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rect control of the island in order to
bring about the long dreamed of
goal of
Enosis
-
union of Cyprus
with Greece.
Events seemed to go their way at
first as the Greek Cypriots took over
many key installations and installed
a new president. Nikos Sampson.
But then rumblings began of miJi–
tary moves by Turkey to intervene
directly in the Cyprus situation. De–
spite pleas in various world quarters
calling for a negotiated settlement. a
full-scale Turkish invasion was soon
under way. The Turks had come.
they said, to protect the rights of the
Turkish-Cypriot minority which
comprises only one fifth of the is–
land's population. Turkish forces
systematically destroyed Greek in–
stallations on the island - pounding
into submission the outgunned
Greek Cypriots with arms and mor–
tars. At present. the Turks control
more than a third of the island's
territory and over sixty percent of its
natural resources. This, of course. is
far out of proportion to the native
Turkish population of Cyprus.
The Greek Cypriot leader, Mr.
Clerides, has publicly proclaimed
that, unless the Turks pull back
from much of the former Greek ter–
ritory, they will face
years
of guer–
rilla war and harassment "from the
mountains." Based on bitter past ex–
perience, when the British tried to
hold on to the island before its inde–
pendence in
1960,
this threat may
very likely come to pass.
Grave Concern for NATO
The Western world now beholds
the spectacle of two NATO mem–
bers - Greece and Turkey - on the
very brink of war with each other
over Cyprus. And in disgust at
America and NATO for not halting
the T urkish intervention on Cyprus,
Greece has now officially withdrawn
her armed forces from the NATO
military command.
Severe Damage to NATO?
The Cyprus crisis represents both
a concern and an embarrassment
for NATO. It is a startling turn of
16
events- two NATO "allies" heavily
supplied with arms from America
and other NATO countries, both
threatening each other with full–
scale war!
Yet, these two nations have been
ofparamount importance to NATO
and to Western control of the Medi–
terranean. Each contributed propor–
tionately more military punch to the
alliance than any other European
member. And, despite a succession
of governments, Greece had con–
stantly remained a strong NATO
ally for sorne twenty-two years.
Even before the Cyprus tragedy.
Greece was rapidly modernizing its
military ar$enal.
lt
had recently or–
dered
a
squadron of F-4 fighter
bombers from the United States.
and informed sources in Athens say
that another squadron is "in the
pipeline." From France the Greeks
are buying forty Mirage jet fighters
in a $240 million arms deal de–
signed to balance their arms pur–
chases and end their dependence on
America for arms support.
Greece's contribution went
beyond her own arms capabilities.
The cities of Athens and T hessalo–
niki have been key ports used by
NATO vessels in the eastern Medi–
terranean - particularly vessels of
the powerful United States Sixth
Fleet. These bases in Greece had
taken on increasing strategic signifi–
cance within the past severa!
months
in
view of the extreme!y un–
stable economic and political situ–
ation
in
Italy.
Six American destroyers have
been "home-ported" in the Athens
area. About ten thousand American
military personnel and their families
have been based in the greater
Athens area.
Recently, U. S. naval sources re–
ported, consideration was being
given to "home-porting" in Athens
a complete attack carrier striking
force staff and dependents. This
would have added an additional ten
thousand Americans to the Athens–
area population, for a carrier re–
quires the services of approximately
4,500 persons - plus consideration
for their wives and children in the
home-porting procedure.
Greece therefore seemed destined
to take on additional strategic im–
portance as a valuable friend and
ally of NATO a nd the United
States.
Yet. in a moment. all of this may
have gone down the drain. The
United States ambassador to Cy–
prus, Roger Davies, was killed by
Gre.:k Cypriot extremists in an a t–
tack on the U. S. embassy in Ni–
cosía. There are growing signs of
anti-Americanism in Greece itself.
1
f the loss of G reece to NATO be–
comes permanent, the alliance could
suffer a crippling blow.
Future Middle East
Crises
In the event of a future Middle
East war or wars, control of the
Mediterranean could prove to be of
utmost st rategic importance. Should
there occur a major East-West su–
perpower confrontat ion in the
Middle East - only narrowly
avoided in the
1973
ftareup - con–
tinued access to NATO bases on
Greece as well as Cyprus itself,
where the British have "sovereign
rights," wou ld be critically impor–
tant.
Oil Dispute Next ?
The Cyprus upheaval is by no
means the only situation causing
friction between Greece and Tur–
key. D isputed claims over Aegean
oil rights, in fact, might become the
next major Near East or eastern
Mediterranean crisis.
The problem stems from uncon–
firmed estimates that off-shore oil
deposits in the Aegean Sea may
supply somewhere from twenty
thousand to five hundred thousand
barreis a day. Over Greek objec–
tions, Turkey has issued oil pros–
pecting licenses for the waters
surrounding the Greek islands of
Lesbos, Lemnos and Chios. These
numerous Greek islands dotting the
Aegean Sea have been used to sup–
port Greece's traditional claim that
the Aegean, in actuality, is a "Greek
lake."
PLAIN TRUTH October.November 1974