (1940) Lawrence of Arabia, Zionism and Palestine. New York: Penguin Books.
Storrs, R.W. (1943) Orientations (definitive edition). London: Nicholson and Watson.
Newspapers and Periodicals
Ankebut, 23 October 1921
Ankebut, 13 September 1922
Söz, 6 November 1930
Söz, 17 September 1931
The Guardian, 17 July 2007
Interview
M. Necati Özkan (born 1899) [conducted by Ali Süha, Nicosia in 1967.]
s.n. s.a. ‘The History of the Temple Grove School’, available at: [http://www.templegrove.org.uk/ UserFiles/File/TG%20History%20Nov%2009.pdf], accessed on 23 November 2011.
Alastos, D. (1955) Cyprus in History: A Survey of 5,000 Years. London: Zeno Publishers.
Behçet, H. (1969) Kıbrıs Türk Maarif Tarihi, (1571-1968) [The History of the Education of the Turks of Cyprus, (1571-1968)]. Lefkoşa: Halkın Sesi.
Bryant, R. (2006) ‘On the Condition of Postcoloniality in Cyprus’, in Papadakis, Y., Peristianis, N. and Welz, G. (eds), Divided Cyprus: Modernity, History, And An Island in Conflict. Bloomington and Indiana: Indiana University Press, pp. 47-65.
Cannadine, D. (2001) ‘Ornamentalism’, History Today, Vol. 51, No. 5 (May), pp. 12-19.
Gazioğlu, A.C. (1977) Kıbrıs Tarihi: İngiliz Dönemi (1878-1960) [The History of Cyprus: The British Period (1878-1960)]. Lefkofla: Kıbrıs Araştırma ve Yayın Merkezi.
Georghallides, G.S. (1979) A Political and Administrative History of Cyprus 1918-1926: With a Survey of the Foundations of British Rule. Nicosia: Cyprus Research Centre.
Georghallides, G.S. (1985) Cyprus and the Governorship of Sir Ronald Storrs: The Causes of the 1931 Crisis. Nicosia: Cyprus Research Centre.
Georghallides, G.S. (1988) Cyprus, British Imperialism and Governor Sir Ronald Storrs. Nicosia: Zavallis Press.
Gönlübol, M. and Sar, C. (1974) 1919-1938 Yılları Arasında Türk Dış Politikası. Olaylarla Türk Dış Politikası [Turkish Foreign Policy in the Years From 1919-1938. Events and Turkish Foreign Policy]. Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi Yayınları.
Gürel, Ş.S. (1984) Kıbrıs Tarihi, 1878-1960: Kolonyalizm, Ulusçuluk ve Uluslararası Politika, I. cilt [The History of Cyprus, 1878-1960: Colonialism, Nationalism and International Politics, Vol. 1]. Ankara: Kaynak Yayınları.
Hadjipavlou, M. (2007) ‘The Cyprus Conflict: Root Causes and Implications for Peacebuilding’, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 44, No. 3 (May), pp. 349-365.
Heussler, R. (1963) Yesterday’s Rulers: The Making of the British Colonial Service. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Hill, Sir G. (1952) A History of Cyprus, Volume IV. The Ottoman Province, The British Colony, 1571-1948, edited by Sir Harry Luke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holland, R. (1998) Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus, 1954-1959. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Kaymak, F. (1968) Kıbrıs Türkleri Bu Duruma Nasıl Düfltü? [How Did The Turks of Cyprus Come To This Point?]. İstanbul: Alpay Basımevi.
Kirk-Greene, A. (2000) Britain’s Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press.
Kitromilides, P.M. (2011) ‘Relevance or Irrelevance of Nationalism? A Perspective from the Eastern Mediterranean’, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. 24, pp. 57-63.
Landau, J.M. (1995) Pan-Turkism: From Irredentism to Cooperation, 2nd edition. London: Hurst and Co.
