Cyprus and Greece

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27308, 26 March 1954, Page 10

Cyprus and Greece

It is regrettable that the Greek Government, yielding to pressure from Cyprus, has decided to take the question of the union of Cyprus with Greece to the United Nations—unless Britain agrees to bilateral negotiations on the subject before September. The attitude of the British Government to the proposal is well known in Greece. The strategic importance 'of Cyprus, situated 40 miles from the coast of Turkey and 60 from the coast of Syria, is great and growing. Cyprus is an important British air and military base and a centre of communications; it is an integral part of the defence system of the Eastern Mediterranean, in which Greece shares and from which the security of Greece benefits. In existing circumstances in the area, no British Government could possibly grant a demand for a radical change in the civilian status of the island; and this the Greek Government knows very well. The Greek Government must also know that the action it threatens in default of negotiations (which would be foredoomed to sterility) would embarrass Britain. The Greek Prime Minister is reported to have said that Greece’s policy would not take the form of “ anti-British action ”, But it could hardly develop otherwise if the question were taken to the United Nations, where the Communist bloc would not miss the opportunity to appear as champions of Cyprian “freedom”. The Enosis (union with Greece) movement that Greece is supporting is led by bishops and priests of the Greek Orthodox Church in Cyprus. It is also favoured by left-wing, politicallyminded Cypriots, but only as a stepping-stone to unfettered selfgovernment, which they realise is unattainable for the time being. is probably to strengthen the position of the right wing in Cyprian politics (priests and bishops who would greatly like political power) that the Greek Prime Minister has agreed to press the claim of the Enosis movement, in spite of the international disadvantages of such a course. The Enosis movement is older than the British occupation. It is supported by most Greeks in Cyprus, who comprise 80 per cent, of the population The remaining 20 per cent, are Turks and Moslems who prefer British rule to rule by the Greek majority because they fear that the latter would give them little more than religious and educational liberty. The attitude of the Turkish minority and the Turkish Government bears strongly on the British attitude towards the union of Cyprus with (Lreece. Cyprus has in fact not been united with Greece in modern times. From the sixteenth century the Turks had possession, which they ceded to Britain for administrative purposes in 1878. The island was annexed on the outbreak of war with Turkey in 1914, and created a Crown Colony in 1925. After both the first and the second world wars moves towards constitutional reform were made, the most advanced in 1948, when the British Government proposed a new constitution, which included a central legislature, reserved certain powers to the Governor, but excluded gnosis and full self-govern-ment as subjects for discussion. The proposals were unacceptable to leaders of the Greek community; and since that time there has been a deadlock on the question of constitutional reform. When the House of Lords recently held a debate on Cyprus and discussed methods by which the deadlock might be broken, the Government’s view it was shown to be, that the outlook for constitu-tion-building today is much the same as in 1948, when lack of friendly co-operation from leaders of the Greek community stopped progress. The Greek Government would do better to encourage such co-operation than to encourage controversy on the island and, more important, threaten to embroil Britain in contention and controversy at the United Nations.