Foreign Minister Abba Eban returned today from a brief visit to Cyprus where he met with Dr. Jarring, and Foreign Ministry sources said Mr. Eban stressed the need to obtain replies from Egypt to questions submitted through the UN envoy in New York last month. The principal question was whether Cairo was willing to contract a “just and lasting peace” with Israel and how it defined such a peace.
Mr. Eban’s visit, though unofficial according to the Israeli and Cyprus Government announcements, was treated like a state visit. He met with Archbishop Makarios, the President of Cyprus, Foreign Minister Spiro Kyprianou, and with two leaders of the Turkish community, Fadil Kutchuk, vice-president of the Turkish community, and Raouf Denktash, chairman of the Turkish Communities Association. The Foreign Ministry gave no details of Mr. Eban’s talks with the Cypriot leaders, but said President Makarios spoke of the many young Cypriots training and studying in Israel. The Eban visit apparently marked an improvement in relations between the two countries which had cooled after the June, 1967 war. At that time President Makarios denounced Israel as an aggressor. Israel maintains an embassy on Cyprus but there is no Cypriot ambassador in Israel.
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