Cyprus: Enmity or Enosis

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Into Athens like an avenging archangel swooped Archbishop Makarios, the President of Cyprus. No sooner had he preened the patriarchal pinfeathers and snapped his beatific smile into place than he disappeared for talks at Greek Premier George Papandreou's pine-shrouded villa near the capital. Papandreou hoped to calm down Makarios and avoid increased conflict with Tur key. After a four-hour meeting, the two leaders announced agreement on a "basic line of common policy" that included acquiescence to the U.N. peacekeeping force on Cyprus. But it also promoted "self-determination" for the beleaguered island, suggesting a new drive for enosis (union) with Greece that could only be opposed by the island's Turkish community.

Before flying to Athens, Makarios had unilaterally abrogated a 1960 treaty under which Greece and Turkey are permitted to keep army units on Cyprus. His target was a 650-man Turkish force, whose presence—though hardly a major military threat—Makarios-finds unbearable. Promptly, Turkish Premier Ismet Inonii rejected Makarios' demand for the unit's removal, warned that if the Turkish force should be attacked, Ankara would consider it aggression.

In retaliation against Makarios' move, Turkey voided a 1930 treaty guaranteeing the rights of Greek residents in Turkey, ominously notified 480 Greeks, ranging from dentists to tailors, that their occupations were henceforth "illegal." Turkey also expelled 39 Greeks, among them a priest and a chorister of the Greek Orthodox Church. In a circuitous display of national pride, the Turkish communications minister announced plans to reroute a 20-mile section of the old "Ori ent Express," which presently passes through Greece on the railroad's Paris-Istanbul line. The new route will pass through Communist Bulgaria, the minister haughtily declared. Off Iskenderun, the Turkish navy and air force began new "exercises."