CYPRUS — THE OTHER SIDE SIR,—The penultimate sentence of your second editorial
entitled 'Sleeveless Errand' reads : 'If, Cyprus is eventually to get a chance of opting for union with Greece then it is little use haggling over minor• points.' In the context of this sentence one of the 'minor points' is the fate of the Turkish minority and, with their fate, the attitude of the government and people of Turkey. We have still some shreds of reputation in Turkey, but if we, at any time, through any action or promise of ours, allow Cyprus to become a Greek posses- sion, even those shreds will disappear over-. night. If you, Sir, were to travel in the remoter., as well as the more accessible, parts of Turkey you would realise how strongly Turks in all walks of life everywhere feel about the future of that island. NATO and the Tripartite Balkan Pact notwithstanding, Turks do not like the Greeks, whom they regard as Communists or potential Communists, and, having the full- • blooded Communism of Russia and Bulgaria on their frontiers already, they would not tolerate a new and potentially Communist bastion on their southern flank. If the disrup- tion of the eastern wing of NATO, at the point where it marches with Russia, is a 'minor point,' I must profoundly disagree with you.— Yours faithfully,
C. R. A. SWYNNERTON
Lyewood House, Ropley, Alresford, Hants
Previous page
