Why the British Should Yield Cyprus
SEDGWICK, A. C.
By A. C. Sedgwick WHY THE BRITISH SHOULD YIELD CYPRUS Nothing short of the right to determine their own future will satisfy the Cypriots Nicosia If the British Government made a simple,...
...They're such sullen chaps...
...The British Commonwealth has much to recommend it, but here on Cyprus it looks more like a jail than a "free association...
...Other Cypriots became Communists because the British never offered anything in the way of social legislation, ft is also worth noting that successive British administrations, while cracking down on the "enosis" (union with Greece) movement, did little or nothing to check pro-Soviet propaganda on the ground that to do so would be undemocratic...
...the Cypriots are held in subjection by an alien race...
...The answer to this is that Britain has steadfastly refused to hold a plebiscite on the issue despite repeated requests...
...The cession of the Ionian islands of Corfu, Cephalonia and Zante in 1864 had formed the basis for an era of close friendship between Britain and Greece...
...Perhaps it is true that there are many more Communists here than in Greece...
...There was until recently a Blimpish character on this island, a former high colonial official, who once remarked...
...Yes, the Cypriots are sullen...
...Unless the British Government decides soon to give the people of Cyprus their freedom, the West may face a major political disaster in Eastern Europe...
...Even if the British should now give them the best possible administration but still retain sovereignty, the present bitterness would continue...
...Cypriot goods shipped to England are not protected, whereas British goods dumped in the market here are thoroughly protected...
...However, only the Communists on the island are opposed to letting Britain maintain any bases she needs once she withdraws politically...
...Moreover, very little Marshall aid found its way to Cyprus, and Cypriots are convinced they would have reaped far greater benefits had the island belonged to Greece...
...Turkey, which was once only moderately hostile to the idea of Greek sovereignty, is today rabidly opposed...
...The British forfeited this friendship, as well as the support of the Cypriot population, when they proceeded to administer the island with the same disregard for human values shown by its previous owners, the Turks...
...one-time Governor of Cyprus, was highly apologetic about this ill-gotten swag, not a farthing has ever been refunded to the Cypriot people, who to this day have no say about how their money is spent...
...and the results were overwhelmingly in favor of union...
...Americans have no doubt that the thirteen colonies were fully justified in revolting against the British Crown...
...A final British contention is that it would be risky to give up Cyprus at a time of international tension...
...However, the British continued to collect special taxes at the rate of roughly $500,000 annually until 1927...
...Even more important than these economic complaints are the Cypriots' feelings of nationalist resentment...
...The United States, after all...
...Greece has promised, in the event of enosis, to take all measures to assure the peace and happiness of the Turkish minority, which comprises less than a fifth of the population...
...At this point, of course...
...has bases on Crete and Bermuda even though her flag doesn't fly over either of those islands...
...They know, for example, that existing tariffs work only one way--in favor of Britain...
...Yet, Cyprus, whose population is more than four-fifths Greek, is never to be anything but subject to the British Crown...
...As a result of Britain's intransigent stand, public opinion in Greece is drifting steadily leftward: and there is an increasing clamor to abandon the present pro-Western alignment and turn to a neutralist, if not an outright pro-Soviet, policy...
...Yet, the American colonists at least suffered oppression and misrule by their own kith and kin, people who shared their traditions, language and religion...
...Since the days of the Ottoman Empire, it has been customary for the Orthodox Church to be the Greek Cypriots' lay representative as well, and Makarios today is merely speaking for his flock...
...A. C. Sedgwick, veteran New York Times foreign correspondent, is now covering the struggle for Cyprus...
...The Cypriots argue convincingly that they are being cheated under British rule...
...I much prefer those fellows whose faces break out in a great white smile from ear to ear when you ride out in, the early morning and toss them a sweet...
...British propagandists offer their standard objections...
...When the British took over in 1878, the people welcomed them because they assumed that Britain would continue her policy of turning over to Greece those islands whose populations desired it...
...For that matter, the stress on Cyprus's strategic value is something relatively new...
...Nor is the Archbishop an instigator of trouble, as the British charge...
...The stakes in Cyprus far transcend the fate of the island itself...
...In 1925, Cyprus was incorporated into the British Empire as a crown colony...
...politically, at any rate...
...The next British gambit is to question whether the bulk of Greek Cypriots actually want enosis, which the British dismiss as a mass neurosis fostered by Archbishop Makarios, leader of the island's Orthodox Church...
...It is an extraordinary thing: All Britain's African colonies are marching steadily along the road toward freedom and independence...
...The Church finally did so...
...For one thing, they say, Cyprus is infested with Communists...
...All the sympathy and understanding in the world will accomplish nothing until the Cypriots are told, "You are the masters of your own destiny...
...Since Cyprus is situated near the Turkish coast, Turkey's attitude is a major factor in the current controversy...
...By A. C. Sedgwick WHY THE BRITISH SHOULD YIELD CYPRUS Nothing short of the right to determine their own future will satisfy the Cypriots Nicosia If the British Government made a simple, unambiguous statement that the principle of self-determination applies to the island of Cyprusand will be implemented there in the not-too-distant future, England's homesick garrison troops could go home, the Cypriot people could have back their civil liberties, the shadow of death could be lifted from this island, and Britain could once more boast that she is a champion of democracy and fair play...
...Actually, the money went to pay British and French bondholders of the Ottoman loan of 1855...
...You know, I don't like the Cypriots...
...However, three-quarters of them would probably leave the party once the principle of self-determination was officially accepted, since it was to force this concession that many of them joined up...
...since they had promised to pay this sum to the Turkish Sultan...
...Until recently, the British had never considered it worthwhile to build military and naval installations on the island, and Sir Winston Churchill once declared during the last war that Cyprus could not be strategically important unless Britain also possessed airfields in Syria and Lebanon...
...and the Greek population here is convinced that the British stirred up Ankara's ire as a further excuse for maintaining their colonial rule...
...The present British line masks a desire to hold on to Cyprus for reasons of prestige and nostalgia for past glory, and for the few jobs which the Colonial Office can pass out on this island...
...Although even so high an official as the late Sir Ronald Storrs...
Vol. 38 • December 1955 • No. 50
