206. Letter From the British Ambassador (Caccia) to Secretary of State Dulles0
Washington,
June 3,
1958.
Dear Mr. Secretary: The Foreign Secretary has
asked me to thank you for your message about Cyprus1
which he received through the United States Embassy on the 29th May. The
Prime Minister hopes to discuss the problem with you when he is in
Washington.2 Meanwhile
both he and the Foreign Secretary thought that you might like to see for
your personal and top secret information a copy of the draft statement
which it is proposed to make, and which I enclose.
On the particular points which you made in your message, the Foreign
Secretary believes that although there might be a reaction in Greece
against the proposal for the participation of the Turkish Government,
the Greek Government and the Greek Cypriots would be content to take
their lead from Archbishop
Makarios, who has recently declared his willingness to
accept self-government within the Commonwealth and has placed less
emphasis on arrangements being defined now for the exercise of self
determination. It is our conviction that to attempt now to be more
precise about self-determination would only alienate the Greeks or the
Turks. Our view is that there is a great danger of a Turkish and Turkish
Cypriot reaction and that unless Turkish Government participation and a
Turkish communal house of representatives are offered now, there is not
the least chance of Turkish acceptance of the plan. Indeed, it would be
most difficult to persuade the Turks to accept the Greek Cypriot
majority in the Governor’s Council.
We think that from the point of view of the Cypriots the plan is
imaginative and offers them a hope of peace. It also has advantages for
the Greeks. For example, it is designed to take the heat out of the
Cyprus problem from the international point of view for the next seven
years, and does not prejudice the position thereafter. It gives full
opportunity to Archbishop
Makarios on the Greek Cypriot side, to reach agreement
with the Governor within the framework of the plan.
The advantages of the policy for the Greek people of Cyprus are these:—
[Page 618]
- (i)
Specially-favoured status of the people
of Cyprus
The Greek people of Cyprus will enjoy the advantages of
association with Greece without having to give up their
association with the British Commonwealth. This policy will
give them the best possible insurance for future progress
and prosperity.
- (ii)
Dual nationality
If Greece agrees, the Greeks in Cyprus will enjoy Greek
nationality while retaining British nationality. Thus they
will be able to satisfy their desire to be recognized as
Greeks without giving up advantages from which they now
benefit.
- (iii)
Constitutional advance
The island will be administered under a unitary system of
representative government which takes account of the
majority position of the Greek community, provides for the
election of ministers who will exercise authority in regard
to both legislation and administration in a very wide field
of public affairs, and also places the control of Greek
Cypriot communal affairs in the hands of a representative
legislature drawn entirely from the Greek
community.
- (iv)
Ending the Emergency
Subject to violence ceasing the Emergency Regulations3 will be relaxed, those now detained will be
released, the State of Emergency will be brought to an end,
and the exiles will return.
- (v)
Co-operation between allies
The new policy provides the opportunity for friendly
relations between Great Britain, Greece and Turkey to be
restored and strengthened, so that Cyprus may become a
symbol of co-operation instead of a cause of conflict
between the three allied Governments.
For our part we hope and intend that our plan will lead to an eventual
settlement based on the continuing unity of the island and possibly also
on the idea of shared sovereignty between the three interested
Governments. Nevertheless it may be salutary to let the Greeks
understand that if to our regret our plan cannot be carried through
successfully, there is a real and imminent danger of partition.
We intend of course to give both the Greek and the Turkish Governments
reasonable advance notice of our statement of policy. We shall invite
their comments and tell them that we shall take them into account. It
will, however, be represented as a British plan which will be carried
through on British responsibility. Our last experience has convinced us
that there is no hope of negotiating a Greek and Turkish agreement to
any plan. We think that it is a merit in our plan that it will enable
the Governor to carry on with the administration of the island on a set
course which will give hope for the future. Sir Hugh Foot and all his advisers are
greatly heartened by the Government’s adoption of this set policy.
[Page 619]
The Foreign Secretary greatly hopes that these explanations and
considerations will enable you to give us full support for this plan. We
believe that this may make all the difference between its success and
failure.
Yours sincerely,
Enclosure
4
CYPRUS
Aims of Policy
The policy of Her Majesty’s Government in Cyprus has had four main
purposes:
- (a)
- to serve the best interests of all the people of the
Island;
- (b)
- to achieve a permanent settlement acceptable to the two
communities in the Island and to the Greek and Turkish
Governments;
- (c)
- to safeguard the British bases and installations in the
Island, which are necessary to enable the United Kingdom to
carry out her international obligations;
- (d)
- to strengthen peace and security, and co-operation between
the United Kingdom and her Allies, in a vital area.
