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On Cyprus itself, the partisans managed for the most part to keep their itchy gun fingers in check last week. Hundreds of Communist sympathizers poured out to Nicosia Airport to cheer a Soviet plane that swooped in for a test landing; it was preparing the way for the civil air agreement that is being negotiated between Cyprus and its new Russian ally. Inevitably, it raised the question of Soviet penetration in Cyprus should the current stalemate break down. Apart from this, Archbishop Makarios made people nervous by announcing his intention to create a force of special volunteer police, 5,000 strong —as he put it, "not only for the island's security and return to normal, but also for facing certain other unpleasant situations." Guesses as to what these last might be ranged from repelling an invasion by Turkey to attacking the 7,000-man British garrison to trying to wipe out some of the isolated Turkish Cypriot positions, such as the schoolhouse in Polis where 700 men, women and children are surrounded by Greek Cypriot partisans. A British diplomat said, "Frankly, we don't know what's behind it," but added with feeling that anything that made Greek Cypriot irregulars into a disciplined force and kept them in barracks was "probably a good thing."
Only the Turkish Cypriots thought they knew the truth. Said their spokesman, Dr. Fazil Kuchuk: "Using his so-called 5,000 'legal' forces, Makarios will exercise pressure on the Turks to deprive them of their arms. In short, the plan of Makarios is either to destroy or to enslave the Turks of Cyprus."