UN General Assembly
1959

207. This brings us to the matter of other questions before the Assembly. The first of these is the question of colonial empire. It would be impossible for any delegate from any of the former colonial territories — or indeed, I believe, any Member of the United Nations — to participate in these debates without referring- to the colonial problem. We are this year in a position to congratulate ourselves to a certain extent and to feel relieved over the fact that the problem of Cyprus — and I hope the delegation of Greece will not mind my saying that we have always regarded it as a colonial problem — has been solved at least for the time being. It looks as though, as a result of this solution, Cyprus will become an independent nation in 1960. We also would like, to lay stress on the fact that it was only through recognition of the nationality of Cyprus and by recognition of the problem as a colonial one that a solution was found. There is no way of suppressing these national aspirations, either by an attempted division of a country or by playing of one Power against another. The problem of Cyprus was solved very largely by the impact of public opinion, channelled through this Assembly.