Cyprus: Ready to Explode Again

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Closed Ring. As they have built up their armament, the Greek Cypriots have been slowly closing the ring about the Turkish communities by cutting off supplies and setting up roadblocks. In theory, the Turkish Cypriots are at liberty to travel anywhere, but in practice it is difficult. At some roadblocks Turkish Cypriot truck drivers are stopped for tedious "searches," in which their cargoes of fruit or vegetables are unloaded on the ground and sometimes damaged beyond use. No gasoline is allowed into the Turkish quarter of Nicosia. A few Turks make a habit of driving back and forth to gas stations in the Greek sector, where they fill up their cars, then return to the Turkish quarter and siphon the gas into communal storage tanks.

The Turkish Cypriots are hardly blameless. On occasion they advance their lines by digging new trenches, thus prompting the Greeks to retaliate with new earthworks of their own, bringing both sides dangerously close together. Last January, heavy rains caused the collapse of part of Nicosia's 16th century battlements, exposing a 150-ft. tunnel built inside the wall that would have given the Turkish Cypriots a commanding position for firing across the so-called Green Line that divides Turks from Greeks.

Double Denouncing. The three-day gun fight at Ambelikou last week dramatized a new Greek Cypriot tactic. It began when the Turkish Cypriot villagers used a bulldozer to widen a rude hill path leading to Lefka, which is also Turkish-controlled. Any attempt to improve road communications or to move villagers to larger Turkish towns is met with force. The Makarios government argues that a concentration of the island's minority would play into Turkey's hands by giving Ankara a beachhead for invasion. The Turks protest that the Greeks want to keep Turkish Cypriots well scattered so they can be used as hostages in case of invasion.

As the pressures and counterpressures rise higher, the 6,000-man U.N. peace-keeping force rushes back and forth interposing its Scandinavian, Irish, Canadian, British and Austrian troops between the short-tempered opponents. In Manhattan, the U.N. Security Council voted to extend the life of the $2,000,000-a-month peace-keeping force for another three months, until June 26.

At week's end Turkey's Premier Suat Hayri Urguplu proposed bilateral talks on Cyprus with Greece because, as things are, "We are waiting in darkness, staring at each other, mumbling to ourselves. Big problems are not solved by monologues, only dialogues." Greece answered that it was ready to talk, but not bilaterally, and demanded that both nations labor to make a success of U.N. mediation.