November 1, 1958
GEORGE PAPANDREOU: Opposition leaders, commenting yesterday on the failed NATO effort to find a compromise solution to the Cyprus problem, said the government had handled the issue badly at the NATO debate. The co-leader of the Liberals, George Papandreou, said that, «as expected, the Cyprus issue debate at the NATO (meeting) was a failure. British deceit prevailed and the Greek government was ignored. Although it made ‘amazing’ concessions, as the British Labour Party leader described them, Greece eventually managed to be characterized as intransigent and was held responsible for the breakdown of the talks.» The (Constantine) Karamanlis government issued the following response: «The British and Turkish governments made every effort to persuade… the international public that Greece’s stance was intransigent. But other governments refused to aid them. Only Mr Papandreou, in keeping with his opposition tactics, hastened to help them. The facts are known.» Papandreou said in reply that the government clearly had not read his comment that British deceit had prevailed and that Greece’s concessions had been «amazing.»
