September 23, 1954
UN CYPRUS APPEAL: The Greek government has achieved a particularly important political and diplomatic victory, of broad moral significance, in the decision by the 15-member General Committee that the Cyprus issue be put on the agenda of the Ninth General Assembly of the United Nations, which has already begun. The decision on the Greek appeal for recognition of the right of Cypriots to self-determination was adopted by the UN General Assembly at about 5 p.m. (Greek time) yesterday, with a significant majority and after a vigorous fight by the Greek representation in New York – headed by Foreign Minister Stefanos Stephanopoulos – against the heated reactions of the British representation. Those who voted in favor of putting the issue on the agenda were the representatives of nine countries: Nationalist China, Soviet Russia, Czechoslovakia, Syria, Siam, Burma, Cuba and Iceland. Three countries voted against: Great Britain, France and Australia. Three more abstained: the United States, the Netherlands and Colombia. The British representative claimed that the discussion is an intervention into his country’s internal affairs and argued that Cyprus, located near the Turkish coast, does not belong to Greece.
