LETTER OF ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE GREEK REPUBLIC GENERAL GIZIKIS

Nicosia, 2 July, 1974.

Mr. President,

It is with profound grief that I have set out to you certain inadmissible situations and events in Cyprus for which I regard the Greek Government responsible.

Since the clandestine arrival of General Grivas in Cyprus in September, 1971, rumors have been circulating and there have been reliable indications that he came to Cyprus at the urge and with the encouragement of certain circles in Athens. In any case, it is certain that from the first days of his arrival here Grivas came into touch with officers from Greece serving in the National Guard from whom he received help and support in his effort to set up an unlawful organization and allegedly to fight for Enosis. And he established the criminal EOKA B organization, which has become the cause and source of many sufferings for Cyprus. The activity of this organization, which has committed political murders and many other crimes under a patriotic mantle advancing Enosis slogans, is well known. The National Guard, which is staffed and controlled by Greek officers, has been from the outset the main supplier of men and material to EOKA B, the members and supporters of which gave themselves the nice ringing title of “Enosists” and “Enosis camp”

I have many times asked myself why an unlawful and nationally harmful organization which is creating divisions and discords cleaving rifts in our internal front and leading the Greek Cypriot people to civil strife, is supported by Greek officers. And I have also many times wondered whether such support has the approval of the Greek Government. I have done a great deal of thinking and made hypothetical assumptions in order to find a logical reply to my questions. No reply, under any prerequisites and assumptions, could be based on logic. However, the Greek officers’ support for EOKA B constitutes an undeniable reality. The National Guard camps in various areas of the island and nearby sites are smeared with slogans in favor of Grivas and EOKA B and also with slogans against the Cyprus Government and particularly myself. In the National Guard camps propaganda by Greek officers in favor of EOKA B is often undisguised. It is also known, and an undeniable fact, that the opposition Cyprus press, which supports the criminal activity of EOKA B and which has its sources of finance in Athens, receives guidance and line from those in charge of the 2nd General Staff Office and the branch of the Greek Central Intelligence Service in Cyprus.

It is true that whenever complaints were conveyed by me to the Greek Government about the attitude and conduct of certain officers, I received the reply that I ought not to hesitate to report them by name and state the specific charges against them so that they would be recalled from Cyprus. I did this only in one instance. This is an unpleasant task for me. Moreover, this evil cannot be remedy by being faced in this way. What is important is the uprooting and prevention of the evil and not merely the facing of its consequences.

I am sorry to say, Mr. President, that the root of the evil is very deep, reaching as far as Athens. It is from there that the tree of evil, the bitter fruits of which the Greek Cypriot people are tasting to-day, is being fed and maintained and helped to grow and spread. In order to be absolutely clear I say that cadres of the military regime of Greece support and direct the activity of the EOKA B terrorist organization. This explains also the involvement of Greek officers of the National Guard in illegal activities, the conspiracy and other inadmissible situations. The guilt of circles of the military regime is proved by documents which were found recently in the possession of leading cadres of EOKA B. Plenty of money was sent from the National Center for the maintenance of the organization and directives were given concerning the leadership after the death of Grivas and the recall of major Karousos, who had come to Cyprus with him, and generally everything was directed from Athens. The genuineness of the documents cannot be called in question because of those of them which are typewritten have corrections made by hand and the handwriting of the writer is known. I inductively attach one such document.

I have always adhered to the principle and I have on many occasions stated that my cooperation with the Greek Government for the time being is for me a national duty. The national interest dictates harmonious and close co-operation between Athens and Nicosia. No matter which Government of Greece was in power it was to me the government of the mother country and I had to co-operate with it. I cannot say that I have a special liking for military regimes particularly in Greece the birth-place and cradle of democracy. But even in this case I have not departed from my principle abut co-operation. You realize, Mr. President, the sad thought which have been preoccupying and tormenting me following the ascertainment that men of the Government of Greece are incessantly preparing conspiracies against me and, what is worse, are dividing the Greek Cypriot people and pushing them to catastrophe through civil strife. I have more than once so far felt and in some cases I have almost touched a hand invisibly extending form Athens and seeking to liquidate my human existence. For the sake of national expediency, however, I kept silent. Even the evil spirit which possessed the three defrocked Cypriot Bishops who have caused a major crisis in the Church emanated from Athens. However, I said nothing in this connection. I am wondering what the object of all this is. I would have continued to keep silent about the responsibility and role of the Greek Government in the present drama of Cyprus if I had been the only one to suffer on the scene of the drama. But covering things up and keeping silent is not permissible when the entire Greek Cypriot people are suffering when Greek officers of the National Guard, at the urge of Athens, support EOKA B in its criminal activity, including political  murders and generally aiming at the dissolution of the state.

