NATO to the Rescue

While talks on the Cyprus crisis dragged wearily on in London last week, the U.S. and Britain agreed on a proposal to police the troubled island with a 10,000-man expeditionary force for the next three months. It would not be an official NATO mission, but since Greece and Turkey are both members of the alliance its manpower would be drawn from NATO nations and include some 1,200 U.S. combat troops. The Anglo-U.S. proposal also called for appointment of an impartial mediator to help break the diplomatic deadlock in London.

Greece and Turkey immediately accepted the plan; Greek and Turkish Cypriots rejected it. Russia, ever eager to fish in troubled waters, insisted on a United Nations truce force, which Moscow hoped to control by virtue of its veto in the U.N. Security Council. Bearded Archbishop Makarios, neutralist President of Cyprus, would also prefer a U.N. mission, since he fears that a NATO contingent would lead to an actual partition of the island between Greek and Turkish communities. Nonetheless, Makarios knows well that if he rejects the Anglo-U.S. proposal, he will risk renewed savagery and possible invasion of Cyprus.

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