Greece Opposes New Plan For Cyprus

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28153, 17 December 1956, Page 15

Greece Opposes New Plan For Cyprus

(Rec. 10 p.m.) ISTANBUL, December 15. Greece is believed to have rejected a British plan for a settlement of the Cyprus problem. The British Colonial Secretary (Mr A. T. Lennox-Boyd) discussed the plan with Greek leaders in Athens yesterday before flying to Istanbul for discussions with the Turkish Government on the future of the strife-torn island. Constitutional proposals for Cyprus, drawn up by Lord Radcliffe, the eminent British jurist, were handed to the Greek and Turkish Governments on Thursday. The Greek Deputy Foreign Minister (Mr Costa Tsatsos) last night called

on Mr Lennox-Boyd, and gave him Greece’s reply to the plan. Although details of the Greek replay will not be published until next Wednesday—when the Constitution also will be presented in the British House of Commons—Greek official sources indicated tonight that they considered the British proposals incomplete. According to press reports, quoting Government sources, Greece has in fact rejected Lord Radcliffe’s proposals. Details of the constitutional offer, “leaked” to the Greek press, described the reply as a flat rejection. According to the same sources, the

Greek Cabinet last night refused to endorse the proposals because: The proposals did not make clear the provisions on the granting of the right of self-determination to the Cypriots. Archbishop Makarios would not be released unless he denounced violence. The only provision which seemed to be agreeable to the Greeks was the composition of the Legislative Assembly, consisting of 36 members, of whom 24 would be elected Greeks, six elected Turks and six ex-officio members appointed by the High Commissioner.

In Istanbul, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has indicated that its policy on Cyprus has not changed. It demands that Cyprus—one quarter of whose population is of Turkish descent —should be returned to Turkey if there is any change in the island’s status quo.