261. Editorial Note

On September 20, Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis informed NATO Secretary General PAUL-Henri Spaak that the British Government’s determination to implement its Cyprus plan would undermine Greece’s position in NATO. Spaak conferred with Karamanlis in Athens on September 23 and returned to Paris on September 24 to present a new series of proposals on Cyprus to the North Atlantic Council. He requested a postponement of the October 1 date for the implementation of the British plan for Cyprus and proposed a meeting of representatives of the United Kingdom, Greece, Turkey, and the Cypriot communities under NATO auspices.

Spaak also offered a set of proposals as the basis for further negotiations: the creation of separate assemblies for each of the Cypriot communities, a single unified assembly body to deal with questions of interest to both communities, and the appointment of the heads of the two communities as advisers to the British Governor. At a September 25 NAC meeting, the Greek Government accepted the Spaak proposals but the [Page 705] Turkish Government angrily rejected them, accusing Spaak of favoring the Greek position. Documentation on the Spaak proposals is in Department of State, NEA/GTI Files: Lot 61 D 249, Position Papers. Spaak’s version of the these events is in Combats Inacheves, volume II, pages 147150.