Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXX, Greece; Cyprus; Turkey, 1973–1976

61. Backchannel Message From the Ambassdor to Greece (Kubisch) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft)¹

Athens, March 4, 1976, 1733Z.

399. Subj: Caramanlis Visit.

1. I am happy to tell you that Caramanlis accepts with pleasure the June 15–16 dates and is very much looking forward to his visit and meetings with the President.

2. He would like to receive a suggested program for his stay in Washington, including when he should plan to arrive and depart. He is considering spending a few additional days in the U.S. after leaving Washington and is open to suggestions as to where he should go. He anticipates many requests to meet and attend functions of Greek-American groups in the U.S.

3. He wants the visit to cap our steadily improving bilateral relationship and therefore believes it should also have at least one major substantive aspect. Since he feels a Cyprus settlement is improbable—given the situation in Turkey—he would like to see some kind of U.S.—or NATO—related plan to guarantee peace in the Aegean. This would have a tremendously favorable impact here and pave the way for a return to NATO as well.

4. Caramanlis envisages a brief one or two sentence announcement of the visit, both in Washington and Athens, but is inclined to defer it for a while longer. However, he is open to our suggestions on this.

5. I will await your guidance on how to proceed.

6. Warm regards.

1. Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Back Channel Messages, 1974–1977, Box 4, Mideast/Africa, Incoming 3/76. Secret; Eyes Only.