Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-14
Cyprus and Compromise

With its fingers crossed, the State
Department now has voiced hope and
confidence that ways will be found to
resume negotiations on the critical
Cyprus issue and that mutually salts
factory solution will be reached by all
parties concerned. But such sentiments,
unfortunately, can be much more easily
expressed than brought to fruition. Actu-
ally, the best the West can expect at the
moment is that the situation will grow
no worse than it Is, which is certainly
bad enough.
The reason for this is that the prin-
cipal countries involved-Greece, Turkey
and Britain, all allied with us in the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
have run into stone wall in trying to
reconcile the Greek position on one hand
and the BritiShTurk position on the
other. So negotiations, which recently
seemed to be leading to a compromise,
have broken down, and the successor to
the banished Archbishop Makarios has
strongly indicated-with the backing Of
the Athens government-that there can
be no further talks, but only violence
and terrorism, as long as London and
Ankara remain unwilling to accede to
the demands of the Greek-descended
Cypriots.
These demands are aimed at achiev-
ing complete Cypriot self-government
and Cyprus speedy union, or 'enosis,
with Greece. But in dealing with the
issue, the British, who have been in con-
troll of this crown colony since its cession
by the Turks in 1878, must reckon most
carefully with several hard and stubborn
realities. One such reality is the fact
that the island Is several hundred miles
off the Greek mainland, but only about
SO miles from Turkey. And Turkey
having that in mind, and feeling con-
Germ for the Turkish minority of 100000
in the islands population of 500,000-is
bitterly opposed to the "enosis" idea and
wants the present governing setup to
remain pretty much as it is. Further,
since Greece's political trends are uncer-
tain (the internal Communist threat
continues), Britain is UNDERSTANDABLE
against agreeing to any early basic
change that might undermine Cyprus
as a defensive stronghold of prime i'm
portance not only to Britain but to the
entire NATO alliance, including Greece
itself
1t is for such reasons as these, and
not because of mere whim or stupidity,
that the British have acted as they have.
AS summed up by their colonial secre-
tary, their position is not that self-de-
termination, including "enosis," can
never be applicable to Cyprus, but rather
that fundamental change of that sort
sis not now practicable proposition on
account of the present situation In the
Eastern Mediterranean" At the same
time, however, the Eden government has
made clear that it is ready and willing
to give the Cypriots large new measure
of internal self-rule that could lead ulti-
mately to union with Greece.
But the Greek Cypriots and Greece
itself seem to have taken an all-or-
nothing position. Accordingly, the
chances look poor for an early resump-
ton of reasonable negotiations, and the
unity of the eastern end of the NATO
alliance is thus seriously threatened. The
situation is one in which our own Gov
eminent, in whatever way it can, should
bring pressure to bear on Athens, as well
as on London and Ankara, to follow
course of moderation and compromise.
Otherwise the Kremlin may well win a
victory of great proportions