Ingrowing Pains
From MICHAEL LEAPMAN NICOSIA CYI'RUS is not working very well yet. On the surface it all looks prosperous enough. Cars choke Nicosia's narrow streets, elegantly dressed then and women parade the towns in the even- Jags, the awful 'cabarets,' the cinemas and the sidewalk cafes are well patronised. In fact, though, the cars are generally bought with money made twin the British when they were here in strength; the cabarets owe their success to the dowry mar- riage system still in force on the island (marriage Is a business arrangement, and boys do not go out with girls until they are engaged—so the leg- sile'ss's provide an essential outlet); and many of the smart-suited men sitting and talking outside the calds are out of work. f No new institution can be expected to per,- iMPeccably straight away, but Cyprus s 1;1'1118 troubles may leave permanent ill-effects. 'ne constitution shows the signs of its having Leen drawn up in a hurry. One of its clauses says 'Flat all the initial legislation to set in motion the millanchinerY of the new State must be passed in six tb-Inbs. At the rate they are going, a member of ctinuse of Representatives tells me, it is likely to `a" sixty years. Much of the House's time wksPent in discussing legal points—deciding just at it is in Parliament's power to do. As there is a lI irge proportion of lawyers in the House the 4.11:‘bbleS go on for a long time; and at present tSmembers (who have full-time jobs as well) are oi:ng right through to the end of the debates, ttlin:etinles until four a.m., through fear of *1'4'4 something. Another source of delay is b e length of time the Bills are taking to prepare, beinre being presented for discussion. This is toc,aiL_Ise no adequate staff has yet been appointed Luie House—such appointments need to be acittunrised by Act of Parliament, and they have Trt round to discussing it yet. th„ he effect of all this is bound to be that when are is found to be a mountain of legislation to prnt through in a few weeks, there will be no Wi'llPer discussion of it, and most of the new Acts ,„ be more or less copied from the old colonial 'It"eaasures. Already the new Budget is virtually ei:rhon copy of last year's. aeadlit these problems are for the moment nlennc; more real is unemployment. There are as unskilled men out of work, educated men as well whunskilled workers. One young Greek-Cypriot, s,,,,() 1145 passed GCE 'A' level in two subjects, avw`n.t a long time in England, where he acquired Ife and child. report a year ago he came back a local good job as a er and proof-reader on isaocal newspaper. The paper closed down (two „,.pers have closed in the last month due to lack a'ilo advertising—a sure sign 'of economic depres- ha:) and he is now out of work. He will probably are! to return to England. Several educated men saitle in a similar plight, and will have to take the at/ waY out; the young Republic can hardly urd to lose them. 40A. n obvious outlet for them would be in the ar:ernment service, but here all appointments tbatregulated by the 70:30 Greek-Turkish ratio to a main item of the ngin Constitution, and one Which the Turks are clig desperately. The Turks are only 18 per cent. of the population, yet they get 30 per cent. of government jobs. So educated Greeks, who may have better qualifica- tions, are finding it harder to get work than are Turks.
Although many 'Greeks are complaining quite volubly about this, they are prepared to give the new regime its chance to settle down before making any serious trouble. 'Wait five years' (until the next election) they say. 'Then we shall see.' They do not look on the ratio system as a permanent part of the constitution; but the Turks will certainly resist very strongly any move to scrap it. This is likely to be the most controver- sial political issue for the Republic's first few yea rs.
As for EOKA, although it may still be an emotive word in the British press, here it is virtually a dead letter. It is neither surprising nor outrageous that the Ambassador to London should be a noted EOKA man—seeing that nearly every Greek-Cypriot (including, it was recently revealed, a large proportion of the police) was connected with the movement in some way, it would have been almost impossible to find a suitable man who was not. The organisa- tion now manifests itself only in huge feasts given in towns and villages in honour of the notorious Nicos Sampson and some of his fellow 'hard- core' men who returned from exile to such a wild reception on independence day. At the feasts nothing more violent is done than the singing of dirty songs about Dr. Kutchuk and the Turks.
Sampson is for the time being a national hero, and above the law. He was given a sports car by an admirer, and he drives it dangerously and fast, without ever dipping his headlights. A journalist by trade, and an accomplished one, he is soon to launch a weekly newspaper. It will be called Battle, but its policy is unlikely to be any more extreme than that of the existing hysterical but not very influential press. Sampson says he holds no grudge against the British for the ill- treatment he claims he received at their hands (and certainly at his Nicosia trial he did appear bruised). In fact nobody bothers to hold any very violent passions about the British any more —they are now of little account, except in so far as their Servicemen are still, as a group, the heaviest spenders on the island.
In foreign affairs Cyprus has said she will remain neutral, and will probably join the Com- monwealth. Just after independence the Russian ambassador to Greece came here on a Khrush- chevian back-slapping. baby-hugging visit, and was immediately followed, almost certainly at American instigation, by the ambassador of Nationalist China. Their visits overlapped, and both stayed at the same hotel; but neither seemed to notice the other. Both countries are to establish embassies here, though why it should be thought necessary to exchange ambassadors with Formosa, when many less obscure countries do not even have consuls, it is hard to see. Vague offers of economic aid have been received from several sources, but so far only Britain has come up with any. Attempts from Arab countries to enlist Cyprus's support in their dispute with Israel, particularly in the trade boycott, have been resisted, and some people are saying that she could become a catalyst in the improvement of relations between the two sides. She had better get her own internal affairs sorted out first.
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