145. Telegram From the Embassy in Greece to the Department of State1
388. 1. Before receiving Deptel 351,2 I had informal talk last night with King Constantine, during which I reviewed sad state of affairs and stressed our grave disappointment and shock over inability of GOG to carry through on Acheson proposal. He told me he had talked with Garoufalias on his return from Cyprus and was satisfied that latter’s report of situation on Cyprus was fair and objective. Makarios is extremely popular on island and his influence very great. King seemed convinced there would be serious public reaction, both in Cyprus and in Greece, if GOG sought to force Turkish base on Cypriots.
2. I asked whether Grivas could be stiffened by pressure from him and Greek army. He replied it was not question of trying persuade Grivas [Page 289] to take tougher position versus Makarios, but rather, for reasons stated above, it was not in cards to overcome Makarios’ influence just through force.
3. I spoke of Papandreou’s letter to Acheson re a base.3 The King thought Greek and Cypriot people could be brought to agree to one. However, he said questions he had asked me on Friday (Embtel 368)4 were most pertinent. For example, he could not imagine granting Turkey base if mistreatment Istanbul Greeks continues. He also emphasized importance not forcing any population movements and continuation of normal traffic in base area. The King seemed to think smaller base on Karpas might be possible to sell on above conditions, but he was obviously not sure of himself.
Comment: The King appeared to be groping for something to save situation and was not thinking in terms of procedure or of how GOG could in fact go about arranging base. Although the young King is giving commendable attention to his country’s Cyprus dilemma, there is no doubt his mind is somewhat diverted by prospect of his coming marriage.5 Moreover, his ability to influence the action of his government is subject to severe, if not precisely defined, constitutional and practical limitations.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 27 CYP. Secret; Immediate; Nodis-TAG. Repeated to Ankara, London, and Geneva for Acheson. Passed to the White House.↩
- Telegram 479 to Geneva (Document 144) was repeated to Athens as telegram 351.↩
- See footnote 7, Document 144.↩
- See footnote 4, Document 137.↩
- King Constantine’s marriage to Princess Anne Marie of Denmark was to take place September 18.↩