The American (USA’s) Concern for Communism in Cyprus During the Cold War Era

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the Cyprus policies of the United States of America (USA) during the Cold War. During this period, it was a fact that the USA was highly uncomfortable with the communist organization on the island. In this context, the USA was very concerned about the possibility of AKEL (Progressive Party of the Working People), which had a robust political base on the island, coming to power. In addition, it also followed with concern the Soviet Union’s efforts to establish influence on the island through AKEL. The study discusses these concerns and the steps taken by the USA to resolve them. In the article, the conditions of the Cold War period are analysed in the context of Cyprus using the deductive method. Since the main subject of the study is the USA’s foreign policy, the conditions and concerns of the period are discussed by using mainly American archival documents. Based on the findings, the study concludes that the USA’s policy towards Cyprus was shaped within the framework of Cold War theses.

Keywords

• usa
• cold war
• cyprus
• akel
• communism