S/PV.68 Security Council

1 think we shall follow the same procedure we used before; namely, we shall continue consideration of the second item of the agenda "and leave the third item on the provisional agenda for further consideration. troisiè.me proposition §ur la représentant If there is no objection 1 shaH consider my suggestion as adopted. Point 2 of the agenda was adopted. .The PRESIDENT: 1 have three speakers on the list. First, l will recognize the representative of Poland. Première Annexe Première Annexe 57. Discussion of the Ukrainian complaint against Greece (confinued) Mr. LANGE (Polalld): 1 should like to pre- sent briefly the views of the Polish delegation and of the Government of Poland on the subject which is before us. In doing sa, 1 should like first to make two statements in order ta avoid any possible nùsunderstanding of our position in the matter of the Greek-Albanian situation. 1 want to make it quite clear that the people of Poland and the Polish Government are full of sympathy for the people of Greece. The heroic fight which the Greek people waged against the German invaders in the spring of 1941 is well in our mimis, and 1 must say that this heroic struggle of·the Greek people was followed by the people of Poland, who, at that time, were Wlder German occupation, with deep interest and sympathy. 1 should like to add that we extend the same sympathy, not only to the Greek troops who fought during that memorable spring of 1941, and to the Greek people who continued to fight in the miderground just as we did during the whole period of nazi occupation, but also to those British troops who came to Greece at that time to help the Greek people in thcir lonely fight against a nazi-German invasion. When expressing our views on the subject which was brought before this Council by the Foreign Minister of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, we want ti:> make it understood not only that we are going to treat the problem with full sympathy for the Greek nation, but aIso with full sympathy for Great Britain, which played such a prominent part in the defence of Greece. A similar 'problem was already before the Council during its London meetings, and 1think the position whic::h the repres~t~tive of Pol~d, Mr. Modzelewski, our Vlce-MlDlSter of ForeIgn Affairs, took at that tUne, shows that·we are capable of approaching the problem with an open mind and without any prejudice. 1 want to read from the Journal of the Security Council part of the statement wmch was made on 4 February 1946 by the Polish representative, Mr. Modzelewski: "No one wishes to deny that the British .troops, ~ent. to. Greece in order t~ r~ore peace and order in that gallant country;, as .Ml'. Bevin rightly said, "to restore peace sions complexe République des le tique l'admettent, nombre ce par soviétique statistiques qui se sont produits au de mémorandum) t,~ Greece," This was the pOs.ltion which was taken by the representative of Poland during the London meetings of the Security Couneil. It shows that we are willing to approach the problem with an open mind and without any special political objective directed against any of the great Powers involved in the present Greek situation. The Polish Govemment, however, took this position in the expectation th~t the situation in Greece would soon improve and that the diffi- culties which gave rise ta the discussion at the London meetings of the Assembly would soon be overcome. 'Unfortunate1y, as 'tite discussion at this meeting shows, our expectations have not been borne out. The situation has not improved. On the contraI)., it is worse today and more complicated than it was during the days of the London debates. There is, first, the question of border incidents, which was raised by the representative of the Ukrainian Soviet Sociàlist Republic. That there are border incidents, there is no doubt. Both sides involved in our discussion, the representa- tive of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist RepubJic and the representative of Greece, admit that, and they have handed in to our Council a number of memoranda and statements on this subject. In one of these statements handed in by the representative of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, we have sorne statistics on the number of border incidents which occurred during the first haH of this year, and here are the numbers (on page 13 of the memorandum)1: "In the months of January, February and March of this year, there were eight incidents; in the months of April and May of this year there were fifteen incidents; and in the months of June and July there were twenty-six inci- dents." These figures show that the situation is de- teriorating, and on the basis of these figures we can say thàt we are confronted with a serious situation which cannot be dismissed lightly by the Council. .The problem before us is the following: what signifieance and interpretation should we attach to these incidents wmch are admitted by both sides? The thesis presented by the :representative of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic maÏn- tains that these incidents areconnected with the internai situation in Greece; llame1y,with the en pouvons· sence d'une situation écartée ainsi: tion dents Dans socialiste incidents Our study of the facts of the situation makes this thesis rather convincing. There are, indeed, severa! factors in the intemal Greek situation which appear to us very alarming. Wc are not interested in internal Greek mat- ters, in so far as they are purely internal matters of that country. However, we do feel that we have here before us a problem which is in a certain sense SÏID.llar to the problem of Spain; namely, where the development of internal fascist and reactionary forces also leads to an expall- sionist foreign palicy, which is supported by all kinds of irresponsible methods that may easily endanger the peace of that part of Europe. Here are the factors in the internal situa- tion of Greece which appear to us to be rather alarnun F· . gth: . th ... f . 