MEMORANDUM EVENING NAC MEETING JULyTULY 16,i6, 197)41974
There was an evening meeting of thethe NAC onon July 16.
I had no instructions.instructions. De Staercke had mademade an emotional I
outburst against the Greeks.Greeks. The meeting waswas generally
unsatisfactory. It was clear that somesome pressure needed
to be brought on the Greeks if we were to hope that we
could either (a)(a) deter the Turks from invading, or (b)(b) if
they werewere to invade, invade withwith only limited goals in
mind, namely, toto regressredress thethe balance.balance. Further, thethe USUS waswas
\Y being criticized in the corridors,corridor and to some extent in
the press, as being pro-Greek andand therethere werewere wilderwilder chargescharges
that the CIA and the US might have even encouraged the
Greek regime to throw outout Makarios andand putput inin Sampson.Sampson.
9 ~ Lacking instructions,instructions, II usedused anan approachapproach roughlyroughly as as f followso1lows,
as best I can reconstruct from my notes that I drafted
sitting at thethe table.table. The issue turned on what role the
creek~reek officers had in thethe overthrow ofof Makarios. These
are 65065Oiroughly(roughl~ Greek officers who were in Cyprus at the
request of the Cypriot Government and in parallel with Turkish
officers who were in Cyprus, the Greek officersofficers' purpose
being to help train the Greek Cypriot National Guard. My remarksremarks werewere essentiallyessentially asas follows:follows:
I first want to thank the Secretary-General forfor calling this meeting and for the continuing role he is playing both as Chairman of the Council and in connection with his watching brief.
I said I appreciated thethe informationinformation providedprovided byby others,others, and that I spoke in the earlier NAC meeting todaytoday and statedstated the USUS position andand indicatedindicated thatthat aa statementstatement inin Washington was being circulatedcirculated toto themthem furtherfurther settingsetting forthforth thethe USUS views and.and I I willwill notnot repeatrepeat them this evening.evening.
I said I had listened to the Dean and the Secretary-
General cite the responsibilities on the part of each member of the AllianceAlliance to consult under Article I otfthe0 the North
Atlantic Treaty to saysay nothing ofof thethe recentlyrecently signedsigned OttawaOttawa
Declaration, C-"! L
I said that personally I was somewhat disappointeddiBappointed that this many hours after the outbreak of the conflict so little information hadhad beenbeen supplied and that so manymany ambiguities remained and I agree with thethe DeanDean thatthat unanibiguiousunambiguious statements by Greece and Turkey as to theirtheir purposes andand intentionsintentions areare highlyhiggly desirable.desirable. been I said that the Greek AmbassadorAmbassador had/discussing earlier the circumstancescircumstances ofof the some 650650 GreekGreek officers in Cyprus whose role had been to help train the Cypriot National Guard, and I said thatthat without making anyany suggestionssuggestions oror insinuations,insinuations, or allegations, II wouldwould likelike to clarifyclarify for myselfmyself some of the I earlier discussions.
I said that the Greek AmbassadorAmbassador had quoted his Minister as describing the situationsituation asas anan internalinternal matter.matter. I asked)asked, if it waswas an internal matter,matter, whowho waswas it an internal matter between. There are so many groups and factions involvedinvolved thatthat ( it is not perfectly clear toto me what hehe meansmeans byby thatthat phrase.phrase.
I said I also would like to propound some additionaladditional questions, again for my owoown clarification. I don't recall specifically the questions II posed,posed, butbut they werewere something along thisthis line:line: Is it correct that the Greek officers onon I
Cyprus serving withwith the Cypriot National Guard are officers of the Greek armed.armed forcesforces?on?on active dutt? Another questionquestion was: And if these officers are officersofficers ofof thethe GreekGreek armedarmed forces on duty withwith the Cypriot National Guard, under whose authority do they act and under whosewhose authority are they acting today in the present crisis inin Cyprus?Cyprus? Another questionquestion was:was:
If these 650 officers, or some portion thereof, diddid inin factfact involve themselves in the overthrow in Cyprus and if they I were not acting under authority of the Greek Government oror the
Greek armed forces, but apparently under some other authority,authority,
I am curious to know if any steps are being taken to disciplinediscipline I their action since,since, asas youyou say,say, theythey areare stillstill menibersmembers of the
Greek armedarmed forces.forces. I
During the course of mymy questions, and there were a total of four or fivefive oror six, LunsLuns andand other keptkept interrupting ~me and the Greek kept trying to answer, and it was strung out over quite a period ofof time.time. I