McHenry, J.A. (1987) The Uneasy Partnership on Cyprus 1919-1939: The Political and Diplomatic Interaction Between Great Britain, Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot Community. New York: Garland Publishing Inc.
Nevzat, A. (2005) Nationalism Amongst the Turks of Cyprus: The First Wave. Oulu: Oulu University Press.
Nevzat, A. (2010) ‘Securing the Office of Müftü: Nationalism, Religion and the Turks of Cyprus’, in Aktar, A., Kızılyürek, N. and Özkırımlı, U. (eds), Nationalism in the Troubled Triangle: Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 160-174.
Papadakis, Y. (2005) Echoes From The Dead Zone: Across the Cyprus Divide. London: I.B. Tauris.
Purcell, H.D. (1969) Cyprus. New York/Washington: Praeger.
Said, E.W. (1979) Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
Terlexis, P. (1968) ‘Greece’s Foreign Policy and Attitude towards the Problem of Cyprus’. Unpublished PhD Dissertation at New York University.
The Papers of Sir Ronald Storrs (1881-1956) from Pembroke College, Cambridge
BOX IV, Folder 1, Cyprus, 1927-1931, Letters
BOX IV, Folder 2, Cyprus, 1932, Letters
BOX IV, Folder 3, Cyprus, 1931. The Burning of Government House
State Archives of the Republic of Cyprus
Secretariat Archives (SA 1):
SA1/623/1928
SA1/698/1931
SA1/950/1926
SA1/1273/1922
SA1/1320/1928
SA1/1420/1930
SA1/1430/1930
SA1/1576/1929/1
National Archives of the UK
Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire and Marketing Board, and Related Bodies 1570-1990
(CO); Series: CO 67 (Colonial Office: Cyprus, Original Correspondence 1878-1951):
CO 67/182
CO 67/203
CO 67/219/14
CO 67/227/4
CO 67/233/14
CO 67/235/13
CO 67/237/11
CO 67/238/11
CO 67/239/14
CO 67/240/13
CO 67/244/8
Printed/Published Sources
Reference and Document Publications
United Kingdom: Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire and Marketing Board, and Related Bodies 1570-1990
(CO); Series: CO 883:
CO 883/6
CO 883/8
Cyprus Blue Book: 1930
Literature Sources
Amery, L.S. (1953) My Political Life. Volume Two: War and Peace, 1914-1929. London: Hutchinson.
Korkut, F.N. (2000) Hat›ralar [Memoirs], edited by Fedai, H. and Altan, M.H., with a foreword by Fedai, H. Famagusta: Eastern Mediterranean University Press.
Lawrence, T.E. (1962) Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph (1926 reprint). London: Penguin Books.
Storrs, R.W. (1940) Lawrence of Arabia, Zionism and Palestine. New York: Penguin Books.
Storrs, R.W. (1943) Orientations (definitive edition). London: Nicholson and Watson.
Newspapers and Periodicals
Ankebut, 23 October 1921
Ankebut, 13 September 1922
Söz, 6 November 1930
Söz, 17 September 1931
The Guardian, 17 July 2007
Interview
M. Necati Özkan (born 1899) [conducted by Ali Süha, Nicosia in 1967.]
s.n. s.a. ‘The History of the Temple Grove School’, available at: [http://www.templegrove.org.uk/ UserFiles/File/TG%20History%20Nov%2009.pdf], accessed on 23 November 2011.
Alastos, D. (1955) Cyprus in History: A Survey of 5,000 Years. London: Zeno Publishers.
Behçet, H. (1969) Kıbrıs Türk Maarif Tarihi, (1571-1968) [The History of the Education of the Turks of Cyprus, (1571-1968)]. Lefkoşa: Halkın Sesi.
Bryant, R. (2006) ‘On the Condition of Postcoloniality in Cyprus’, in Papadakis, Y., Peristianis, N. and Welz, G. (eds), Divided Cyprus: Modernity, History, And An Island in Conflict. Bloomington and Indiana: Indiana University Press, pp. 47-65.
