You Win Some And You Win Some

The Cyprus flareup, though it has died back during the several days before I write, is not extinguished. The Turkish army has drawn the Attila Line (what joker was responsible for that naming?) to fence off the northern 40 per cent of the island, in which are located threequarters of its wealth and resources. About 200,000 of the half million Greek Cypriots lived in that sector— nearly twice the total number (115,- 000) of Turkish Cypriots in all of the island. Most of the 200,000 have fled to the south and are now, like so many tens of millions before them in this century, homeless refugees.

No historical events are identical, but there is an obvious if limited analogy between what is now happening in Cyprus and what happened in Palestine, with the Turks in the role of the Jews, and the Greek Cypriots of the Palestinians. And the analogy is being amplified. Without waiting for agreements or treaties, the Turkish government, in the Israeli mode, is setting out to “create facts.” Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Erbakan has announced that Turkey will develop the port at Famagusta; build an airport at Kyrenia; construct, with expected help from Libya, an oil refinery; supervise agricultural exports, and promote tourism.

JB

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James Burnham

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The Cyprus flareup, though it has died back during the several days before I write, is not extinguished. The Turkish army has drawn the Attila Line (what joker was responsible for that naming?) to fence off the northern 40 per cent of the island, in which are located threequarters of its wealth and resources. About 200,000 of the half million Greek Cypriots lived in that sector— nearly twice the total number (115,- 000) of Turkish Cypriots in all of the island. Most of the 200,000 have fled to the south and are now, like so many tens of millions before them in this century, homeless refugees.

No historical events are identical, but there is an obvious if limited analogy between what is now happening in Cyprus and what happened in Palestine, with the Turks in the role of the Jews, and the Greek Cypriots of the Palestinians. And the analogy is being amplified. Without waiting for agreements or treaties, the Turkish government, in the Israeli mode, is setting out to “create facts.” Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Erbakan has announced that Turkey will develop the port at Famagusta; build an airport at Kyrenia; construct, with expected help from Libya, an oil refinery; supervise agricultural exports, and promote tourism.