1 ll'St, ere 18 e partiCIpation 0 naZl co- laborationistc; in the pres.ent administration and police force of the Greek Govermnent. Now~ in many C'Juntries there have been people and even organized groups who have collaborated with the nazi invaders. Such groups existed in France, .Belgium, Holland and Norway. But what happened in these countries was that aIl these groups were immediately removed" after liberation, from any partir.ipation in political affairs, and were actually prosecuted for tr~ason to their countries. In Greece, however, it seems that there are a large number, 1 would say an unduly Jarge number, of people who have col- laborated with the Gennans and who now not only are respected~ but actually are co-operat- ing in the administration. 1 have here before me a whole list of members of Parliament aîld other high officials who have been nazi collaboration- ists. 1 shall not bother the Cauncil with reading the whole lista It is open for examination by any memberwho wishes to see it,.! 1 should like to add that even the members of the British Parliament whose names were men- tioned here several times in the discussions of the Greek situation, have attested· ta the fact that fonner collaborationists play a large and im- portant role in the Government and particularly in the gendarmerie of the present Greek regime. We do consider this to be a matter of interna- tional importance for exactly the same reason that we consider the harbouring of nazis and Gennans by the Franco Govemment in Spain to be a matter of international importance. Thereis anodller point which draws our atten- non and wmch iB aIso considered by us as rather alarriling: this is the destruction of the free Some doubts as to the facts of the situation of trade unions in Greece have been expressed during the debates at this Council. 1 think that these doubts can be removed now, owing to the fact that the World Federation of Trade Unions has submitted to us a statement about the situa- tion of the Greek trade union movement. The statement was submitted to me yesterday, as President of their CounciI, by the Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions, Mr. Saillant. However, sinee this is not a govern- mental organization, 1 thought it more appro- priate that 1 distribute this statement to the members of the Council in my capacity as the representative of Poland. The document is being distrlbuted. 1just want to read two passages from the letter addressed to me by Mr. Saillant. One passage reads as follows: "The Security Council will not fail to note that, of all the countries which have been at war with Germany 2Jld its satellites, Greece alone does not guarantee today the trade union :rights and socia! freedoms that the other democratic and victorious nations as- sure to thçir workers. Two points should be stressed: in the ex-enemy countries other than Germany, the trade unions have expanded and assured to the workers social rights that the Greek workers do not possess. In Germany, the Inter-Allied Control Council assures to the new German trade unions, in every one of the occupation zones, more organic trade union freedom than is tolerated by the Greek Gov- ernment for the workers of that country who want to organize freely. The Security Council will probably consider with attention the fact that, after the efforts of the British Trades Union Congress and later of the World Fed- eration of Trade Unions, there had been achieved, in Greece, trade union unification and social pacification· which aimed at guar- anteeing social rights and trade union freedoms to the Greek workers. "That had been undertaken in the month of February 1945 by Sir Walter Citrine on be- half of the British trade unions, and it had been continued by the World Federation of Trade Unions in co-operation with the British, French and Soviet trade unions. Now it has been questioned by the present Greek Govern- ment." Another passage of the same letter reads as follows: "What a previous Government had con- sidered a useful achievement has been de- stroyed .by another Government, which' has There is only one point 1 want to comment on briefly. There was an Allied commission which ohserved and foliowed the Greek elections, and the verdict of that cQmmission has been in- voked. 1 do not want to criticize the work of this commission~ the questions of counting· votes and sa on, but, notwithstandillg,there are two points which 1 would like to raise. One point, a minor technical one, is one which even this commission has .'laid was very inadequately handled in the Greek elections. This was the question of the deëtion registers. ~)econdly, the point is that the essential thing is not whether the votes were honestly counted or not, but the fact that the e1ections were pre- ceded by such a constant situation of police terror,. of destruction of political opponents and sa on, that on this ground alone the results are doubtful. But 1 do TIot want to enter further into this problem, because it does not seem to me tobe the most important one. The most important rroblem; the one which should concern us here, is what happens right now. And as to what is happening right now, we have the testimony which is being sent out from Greece every clay, by foreign correspondents who observe the situation in·Greece. 