2. These are the aims which Her Majesty’s Government have
consistently pursued and which have guided their efforts in recent
months to find common ground on which an agreed settlement might be
reached. It is deeply regretted that all attempts in this direction
have hitherto proved unsuccessful.
3. In view of the disagreement between the Greek and Turkish
Governments and between the two communities in Cyprus, and of the
disastrous consequences for all concerned if violence and conflict
continue, an obligation rests with the United Kingdom Government, as
the sovereign Power responsible for the administration of the Island
and the well-being of its inhabitants, to give a firm and clear lead
out of the present deadlock. They accordingly declare a new policy
which represents an adventure in partnership—partnership between the
communities in the Island and also between the Governments of the
United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey.
[Page 620]
4. The following is an outline of the partnership plan:
The Plan
- I.
- Cyprus should enjoy the advantages of association not only
with the United Kingdom, and therefore with the British
Common-wealth, but also with Greece and Turkey.
- II.
- Since the three Governments of the United Kingdom, Greece
and Turkey all have an interest in Cyprus, Her Majesty’s
Government will welcome the co-operation and participation
of the two other Governments in a joint effort to achieve
the peace, progress and prosperity of the Island.
- III.
- The Greek and Turkish Governments will each be invited to
appoint a representative to co-operate with the Governor in
carrying out this policy.
- IV.
- The Island will have a system of representative Government
with each community exercising autonomy in its own communal
affairs.
- V.
- In order to satisfy the desire of the Greek and Turkish
Cypriots to be recognized as Greeks and Turks, Her Majesty’s
Government will welcome an arrangement which gives them
Greek or Turkish nationality, while enabling them to retain
British nationality.
- VI.
- To allow time for the new principle of partnership to be
fully worked out and brought into operation in the necessary
atmosphere of stability under this plan, the international
status of the Island will remain unchanged for seven
years.
- VII.
- A system of self-government and communal autonomy will be
worked out by consultation with representatives of the two
communities and with the representatives of the Greek and
Turkish Governments.
- VIII.
- The essential provisions of the new constitution will be:—
- (a)
- There will be a separate House of Representatives
for each of the two communities, and these Houses
will have final legislative authority in communal
affairs.
- (b)
- Authority for internal administration, other than
communal affairs and internal security, will be
undertaken by a Council presided over by the
Governor and including the representatives of the
Greek and Turkish Governments and six elected
Ministers drawn from the Houses of Representatives,
four being Greek Cypriots and two Turkish
Cypriots.
- (c)
- The Governor, acting after consultation with the
representatives of the Greek and Turkish
Governments, will have reserve powers to ensure that
the interests of both communities are
protected.
- (d)
- External affairs, defence and internal security
will be matters specifically reserved to the
Governor acting after consultation with the
representatives of the Greek and Turkish
Governments.
- (e)
- The representatives of the Greek and Turkish
Governments will have the right to require any
legislation which they consider to be discriminatory
to be reserved for consideration by an impartial
tribunal.
- IX.
- If the full benefits of this policy are to be realised, it
is evident that violence must cease. Subject to this, Her
Majesty’s Government intend to take progressive steps to
relax the Emergency Regulations and eventually to end the
State of Emergency. This process would include the return of
those Cypriots at present excluded from the Island under the
Emergency Regulations.
- X.
- A policy based on these principles and proposals will give
the people of the Island a specially favoured and protected
status. Through representative institutions they will
exercise authority in the management of the Island’s
internal affairs, and each community will control its own
communal affairs. While the people of the Island enjoy these
advantages, friendly relations and practical co-operation
between the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey will be
maintained and strengthened as Cyprus becomes a symbol of
co-operation instead of a cause of conflict between the
three Allied Governments.
The Future
5. Her Majesty’s Government trust that this imaginative plan will be
welcomed by all concerned in the spirit in which it is put forward,
and for their part they will bend all efforts to ensuring its
success. Indeed, if the Greek and Turkish Governments were willing
to extend this experiment in partnership and co-operation, Her
Majesty’s Government would be prepared, at the appropriate time, to
go further and, subject to the reservation to the United Kingdom of
such bases and facilities as might be necessary for the discharge of
her international obligations, to share the sovereignty of the
Island with their Greek and Turkish allies as their contribution to
a lasting settlement.
