Letters to the Editor
ENOSIS
SIR,—Sir Compton Mackenzie's appeal for justice to the Greek nation by ceding to it the island of Cyprus, in accordance with the express wishes of its people and in that spirit of imaginative magnanimity which so nobly characterised British statesmanship in the Ionian Islands, was answered in your last issue by a letter from Mr. J. Oliver who, while admitting that something might be said for Sir Compton's appeal, yet expresses doubts as to the universality of the desire of the Greek Cypriots for Enosis. The grounds given for his doubts are that the plebiscite was not held by secret ballot and that moral pressure was exercised by the Church.
May 1 point out in this connection that before the 1950 plebiscite was held, the Arch- bishop of Cyprus by his letter to the Governor dated 12th December, 1949, • re- quested the holding of a plebiscite by the Government so that the wishes of the people as to the future status of the island might be ascertained. The Governor, by his reply of 20th December, 1949, refused to hold any plebiscite on the grounds that no change in the status of the island was contemplated and that a plebiscite would serve no useful pur- pose. It was only after the refusal of the Governor that the Ethnarchy had to.. take upon itself the task of holding a plebiscite. The result of that plebiscite was a 96 per cent, vote for union with Greece. Foreign correspondents who came to Cyprus to follow the voting were impressed by the genuineness and universality of the Enosis feeling.
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