Toward a Boiling Point

"Not 50 men will follow you," sniffed Cyprus' bearded Archbishop Makarios to retired Greek Army Colonel George Grivas. The year was 1951, and the two were meeting in Cyprus to discuss Grivas' plan for an armed uprising against the British. Though Grivas went on to lead his revolt--and help win independence for Cyprus in 1960--the soldier and the Archbishop could never seem to make peace. Last week they were bickering as bitterly as ever. Only this time, their disagreement was threatening the six-month-old government of Greek Premier Stephan Stephanopoulos.

The hatreds run deep. Makarios, now President of Cyprus, considers Grivas a trigger-happy jackboot bent on grabbing full power on the island. Grivas in turn claims that Makarios is vacillating, dishonest, and a dupe of the Communists, who has no intention of honoring his pledge to bring about enosis, the unity of Cyprus with Greece. In 1964, the Greek government seemed to side with Grivas when it sent him to Nicosia to take charge of Cyprus' 11,000-man National Guard, the regular 950-man Greek army contingent, and some 8,500 mainland "volunteers" stationed in Cyprus to help ward off any possible invasion by Turkey. Ever since then, Makarios has been appealing to Athens to curtail Grivas' powers, and to put the local Cypriot National Guard back under Cypriot control.

When all else failed, Makarios claimed a few weeks ago that Grivas was plotting to assassinate him. His "evidence" was a Grivas letter to a government official in Athens, warning that if Makarios stood firm on the National Guard issue, "I am ready to take action." Grivas scoffed at the accusation.

"If I wanted to assassinate you," he told Makarios, "would I be writing letters about it? You should know better.You've organized so many political assassinations yourself."

Last week Greece's staunchly anti-Makarios Progressive Party warned that any backdown by the Stephanopoulos government would cost the government the party's eight votes, which would knock Stephanopoulos right out of power. Through it all, Makarios refused to retreat. "Whether you like it or not," he told Stephanopoulos, "I plan to go ahead and pass legislation unilaterally to bring the National Guard under Cypriot government orders."

At week's end the dispute was rapidly boiling toward a crisis. Though Stephanopoulos backs Grivas, Makarios has the support of the Greek Foreign Minister, the right wing, the Communists, and possibly even King Constantine himself. Makarios also remains strong among the Cypriote. This week Grivas is scheduled to fly to Athens to plan his next move with Stephanopoulos.

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