194 POLITICAL AND SECURITY QUESTIONS DOCUMENTARY REFERENCES SECURITY COUNCIL, meetings 1296-1300. S/7447, S/7449. Letters of 4 August 1966 from United Arab Republic and Yemen on participation S/7266. Letter of 25 April 1966 from Yemen. in Council's discussion. S/7284. Letter of 9 May 1966 from United Kingdom. S/7456. New Zealand: draft resolution. S/7312, S/7429 and Corr.1. Letters of 19 May and S/7579. Letter of 5 November 1966 from Yemen. 25 July 1966 from Yemen. S/7581. Letter of 11 November 1966 from United S/7438. Letter of 28 July 1966 from United Kingdom. Kingdom. S/7442. Letter of 2 August 1966 from United King- A/6302. Report of Security Council to General As- dom requesting meeting of Security Council. sembly, Chapter 12. CHAPTER XIII THE SITUATION IN CYPRUS During 1966, the Secretary-General submitted parties directly concerned, broadened Mr. Bern- three reports to the Security Council on the ardes' responsibilities by authorizing him to em- United Nations operation in Cyprus. The Coun- ploy his good offices and to make such ap- cil, with the consent of the Cyprus Government proaches to the parties, without prejudice to and the other countries concerned, on each occa- the mediation function proper, as might in title sion unanimously decided to extend the station- first instance achieve discussions at any level of ing of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force local or broader problems. The Council was in- in Cyprus (UNFICYP)—for a period of three formed of this on 4 March. The Special Repre- months in March 1966, and for six-month peri- sentative in May 1966 held consultations under ods in June and December. his broadened responsibilities with the President In addition to these three reports, the Secre- and the Vice-President of Cyprus, and with gov- tary-General also circulated one special report ernment officials in Ankara and Athens. to the Security Council, on the situation in the Trypimeni area, as well as the texts of his fur- REPORTS BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ther appeals to Governments for voluntary con- REPORT FOR THE PERIOD tributions for the maintenance of the United 9 DECEMBER 1965-10 MARCH 1966 Nations Peace-keeping Force. As indicated in In his report to the Security Council on the the DOCUMENTARY REFERENCES below, the United Nations operation in Cyprus for the peri- Representatives of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey od 9 December 1965-10 March 1966, the Sec- addressed letters to the Secretary-General from retary-General stated that during that three- time to time during the year, drawing attention month period nothing had occurred to change to various developments in relation to the situa- significantly his view that the core of the dilem- tion in Cyprus. There was no request in 1966 ma faced in Cyprus by the United Nations, as for including the question in the agenda of the well as by the parties concerned, still endured. It General Assembly. remained to be seen whether there was a genuine Brigadier A. J. Wilson, Chief of Staff, was the will to peace among the leaders of the two com- Acting Commander of the Force from the death munities which could lead them towards that of General K. S. Thimayya, on 18 December mutual accommodation in viewpoint and posi- 1965, until 16 May 1966, when Major-General tion which was essential to pacific settlement. (later Lieutenant-General) I. A. E. Martola The Secretary-General regretted to report that took up his duties as Commander. Carlos A. the basic problem remained unsolved. Bernardes continued to serve as the Secretary- He added that in that period the situation, in General's Special Representative. On 2 March view of the continued armed confrontation, had 1966. the Secretary-General, after informing the remained gratifyingly quiet in the Island; the THE SITUATION IN CYPRUS 195 possibility of renewed fighting was ever-present, them, were totally irresponsible acts which, if however. The presence of UNFICYP, therefore, continued, might jeopardize the fragile frame- was virtually indispensable if that relative quiet work of stability which had been achieved by was to be maintained. UNFICYP in Cyprus. The Secretary-General ap- Despite the reduction of the strength of the pealed to responsible leaders on both sides to Force to 4,500 men from its initial size of some prevent such acts and not to let them disrupt 7,000, much work had been done by UNFICYP the progress achieved heretofore in Cyprus. with a view to the restoration of normal condi- He also appealed to the responsible leaders tions. UNFICYP had been successful in its en- in Cyprus to respond positively to the yearning deavour to bring about defortification arrange- of the ordinary people in the country for a full ments in Famagusta. After negotiations with the return to normal conditions. He noted with Government, conducted by the Special