Maestro or Scapegoat? : The role of Henry Kissinger in the depiction of USA foreign policy on Cyprus’s occupation of 1974

The Turkish invasion in Cyprus created a watershed moment for the people in the island but also the international community. Following Fileleftheros', a Cypriot newspaper that was in support of Makarios, coverage of the events and the actors associated with them, it is identified a targeted rhetoric and tone towards then US secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. The newspaper’s approach in depicting USA’s foreign policy is mainly targeting Kissinger in contrast to US president as being responsible for the shortcomings and failures of the American negotiations to manage the crisis that jeopardized the security of Cyprus. This paradox is attempted to be analyzed by investigated the media framing of Kissinger in Fileleftheros newspaper. This article identifies the frequency, tone and particular references to both Kissinger and Ford, to test the formulated hypothesis that targeting Kissinger as the sole responsible would alleviate extreme responses towards the USA in a period of ongoing crisis. The findings, retrieved from both content analysis and critical discourse analysis between August 1974 to January 1975, validate the hypothesis formulated that Kissinger was framed as a scapegoat to not generate strong Anti-American sentiments amid the bipolar system and great powers competition.