THE GOVERNMENT yesterday expressed sympathy at the death of coup president Nicos Sampson, but stopped short of any gesture forgiving him for his part in the 1974 coup that triggered Turkey’s invasion.
Sampson died on Wednesday from cancer at the age of 66. A prominent fighter in the EOKA struggle against British colonial rule and founder of Machi newspaper, he will however mainly be remembered as ‘eight-day president’ of the 1974 coup to oust President Makarios, which precipitated the Turkish invasion.
Sampson was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1977 for usurping the presidency, despite his persistent denial that he did not have anything to do with planning the coup.
Adored by a handful of passionate followers, Sampson was heavily criticised by many for his far-right politics and controversial involvement in inter-communal fighting in the 1960s.
President Glafcos Clerides yesterday sent a telegraph to Sampson’s family, expressing his condolences. Sampson left behind a wife and two children.
Sampson’s body will lie in state at Machi’s offices in Nicosia today between 11am and 2pm. His funeral will take place at 3pm tomorrow.
However, the government will not send any representative to the funeral, Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday.
“I want to express my deep condolences to the family of Samson,” the Government Spokesman said.
But when asked why the government would not be represented at Sampson’s funeral, Papapetrou replied: “This is not the best time to pass historic or other judgments. The history and the facts are well known to the Cypriot people.”
But socialist Takis Hadjidemetriou, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Cyprus File of the outgoing parliament, was much more outspoken: “Leaving this world, Sampson leaves crucial and unanswered questions behind, questions about this country. Sampson’s action to take on the presidency of the tragic coup in 1974 marked the end of an era in Cyprus’ history and this is unfortunately what he will always be remembered for. It must be said, he is personally responsible. He will always be linked to those events. Our lives are judged by our last actions,” Hadjidemetriou charged.
But Sampson’s close friend and lawyer Manolis Christofides, a former Health Minister and Government Spokesman, paid tribute to the man “who was so much loved by his friends and allies in good times and in bad.
“When he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, he said ‘it is the state’s duty to convict me and it is my duty to serve my sentence’,” Christofides said.
But Sampson avoided most of that sentence, travelling to France in 1979 and remaining there in exile until 1990. When he returned, he served only a few more months in jail before being released.
Machi’s front page was yesterday dedicated to the death of Samson, the paper’s founder, with an obituary entitled: “The invincible has died.”
There was no regret at news of his death in occupied northern Cyprus.
“We hope Nicos Sampson will first be forgiven by the Greek Cypriot people for having partitioned the island and by God for all the ferocious acts he committed,” said Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.
“He is a very sad part of our history and we don’t want to remember him”
“He was nothing more than a terrorist,” said Faik Koyuncuoglu, head of the Turkish Cypriot resistance fighters’ association.
“He started out in 1955 as a journalist with a camera in one hand and a gun in his bag.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
