Joe Aitchison

At the time of my first posting to Cyprus in January 1967, the mission was still quite new, and the notion of UN service was very exciting to me. I deployed to United Nations Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Headquarters (HQ) with no pre-deployment training or introduction to the country, the mission, the UN or the military and social situations on-island. While I had no pre-conceptions, I was probably less effective initially than I might have been, because I had no conceptions of any kind.

On my arrival in Cyprus, I likely had a greater sympathy for the Turkish Cypriot community than for the Greek Cypriot community. The Turkish Cypriots were subject to restrictions on their access to such things as farming and building supplies and general goods. They were the underdogs, and Canadians love to side with underdogs. Over time, dealing with both communities, I became truly impartial. 

Initially, I found the HQ environment chaotic, partly because of its multi-national character and partly because I did not understand the more complex relationships between and among the senior military and UN appointments. Staff procedures were different from those I had been taught in training. It seemed to me that the real work of the HQ was being done by the “professional” officers from the UK and Canada, with some notable exceptions. Accommodation was spartan — a lean-to style building constructed of galvanized sheeting that featured neither heating nor air conditioning. We had a decent Officers’ Mess — run by the British — at which we took our meals and socialized.

The principal staff branch of the HQ was the Operations (Ops) Branch, to which I was assigned as an Ops Centre Duty Officer. We worked a three-day cycle — 24 hours on duty, 24 hours on stand-by and 24 hours off. This, along with access to the Ops Room vehicle gave opportunities to travel the island as a (semi) tourist. I saw a great deal of the island during my tour and learned a good deal about the history and culture of the region.

Our main ongoing concerns were with UN freedom of movement and maintenance of the “status quo”. The former led to constant, wide-spread patrolling both on foot and in vehicles to establish the UN right to go anywhere on the island, and the latter included such mundane activities as counting the number of sand-bags on positions to ensure that the positions had not been improved by either the TCF (Turk-Cypriot Fighters) or (Greek) National Guard. Most restrictions to freedom of movement or changes to the “status quo” were dealt with locally by the lowest-level commander involved, and only relatively major breaches were referred to Force HQ. The most common occurrences were random, or sometimes targeted shots fired, either intentionally or accidently by one or the other belligerent. “SHOTREPS” received a great deal of attention – mainly because they were one indicator that could be captured, reported, counted, plotted, and analysed. 

The Canadian unit on-island was assigned to Kyrenia District in the north central part of the island. The other national contingents included Austrian, Irish, Danish, Finnish, Swedish and British units, which were distributed about the island, all of which I visited at some time during my tour. 

The only major incident I recall during my tour was a conflict at a small village crossroads called Kophinou. A minor confrontation devolved into Greek Cypriot National Guard armoured cars shooting into the Turkish Cypriot Police Station with their small-calibre cannon, rifles, and machine guns, which conflict led to the Force Reserve being called out and a tactical element of the HQ being deployed. I was with the deployed tactical HQ, which was led by the Chief of Staff . My most salient memory of the event was him telling me to “get up there and make them stop shooting” — a tall order for an unarmed UN staff officer, which I nevertheless carried out.

I was permitted one leave period of 14 days during my tour, but was not permitted to return to Canada on this leave, and chose to spend it in Germany. My leave was extended as my return flight to Cyprus was prevented from landing because of the June War of 1967 (the Six-Day War) and had to be diverted back to Germany. I returned to Canada in July, 1967, having largely missed Canada’s Centennial celebrations, and packed up my small family to move from Rivers, MB to London, ON for my next employment. Little did I anticipate that I would serve two more tours in Cyprus over the next 17 years, but such was the nature of that long-lived mission, which saw thousands of Canadian Forces members “visit” and re-visit Aphrodite’s Isle as “Blue-Beret tourists”.