Britain waged psychological war in Cyprus

An EOKA parade in Nicosia in 1962
An EOKA parade in Nicosia in 1962
CENTRAL PRESS

British colonial rulers made an early and unsuccessful attempt to wage psychological warfare by exploiting the murder of a Cypriot journalist, according to previously secret documents.

When the effort proved fruitless, officials put the blame on the local population’s lack of “reason, logic, thought, common-sense and analysis”.

Odysseus Wideson, a correspondent with the Cyprus Mail, was shot dead in 1956 during the revolt against British rule by EOKA rebels. In a letter to Sir Leslie Glass, one of Britain’s key propagandists in the region, the unnamed Commissioner of Famagusta suggested using the death to show that EOKA were “dastardly” murderers.

It is not clear whether the idea was carried through, but the suggestion was just one of many in Britain’s failing propaganda war.

Documents