Great is the responsibility of the Greek Government in the effort to abolish the state status of Cyprus. The Cyprus state should be dissolved only in the event of Enosis. However, as long as Enosis is not feasible it is imperative that the state status of Cyprus should be strengthened. By its whole attitude towards the National Guard issue, the Greek Government has been following a policy calculated to abolish the Cyprus state.

A few months ago the National General Staff consisting of Greek officers submitted to Cyprus Government for approval a list of candidates for cadet reserve officers who would attend a special school and then serve as officers during their military service. Fifty-seven of the candidates on the list submitted were not approved by the Council of Ministers. The General Staff was informed of this writing. Despite this, following instructions from Athens, the General Staff did not take at all into account the decision of the Council of Ministers, which under the law has the absolute right to appoint. National Guard officers. Acting arbitrarily, the General Staff trampled upon laws, showed contempt for the decision of the Cyprus Government and enrolled the candidates who had not been approved in the Officers Training School. I regard this attitude of the National Guard General Staff, which is controlled by the Greek Government, as absolutely inadmissible. The National Guard is an organ of the Cyprus state and should be controlled by it and not from Athens. The theory about a common area of defense between Greece and Cyprus has its emotional aspect. In reality, however, the position is different. The National Guard, with its present composition and staffing, has deviated from its aim and has become a hatching place of illegality, a center of conspiracies against the state and a source of supply of EOKA B. It suffices to say that during the recently stepped up terrorist activity of EOKA B, National Guard vehicles transported arms and moved to safety members of the organization who were about to be arrested. The absolute responsibility for this improper conduct of National Guard rests with Greek officers, some of whom are involved heads over ears and participants in the activity of EOKA B. And the National Center is not free from responsibility in this connection. The Greek Government could be a mere beck on put an end to this regrettable situation. The National Center could order the termination of violence and terrorism by EOKA B because it is from Athens that the organization derives the means for its maintenance and its strength, as confirmed by written evidence and proof. The Greek Government, however, has failed to do so. As an indication of an inadmissible situation I note here in passing that in Athens also slogans were recently written against me and in favor of EOKA B on the walls of churches and other buildings, including the building of the Cyprus Embassy. The Greek Government, even though it knew the culprits, did not seek to arrest and punish anybody, thus tolerating propaganda in favor of EOKA B.

I have a lot to say, Mr. President, but I do not think that I should say any more. In conclusion I convey that the Greek officered National Guard, the plight of which has shaken the Cypriot peoples’ confidence in it, will be restructured on a new basis. I have reduced military service so that the National Guard ceiling may be reduced and the extent of the evil may be limited. It may be observed that the reduction of the strength of the National Guard due to the shortening of the military service, does not render it capable of carrying out its mission in case of national danger. For reasons which I do not wish to set out here I do not share this view. And I would ask that the officers from Greece staffing the National Guard be recalled. Their remaining in the National Guard and commanding the force would be harmful to relations between Athens and Nicosia. I would, however, be happy if you were to send Cyprus about one hundred officers as instructors and military advisers to help in the reorganization and restructuring of the armed forces of Cyprus. I hope, in the meantime, that instructions have been given to EOKA B to end its activities, even though, as long as this organization is not definitely dissolved, a new wave of violence and murders cannot be ruled out.

I am sorry, Mr. President, that I have found it necessary to say many unpleasant things in order to give a broad outline with the language of open frankness of the long existing deplorable situation in Cyprus. This is, however,  necessitated by the national interest which has always guided all my actions. I do not desire interruption of my co-operation with Greek Government. But it should be borne in mind that I am not an appointed prefect or locum tenens of the Greek Government in Cyprus, but an elected leader of a large section of Hellenism and I demand an appropriate conduct by the National Guard towards me.

The content of this letter is not confidential. 

With cordial wishes,
(The Greek Cypriot PIO Press Release

No.1 of 6 July, 1974)