A Letter to an Editor
By PAUL BARING Nicosia HERE are more people in Cyprus than Mr.
'T
I Foley surprised by the Administrative Secretary's letter threatening to close down the Times of Cyprus because it had published articles likely to promote between Greeks and Turks. For the last two weeks Mr. Foley has been publishing daily articles warning the Government of the danger of allowing Greco- Turk relations to flare into a forest fire.
Three weeks ago there was an ugly night in Nicosia when Turkish youths ran amok in the Greek quarter, breaking shops, setting light to buildings and beating up any Greeks that could be found. The Government promised that those responsible would be brought to book, but not one person arrested on that night has been prose- cuted and most have been released.
Faced with apparent inactivity by the Govern- ment, which has done nothing except to impose curfew after curfew—economically crippling for the Greeks—the Greek community became seriously alarmed. The administration in Cyprus is employing no fewer than 3,000 Turkish auxiliary constables to patrol; many. of these men are quite unfitted for their choice as guardians of law and order. Unemployed at the outbreak of the emergency, a number of them are convicted felons. The present Chief Constable, Colonel White, promised to weed out this unsuitable material as soon as he was appointed, but nothing has been done.
Tension grew to fever point when, after a bomb had wounded a Turkish constable, a mob of Turkish youths led by a Turk in civilian clothes, generally believed to be an auxiliary, ransacked a Greek cabaret in Nicosia. Feeling among the Greeks was so intense that at any moment civil war might have broken out. It was in this atmo- sphere that the Times of Cyprus published a lead- ing article calling for British police and troops only to patrol the old cities.
On that day copies of the Times of Cyprus sold like hot cakes. Greeks telephoned the offices thanking the paper for making the first construc- tive suggestion to stop mob violence.
On the same day a crowd of mourners at the funeral of a Turkish auxiliary in Famagusta broke loose and pillaged the Greek quarter. Again the Times of Cyprus stepped into the breach, taking up an idea which had just been mooted that the Greek and Turkish leaders should form a mixed commission' to find out who was responsible for these acts of inter-communal violence and to pro- pose ways of relieving tension. For no one is more opposed to attacks on Turkish constables than the Greeks themselves. The trouble is that they wear dark blue police uniform; at night they cannot be distinguished from British police. It is bad enough in all conscience when EOKA attacks a British policeman, but the results are infinitely more serious when a Turkish auxiliary is assaulted. The Greek leaders were prepared to use all their influence to persuade EOKA to stop the attacks on the police—this would have been the first time they had spoken up against EOKA.
The moderate Turks agreed to the idea of a mixed commission; even, after much persuasion, Dr. Kutchuk, leader of the extreme 'Cyprus is Turkish' Party, agreed. And then, twenty-four hours later, Dr. Kutchuk changed his mind and withdrew. When the Times of Cyprus published an article criticising Dr. Kutchuk, Mr. Foley received a letter from the administration threatening to close the newspaper.
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