Talking About Peace Talks

On Cyprus the fighting seemed to be over, but in Athens and Ankara the diplomatic infighting was only beginning. The first point of contention was the place and the forum for the negotiations themselves. Turkey wanted to revive the ill-fated Geneva talks that included Turkey, Greece, Britain and the feuding Greek and Turkish Cypriot factions. Greece favored, though with noticeable lack of enthusiasm (see box following page), a Soviet plan that would bring the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council together with Turkey, Greece and the Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

The U.S. and Britain--quietly, so as not to offend either Athens or Moscow--came out for the Geneva talks. Publicly, Washington said that an 18-nation conference was both unwieldy and unnecessary. "The creation of still another forum would not be useful," said State Department Spokesman Robert Anderson. Privately, both U.S. and British officials added that they were against any plan that would give the Soviet Union a new chance to meddle in the Mediterranean or that might jeopardize Britain's two big bases on Cyprus.

U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim put himself behind neither plan, but tried simply to get the parties talking. At the conclusion of a journey that took him from Athens to Nicosia and Ankara, he could report only the most cautious optimism. He had made no progress in setting up a meeting, he told London officials later, but at least all the principals genuinely seemed to want to talk with each other. Waldheim, however, fell victim himself to the hazards of negotiation banquets and was hospitalized in New York with gastroenteritis.

The hazards of negotiations are small compared with the dangers of allowing Cyprus to stew in a situation that is half war, half peace. Late last week, new tensions gripped the troubled Greek community on the island when gunmen fired at the car of Vassos Lyssarides, a Socialist Party leader. Lyssarides was only slightly wounded, but his wife was badly hit and his driver and a bystander were killed. Greek Cypriot extremists were suspected of the attempted assassination, and there were widespread fears of bloodshed among Greek factions. Another potential source of tension was the eight large camps being set up in the south western part of the island to house some of the estimated 184,000 Greek refugees of the Turkish invasion. The outlines of a potential Palestine refugee problem, with bitter, displaced people seething in squalid camps, were already in evidence.

Cyprus' Acting President Glafkos derides, head of the Greek community, and Rauf Denktas, head of the Turk ish community, met for 25 minutes to discuss how to deal with refugees, but they made no progress. While the negotiators stalled, a group calling itself the Cypriot Liberation Army an nounced in Nicosia that it was prepared to begin guerrilla operations against the Turks if a political solution is not soon forthcoming. "Our purpose is the liberation of our lands and the exclusion of the Turkish forces of occupation from Cyprus," said C.L.A. Spokesman Alkis Stavropoulos.

The Turks, fully aware that guerrilla action forced the British to give up the island 14 years ago, retorted that any new guerrillas would be defeated. They vowed to be more severe against terrorists than the British had been.

In fact, both sides would probably find guerrilla warfare an unstanchable wound. The Turks would undoubtedly keep their promise to be harsh occupiers. The Greeks at the same time would most likely keep their promise to fight the Turks no matter what the odds against them. "Wars of liberation are never won without sacrifices," said a C.L.A. manifesto, "and our people are aware of the possible consequences of our actions." The hope on all sides is that Ankara and Athens can begin talking before the killing on Cyprus starts again.

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