The Mediterranean Taft-Hartley

The U.N. Security Council last week finally agreed on a peace-keeping force for the strife-ridden island of Cyprus. But someone must have forgotten to tell the Cypriots, for guns were blazing and men dying in the magnificent green hills rising above the seaport of Kyrenia. There the slopes are dotted with villages that are alternately Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot. At the top, Turkish Cypriots hold the medieval castle of St. Hilarion. "The Greeks are besieging us, but we have enough food and ammunition to last more than a month," said an angry Turkish Cypriot student. A Greek Cypriot leader asserted with equal anger, "We could easily kill all the Turks, but we don't want to. All we want to do is tear down their fortifications and take away their guns. With support from St. Hilarion, they menace all the Greeks of Kyrenia. We are going to make Cyprus safe and the Turks harmless."

Blue Beret. In its effort to end the little war on Cyprus, the Security Council unanimously passed a resolution providing for 1) a police force, which will spend three months on the island, 2) a military commander and a mediator, both to be named by Secretary-General U Thant, and 3) the estimated $10 million costs to be borne by the nations sending troops and by hoped-for "voluntary" contributions from other member states of the United Nations. The Security Council, said one U.S. observer, "has issued a Taft-Hartley injunction, and now we've got 90 days to find a solution."

U Thant formally requested troops from Canada, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Austria and Brazil, and the U.S. is expected to handle the logistics of getting the troops to Cyprus. He also named India's Lieut. General Prem Singh Gyani as commander of the U.N. peace-keeping force. Already in Cyprus as a U.N. observer, Gyani changed from civilian clothes to a resplendent uniform topped by a blue beret. His record as commander of the U.N. Emergency Force in the Middle East was faultless, and he has also served the U.N. in Yemen. As mediator, U Thant submitted the name of Guatemala's Jose Rolz-Bennett, 45, a lean, capable attorney with a growing reputation as a troubleshooter.

Smeared Yoghurt. Archbishop Makarios, President of Cyprus, claimed victory, argued that "Turkey cannot in the future threaten intervention in Cyprus," because, as he put it, the U.N. action is certain to lead to termination of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. The Turks, of course, violently and volubly disagree with Makarios' interpretation. In any case, Turkey would be unlikely to attempt an armed invasion of Cyprus unless the Turkish Cypriots were in danger of being wiped out. Moreover, last week elements of the U.S. Sixth Fleet had joined the Turkish navy in NATO maneuvers that seemed more for the purpose of keeping an eye on Turkey's intentions than for perfecting naval tactics.

Greece's Premier George Papandreou, finally at the helm of a new and stable government, reminded the world that Athens had not lost its voice. Demonstrators poured into the streets to protest alleged U.S. favoritism toward Turkey. In Rhodes, mobs broke 33 windows in the USIS building. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, topped with fez, was burned in effigy, and the statue of former President Harry Truman (set up as a memorial to the Truman Doctrine, which saved Greece from Communism) was smeared with yoghurt. A visit to Athens by units of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, scheduled for last week, was canceled.

To everyone's surprise, Makarios suddenly announced that all Turkish Cypriots being held as hostages by Greek Cypriots would be released by their captors. The move was unconditional, said Makarios, though he added his hope that the Turkish Cypriots would reciprocate. Would the gesture ease the island's bitter tensions? The answer echoed from the Kyrenia hills, where, at week's end, the gunfire was as furious as ever.

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