Cyprus: New Fish in the Lake?

At Nicosia airport last week, thousands gathered to cheer the return from Moscow of Cyprus' Foreign Minister Spyros Kyprianou. In his briefcase was the aid agreement signed the day before.

According to Kyprianou, Russia would soon be supplying not only mon ey, but arms as well in the struggle to outmaneuver the Turkish minority on the island. Since the Greek Cypriots were already adequately stocked with enough firepower to destroy the Turkish Cypriots, some experts assumed that the deal might involve radar equipment and antiaircraft weapons sophisticated enough to prevent Turkish planes from resuming their forays from the mainland 40 miles away. Such equipment would surely require the services of expert Russian personnel—giving Moscow its first real foothold in the Mediterranean.

Would Khrushchev really grab the opportunity? Or was it just a matter of helping Makarios bluff the West into supporting the Greek Cypriot stand? The Soviet ambassador in Ankara went out of his way to reassure Turkey's Premier Ismet Inonu. Moscow was well aware of the large peril to peace that would be created by an attempt at destruction of NATO's power balance in that crucial region of the Mediterranean. Neither Turkey nor Greece nor NATO nor the U.S. would sit quietly by to watch a new Cuba being constructed in the lake between Europe and Africa.