Freedom in August

In Nicosia's Government House, under an outsize painting of Aphrodite rising from the foam, pens scratched for almost an hour last week as British, Greek, Turkish and Cypriot delegates initialed the 87 separate documents making up the draft treaty for an independent Cyprus. Britain rushed an independence bill to Commons, while Archbishop Makarios, the President-elect, called the first parliamentary elections for July 31 and looked forward to freedom by mid-August.

Britain got most of what it wanted: complete sovereignty over two air and sea bases totaling 99 square miles, plus the use of 31 sites and installations outside the base areas. But the military usefulness of the bases, Makarios warned, will depend on "the friendliness and cooperation of the Cypriot people." Makarios declared last week that he would object to a nuclear stockpile on Cyprus, and added: "Nor would we agree to the use of the bases as a springboard for attack on any country." Colonial Under Secretary Julian Amery, who signed the treaty for Britain, was not disposed to argue, but pointed out brusquely: "They are sovereign bases."

As the first President, Makarios will have to learn to get along not only with the British but with restive Cypriot factions. To avoid a disruptive election campaign, he has already allotted five of the 35 Greek seats in Parliament to the Communist AKEL, which has a 30% popular backing and is certain to prove a troublesome minority. Under terms of the London agreement that ended the fighting, the Turkish population (20% of Cyprus' 500,000 people) gets 15 Parliament seats and 30% of all civil service jobs. Last week the Turkish Cypriot leader, Dr. Fazil Kuchuk, threatened to delay the treaty signing unless all the jobs were handed over at once. Only an appeal from Turkey's Acting President Cemal Gursel, who was anxious for a settlement, brought Kuchuk to the table.

But during the long months of truce and wrangling negotiations, passions have subsided, and Turk and Greek seem ready to accept coexistence out of sheer weariness. Makarios will take office with wide personal popularity among the Greek Cypriot majority and a $40 million going-away present from the British. He will use it over the next five years to build roads and try to get Cypriot agriculture out of the wooden-plow stage. Simply by signing the treaty last week, Makarios guaranteed that the island's 12,000 restless unemployed will soon be at work on new base construction that the British plan.

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