Cannadine, D. (2001) ‘Ornamentalism’, History Today, Vol. 51, No. 5 (May), pp. 12-19.
Gazioğlu, A.C. (1977) Kıbrıs Tarihi: İngiliz Dönemi (1878-1960) [The History of Cyprus: The British Period (1878-1960)]. Lefkofla: Kıbrıs Araştırma ve Yayın Merkezi.
Georghallides, G.S. (1979) A Political and Administrative History of Cyprus 1918-1926: With a Survey of the Foundations of British Rule. Nicosia: Cyprus Research Centre.
Georghallides, G.S. (1985) Cyprus and the Governorship of Sir Ronald Storrs: The Causes of the 1931 Crisis. Nicosia: Cyprus Research Centre.
Georghallides, G.S. (1988) Cyprus, British Imperialism and Governor Sir Ronald Storrs. Nicosia: Zavallis Press.
Gönlübol, M. and Sar, C. (1974) 1919-1938 Yılları Arasında Türk Dış Politikası. Olaylarla Türk Dış Politikası [Turkish Foreign Policy in the Years From 1919-1938. Events and Turkish Foreign Policy]. Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi Yayınları.
Gürel, Ş.S. (1984) Kıbrıs Tarihi, 1878-1960: Kolonyalizm, Ulusçuluk ve Uluslararası Politika, I. cilt [The History of Cyprus, 1878-1960: Colonialism, Nationalism and International Politics, Vol. 1]. Ankara: Kaynak Yayınları.
Hadjipavlou, M. (2007) ‘The Cyprus Conflict: Root Causes and Implications for Peacebuilding’, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 44, No. 3 (May), pp. 349-365.
Heussler, R. (1963) Yesterday’s Rulers: The Making of the British Colonial Service. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Hill, Sir G. (1952) A History of Cyprus, Volume IV. The Ottoman Province, The British Colony, 1571-1948, edited by Sir Harry Luke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holland, R. (1998) Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus, 1954-1959. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Kaymak, F. (1968) Kıbrıs Türkleri Bu Duruma Nasıl Düfltü? [How Did The Turks of Cyprus Come To This Point?]. İstanbul: Alpay Basımevi.
Kirk-Greene, A. (2000) Britain’s Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press.
Kitromilides, P.M. (2011) ‘Relevance or Irrelevance of Nationalism? A Perspective from the Eastern Mediterranean’, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. 24, pp. 57-63.
Landau, J.M. (1995) Pan-Turkism: From Irredentism to Cooperation, 2nd edition. London: Hurst and Co.
McHenry, J.A. (1987) The Uneasy Partnership on Cyprus 1919-1939: The Political and Diplomatic Interaction Between Great Britain, Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot Community. New York: Garland Publishing Inc.
Nevzat, A. (2005) Nationalism Amongst the Turks of Cyprus: The First Wave. Oulu: Oulu University Press.
Nevzat, A. (2010) ‘Securing the Office of Müftü: Nationalism, Religion and the Turks of Cyprus’, in Aktar, A., Kızılyürek, N. and Özkırımlı, U. (eds), Nationalism in the Troubled Triangle: Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 160-174.
Papadakis, Y. (2005) Echoes From The Dead Zone: Across the Cyprus Divide. London: I.B. Tauris.
Purcell, H.D. (1969) Cyprus. New York/Washington: Praeger.
Said, E.W. (1979) Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
Terlexis, P. (1968) ‘Greece’s Foreign Policy and Attitude towards the Problem of Cyprus’. Unpublished PhD Dissertation at New York University.
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How to Cite
“Ronald Storrs and Mısırlızade Necati: The Governor’s Encounter With the ‘Thirteenth Greek’”. 2017. Cyprus Review 23 (2): 77-107. https://cyprusreview.org/index.php/cr/article/view/157.