204. Message From Foreign Secretary Lloyd to Secretary of State Dulles0

Dear Foster: Since I spoke to you at Copenhagen we have spent a good deal of time working on the Cyprus problem and, as you know, Lennox-Boyd has told the House of Commons1 that we shall be announcing our plan not later than June 17.

2.
After consulting the Governor and our Ambassadors at Athens and Ankara we have decided that there are serious obstacles in the way of carrying out immediately the tridominium plan which I mentioned to you at Copenhagen.2 You yourself expressed your doubts about the acceptability of this solution, particularly to the Greeks. We have come to the conclusion that the differences with regard to a final solution are too wide to be bridged by any formula that can be devised at present. We have been forced to think in terms of an interim solution which will pave the way for a lasting settlement when all concerned are ready for it.
3.
Your Embassy here has been given in strictest confidence an outline of our plan.3 In rough outline, the plan is that Cyprus should be associated not only with the United Kingdom but with Greece and Turkey and that the other two Governments should participate in a joint effort to bring back peace to the island. There will be a wide measure of communal autonomy under continued British sovereignty. There will be separate Houses of Representatives for the two communities. Each Government would be asked to appoint a representative to serve on the Governor’s Council, which will have a Greek majority. In order to satisfy the desire of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots to be recognised as Greeks and Turks we will welcome an arrangement which gives them Greek or Turkish nationality, in addition to British. We would hope in this way to restore normal conditions so that the Emergency can be brought progressively to an end. I will send you full particulars when they are finalised.
4.
We are in some difficulty over the time table. We want to announce the new plan in Parliament when Harold has returned from his visit [Page 615] to you4 and have therefore fixed June 17 as the likely date. We propose to give it to the Greek and Turkish Governments beforehand, and possibly to have a confidential discussion in the NATO Council before the public announcement. The purpose of that would be to get other NATO countries to advise Greece and Turkey not hastily to reject our proposals.
5.
I have had a talk along these lines with Spaak,5 who is thinking the matter over. He said that he still thinks the best solution is Turkish and British bases, plus self-determination on a simply majority basis for the rest of the island. I told him that in Zorlu’s present frame of mind there was no possibility of the Turks accepting that solution, although, as you know, it was one we had in mind in Ankara in January.
6.
We are still exceedingly anxious about the situation in Cyprus and will need all your help in counselling both sides to give our proposals reasonable consideration.

Yours ever,

Selwyn6
  1. Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. Top Secret. Enclosure to a letter from Hood to Dulles, May 23.
  2. On May 19; see House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates, 5th Series, vol. 588, cols. 891–893.
  3. See Document 197.
  4. See Document 202.
  5. Macmillan visited Washington June 7–11 and Ottawa June 12–13.
  6. The Spaak-Lloyd meeting has not been identified.
  7. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.