SIR, — At last a responsible British journal has dis- covered the
truth about Cyprus. I don't know whether it has been that most newspapermen have gathered their news at hotel bars or the twistings of censorship, but reports in the British papers on Cyprus have seemed to me to be singularly ill-in- formed.
I spent some three weeks hitch-hiking around Greece in July last year and not only met the Greek man-in-the-street but active members of Eoka also, and spent many hours arguing with. them. It was forcibly pointed out that 'terrorism' did not begin until the British Government categorically stated that it contemplated no constitutional change in the fore- seeable future. Comparing that with the Government position today is a measure of the success of Eoka.
And then there was the truce fiasco. I remember reading an article by The Times Correspondent in Cyprus saying that as Eoka 'was beaten anyway, Sir John Harding's terms were generous enough. (It will be remembered that at that time the number of Eoka attacks had greatly decreased.) My Greek com- panions were surprised and angry when' I told them this. They believed the truce was a genuine attempt- to stop the violence and bloodshed which, God- knows, they dislike as much as we do, and begin , negotiations. They laughed at the idea that they were beaten, pointing out that at 'that time of year the nights were too short and the weather too hot for sustained guerrilla activity. They all said that when the nights grew longer Eoka would be as strong as ever, and of course they have been proved completely correct. Perhaps these elementary factors were not so, obvious from an air-conditioned' hotel bar.
I suppose the Government will learn eventually that nationalism thrives on repression.—Yours fully,
MICHAEL STEWART-SMITH
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