Abdul Hamid II's Gift to Britain: Cyprus

A British officer, Captain J. M. Kinneir wrote about the importance of Cyprus for Britain after he paid a visit to the island in 1814:

The possession of Cyprus would give to England a preponderating influence in the Mediterranean, and place at her disposal the future destinies of the Levant. Egypt and Syria would soon become her tributaries, and she would acquire an overawing position in respect to Asia Minor, by which the Porte might at all times be kept in check, and the encroachments of Russia, in this quarter, retarded if not prevented. It would increase her commerce in a very considerable degree; give her the distribution of the rich wines, silks and other produce of that fine island; the rice and sugar of Egypt, and the cotton, opium and tobacco of Anatolia.⁵⁰

Former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli voiced similar thoughts and said Cyprus was "the Key of Western Asia"⁵¹ and continued saying that any state that wished to control the Middle East should have controlled Cyprus.

The British deep state has always wanted Cyprus, an island with a significant strategic position, and waited for the decline era of the Ottoman Empire to take action. It was sure that Abdul Hamid II, a sultan that it kept under pressure, would give in to its demands. So when the right time came, it put its devious gradual plans into action.

On May 10, 1878, Lord Salisbury, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, instructed Ambassador Austen Henry Layard in Istanbul to start the process for Cyprus. Layard, in response, met Grand Vizier Mehmed Rushdi Pasha on May 23 and assured him that Britain would ignore the Treaty of San Stefano and a new treaty would be prepared in favor of Turkish interests where British would prevent any new Russian attempts to invade any places other than Kars, Ardahan and Batum. However, there was a catch: British wanted to be in charge of Cyprus' administration.⁵² Ambassador Layard met Abdul Hamid II on May 25 and claimed that the Treaty of San Stefano was against the interests of the Ottoman Empire, that Britain wanted to help the Porte but had to send supplies to the Navy from Malta and London, for which Cyprus should be temporarily left to the British.⁵³ The persistence proved useful for British deep state and on June 4, 1878, before the Treaty of Berlin was signed, the Cyprus Convention was signed between the British and the Ottomans. According to the agreement, Great Britain would occupy the island and control it on behalf of the Sultan. Revenues -after the costs incurred by the British were deducted- would be annually sent to the Ottoman treasury, while the Ottoman authorities would continue to be in charge of justice, religion and educational institutes. This agreement allowed Britain to obtain the control of the island, which could be compared to a battleship in its quest to secure the Suez Canal and the vital route to India.

Abdul Hamid II allowed the British Army to invade the island and rule it during that period. However, over time three more additions were made to the agreement. The first additional agreement dated July 1, 1878 gave the Sultan the right to sell the lands on the island he owned, and obligated the British to buy them if the lands were nationalized. This way, the money for the lands sold was sent directly to Abdul Hamid II. The subsequent additions required the British to send the taxes collected in Cyprus to the Ottoman Empire, after necessary administrational costs were deducted. Many historians interpret this practice as the rental of Cyprus by Abdul Hamid II. However, British never paid the money and said they were offset against the Ottoman debts to Britain.

When WWI broke out, Britain declared that it officially annexed Cyprus. At the Conference of Lausanne, Turkey had to officially accept the situation on Cyprus. In other words, the Cyprus 'gift' of Sultan Abdul Hamid II to the British could be considered the first step in the British plan to physically invade the Ottoman Empire.

Interestingly, before and after the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, the British deep state heavily increased its military presence at its South Cyprus base. When asked, the British explained their reasons for sending warplanes, helicopters, landing ships and special forces to the region as 'rescuing British citizens if Turkey suffers a second coup attempt'. The British authorities also claimed that 'if found necessary' the British forces entering the Turkish land would also be authorized to fire.⁵⁴ Both the Turkish public and the Turkish media considered this as 'an invasion plan'.

As this example also shows, the usual tactic of the British deep state is first instigating unrest in a country through coup attempts, riots or civil wars in a bid to financially, politically and militarily weaken the country. The second stage is a military campaign with the pretense of 'protecting its citizens', 'humanitarian aid', 'humanitarian intervention or 'peacemaking'. A quick look at the historical events will clearly reveal examples of this British deep state strategy.

Strangely enough, one hundred years later Cyprus was once again the central point of the British deep state's plans to invade Turkey. This is more reason to suspect that the next stages of their secret plans will be similar to those of the past. Indeed, this is exactly what happened when the British deep state took over first Cyprus and then Egypt in 1882.

By the grace of God, on July 15, the President of the Turkish Republic, the government, security forces and most importantly the Turkish people have effectively blocked this sinister British deep state plan. However, this doesn't mean that the danger is gone and the plan is no longer there. The British deep state is seeking new ways to carry out its nefarious plans. For this reason, it is crucial that we are aware the threat still exists and are on our guard at all times. By God's leave, the British deep state will never be able to achieve its dark plans for Turkey.