European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 17, 1973, Darmstadt, Hesse In Secretary general Kurt Waldheim reviews in troops on Cyprus. By Hugh Mulligan associated press on the Island of love Muslim minarets sprout from gothic. Cathedrals Irish and British soldiers play football together Arab and israeli diplomats shop in the same supermarkets while United nations troops from six nations keep the Greensand turks from committing intramural is Neutral and non aligned As the Olive Branch on its Flag comes by its tourist sobriquet the Island of love from mythology. Aphrodite the goddess of love was born of the foam where the Mediterranean washes the rocks at Paphos on the Southwest coast. Marc Antony gave the legend life by giving the islands to Cleopatra As a love apostle Paul made his first missionary journey to Cyprus preaching love thy neighbor and for his troubles received forty less one lashes from the roman governor whom he later the Lionheart wed Princess Berengaria of Navarre on the enchanted Isle still favored by British honeymoon couples and spent his honeymoon at Saint Hilarion s Castle a Mountaintop crusade fort now occupied by turkish troops. Shakespeare set his tragedy Othello on the Island of love and had the mood Moor murder the innocent Desdemona in a venetian Tower near famagusta that now also flies the turkish love has always followed a Rocky Road on the arid mountainous Island. Arab and israeli diplomats shop in the same supermarkets but they Don t see each other. They look through each other and see a Pyramid of Corn flakes or a shelf of canned they live in the same neighbourhoods and Send their Chil Dren to the same schools but they Don t exist for each other. At cocktail parties and diplomatic receptions they turn their backs on each other and seek the comradery of the hours d from Al Al and Middle East air lines dance. In the darkness of the same discotheques but comes the Dawn and the undying hatreds Blossom like morning glories or deadly nightshade. Getting into the israeli embassy in Nicosia for a visa is like passing through the clanging Gate Sand time locks of a Bank vault with the added inconvenience of body have been terrorist incidents in the past Bashir an Al Fatah guerrilla Leader was killed when a bomb went off in his room in Nicosia s olympic hotel. The arabs blamed the israelis and a few weeks later a jewish businessman was shot dead in his hotel brought the most serious upsurge in terrorism a bomb exploded in the ground floor of the israeli ambassador s the Fevand of love residence injuring a cypriot policeman on guard and narrowly missing ambassador Rahamin timor who had just left for his office. Immediately afterwards seven arabs tried to Hijack an Al Al plane a Nicosia Airport. One was killed and another injured in a shootout with Al Al guards and cypriot police. The survivors Are now appealing their 10-year sentences to the supreme a Strong statement the president archbishop Makarios told arabs an jews to take their hostilities elsewhere be cause the Island had enough troubles of its own. As indeed it has. The Island of love still seethes with its own Complex political and religious 3,500-mile-Square Island tucked in the Northeast Corner of the Mediterranean is roughly shaped like a sheepskin nailed to a barn Wall but its feuding inhabitants can never agree whether it is a greek or a turkish Are places on the Island like the Village of Kunkina where a greek never dares set a Day an armed United nations Convoy sets out from the Nicosia race track toward the grape Blue mountains to escort greek vehicles through the turkish positions to the picturesque port of by soldiers with fixed bayonets and fierce push room mustaches Pace the battlements of old venetian forts and crusader castles. Greek soldiers sit play ing cards in Little wooden guard posts while at the no Man s land in Between blues erected . Troops from Britain Ireland Canada Sweden Denmark and Finlan Battle the daily boredom of peacekeeping. Every Friday before the midday prayer the turkish Imam of Nicosia ascends the pulpit of the Seli Miye mosque that used Tobe the latin Cathedral of Saint Sophia to preach his weekly Sermon in remembrance of some forgotten religious archbishop Makarios is away from the Island of love on state visits Cyprus police with machine guns line the rooftops and patrol the roads to the presidential Palace on the Alert for a possible coup by 77-year-old Gen. George Grivas the unbending Champion of Union with turkish troops Are there to see that reunion does t happen. The last thin Turkey wants is a greek Island blocking the Entrance to her Best Southern recent months there has been no flare up of fighting Between greeks and turks but the tensions still tug and tease. The Island s greek cypriots paint their Homes and shops Blue and Fly the Blue and White greek Flag to impress patriotically the turkish cypriots who paint their Homes and White and Fly the turkish red Flag.1 the White Crescent. Every now and n a greek or Turk drops mysteriously n sight or is found beaten in a Lanei Side a tavern. I Here is a proverb on the Island of love t everyone pulls the quilt Over to his e quilt is pretty tattered by now. Cyprus has been Independent for More i a decade now. It is a fully fledged tiber of the United nations the British no wealth and the Council of Europe no greek newspaper and no greek to Cal party on the Island Speaks out for dependence. Even with the King deposed i the colonels in Power the dream of on with Greece in some form or other \ Dazzles. Cyprus is four fifths greek one