Speech #940131953

In regard to Cyprus. the general terms of a possible settlement have begun to emerge from previous negotiations and statements. In general. I believe such a settlement would involve a reasonable agreement on the land areas to be returned by the Turkish invaders and an acceptable provision for resettlement of a portion of the Greek Cypriote refugees. with probably. and personally I would regret it. a divided or twozone Cyprus with a central government at whose higher reaches Greek Cypriotes and Turkish Cypriotes would be on an equal basis. These first two questionsland areas and refugee resettlementare inextricably intertwined and particularly difficult to resolve. It seems clear. however. that a Cyprus agreement will require that the Turks. who now control 40 percent of the land area. must yield a significant portion of that area for inclusion in a Greek Cypriote zone. How much is yielded. and what specific areas are yielded. have a direct bearing on how many of the Greek Cypriote refugees can be resettled. I fully understand the concern of the Turkish Cypriotes. as a minority on the island. over their future security. but I believe the Turks. because of their military superiority. are in a position where they could and should make statesmanlike concessions that will make an agreement possible. I would particularly emphasize one point in regard to the negotiations. No piecemeal settlement is possible. Agreement on the land areas and refugee resettlement must be an integral part of any overall settlement. It should be obvious that the Greek Cypriots cannot. and indeed should not. agree to a bizonal arrangement. or to the nature of and powers of a proposed central government. unless there is at the same time agreement on land areas in each zone. and on refugee resettlement. I hope very much that the Turkish representatives at the negotiations will come forward with proposals on land areas and refugee resettlement that will make an overall agreement possible. I would like also to mention briefly another aspect of relations between Greece and Turkey. and this involves the questions of seabed jurisdiction in the Aegean Sea. In regard to this issue. it has been noted previously that the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean are geographically located in the continental shelf adjacent to Turkey.