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By THEO DOGANIS |

uring the last ten days, some

200 Cypriots have paid with
their lives for the terms on which
Cyprus was. granted indepen-
dence,

For this mutilated independ-
ence was based on the Zurich
and London agreements of 1959
imposed by the British and Am-
erican Governments with the
connivance of the Greek and
Turkish Governments of Kara-
manlis and Menderes,

The responsibility for the
bloodshed in Cyprus is theirs.

The Zurich and London agree-'

ments contained provisions which
on the pretext of safeguarding the
rights of the Turkish minority (18
per cent of.the population) put the
Greek majority ‘(81 per cent) at
the mercy of this Turkish minor-
ity.

These provisions were incor-
porated in the Constitution of Cy-
prus, Which the Cypriots have
never been allowed to endorseor
reject with their vote.

* * *

This Constitution grants the
Vice President of the Republic-
who has to be always aTurk - the
right of veto regarding all major
decisions of the Greek President,

Again, according tothe Consti-
tution, Parliament (consisting of
35 Greek and 15 Turkish M.P.s)
must pass every major Bill, not
only by an overall majority, but
also by a majority of the 15
Turks,

In this way the Turkish M.P.s
can block the passing of any Bill
and they have been using this veto
in the most irresponsible way.

For instance they have been
refusing to pass the Finance Bill
in order to blackmail President
Makarios into agreement to set
up separate Turkish and Greek
municipal councils in the towns
of Cyprus, (This is yet another
crazy provision of the Constitu-
tion.)

Other provisions of the Zurich
agreement and the Constitution
Stipulate that 30 per cent of all
Civil servants and of the police
force and 40 per cent ofthe army
Personnel must be Turkish,
though - as already mentioned -
the Turks constitute only 18 per
cent of the population.

To top it all, the Zurich agree-
ment forbids the Constitution of
Cyprus ever to be amended.

* * *

Thanks to the same agreement

Great Britain retains her mili-
tary bases in Cyprus with full
sovereign rights,

Britain, Turkey and Greece on
the basis of a separate treaty of
guarantee have taken upon them-
selves the right to intervene by’
force either jointly or individual-
ly in Cyprus, if they consider
that their ‘‘rights’’ or the Consti-
tution of the island are in danger,

Now the Turkish Government
of Inonu is threatening to in-
tervene by force of arms against
Cyprus, an independent state and
a member of the U.N,

At the same time within Cyprus
on Saturday morning December
21 - as the Cyprus daily Haravgi
reported - ‘‘the Turkish police-
men and gendarmes revolted and
put themselves at the head of the
Turkish terror-gangs who, arm-
ed to the teeth, tried to infiltrate
into the Greek part of Nicosia,
Shooting and killing Greeks by
the dozen,’’

Ser ee

Ankara and the leaders of the
Turkish minority in Cyprus try
to justify their actions by stating
that President Makarios intends
to amend the Constitution. Ma-
karios did not keep this plan sec-
ret.

Since the present Constitution
has proved to be unworkable, it
was his duty to propose the neces-
sary amendments, »

The Economist said on Satur-
day that ‘‘on the grounds of com-
mon sense and administrative
efficiency there is much to be said
for Archbishop Makarios’ pro-
posals,’’

The Turkish Vice-President,
Dr. Kutchuk, wanted time to con-
sider the proposed amendments
but the Turkish government in
Ankara opposed them,

Now President Makarios has
appealed to the U.N, Security
Council, protesting against the
threat of Turkish military inter-
vention.

At the same time, he declared
on December 21 that the Treaty
of Guarantee which Ankara in-
vokes in order to justify the mili-
tary steps it has already taken
to intervene in Cyprus, is null
and void, because ‘‘it runs con-
trary to basic provisions of the
U.N, Charter,’”’

After all, only the Cypriots
themselves should have the right
to change their Constiturion and
no one else - neither London nor
Ankara nor Athens.

‘BRITISH TROOPS IN CYPRUS. The 1959 agreement
imposed on Cyprus by the British and U.S. govern-

1

Cyprus: who's to blame?

Mediterranean.

ments is behind the bloodshed. Cyprus is a major

The British Government how-
ever, one of the main culprits for
the present calamity in Cyprus,
now sheds crocodile tears and
dispatches troops to the islands
allegedly to ‘‘restore law and
order,”’

And Mr. Sandys, of all men,
arrives in Nicosia in the middle
of the night masquerading as an
‘*honest broker.’’

Mr. Gordon-Walker, speaking
on behalf of the Labour Party,
was absolutely right when he op-
posed the sending of British
troops to Cyprus to act as police-
men,

Greeks and Turks have lived
in undisturbed amity in Cyprus
for over three centuries. It is
only since the early ’50s that
strife and suspicion between the
two communities began to grow.

