Word: ecevit
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Turkish Passions. The Turkish Parliament openly fretted when Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, apparently seek ing a peaceful solution, flew off to Lon don for conferences with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Foreign Secretary James Callaghan, as well as the U.S. State Department's Sisco. Turks feared that Ecevit might buckle once again, as Turkey has twice done in the past decade, rather than go to war over Cyprus. Instead, Ecevit took a hard line...
...Under Secretary did little better in Turkey, where some oversensitive officials complained that "the Middle East got Kissinger for a whole month and we get Sisco for a week." Discussions between Sisco and Ecevit started out poorly when Sisco, because of scheduling difficulties, dispatched U.S. Ambassador William B. Macomber to the initial session in his place. Since Macomber was lower-ranking than Sisco, Ecevit disdainfully shuffled him off to see Foreign Minister Turan Gunes...
When the two principals finally did meet two hours later, Sisco recalled that Ecevit was a "humanist" who had written poetry in his youth and asked, "How can you think of shedding blood?" Though Ecevit was still maintaining that no decision to invade had yet been made, he replied with a broad hint about Turkey's intentions: "I am convinced that my decision will prevent more bloodshed." He cited the 1967 Cyprus crisis, in which U.S. Mediator Cyrus Vance persuaded the sides to pull back and avoid fighting. "If your colleague had not convinced us to change our minds...
...Actually Ecevit's government had already decided on an invasion. Even as Sisco sat with the Prime Minister on the midnight before the landings took place, the Turkish fleet was approaching Kyrenia and pilots were manning their planes. With Turkish passions for action running so high, Ecevit was certain that his government would fall if it backed down. Moreover he sensed that no country was eager to recognize Sampson as President of Cyprus and thus no major power would complain too much if Sampson was toppled...
...invasion, Ecevit went before the Turkish Parliament, whose 635 members have usually greeted his appearances without enthusiasm. Not this time. After Ecevit made a 90-minute explanation of why he had ordered the invasion, members gave him a ten-minute standing ovation. Ecevit asked for a declaration of war against Greece if one became necessary-and the cheering legislators left no doubt that they would happily grant...