Bloody Christmas (1963)

Bloody Christmas (Turkish: Kanlı Noel), in Turkish Cypriot and Turkish historiography, refers to the resumption of intercommunal violence between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots during the Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, on the night of 20–21 December 1963 and the subsequent period of island-wide violence^[1] amounting to civil war.^[2] This initial episode of violence lasted until 31 December and was somewhat subdued with the start of peace talks at the London Conference, but outbursts of violence continued thereafter.^[3] The violence precipitated the end of Turkish Cypriot representation in the Republic of Cyprus.

The death toll for the entire conflict between December and August amounts to 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots, of whom ^[4] 136 Turkish Cypriots and 30 Greek Cypriots were killed in the initial period between 21 December and 1 January.^[5]

Approximately 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 104 villages, amounting to a quarter of the Turkish Cypriot population, fled their villages and were displaced into enclaves.^[6] Thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses left behind were ransacked or completely destroyed.^[7] Around 1,200 Armenian Cypriots and 500 Greek Cypriots were also displaced.