Repre- interest the talks reportedly going on between sentative at the request of the Turkish Cypriot the Governments of Greece and Turkey and community, agreement was reached for the hoped that they would contribute towards a solu- evacuation from Cyprus to Turkey of approxi- tion of the Cyprus problem. mately 500 Turkish Cypriot students. On 20 July, the Secretary-General informed the Security Council about recent developments REPORT FOR THE PERIOD in the Trypimeni-Chatos area, where the Turk- 11 MARCH—10 JUNE 1966 ish Cypriots had reacted with hostility to a Gov- In his report covering the period 11 March- ernment road-building project which they con- 10 June 1966, the Secretary-General observed tended endangered their security. UNFICYP that a number of developments pointed to a conducted intensive negotiations to prevent ten- disturbing deterioration in the basic relationship sion from rising out of control, and the Secre- between the Government and the Turkish tary-General appealed to the parties to act with Cypriot leadership. Armed confrontation had the utmost restraint and to heed UNFICYP's become more intense in the second quarter of suggestions for defortification in the area. the year and there had also been a tendency to establish new, provocative fortified positions REPORT FOR THE PERIOD along the lines of direct confrontation. This 11 JUNE—5 DECEMBER 1966 practice gave rise to increasing tension and oc- In his report covering the six-month period casional exchanges of fire in a number of areas. 11 June—5 December 1966, the Secretary-Gen- This in turn made necessary the local interposi- eral observed that the familiar pattern of uneasy tion of larger United Nations forces, which in truce had continued and the situation had re- general succeeded in keeping the situation under mained a precarious one. The report dealt with control. a number of incidents, most of them attributable UNFICYP's activities, the report stated, were to the construction of fortified positions that being hampered in the field of efforts towards were considered provocative by one side or the the restoration of normal conditions in the Island other, where tension rose, resulting occasionally as well. Both sides adhered to entrenched politi- in exchanges of fire. Only the rapid deployment cal positions and attached more and more condi- of UNFICYP troops, coupled with negotiations tions to problems susceptible of solution. That at all levels, prevented these incidents from es- tendency carried the implication that the Cypri- calating into large-scale fighting. ot people, Greek and Turkish, were hostages of Two important problems, however, had the intransigent positions taken in their behalf. yielded to a solution, the report said. Land rec- The attitude of the Government and the Turk- ords, heretofore kept in the Turkish quarter of ish Cypriot leaders might be related to a series Nicosia, were made available to the Government of bombing incidents, which were mostly at- and to the Greek Cypriot community and facil- tributed by the Government to Turkish Cypriots ities were provided by UNFICYP for the regis- who, in turn, denied responsibility for them. It tration of transactions involving Turkish was obvious, the report added, that the terrorist Cypriots. Also, arrangements were negotiated bombings, whoever might be responsible for by UNFICYP to restore postal services in the 196 POLITICAL AND SECURITY QUESTIONS Turkish quarter of Nicosia and in Lefka, which Cyprus problem had been fully discussed in 1965 had been deprived of such services since Decem- during the twentieth session of the General As- ber 1963. Apart from that achievement, the pre- sembly,2 and the resolution adopted by the As- vailing attitude towards normalization continued sembly on 18 December 19653 had enunciated to be one of pervasive caution and of apprehen- the major principles which were directly ap- sion lest any concession might affect disad- plicable to a settlement of the problem. He vantageously the terms of the ultimate settle- indicated that in his Government's view there ment. had been a noticeable improvement in the situa- The dialogue concerning Cyprus between tion on the Island, showing how much Greece and Turkey had continued, as the Secre- UNFICYP and the people of Cyprus had done tary-General had been advised by the delegations for betterment of life in the Island. The deforti- concerned, but no information had been made fication of Famagusta harbour had proceeded available to him on the substance of the talks. remarkably well, with sincerity on all sides, and For that reason, the Secretary-General was not there had been an improvement in normaliza- in a position to give to the Council any indica- tion and a measure of success with regard to tion as to whether there had been any progress freedom of movement and the economy of the in the secret negotiations.