OPINION: New Lobby in Town: The Greeks

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Nonexistent a year ago, forged on the anvil of a single issue, one of the most effective lobbies in Washington today is that of Greek Americans. Their grievance is the Turkish occupation of Cyprus, and they have had remarkable success in helping persuade Congress to cut off military aid to Turkey because of its invasion of the Mediterranean island country. Greece and Turkey, of course, are NATO allies; in legitimate pursuit of their special concerns, the Greek Americans have complicated U.S. efforts to mediate an already complex situation on NATO's southern flank.

Cyprus has a long history of conflict between the Greek majority and Turkish minority who inhabit it. Too of ten in recent times, the Turks have been second-class citizens. But under the rule of Archbishop Makarios, a reasonable if at times precarious modus vivendi had been achieved, and an independent Cyprus was prospering. Then a year ago, the junta of Greek colonels who governed Athens and whom the U.S. supported fomented a coup on Cyprus. It was led by 650 Greek military officers commanding the 10,000-man Cypriot national guard. The Turks, suspecting that the intent was to make Cyprus part of Greece and further suppress the island's Turkish minority, attacked and occupied Cyprus, uprooting 200,000 Greek Cypriots, and partitioned the island to their own advantage.

The invasion and occupation spontaneously unified the roughly 3 million people of Greek descent in America. Until then, they had been bitterly divided over the dictatorial government in Athens, which ended when the junta resigned in the wake of widespread civilian unrest in Greece after the Cyprus defeat. Greek Americans were outraged by the Turkish aggression, regardless of its justification, and besieged the U.S. Congress with demands that American military aid to Turkey be withheld.

This led to a congressionally mandated cutoff of aid to Turkey effective last February, though other factors played a major role: 1) the Turkish use of American military weapons on Cyprus clearly violated U.S. laws banning their offensive employment and a specific agreement between Washington and Ankara against shipment of such weapons to Cyprus without Washington's consent; 2) Congress was growing increasingly restive over what many legislators considered Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's highhanded management of U.S. foreign policy.

Now the Greek lobby is regearing for a new assault on Congress. The Senate in May yielded to Administration pleas and decided by just one vote to end the ban on arms to Turkey. A House committee will take up the issue this week, and a floor vote is expected by mid-July. But if aid is not resumed this month, Ankara has vowed to require "renegotiation" of U.S. military installations in Turkey—meaning that Ankara might close U.S. bases that Washington considers vital.