Going it Alone
By PETER BENENSON
IN February, 1960, the island of Cyprus is due to take its place in the world as an indepen- dent Republic. Even if its population were homogeneous and industrialised, the burden of the machinery of a State would be heavy to bear. In Cyprus the usual load—Ministers, government departments and embassies7-is increased by the provisions in the Zurich Agreement which call for an army and a gendarmerie each 2,000 men strong. Even if the US equips these forces with surplus weapons, the pay-roll is going to fall heavily on an island where only 17,000 pay income tax.
The problems raised by the implementation of the Zurich Agreement are inevitably causing anxiety. The British community feel the frustration and anti-climax which always follow a prolonged period of tension. Among Greek Cypriots there are, of course, those who expected jobs, only to be disappointed; and there are those who fear that their busi- nesses will suffer by the reduction of the swollen British garrison. The prevailing anxiety is, however, to be explained on wider grounds. When the call for enosis was first raised, no Greek Cypriot thought that it was either practicable or desirable for Cyprus to become an independent State. Now that they are to be granted independence, there are natural hesitations about their own capacity not just to govern the island, which in its present complexity is a vastly more difficult proposition than it was when the cry for self- rule first went up, but—much more important —there are doubts about their power to raise the vast sums of capital required to make good the long years of economic neglect.
The Turkish Cypriots, too, are anxious, Their problems are principally economic. The Zurich Agreement offers them representation and guarantees which should satisfy their political aspirations; but they are left to face the full blast of competition from the mercantile Greeks. In the last four years the Turkish Cypriots have received a degree of financial support from the British community, many of whom refused to trade with Greek Cypriots. Now the Turks are to be left to 'go it alone.' They are not taking the prospect of economic inferiority laying down. By a series of appeals to patriotism, reinforced by subterranean pressures, Turkish Cypriots are being obliged to confine all their trade to their own com- munity. With money from Turkey they plan to build their own industries, shops and hotels; indeed, they have already statted. Against this background of economic autarchy the Turkish demand for independent municipal areas and separate courts makes sense to them, and they mean to 'get their way.
The separation of the municipalities is
already the Constitutional Committee's chief obstacle. During the long period. when the
only elected bodies in the island were the municipal councils the mayors achieved a stature a great deal larger than their town hall; they obviously do not relish any loss of their powers. Similarly the municipalities have become a preserve, by and large, of Left-wing influence. The Assembly will be weighted by Right-wing votes from the villages; and the Left wants to maintain the influence of the municipalities. Still, everybody who is any- body within both Greek and Turkish com- munities is determined to see the provisions of the Zurich Agreement carried out—the last to haul down the flag of opposition being Kyprianos, Bishop of Kyrenia, intractable opponent of Makarios and his rival candidate in the Ethnarchy election.
The Constitutional Committee which sits in Nicosia and the Transitional Committee in London (concerned with the bases and the financial hand-over) will both have a difficult time during the coming months. And since this is Cyprus, final agreement may not take place until a few minutes after midnight. None the less, despite the air of rather caustic cynicism prevailing among British officials, the Governor and two or three other far- sighted men most honourably excepted, the Zurich Agreement will be fulfilled, and another, S‘Vitzerland created, complete with cantons, under the hot sun of the East Mediterranean.
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