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The idea of a U.N. force is distinctly unpalatable to the British and the U.S., since it might bring Communist troops onto the scene. Nikita Khrushchev predictably shouldered his way into the delicate maneuvering, addressing an identical note to the U.S., Britain, France, Greece and Turkey in which he complained that "certain powers, trampling on the U.N. Charter and the generally accepted norms of international law, are trying to impose on Cyprus a settlement of problems that concern no one but the Cypriots."
Khrushchev was getting yeoman's help in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, where the agitated Greek community was already crying "Kato NATO [Down with NATO]." Still surrounded by the three miles of encircling walls built in the 16th century when Venice ruled the island, Nicosia retains the appearance of a medieval town. The moat is now dry and used mainly for parades and religious processions, but the city's eleven projecting bastions are in good repair and can still offer riflemen, as they did archers, three good angles of fire against any attackers.
In Nicosia last week, two homemade bombs exploded outside the U.S. embassy, injuring a marine and shattering windows. U.S. Ambassador Fraser Wilkins raced to the Presidential Palace, but on the way missed Archbishop Makarios, who was hurrying to the U.S. embassy. Makarios called the bombing a "crime of the most revolting nature." Nevertheless, since Makarios' government seemed unable to guarantee their safety, half of the 1,200 U.S. dependents on the island were flown to Lebanon. At week's end, the U.S. dispatched a diplomatic team headed by Undersecretary of State George Ball to London, for urgent talks with British officials on the Cyprus crisis.
Dwindling Villages. It will take gifted diplomacy to put Cyprus back together again. As clash follows clash between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the island, which is three-fourths the size of Connecticut, tends to become two countries instead of one, with two rival administrations, two police forces and two unmanageable rival armies. Originally there were 106 villages where Greeks and Turks lived together in peace if not in amity. Only 23 remain. From the others, Greeks and Turks—most often Turks—have fled to join their compatriots elsewhere. Last week the Turkish flag flew over much of northern Cyprus from the seaport of Famagusta to the Turkish town of Lefka (see map). Throughout most of the rest of the island, Greeks are in control.
In Nicosia, the British soldiers have drawn a "Green Line" (socalled from the color of the marking used on the military maps), which follows the route of Paphos and Hermes streets. North of the Green Line, behind sandbags and fortified houses, huddles the Turkish community; south, behind identical sandbags and barbed wire, are the Greeks. British patrols try to keep apart the gun-toting partisans of each side.