Today in History: Bloody Christmas Armed Attacks Against Turkish Cypriots Launched

December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 10.

Railways

• 21 December 1912 Ulukışla-Karapınar (53km) line was put into service on the Anatolian Baghdad Railway.

Events 

• 1516 – Battle of Gaza takes place.
• 1603 – Ottoman Sultan III. Mehmet died, his son Ahmet I ascended the throne.
• 1898 - Pierre Curie and Marie Curie discover the radioactive element radium.
• 1918 – Ottoman Sultan Vahdettin dissolved the Parliament.
• 1925 – Soviet film director Sergey Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin movie was released.
• 1937 - Walt Disney's first feature-length, sound and color cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfswas premiered.
• 1953 – Turkish-French Trade Agreement signed; According to the terms of the treaty, France will open a loan of 100 million lira to Turkey.
• 1958 - De Gaulle is elected President of the 5th Republic in France.
• 1959 - Farah Diba married the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in a magnificent ceremony.
• 1959 – Nedret Güvenç and Ulvi Uraz received the first İlhan İskender Theater Gift.
• 1959 - Who magazine closed for a month. Kim's owner and Editor-in-Chief Şahap Balcıoğlu was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
• 1961 – British Airways British Airways passenger plane from London to Tel Aviv crashed one minute after leaving Esenboğa Airport and broke apart: 26 dead, 8 injured.
• 1963 – Bloody Christmas: Armed attacks against Turkish Cypriots are launched.
• 1964 - British Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.
• 1968 - Apollo 8 was launched for missions in lunar orbit.
• 1969 – Mehmet Ali Aybar, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP), resigned and Şaban Yıldız was elected instead.
• 1971 – The value of TL was re-determined: 1 dollar = 14 liras.
• 1971 - Austrian diplomat Kurt Waldheim was elected as the Secretary General of the United Nations.
• 1972 – Between two Germanys in East Berlin Basic Agreement signed.
• 1973 – Haci Bekir in Istanbul Kadıköy, Karaköy, Beyoğlu and Eminönü workplaces started a strike.
• 1978 – Rightists killed two left-wing teachers in Kahramanmaraş.
• 1985 – Women working in Konya Brothel went on strike when they were forbidden to expose themselves.
• 1986 – 50 thousand students gathered in Shanghai demanded democracy.
• 1987 – The Second Turgut Özal Government, the 46th Government of the Republican era, was established.
• 1988 – Lockerbie Disaster: Pan American World Airways' Boeing 747 passenger plane, while on the London-New York flight, exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie: 21 people from 270 countries were killed (including 11 on the ground).
• 1989 - The United States invaded Panama.
• 1990 – Villagers who went to Lice District Governorate to complain about the oppression were fired upon, 1 woman and 1 child died.
• 1991 – The leaders of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan came together to end the Soviet Union and establish the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). They announced that they were established.
• 1995 - Control of the city of Bethlehem passed from Israel to Palestine.
• 1999 – Former Mayor of Şişli, Gülay Aslıtürk, for whom two arrest warrants were issued in absentia, was arrested in London.
• 2005 – Same-sex civil partnership legalized in the UK. Elton John and his partner David Furnish were the first couple to benefit from this law.
• 2012 – Beginning of the 13th baktu in the Mayan calendar. (5200 years)
• 2020 – There was a great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. This was the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623.

Births 

• 1401 – Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
• 1596 – Petro Mohila, influential Ruthenian Orthodox theologian and reformer (d. 1647)
• 1603 – Roger Williams, Protestant Puritan theologian (d. 1683)
• 1758 – Jean Baptiste Eblé, French general and engineer (d. 1812)
• 1773 – Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (d. 1858)
• 1778 – Anders Sandøe Ørsted, Danish lawyer, politician, and jurist (d. 1860)
• 1788 – Adamo Tadolini, Italian sculptor (d. 1868)
• 1795 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (d. 1886)
• 1799 – George Finlay, Scottish historian (d. 1875)
• 1804 – Benjamin Disraeli, British politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
• 1805 – Thomas Graham, Scottish chemist (d. 1869)
• 1815 – Thomas Couture, French painter and art teacher (d. 1879)
• 1840 – Namık Kemal, Turkish poet (d. 1888)
• 1874 – Juan Bautista Sacasa, Nicaraguan medical doctor and politician (President of Nicaragua 1932-36) (d. 1946)
• 1889 – Sewall Wright, US geneticist (d. 1988)
• 1890 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist (d. 1967)
• 1892 Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)
• 1896 – Konstantin Rokosovsky, Soviet soldier and statesman (d. 1968)
• 1917 – Heinrich Böll, German writer (d. 1985)
• 1918 – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian politician and statesman (d. 2007)
• 1920 – Alicia Alonso, Cuban ballerina (d. 2019)
• 1926 – Arnošt Lustig, Czech writer (d. 2011)
• 1928 – Ed Nelson, American actor (d. 2014)
• 1935 – John G. Avildsen, American film director (d. 2017)
• 1935 – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian Formula 1 racer (d. 1967)
• 1935 - Phil Donahue, American writer and filmmaker
• 1935 – Stela Popescu, Romanian actress, philanthropist and television presenter (d. 2017)
• 1937 - Jane Fonda, American actress
• 1939 - Malcolm Hebden, English actor
• 1939 – Carlos do Carmo, Portuguese singer-songwriter (d. 2021)
• 1940 – Frank Zappa, American musician (d. 1993)
• 1942 - Hu Jintao is a Chinese politician
• 1943 – Istemi Betil, Turkish cinema, theater, TV series actress and voice actor (d. 2011)
• 1947 – Paco de Lucia, Spanish musician (d. 2014)
• 1948 – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
• 1951 – Steve Perryman, English international football player and manager
• 1952 Dennis Boutsikaris, American actor
• 1953 – Betty Wright, American soul and R&B singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
• 1954 – Christine Evert, American tennis player
• 1955 – Ali İpin, Turkish theater actor
• 1955 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
• 1957 – Ray Romano, American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and voice actor
• 1959 – Florence Griffith-Joyner, American athlete (d. 1998)
• 1959 – Corinne Touzet, French actress and filmmaker
• 1965 – Andy Dick, American television and radio host
• 1965 – Anke Engelke, German comedian, actress and presenter
• 1965 – Cem Özdemir, German politician of Turkish and Circassian descent
• 1966 – Kiefer Sutherland, American actor
• 1967 – Miheil Saakashvili, Georgian and Ukrainian politician and lawyer
• 1969 – Julie Delpy, French actress and musician
• 1973 – Matías Almeyda, Argentine former football player
• 1973 – Karahan Cantay, Turkish model and actor
• 1975 – Charles Michel, Belgian politician
• 1976 – Mark Dickel, New Zealand basketball player
• 1976 – Sedat Kapanoğlu, Turkish informatics and founder of Ekşi Sözlük
• 1977 – Emmanuel Macron, French banker, bureaucrat and politician
• 1978 – Shaun Morgan, South African musician
• 1979 – Steve Montador, Canadian professional ice hockey player (d. 2015)
• 1981 - Cristian Zaccardo, Italian football player
• 1983 – Steven Yeun is a Korean-American actor
• 1985 – Tom Sturridge, English actor
• 1991 – Riccardo Saponara, he is an italian football player
• 1996
• Kaitlyn Dever, American actress
• Ben Chilwell is an English football player.

