The "Fertile Vacuum" Policy

With a rod of Cromwellian iron, Field Marshal Sir John Harding struck at the Cypriots' rebellion and terror. By day and by night he deployed 18,000 British troops in patrols so thorough that it seemed a fly could not move undetected or unsearched. He barred Greek newspapers, jammed the Athens radio, imposed curfews. When workers and shopkeepers tried to keep up the general strike that broke out when Archbishop Makarios was banished, he threatened mass arrests. When a crowd of students stoned his troops at Larnaca, his soldiers fired, killing a seven-year-old boy.

The E.O.K.A. terrorists hid out, awaiting favorable moments. In broad daylight, a hail of bullets cut down a British sergeant as he checked storefronts in Nicosia's Hippocrates Street. He was the tenth British soldier to die in that area in six months. Harding's parachutists instantly cordoned off the zone and searched buildings for arms and terrorists. They found bombs, shotguns, E.O.K.A. pamphlets. Next day the police issued 400 pieces of blank paper with envelopes to residents of the area, asked that Cypriots write what information they had, and hand it in sealed--complete anonymity guaranteed. Only 151 were returned. All were blank except for 34 on which the recipients signed their names after declaring that they would have come forth with information if they had any. No one informed on anyone. Thereupon the British at gunpoint rounded up 60 residents. A 6-ft. British commissioner read off the names of ten families and 20 merchants who would be evacuated from homes and shops in the area for three months as collective punishment for the residents' refusal to talk. British soldiers would move out the evacuees' furniture to a barricaded border; beyond that, Cypriots would have to fend for themselves.

Though Athens staged protest strikes and the Greek government appealed to the U.N., the British were resolved to be tough. They call it the "fertile vacuum" policy. By the time the U.N. Assembly meets next fall, they think the last sporadic bombings and shootings will have petered out under their overwhelming show of force. The civilian populace, no longer exposed to inflammatory sermons, editorials and radio blasts, will have seen that E.O.K.A. terrorism has lost and have grown bored with the whole business. Then, in this "fertile vacuum," new moderate political forces will come forward from the decent citizenry, and the British can offer them gradually evolving self-rule. Just who will step forward in behalf of the Cypriots, under such circumstances, the British admit they do not know.

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