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In the Shadow of Egypt: The Abolition of the Ottoman Tribute in Cyprus 1924–1931

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The Cyprus Tribute and Geopolitics in the Levant, 1875–1960

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Abstract

This chapter will explore in some detail the interaction between the positions taken on the tribute issue by the Cypriots and their colonial administrators, and political and constitutional developments in the island. In doing so, it will consider the significance of the constraints on the British government created by their simultaneous political and financial confrontations with the Egyptians in the 1920s. Both territories had been exempted from a share in the Ottoman public debt as it stood after 1914 because of their commitments to earlier Ottoman debts, Egypt explicitly and Cyprus, it was argued by the Treasury, implicitly.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Article 116, Section 1X, Treaty of Peace Between the Allies and Associated Powers and Turkey, signed at Sèvres, 10 August, 1920, https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/,_Articles_1_-_260.

  2. 2.

    Michael Dendias (1934, 115–118).

  3. 3.

    Philip Marshall Brown (1926, 135–139).

  4. 4.

    Lyndon Moore and Jakub Kaluzny (2005, 255).

  5. 5.

    Marlow (1965, 292–294).

  6. 6.

    Ελεθυερια, 29 November 1924. See also frequent brief coverage in Φωνη της Κυπρου, July to December 1924 and Ελευθερια, July to December 1924.

  7. 7.

    For relative growth of Greek Orthodox and Muslim populations, see Table 2, “The Growth of the Greek Orthodox and Moslem Communities 1881–1978” in L. W. St. John-Jones (1983, 51).

  8. 8.

    Georghallides (1979, 382).

  9. 9.

    Georghallides (1979, 392).

  10. 10.

    Darwin (1981, 36).

  11. 11.

    Martin Gilbert (1966–1988, 638).

  12. 12.

    Treasury note on discussions of Barstow and Walley with Sir Reginald Patterson on 12 September 1926, FO141/631, NA.

  13. 13.

    For a detailed account of this historic session of the legislative council , see Georghallides (1979, 395–399).

  14. 14.

    Ελευθερια, 16 March 1927.

  15. 15.

    Treasury to Colonial Office, 1 March 1927, CO67/221, NA.

  16. 16.

    Minute by Dawe, 19 March 1927, CO67/221, NA, and subsequent comments.

  17. 17.

    Storrs to Amery , 23 March 1927, CO67/221, NA. For the full text of Storrs despatch, see Georghallides (1971, 392–396).

  18. 18.

    Storrs Private Papers IV, Undated draft of letter from Storrs to Edward Marsh cited in Georghallides (1985, 46).

  19. 19.

    CP198, 14 July 1927, CAB24/180.

  20. 20.

    Cabinet Conclusions 41 (27), 20 July 1927. CO67/221, NA.

  21. 21.

    Dawe , Memorandum on the submission to the Treasury on the subject of the £600,000 refund for Cyprus, 25 July 1933, CO67/251/13, NA.

  22. 22.

    Patterson , Financial Advisor, to Hartrop, Residency, Cairo, 10 March 1927, FO141/823, NA.

  23. 23.

    Churchill to Chamberlain, 15 July 1927, FO141/823, NA.

  24. 24.

    Reginald Hoare, Acting High Commissioner, Cairo to Chamberlain, 15 July 1927, FO141/823, NA.

  25. 25.

    Sir Maurice Amos’s opinion on the Egyptian Tribute loan of 1855, 9 September 1927, FO141/823, NA.

  26. 26.

    Georghallides (1985, 53–54).

  27. 27.

    CO69/41 cited in Georghallides (1985).

  28. 28.

    Georghallides (1985, 54–55).

  29. 29.

    Ronald Storrs, The Memoirs of Sir Ronald Storrs , Orientations, 506.

  30. 30.

    Georghallides (1985, 56).

  31. 31.

    Georghallides (1985, 63–66).

  32. 32.

    B. J. Surridge (1930), VS4/53, CSA, 47.

  33. 33.

    Georghallides, 55–56.

  34. 34.

    Cypriot exports had increased by £432,299 between 1926 and 1927 and imports only by £15,662 but there were no substantial surpluses in the Treasury because of the upheaval connected with the abandonment of the tithe system in 1924 and the low yield of taxes collected in their place. Georghallides (1985, 135, Footnote 1).

  35. 35.

    MLC, 1928, 24 April, 52–53.

  36. 36.

    MLC, 1928, 24 April, 45.

  37. 37.

    Amery to Storrs , 19 November 1928, CO67/224, NA.

  38. 38.

    Stephen Constantine (1984, 187–191).

