4. Presidential Review Memorandum/NSC 51
TO
- The Vice President
- The Secretary of State
- The Secretary of Defense
ALSO
- The United States Representative to the United Nations
- The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
- The Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT
- Cyprus/Aegean (U)
The President has directed that the Policy Review Committee undertake, under the chairmanship of the Department of State, a review of Cyprus and the situation in the Aegean. This review should assess our interests and objectives, and the possibilities for moving toward a peaceful solution of both disputes, in light of the new Administration’s accession to office.
[Page 11]The review should:
1. Provide a State/CIA assessment of the current positions of the principal parties—the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, the Greek, Turkish and Cypriot Governments. The assessment should include what each expects of the United States in the near term. It should evaluate the domestic pressures each faces, and discuss the possibility that those pressures will lead to defined developments affecting particular American strategic interests in Greece and Turkey. It should also describe the relationship between the Cyprus question and the disputes over the Aegean continental shelf and air space.
2. Examine the components of a Cyprus settlement: territorial adjustments, form of government, economic requirements, and guarantees, including the role of the United Nations or other outside powers. (State)
3. Analyze alternatives available to the United States in order to promote a settlement, likely reactions of the parties, kinds of American commitments required, and implications for the mid-term. (State, Defense)
4. Assess, as a special feature of alternative strategies, the two Defense Cooperation Agreements with Greece and Turkey, and the bearing of those agreements on the Cyprus and Aegean disputes. (State, Defense, JCS)
5. Review the possibilities for involving our European allies in the process of settling the disputes, including assessments of various forms of U.S.-European cooperation and/or types of negotiating forums. (State)
6. Review the state of Congressional and public opinion toward the Cyprus question and the two base agreements, and suggest, as an integral part of our diplomatic approach, strategies for dealing with Congress and the general public.
The review should be no more than 20 pages in length. It should be completed by January 27, in time to be submitted to the Policy Review Committee in the week of January 31.2
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 2, PRM/NSC 1–24 [1]. Confidential.↩
- The February 3 review paper is in the Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 25, PRM–05. It is attached to a covering memorandum, which noted that the paper would be the basis of discussion at the Policy Review Committee meeting of February 10. The minutes of this meeting are printed as Document 5.↩