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The new President also insisted to the Turks—who well remembered the days when his gang used to attack them with provocations—that "the Turkish community is in no danger at all." Cypriot Turks were unconvinced by his assertion. Rauf Denktas, leader of the Turkish community on Cyprus, refused to recognize Sampson's takeover of power and openly called on Turkey and Britain to oppose him.
The Turkish government needed little prodding. Within recent months the festering relations between Greece and Turkey had worsened as a result of a dispute over a major discovery of offshore oil in the Aegean Sea near Thasos. The oil is situated in an area where the continental shelves of the two countries overlap, causing arguments about ownership. Turkey has indicated willingness to arbitrate the controversy, but Greece adamantly refuses. At the moment, Athens is in control of the area.
As a result of such irritations, Turks reacted with delight rather than alarm at the sight of war preparations. People cheered as ships, carrying equipment obviously designed for amphibious operations, gathered in the Turkish port of Mersin. Antiaircraft guns were hauled to Qankaya, one of the tallest hills in the capital, to protect the presidential palace. Blackouts were ordered for Ankara and other cities.
Turkish Passions. The Turkish Parliament openly fretted when Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, apparently seek ing a peaceful solution, flew off to Lon don for conferences with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Foreign Secretary James Callaghan, as well as the U.S. State Department's Sisco. Turks feared that Ecevit might buckle once again, as Turkey has twice done in the past decade, rather than go to war over Cyprus. Instead, Ecevit took a hard line.
He firmly demanded withdrawal of the Greek officers from the island. Unless his terms were met, he warned, Turkey would exercise its treaty rights to move into the island and restore independence. His listeners believed the Prime Minister was bluffing. It was a serious underestimation of Turkish passions over Cyprus.
In Greece, racked by dictator governments since the 1967 revolt of the colonels, the mood was somber. After mobilization was ordered, a single car filled with young men waving a giant Greek flag slowly toured Athens' Constitution Square. But there were few other patriotic demonstrations. Banks closed as they have before each recent domestic political crisis. Traffic jams occurred as Greeks left their jobs early to stock up on foodstuffs. Stores that were sold out of coffee, sugar and other staples locked their doors. Tourist attractions, including the Acropolis sound and light show, were canceled. The airport was closed, and the Athens telephone system was jammed by panicky foreign visitors.
The Greeks were not eager to fight.
For one thing, their army—supplied by the U.S., as Turkey's is—is smaller than Turkey's (see table page 33). For another, the tactical advantage was with the Turks, since they had made the first moves and were much closer to Cyprus.