HORSEBACK TOUR OF CYPRUS

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28472, 30 December 1957, Page 7

HORSEBACK TOUR OF CYPRUS

New Governor Talks To Villagers (N.Z. Preu Association—CopvrigW (Rec. 820 p.m.) NICOSIA, December 28. The “new broom” Governor of Cyprus, Sir Hugh Foot, galloped off on horseback at dawn today and toured mountain villages.

Open-mouthed villagers gaped as Sir Hugh Foot and his 12-man entourage clattered through their streets. He reined in often and chatted with Cypriots.

The first British Governor in 25 years to make such a tour on horseback, he rode an eight-year-old bay called Spider.

Sir Hugh Foot chose areas which, during the emergency, were the scenes of killings and antiterrorist operations. It is his last major tour before he leaves for London next week for consultations with the British Government.

Meanwhile, a Greek-Cypriot newspaper in a dispatch from Athens, reported that he is expected to recommend that the Cyprus question should be handled through a political solution with serious concessions by Britain and Turkey. Sir Hugh Foot, who, since his arrival in Cyprus less than a month ago, has been practising a policy of meeting the islanders “more than half way," has travelled nearly 850 miles by helicopter, by car, on foot—and now on horseback.

The first stop on Sir Hugh Foot’s horseback tour was the Turkish village of Geunyeli, four miles north of Nicosia. Then, in brilliant sunshine, the Governor and an entourage galloped across rolling foothills into the villages of Kato and Pamo Dikomo.

The Governor rode through village high streets and often stopped to chat to villagers near their mud-brick homes or outside the local coffee shop. Later he went to a co-operative farm in the Kyrenia Hills.

Sir Hugh Foot, a keen horseman, rode down Into the green valley of Carob. and through groves of olive trees in the -had-’w of the majestic St. Hilarion Castle, passing a snot where 15 months ago two Britons were killed in a terrorist ambush.

He then made for Bellapais village, facing the North Cyprus shore and only a few miles from places where i only a year ago intense anti-Eoka operations were waged by thousands of British troops.' Release From Detention Meanwhile 36 Cypriot detainees held under the emergency regulations were transferred from Camp K. west of Nicosia, today, to Pyla Camp, in the south of the Island This transfer, for “administrative reasons.” leaves Camp K practically empty. Thirty-Seven men were released from there last Saturday under the Governor’s Christmas amnesty. The Liberal Cypriot-Greek newspaper “Phileleftheros," in a dispatch from Athens today, reported that Sir Hugh Foot was expected to recommend during his visit to London that the Cyprus question should be handled through a political solution with serious concessions on the part of Britain and Turkey. The newspaper reported that Sir Hugh Foot’s recommendations to the British Government next week were expected to be along these lines: (1) The Cyprus problem should be treated as a political question, and even although the claims for Enosis (Union with Greece) should not necessarily be accepted, both Britain and Turkey should

make important concessions. (2) Instead of the proposed Radcliffe constitution, f Cypriots should be offered another constitution providing for “real self-government without the dictatorship of a governor.” This constitution should remain in force until the Cypriots decided to settle their own future. (3) The new constitution should be formulated at a conference where Archbishop Makarios should represent Cypriot Greeks, and where Cypriot Turkish representatives should also state their views. (4) Turkish claims for partition as a solution should be exc’uded as a dangerous course for all parties concerned, as well as for the Western Alliance. However, the Turks should be satisfied about their minority rights. Shouts of “Long Live Makarios” greeted Sir Hugh Foot at some points. At one village a man shouted “go away.” The Governor later turned back and shook the man by the hand. Over cups of coffee the Cypriots told Sir Hugh Foot time and again that they wanted the return of Archbishop Makarios.