Cyprus peace bid begins

Press, 18 February 1977, Page 5

Cyprus peace bid begins

NZPA-Reuter Athens President Carter’s special envoy, Mr Clark Clifford, has arrived in Athens from Vienna to see how the United States can help in solving the Cyprus dispute. The 70-year-old former Defence Secretary, who is beginning an Eastern Mediterranean fact-finding tour that will take him to Ankara and Nicosia, will discuss Cyprus with the Greek Prime- Minister (Mr Karamanlis) and other Greek leaders the agreement by Greek-Cypriot and Turk-ish-Cypriot leaders last week to resume inter-communal talks in Vienna next month. Greece withdrew from the Military -wing of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation when Turkey invaded Cyprus in the summer of 1974 and occupied about 40 per cent

of the island, which has a population of 500,000 Greek and 100,000 Turkish Cypriots. The Vienna talks foundered a year ago on such basic -issues as territorial rights, the constitutional balance of power between the two communities, and the presence of Turkish troops in the northern half of the island. Mr Clifford’s talks with Greek officials will begin today at Mr Karamanlis’s office. The discussions are expected to touch on bilateral relations, mainly the future status of American military bases on Greek soil. There has been growing anti-American feeling in Greece over the bases and also over allegations of United Sates support for the military regime that collapsed in July, 1974.