This was the work of the Brit-
ish governments who tried to
‘urn the Turkish minority against
the Greeks in order to gain them

as allies in their effort to crush
the liberation struggle of the
Greek Cypriot people. Unfortu-
nately they have succeeded only
too well. x

What the Britishandthe Am-
erican governments are after is
to use the present disturbances
in order to make more secure
the imperialist stranglehold on
Cyprus,

Both the British andthe Ameri-
can Governments hate the policy
of neutrality which President Ma-

_karios is following. Now they
feel they have an excellent op-
portunity to compel Makarios to
abandon it, by promising that they
would see to it that Turkey aban-
dons her plan to invade Cyprus,

It should be borne in mind that
Cyprus is now the only major
military and atomic British base
in the Eastern Mediterranean for
the protection of the Anglo-Am-
erican oil monopolies inthe Mid-
dle East.

ection

*..

military and atomic British base in the Eastern

* * *

Public opinion in Cyprus and
Greece learned with surprise and
dismay that the government of
Papandreou, instead of support-
ing President Makarios appeal
to the Security Council, is con-
templating an appeal to NATO
to intervene in Cyprus, A worse
course could hardly have been
imagined.

It is, however, doubtful whether
these Anglo-American plans will
succeed,. The majority of the
population of the islandis against
them,

Akel (Cyprus Progressive -
People’s Party), the strongest
political party, is supporting
wholeheartedly the struggle to
amend the Constitution. Allfree-
dom loving nations are bound to
give every possible assistance
to the people and government of
Cyprus in opposing the new im-
perialist designs against their
country.

IN WEST GERMANY

By. MAX REICH:
PT correspondent
trial begun last month in
West Germany against 22
former naziSS members for their
part in running Auschwitz during

are increased,

defined in the treaty ..

water on the prairies.”’

is not yet.in evidence , .

‘Columbia Treaty acute
danger fo the prairies’

1 pxe present draft Columbia River Treaty poses an acute
danger to the prairie provinces, it has been emphasized in
an editorial in the Jan. 2 Western Producer. The paper says that
if necessary, the treaty should be amended to give Canada some
rights over the future use of that river’s water.
The Producer editorial stresses that the prairies face a
Serious water shortage within the next 30 years unless supplies

The Producer continues: ‘‘The Columbia River is one of the
Prime sources for this ‘insurance’ water for the prairies, But it
is a moot point whether the present Columbia Treaty, now await-
ing Parliament's ratification, would allow such a diversion.

“The proposed treaty would prevent Canada from diverting
Columbia water except for ‘consumptive use’

. that some observers think the treaty
aS it stands would prohibit the future use of Columbia River

i The editorial says that to provide now for tomorrow’s needs

is going to require forward-looking statesmanship on the part
of the three provincial governments, B,C, and federal govern-
ments ,., Unfortunately, the kind of statesmanship required. . .
. '’ says the editorial.

- . . SO narrowly

t

* 9999—SHVEI9) SAIDAT—aaei

vi weceng’

Peace Action, Australia

“This time next year, Ernst, you
and I may be trustworthy demo-
cratic elements willing to co-oper-
ate with the Allies.”

the Second World War may re-
tell part of the horror of the
death factory where the ‘‘master
race’’ exterminated between 2,-
500,000 and 4,000,000 persons,
mostly Jews and Slavs,

The trial has already revealed,
as did the Eichmann trial, that
while nazi officialdom was not
hesitant in despatching its fel-'
low beings by the million, those
who carried out the acts are
still eager to escape responsi-
bility for their crimes and to
preserve their own lives,

Auschwitz (Oswiecim) was
established in Poland for the
‘final solution’? of the Jewish
question — extermination, There
were similar camps, though
smaller, at Treblinka, Belsen,
Sibibor and Chelmo. There were
still others at Riga, Vilna, Minsk,
Kaunas and Lvov.

In ‘‘The Rise and Fall of the
Third Reich,’’ the American his-
torian William L. Shirer tells
what happened at Auschwitz,

At the railroad siding, as the
victims were unloaded from
freight cars, a‘‘selection’’ took
place to decide who would be
worked and who immediately
gassed, They were marched past

a doctor who made the decision

They came from as far as
France, Holland and Greece,
locked in freight cars, often
without food or water, for a week.

None of the captives realized
what was in store. Some were
given picture postcards to sign
and send home, with the printed
inscription: ‘We are doing very
well here. We have work and we
are well treated, We await your
arrival.’’

Not only were the nazis effi-
cient, they were also quite tidy,
As Shirer says:

‘‘The gas chambers themselves
and the adjoining crematoria,
viewed from a short distance,
were not sinister looking places
at all; it was impossible to make
them out for what they were, Over
them were well kept lawns with
flower borders; the signs over the
entrances merely said BATHS.”’

Unsuspecting victims thought
they were being taken to baths
for delousing, customary at all
camps,

There was light music. Anor-
chestra of young girls, inmates,
played gay tunes from The Merry
Widow and Tales of Hoffmann

See NAZI TRIALS, pg. 11

January 10, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5