A Chance for Cyprus

The agreement announced this week by Greece and Turkey over the future of Cyprus is not a happy ending. But it is a healthy beginning towards restoring order and liberty on the British-ruled island. According to the agreement Cyprus would be ruled, pending almost certain British approval, by a government based on a terests of the minority Turkish ethnic group.

A unicameral legislature, an ethnic Greek president and an ethnic Turkish vice-president will compose the legislative and executive leadership. The Turkish vice-president will have a veto on matters affecting the Turkish minority or the security of Turkey itself. Such a scheme closely resembles the one John Calhoun advanced to protect Southern minority rights in the pre-civil war United States.

Although the Greek and Turkish governments have finally found an agreement for Cypriot liberty, many problems still lie ahead. The tragic situation of civil strife, repression and reprisal which as comprised Cypriot life for the past years was the product of several conflicting 'interests, and not all these interest have been reconciled. The British have seen their Cyprus base as necessary to the preservation of their position in the Mediterranean, especially since they were required to leave the Suez canal. The Greek-Turkish proposal does provide that the British can retain their base on the island, and thus English approval of the scheme seems assured.

As for the population of the island, which is one-fifth Turkish and four-fifths Greek, it is to be hoped that the guarantees extended to the Turkish community will protect their rights, even if it cannot do wonders and remove reciprocal hatreds.

But the chief difficulty lies in the fact that the Cypriot extremist group, the EOKA faction, has demanded not merely Cypriot liberty from British rule but also union with Greece. It is not at all clear that EOKA will find even a free Cyprus acceptable. Furthermore, potential dangers to the successful working out of the proposal lie in the concurrent majority scheme itself. When the Turkish vice-president uses his veto, how will it be accepted by the Greek majority which will control two-thirds of the single-chambered legislature. It would be naive to assume that from now on life will be a Mediterranean idyll for the people of Cyprus.

But assuming that the agreements will be ratified in their respective countries, the Greek-Turkish agreement is a major step forward. Potential dangers are certainly much better than present killings; perhaps the continual rounds of bomb-throwings, executions, and curfews, shall cease. The events of the week can be cheered with vigor, albeit with caution.