Marking a Mournful Anniversary

They came from all over war-divided Cyprus and stood for hours under the blazing midsummer sun outside the blackened ruins of the presidential palace in Nicosia. Greek Cypriots--old women in black, stalwart white-haired peasants, city people of all classes and ages--had gathered to hear their President, Archbishop Makarios. With theatrical gestures and a tone of moral outrage, he denounced the coup attempt by Greek extremists that a year ago had led directly to the Turkish occupation of almost half of the island and the shattering of the then quiescent Mediterranean tourist paradise.

Many among the 20,000 people who heard Makarios speak last week were relatives of the 6,500 Greek Cypriots killed or missing during the coup and the subsequent Turkish invasion. They came expecting to hear Makarios denounce the now defunct Greek military junta and its allies in the Cypriot EOKA-B terrorist underground, whose reckless attempt to seize power had led to the island's division. They were not disappointed. "This is an ill-omened day and a mournful anniversary," said Makarios in his nasal twang. "When on the morning of that day the putschists struck and in their paranoiac mania brought down the presidential palace, they at the same time opened the gates and let in Turkey, which had awaited the opportunity."

Makarios' fiery denunciation of the junta and the EOKA-B may have provided emotional satisfaction for the Greek Cypriots. But he disappointed some of his audience by referring only obliquely to the sad facts of Cyprus' current condition, over which he has little control. One year after the coup attempt, there is virtually no prospect for a quick settlement of the Cyprus question--certainly none that would enable the 200,000 Greek-Cypriot refugees to return to their homes in the Turkish-held sector, which they fled during last year's war. Addressing a special session of the Cyprus House of Representatives, Makarios' deputy, Glafkos Clerides, sadly admitted that he did not expect any immediate efforts to put into effect the unanimous U.N. resolution on Cyprus, which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign (meaning Turkish) troops and the return of all refugees to their homes.

New Reality. Clerides represents the Greek Cypriots in the peace negotiations with Turkish-Cypriot Leader Rauf Denktas. that have been taking place in Vienna under the personal supervision of U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. A third phase of the talks is scheduled to start this week, but there is little hope of breaking the deadlock that has existed since they began last April. Clerides has proposed a multiregional federation, with Turkish Cypriots free to concentrate in their own separate areas scattered throughout the island. That would allow Greek Cypriots to return to their homes. The Turks insist, however, that the Greek Cypriots accept the "new reality"--meaning the present partition of the island into separate Greek and Turkish sectors linked by a central government in which power would be shared equally by both sides.

The Turks have every interest in maintaining the existing division of Cyprus. For one, they have long feared that enosis (the EOKA-B's cherished wish for union with Greece) would result in their persecution by the Greek majority. Now, though they make up only 17% of Cyprus' population of 634,000, the Turkish Cypriots occupy 40% of the island, including all of its prosperous northern areas. Clerides has complained bitterly that the Turkish government is settling thousands of Turks from the mainland in homes on Cyprus formerly occupied by Greeks.

At the same time, Ankara is under little diplomatic pressure to compromise with the Greek side. The U.S. arms embargo to Turkey has disrupted relations between Washington and Ankara without making the Turks any more conciliatory on Cyprus. At the strong urging of the Ford Administration, the U.S. Senate last May voted to resume some military shipments to Turkey; the House will probably vote on the measure this week. Meanwhile, Turkey has temporarily rescinded its threat to close down the two dozen U.S. bases there--at least until the House votes.

On Cyprus, the Turkish community last week began to commemorate an anniversary of its own--the July 20 "liberation by the Turkish peace operation" (meaning military invasion) that brought about the island's division. The Turkish sector was ablaze with thousands of bright red Turkish flags unfurled for the occasion. Significantly, no one seemed to be showing any Cyprus flags. That contrasted markedly with the chastened Greeks, who displayed only the flag of the island itself: a gold map of Cyprus encircled by an olive-branch garland on a white background. For the first time ever, the blue-and-white Greek banners that invariably headed any kind of Greek-Cypriot demonstration in the past were completely absent. The dream of enosis is dead.

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