Crisis in Cyprus

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33588, 17 July 1974, Page 12

Crisis in Cyprus

The apparent overthrow of Archbishop Makarios by the Cypriot National Guard, most of whose officers are mainland Greeks, can only add to the instability of the eastern Mediterranean. Although the fighting was apparently confined to Greeks — those who supported President Makarios fighting those who supported the officers of the National Guard — the coup raises the spectre of renewed hostilities between the two communities on Cyprus, for the coup will certainly exacerbate relations between Turkey and Greece. The Governments of both countries would probably have preferred that Cyprus remain undisturbed. Instead, a quarrel may now embroil Russia, Britain, the United States, and the United Nations in at least diplomatic wrangling.

The leaders of the coup have announced that they will not attempt to unite the island with Greece, and the Greek Government has gone out of its way to deny that it had any part in the coup. Nevertheless, the leader of the coup, Mr Nicholas Sampson, was once active in Eoka and has maintained his connections with Greek politicians and army officers. Some members of the present Greek junta were closely associated with General Grivas in the 19605. The Turkish Government is justifiably alarmed that the coup might result eventually in a union with Greece, and it remains determined to protect the rights of the Turkish minority in Cyprus. Some of them may feel that Turkey should take up arms itself to resist the new rulers of the island if they show themselves excessively partial to the Greeks. Relations between Turkey and Greece are already seriously strained by a dispute over their respective rights in the Aegean Sea. In Athens the new military regime is unpredictable and insecurely based; and in Ankara an inexperienced coalition is struggling to remain in power. Either Government may feel impelled to exploit the disarray in Cyprus to improve its own standing. The coup has also caused disquiet among the N.A.T.O. powers. The British bases on Cyprus are vital to N.A.T.O.’s south-eastern defences. Members of N.A.T.O. all want to see the crisis ended as quickly as possible. Russia fears that, if Cyprus becomes more closely connected with Greece, N.A.T.O.’s position on the island will be strengthened. The Russian fears will not have been allayed by the promise made by the leaders of the coup to maintain President Makarios’s policy of non-alignment. If the worst fears of renewed domestic and international tension are to be disposed of, Cyprus must remain independent and talks between the Turkish and Greek communities on the island must continue. President Makarios’s own rule was the best guarantee of such conditions. If the President has survived the coup and is restored to power, as the Powers outside may demand, it will be at the sufferance of the National Guard. He will at least have to give up his idea of sending the Greek officers of the Guard back to Greece. But the return of Archbishop Makarios to power, even on such restrictive terms, would greatly relieve the tensions which can only remain high so long as a Government with patently Greek sympathies remains in power in Nicosia. If the Archbishop’s return to power is impossible, the only hope is that the new Government shows it is as committed as it has claimed to be, to maintaining the independence of Cyprus and to making no fundamental changes in the course of Cypriot policy. It is a faint hope.