Deaths 

• 72 – Apostle Thomas is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• 975 – Muiz, 19 March 953 – 21 December 975, the 4th caliph of the Fatimid State and 14th Ismailiyya imam (b. 931)
• 1375 – Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer and poet (b. 1313)
• 1549 – Marguerite de Navarre, French Rönesans writer and brother of King Francis I of France (b. 1492)
• 1597 – Peter Canisius, one of the first members of the Jesuit order (b. 1520)
• 1603 – III. Mehmet, 13th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1566)
• 1824 – James Parkinson, English physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist (b. 1755)
• 1863 – Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli, Roman poet (b. 1791)
• 1882 – Francesco Hayez, Italian painter (b. 1791)
• 1920 – Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, Somali religious and political leader (b. 1856)
• 1933 – Knud Rasmussen, Danish explorer and ethnologist, first to reach the Arctic (b. 1879)
• 1935 – Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and author (b. 1890)
• 1937 – Frank B. Kellogg, American lawyer, politician, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1856)
• 1940 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, Irish-American writer (b. 1896)
• 1943 – Mahmut Esat Bozkurt, Turkish academic and statesman (b. 1892)
• 1945 – George S. Patton, American soldier and World War II. US Army general in World War II (b. 1885)
• 1950 – Hattie Wyatt Caraway, American politician (b. 1878)
• 1964 – Carl Van Vechten, American author and photographer (b. 1880)
• 1968 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian former football player and manager (b. 1886)
• 1970 – Elyesa Bazna (Cicero), Turkish spy of Albanian descent (b. 1904)
• 1988 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ethologist and ornithologist (b. 1907)
• 1991 – Abdullah Baştürk, Turkish trade unionist and DİSK Chairman (b. 1929)
• 1992 – Stella Adler, American actress (b. 1901)
• 1998 – Ernst-Günther Schenck, German physician and SS-Obersturmbannführer (b. 1904)
• 2006 – Saparmurat Türkmenbaşı, President of Turkmenistan (b. 1940)
• 2009 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist (b. 1918)
• 2010 – Enzo Bearzot, coach who led Italy to the championship (b. 1927)
• 2013 – İsmet Abdülmecid, former secretary general of the Arab League, former Egyptian foreign minister and diplomat (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Billie Whitelaw, English actress (b. 1932)
• 2015 – Emanuel Yarbrough, American sumo-pancreatic wrestler, actor, and martial artist (b. 1964)
• 2016 – Deddie Davies, Welsh actor (b. 1938)
• 2016 – Şehmus Özer, Turkish football player (b. 1980)
• 2017 – Bruce McCandless II, American astronaut (b. 1937)
• 2017 – Chu Ishikawa, Japanese musician (b. 1966)
• 2018 – Edda Göring, German actress (b. 1938)
• 2019 – Ramachandra Babu, Indian cinematographer (b. 1947)
• 2019 – Martin Peters, English international football player and manager (b. 1943)
• 2019 – Mohammed Shahrur, Syrian thinker and writer (b. 1938)
• 2020 – Ikenwoli Godfrey Emiko, Nigerian businessman, philanthropist, and traditional monarch (b. 1955)
• 2020 – KT Oslin, American country singer, actress, producer and songwriter (b. 1942)
• 2020 – Motilal Vora, Indian politician (b. 1928)

Holidays and special occasions 

• The longest night (Seb-i yelda)
• Winter solstice (Northern hemisphere)
• World Cooperative Day
• Storm: Solstice Storm