Issue Date: August 17, 1974
Turkish Troops Advance in Cyprus After Talks Break Down; U.N. Urges Cease-Fire; Greece Cuts Military Ties With NATO
Peace Talks Collapse
The Cyprus peace talks, which had resumed in Geneva August 8, broke down early August 14 when Turkey refused to recess the talks for 36-48 hours to allow the Greek Cypriot and Greek representatives to consult with their governments on a Turkish proposal for creation of six separate and autonomous "cantons" for the Turkish Cypriot minority. [See 1974 Turkey, Greece, Britain Sign Cyprus Agreement...Political Negotiations Scheduled]
British Foreign Secretary James Callaghan, mediator at the talks in Geneva, blamed the collapse of the talks on Turkey's refusal August 13 to grant the recess. Callaghan expressed the belief that "it would have been possible to work out a solution." He added, "I cannot believe that the peace of the eastern Mediterranean depends on 36 hours."
Turkish Foreign Minister Turhan Gunes had proposed August 12 the division of Cyprus into "cantons," six of them Turkish Cypriot, which would have their own administration, language and police forces under a single national confederation. One of these cantons would encompass the Turkish-occupied area around the northern port of Kyrenia.
Greek Foreign Minister George Mavros and Greek Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides initially rejected the plan with Mavros complaining August 13 that Turkey wanted about 35% of Cyprus. "To have 35% of the land for 18% of the population is impossible," he said. However, Mavros and Clerides later August 13 asked for a recess of the talks to permit consultations with their governments.
(The Greeks and Greek Cypriots had said they could accept additional political autonomy for the Turkish Cypriot minority, but opposed giving them "a geographical base" as demanded by Turkey. They also objected to negotiating at "gunpoint." Turkish Premier Ecevit August 13 gave Greece 24 hours to accept the cantonal proposal.)
Prior to his cantonal proposal, Gunes had been insisting on the partition of Cyprus into a federation of two equal and separate states, the Turkish Cypriot one to comprise the top northeastern third of the island.
The second phase of the Geneva talks had resumed August 8 among Callaghan, Gunes and Mavros. Mavros insisted in the talks August 8-9 that Turkey respect the cease-fire accord of July 30 and halt its drive west of Kyrenia. [See 1974 Cyprus Conflict: Turks Continue Advance] U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Arthur Hartman attended as an observer and the Soviet Union also sent an observer. U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim was present August 8-9.
Meanwhile, the military representatives of Britain, Turkey and Greece, along with U.N. officials, signed an agreement in Cyprus August 9 providing the basis for cease-fire demarcation lines and creation of U.N.-supervised buffer zones between the combatants. The chairman of the mixed cease-fire commission, Colonel Jerry Hunter of Britain, refused to disclose details of the accord, but said, "There is a basis in here for agreement everywhere and most of it is finally agreed." The agreement was sent to the Geneva talks for final determination of the cease-fire line.
Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash joined the talks August 10. Turkish Foreign Minister Gunes said later that Clerides had agreed to discuss only "a very few minor modifications" in the island's 1960 Constitution. "If that is the case, there is no point in continuing," he said.
Conference sources disclosed August 10 that Callaghan, frustrated by the lack of progress in the talks, told the meeting that Britain would not keep to its plans for withdrawing from Cyprus its 1,000-man troop reinforcement and 12 Phantom jets it had sent shortly after Turkey invaded Cyprus July 20. The British Defense Ministry announced August 11 that 600 Gurkha troops would be flown in to reinforce British garrisons.
Although no political progress was made between Gunes, Mavros and Callaghan August 11, Mavros announced that Greek Cypriot forces had been ordered to begin withdrawing from Turkish enclaves on the island. The Turks had earlier charged that the Greek Cypriots had not carried out this commitment provided in the July 30 accord.
U.N. sources reported that Greek Cypriot National Guard troops had actually begun withdrawing from the enclaves August 11, beginning around the city of Limassol. The Greek Cypriot authorities also agreed to release August 11, under the auspices of the International Red Cross, 13 Turkish prisoners in Nicosia. (The Turkish armed forces August 8 had released four wounded Greek Cypriots from the prisoner of war camp in Adana, in southern Turkey. The Turks said the move was "an act of goodwill.")
The Greek Cypriot guardsmen pulled out August 12 from two Turkish villages near the town of Paphos and from Turkish areas in Paphos and Larnaca. The Washington Post reported August 13 that the guardsmen had set up new positions near Paphos.