OCR Text |
Show Impressions of the Middle East Editor's note This newspaper news-paper is grateful for this ser-L ser-L of articles written by Gary Lawrence reviewing activities 3,, gome of the experiences of the BYU entertainment troupe touring the Middle East, under auspices of the State Department Depart-ment Cyprus JC-. With the unmistakable blue flag flying from the back of their jeep, two soldiers from a f Scandinavian country, pull out n for another day of patrolling in ,ii the name of the United Nail Na-il tions. Their job sounds simple enough keep the Cypriots from killing one another but how does one combine the traits of judge, soldier and political po-litical expert without becoming biased? The truth is, it's a Very difficult job. Listening to the Greeks and v . . the story of Turkish domination domina-tion for three centuries, one can easily be swayed to believe that self-determination and the union with Greece as wished by the substantial Greek majority, ma-jority, could be a just solution. But in viewing the pleas of the Turk for minority rights for their people, many from families who have lived on Cyprus Cy-prus for hundreds of years and their opposition to being ruled by a foreign country, one must conclude that their position cannot be completely denied. The main alternative solution solu-tion to outright union with Greece is to solidify an independent inde-pendent state. This is acceptable accept-able in the main to the inter-eted inter-eted big powers, America and Russia, least only acceptable, "under certain conditions," by Turkey and completely opposed by Greece. The result is the current stalmate, kept only in check by the presence of UN troops. As we traveled through this semi-dry southern Utah-ter-rained island, the air of tension was unmitakable. From the mountain area of the north, where the Turkish soldiers are well entrenched and ready to fight, to the gritty beaches of the south where Greek Cypriots Cypri-ots keep up the pressure by painting anti-Turkey anti-NA TO slogans on everything handy, including a basketball backboard in an out-door school playground, the pall of friction hangs heavy. The only point of agreement seems to be the desire to get rid of the "referees" so the two antagonists antago-nists can slug it out on their own. If however, the United Nations Na-tions can realize a peaceful lasting solution with out violence vio-lence in the interm, it will be a major accomplishment in international in-ternational relations, one bringing immeasurable amount of prestige to the world organization. |