fifth irk and judging from the most recent action one third communist. The a purple Cape Imperial scepter and red signatures Are symbols of the authority of archbishop makes on troubled Cyprus a Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday Cyprus communist party is considered the most Loyal outside the soviet Union but since it backs Makarios its Power has never really been tested. Many observer think that if the archbishop Ever denounced communist support the part backing would fall to pieces for his beatitude is More than just a political is a powerful figure in the greek orthodox Church retaining ancient privileges that permit him to sign his name in red Ink Wear a Cape of Imperial purple and carry an Imperial archbishop has offered the Island which has been fought Over by aryan an semite roman and jew Christian and moslem venetian and genoese greek and Turk As the Avenue for peace talks inthe latest Middle East War. Many diplomats including the israelis think Cyprus would be an Ideal site for peace talks. The israelis egyptians syrians and lebanese maintain per manent embassies there As do the rus sians and the americans. The Island is a United nations Headquarters with excellent hotels communications an Security arrangements. Al Al flies in twice a Day like most of the Arab airlines. If an of the principals had to Confer with Home base Tel Aviv is 40 minutes away by Jet and Cairo less than an hour. Despite the departure of some finns an swedes to patrol the ceasefire lines in the Sinai and on the Golan Heights there Are still 3,000 . Troops on the Island to protect the peace negotiators. Except for a few jewish Citrus growers and some greek Arab refugees from Palestine the Island has no significant Arab or jewish population. Home liken Cyprus to Lisbon in world War ii a cloak and Dagger no Man s land bathed in the Luminous Middle East Are fond of the old bulgarian Folk tale about the greeks asking the lord for the gift of Power. My poor greeks you have come too late the lord gift of Power has been Given to the turks and the gift of labor to the Bulga rians the gift of calculation to the jews of trickery to the French and foolishness tothe angrily the greeks demanded by what intrigue have we been the lord smiles a sad smile and said very Well then i give you the gift of tourist Board would never buy it but the Island of love has flourished Long inthe Eastern Basin of the Levant As the is land of intrigue. Small wonder that once the honeymoon was Over Richard the Lionheart unloaded the Island on the order of knights Templar for 100,000 pounds history s Best real estate Deal until Peter Stuyvesant met the Canarsie indians. Artist Ernst Geissen Doerfer s specially is Hometown sketches. By Dan Synovec is Nuernberg Bureau chief a German look alike for the late author Ernest Hemingway says he can sketch his Hometown not Only in his dreams but also backwards. The artist is Ernst Geissen Doerfer an the Hometown in t just the next Village around the Bend it s the old walled City of Rothenburg of Der Tauber in the rolling Hills of Franconia. Old fashioned etchings of Rothenburg Are the specially of this 64-year-old Cras a photo by Ted Rohde Fetsman who has turned into an Art shop the House his family has lived in for 31 generations. To make an etching Geissen Doerfer sit with his Back to the View he wants to sketch looking into a Mirror to make the plate backwards so that it will appear properly when the drawing is reversed imprinting. was imprisoned during world War ii in Berlin for question ing in the july 1944 plot to kill Hitler. He was cleared after three months and or dered to the russian contracted jaundice and was re turned to Rothenburg. We had some wounded american soldiers in our Hospital and they were treated As Good As German troops he said. When the american prepared to attack Rothenburg the mayor said he would keep them out by closing the City Gates. I told him they would Only blast Down the he convinced the Mayo to go Home and i ended up surrendering the City to the Geissen Doerfer was arrested by the . Army during the postwar occupation an sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for having a weapon in his Possession. He Only served two years and was released. I was told it was All a mistake who did not belong to the nazi party. When i returned Home there was nothing left. Even my stamp collect Ion had been stolen. My plates were gone and i had to begin All Over in 1948 the 1st inf div to design Christmas cards for the unit 120,000 were sold and since1950 he has scald cards through the european Exchange system. A Reissen Doerfer s experience de signing Christmas cards dates Back to the 1930s when he was in the United states. While an architecture student at Columbia University he designed personalized Christmas cards for Walter p. Chrysler of the Auto making family. Geissen Doerfer went to the . Under student Exchange program in 1934 and remained in new York until 1939 when went to Miami and worked six months catching rattlesnakes for the Florida rail Road. I also sketched Seminole with about 1,000 plates in Stock the artist said he had not etched a new Christmas card plate in nearly 10 years. Color etch Ings said Geissen Doerfer must be either coloured individually afterwards with Watercolours or printed with oils on the plate. I have to work for As Long As three to four months on some of my etchings said Geissen Doerfer who predicts the Art fetching is going to die. It is a difficult Trade to learn. Printers Are hard to find he said. Member 17, 197? the stars and stripes Page 15
