Evening star., 1954-08-05
Britain, Greece and Cyprus

The British government under Prime
Minister Sir Winston Churchill faces a diff
cult problem in trying to deal satisfactorily
with the fact that Greece intends to submit
the issue OF Cyprus to the next session of
the United Nations General Assembly.
Summed up in somewhat oversimpli-
fled terms, the issue-as presented by the
Athens government and by Cypriot leaders
lis this That more than four-fifths of the
islands population of 100000 (there is a
Turkish minority of less than 18 per cent?
speak the Greek language, belong to the
Greek Orthodox Church; regard themselves
as Greeks, and have overwhelmingly dem
onstrated in plebiscite that they look upon
Greece as their motherland and want to be
united with it.
But Britain, which has been in effective
control Of Cyprus since the Turkish cesSion
In 1878, and which formally. annexed the
island in 1914, refuses at present to show a
yielding attitude toward this apparently
strong Cypriot desire for "enosis" or union
with Greece. Instead, despite harsh crit
icism from some Laborites and from power
full segments of the press in the United
Kingdom, Sir Winston's Conservative gov
ernment-speaking through one Of its top
off1cials-has taken position implying that
these relatively advanced people can "never"
be allowed to become fully independent as
an integral part of the Greek nation, but
must continue to live in kind of British
protectorate until the end of time.
Thus, as announced the other day in
London, the Churchill government is pre-
pared to offer the Cypriots no more than
the type of constitution they rejected in
1948-a constitution that would deny them
the right to unite with Greece and give
them only an extremely limited form of
internal Self-rule. Further than that, Brit
ish officials have just proclaimed to the
people of the island that old anti-sedition
laws are to be reactivated and strictly en-
forced to repress illegal agitation for "eno-
sis"-a fact rejecting Britain's determine
ton to prevent anything that might have
the eventual effect of threatening It's mil
itary bases in Cyprus, which are now of
vital Importance, to the free worlds de-
fensive position in the Eastern Mediter-
ranean
However, although the Churchill gov
ernment'S policy in that sense is altogether
understandable, this fact still remains:
Greece, like Britain, is member of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and is
ready-together with the Cypriot leaders
to guarantee that under 'enosis' the Brit
ish not only would retain the bases they now
have on the island, but also could have
more besides, even on the Greek mainland.
In short, according to the Athens argument,
London-and with it the West as whole
would gain, not lose, by agreeing to deal
sympathetically with the union movement.
This is point that is quite challenge
able, but it cannot easily be talked down,
particularly in view of what has been hap
pening in places like Indo-China and Tu-
nisia. and in view Of Britain's decision to
evacuate Suez in order to satisfy Egypt's
nationalist demands. In addition, the
Greek -Cypriot claim derives a measure Of
support from the fact that British states
men-including Winston Churchill himself