Cyprus. The vulnerable republic

“The “Cyprus question” has been making headlines for the last twenty years. On and off it has been the cause of some of the most acute crisis that the eastern Mediterranean haw known since the Second World War. It haw repeatedly reached a stage when war between Greece and Turkey seemed inevitable. It has threatened the cohesion of the south-eastern flank of NATO and caused serious frinction among the western allies. Inevitably the Cyprus question became one of the major issues in the United Nations and has generated some of   the  most  heated  and  controversial debates both in the General Assembly and the Security  Council  of  the  United  Nations.

The  author of  this book,  a  former career diplomat,  has  been  directly  involved  in  the Cyprus diplomatic  battle since  its  very  beginning. Either as Head of the Cyprus desk in the Foreign  Ministry  in  Athens,  or as  Permanent Representative  of  his  country  to  the  United Nations  for  ten years,  Mr.  Bitsios has had a first  hand  experience of the problem. lie has been  present  at  the various Conferences and the  many-phased negotiations which attempted to  solve  this immensely complicated problem.

Since  December 1963, he participated in almost all the debates of the Security Council on Cyprus and in August 1964 when the Turkish  planes bombarded the island, he delivered in the Security Council Chamber an ultimatum to Turkey. On that occasion the London Economist wrote: “The Greek  Representative Mr. Bitsios had the difficult task,  which he carried out successfully, to give support to the Representative of an intransigent Cypriot Government, without doing anything, that could provoke a Mediterranean war. On Monday, Mr. Bitsios quietly delivered an ultimatum the first ever delivered In the Security Council Hall.

Mr. Bitsios gives us the inside story of the Cyprus question from his vantage paint. Many experienced   politicians and diplomats, like Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Foster Dulles, Dean Acheson, George Ball, P. H. Spaak, have tried their hand at the issue, eager to provide the magic formula for its solution. They all came out puzzled and frustrated. We see their efforts unravelled in the pages of this book. The  aims, aspirations, and the political and diplomatic maneuvering of the protagonists in the now famous triangle of Athens-Ankara-Nicosia are also expertly analyzed.

Cyprus has  been  called  a  laboratory of international crises. Mr. Bitsios has been in the midst of them all.”

(from the edition)