  39. 39.

    MLC, 1928, 3 and 4 December, 275–340.

  40. 40.

    Long (2005, 169).

  41. 41.

    T. Watson , Memo for Treasury, 7 July 1928, file entitled “Egyptian Tribute , Cyprus Tribute: Ottoman Public Debt”, FO141/631/3 NA.

  42. 42.

    Marlowe (1965, 289–300).

  43. 43.

    Georghallides (1985, 83–87). The tiny Armenian , Maronite and Latin communities all considering colonial status a safeguard against a worse fate, did, of course, participate in strength in the Jubilee celebrations.

  44. 44.

    Markides (2008, 80–87).

  45. 45.

    Georghallides (1985, 116).

  46. 46.

    Georghallides (1985, 154–166).

  47. 47.

    Minute signed by A. J. Dawe , 23 April 1929, CO883/8, NA.

  48. 48.

    Vatikiotis (1985, 285).

  49. 49.

    Leith Ross, Memorandum on Anglo-Egyptian talks on the 1855 Guaranteed loan, January 1929, FO141/631/3, NA.

  50. 50.

    Leith Ross, Memorandum on Anglo-Egyptian talks on the 1855 Guaranteed loan, January 1929 (no precise date recorded), FO141/631/3, NA.

  51. 51.

    Churchill statement on the Anglo-Egyptian Financial Agreement , Hansard 21 March 1929.

  52. 52.

    Agreement between His Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of Egypt, relative to the Ottoman Guaranteed Loan of 1855, Cairo, 17 March 1929, Treaty Series No. 7 (1929), FO141/631/3, NA.

  53. 53.

    Treasury Minute dated 21 March 1929, FO141/631/3 and 4 (supplement entitled “Egyptian Tribute , Cyprus Tribute and Ottoman Public Debt”), NA. See also Appendix VI.

  54. 54.

    Long (2005, 152–161).

  55. 55.

    Georghallides (1985, 101).

  56. 56.

    Cmnd. Cyprus 3477 15–20. See also Georghallides (1985, 237–240).

  57. 57.

    The British Government and Cyprus: a rejoinder to Lord Passfield’s reply, Cmnd. 3477.

  58. 58.

    Storrs to Passfield, 4 September 1929, CO67/231 cited in Georghallides (1985, 276–277).

  59. 59.

    MLC, 1929, 251–254.

  60. 60.

    Minutes of the Colonial Advisory Committee, 30 October, 4 December, 18 December 1929, CO970/1, NA.

  61. 61.

    Ελευθερια, 8 November 1930.

  62. 62.

    Apostolides (2011, 111–121).

  63. 63.

    For a clear and impartial analysis, see Heraclidou (2017, 30–35).

  64. 64.

    For biographical notes on the Cypriot councillors, see Coudounaris (2010).

  65. 65.

    Georghallides (1985, 393).

  66. 66.

    Georghallides (1985, 456–459).

  67. 67.

    Coudounaris (2010, 311).

  68. 68.

    Georghallides (1985, 430).

  69. 69.

    Hill (1952, 474–475).

  70. 70.

    MLC, 26–27 November 1930, 114–186.

  71. 71.

    Storrs’ private papers IV/1, cited in Georghallides (1985, 438).

  72. 72.

    Aλήθεια, 18 December 1930.

  73. 73.

    Georghallides (1985, 563–564).

  74. 74.

    Φωνή τής Κύπρου, 24 March 1931.

  75. 75.

    Georghallides (1985, 433–451).

  76. 76.

    For a lively account of the founding of the scouting movement and its activities in Paphos, see Andreas Filaktou (1992).

  77. 77.

    Georghallides (1985, 619).

  78. 78.

    Altay Nevsat (2005, 392–395).

  79. 79.

    Heraclidou (2017, 30–33).

  80. 80.

    Hansard House of Commons debates, 8 July 1931, Cyprus (Turkish Tribute) Vol. 254, cc2082–2083.

  81. 81.

    Stavros Panteli (1984, 135).

  82. 82.

    Georghallides (1985, 670).

  83. 83.

    Georghallides (1985, 689).

  84. 84.

    Robert Holland (1998, 4). See 1–4 for an evocative account of these events.

  85. 85.

    Palmer to Cunliffe-Lister, 19 January 1934, FCO141/255, NA.

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    Diana Markides

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Markides, D. (2019). In the Shadow of Egypt: The Abolition of the Ottoman Tribute in Cyprus 1924–1931. In: The Cyprus Tribute and Geopolitics in the Levant, 1875–1960. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13777-9_5

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