186. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Greek Ambassador (Melas) and Secretary of State Dulles, Department of State, Washington, July 16, 19561
SUBJECT
- Cyprus
The Greek Ambassador called today at his request to inform the Secretary that the statement issued by the Department on Saturday (attached)2 had greatly disturbed his Government, which felt that it denoted an alarming change in United States policy on the Cyprus question. He considered it at variance with the earlier friendly remarks of President Eisenhower at the time of the Makarios exile, when he said that the United States stood ready to help its two friends, Britain and Greece, who were at odds over the Cyprus question. This new pronouncement, taken within the context of the Eden statement, seemed to support the British and Turkish view that Turkey had a right to have the deciding voice regarding the fate of Cyprus. The Ambassador referred to the “pre-arranged proposals” which had been discussed with the Turks and not with the Greeks.
The Secretary informed the Ambassador firmly that he was incorrect if by “pre-arranged” he meant to imply that the United States knew about these proposals before they were made to the Turks. He emphasized that we had no knowledge of them or their content until after they had been presented in Ankara by the British. The Ambassador hastily explained that he meant the proposals had been pre-arranged between the British and the Turks in order to make it appear to the world that no self-determination could ever be granted to Cyprus.
On the question of the statement, the Secretary said that the British also objected to our statement, but for different reasons, because it did not indicate support for anything in the British policy except the offer of early self-government. The Secretary said that our position with respect to self-government was well known: that we wanted more self-government everywhere in the world where people were far enough advanced to have a voice in running their own affairs. The United States, he thought, was entitled to have its policy on this matter without regard to the opinions of other governments, and to state publicly at any time our support for [Page 382] moves toward self-government. He assured the Ambassador that United States policy toward Greece remained unchanged.
The Ambassador, after thanking the Secretary for his assurances, commented that the Turks were “getting out of hand.” They had been making threatening and belligerent statements during recent weeks which went quite beyond the limits of comprehension. He referred to the communiqué just issued by the Assembly group of the Turkish Democrat Party, which stated that, if Greece attempts to annex Cyprus, Turkey will lay claim to Western Thrace and the Dodecanese. The Ambassador pointed out that of course there was no question of “annexation” and spoke emotionally of Turkey’s having renounced categorically and in perpetuity any rights to Cyprus when it signed the Lausanne Treaty. Turkey now pretended that any change in the status quo on Cyprus would permit Turkey to ask revision of other articles of the Lausanne Treaty, specifically those dealing with Western Thrace, the Aegean Islands and the Patriarchate. The Secretary indicated that his legal advisers were inclined to believe there was no sound basis in international law for the thesis that modification of the status quo on Cyprus would automatically reopen the Treaty.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 747C.00/7–1656. Confidential. Drafted by Baxter.↩
- Not found attached. The statement released on Saturday, July 14, reads: “The United States welcomes the intention of the British Government, as announced by Prime Minister Eden, to proceed with the development of self-government on the island of Cyprus.” (Telegram 171 to Athens, July 14; ibid.,747C.00/7–1456)↩