1. could present you with a large file of such testimony, but 1 have picked out only onepiece, just an item, from today's "The officiaIs who made these statements were George H. Gardner, director for Thes- saly, Frederick West, chief of the anti-malaria campaign, and George H. Chapman, a British distribution executive. "They told how malaria-fighting aireraft had bee."l used by the Governmen\' ta trace politica! fugitives in the hills 50 that the royalist gangs could pursue them. "My companions and 1 are provided with detailed documentation in support of every statement in this article." This is just a sample picked at random. 1 would want to suggest that the owner of the paper which published it, the New York Daily News, is not a member of the EAM, nor a pub- lkity agent of the Foreign Minister of the :Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. . These facts are bound to l'aise great concern and alarm in our delegation and our Govern- ment, because we do see here all the forces of a new fascist regime in the making, and we ;know from the history of this war and from the history of the years preceding this war, that fascism does lead to international trouble and conflict. 1 would not like to be misunderstood. 1 would not like to he misinterpreted as believing that the British forces in Greece by themse1ves are a factor which causes international trouble and international conflict. We are very far from that belief. As our representatives said quite clearly in London, we do not impute such objec- tives to the British Government. What we do believe .to be the case is that the one-sided ~up­ port which has been given to the Greek mon- archist and iascist elements has indirectly become a danger to the peace of the Balkans, because it is given in support of the most unscrupulous and, politically, entirely irresponsible elements, e1ements which will utilize this support for pur- poses of their own and for purposes which endanger the peace of the Balkans. This is not the first time that that has happened. We remember the earlier J?eriod just before the war when certain Governments gave support to irresponsible fascist elements in Ita!y and Ger- -many, support which 8lally proved to have en- dangered the peace of Europe. The Governments which, for example, at Munich, gave support to the nazis, the Govern- ments which. earlier gave support to Mussolini, did this, not with the object of creating We consider that the dismissal of the case from this Council would be very harmful and would, in particular, diminish the confidence of the smaller nations in the Security Council, because i' would thrust serious doubt into the mincIs of the sma11er nations as to whether the affairs of this Council are rea11y conducted in good faith and in an objective spirit, or rather are con- dlucted in th~ spirit of political opportunism as to alignrnent among the big Powers. 1 should like, therefore, in the name of the PoI.:sh delegation, to ù.i.6e this Counéil most seri- ously not to take a light step and nât to dismiss the case from the Council. What solution do we propose? 1 think that in the long run there is one solution, the on1y one which will solve the problem permanently, and that is to leave Gr~ek atLfairs to the Greek people. 1 am very glad to know that, in sub- stance, the Government of the United Kingdom subscribes to this solution. At the London debates about Greece on 4 February 1946, Ml'. Bevin said: "In so far as Greece is concerned, as soon as we have carried out the obligations that we have undertaken with the Greek Government, these troops will be withdrawn and we shall not menace or cause any trouble ta any other nation." .. 1 ant aiso very glad to have found the fo1l6w- ing staterrîent of thf:\ present· Prim~ MiniSter of . .: ,1- ' '. . '.'!-: l think that tlùs will, in the long l'un, ~'ve the problem of the Greek situation, or, in any case, reduce it to its proper proportion of purely internai affairs. In expressing this view l should also like to invoke a testimony of a very high authority on international affairs, Ml'. Sumner Welles, WllO, on 10 April of tlùs year, wrote the following in the New York Herald Tribune: "The Security Council is now m SCSSlon. The crisis which is arising in Greece is patently a situation which might lead to in- ternati.onal friction or give rise to a dispute as envisaged ID Article 34 of the United Nations Charter. Undcr the provisions of Article 35, any State may bring such a situa- tion to the attention of the Council. Should a new civil war break out in Greece, there exists the tragic ~osSibility that it may con- tain the same threats to world peace as thase wlùch arase from the Spanish civil war of 1936. The Security Council should not end its present session until the Greek situation has been carefully scrutinized. "The Security Couneil should create a salutary precedent by providing in this in- stance for the evacuation of 1Jritish forces of occupation and for th~ assumption of re- sponsibility by the United Nations for safe- guarding the just rights of the Greek people. Similar stcps should he taken in aIl analogons cases." This appears to me a very reasonable pro- posai. However, 1 understand that this pro- posai cannot be carried out immediately, and would require a longer period Ç)f negotiations between the Powers and action by our Organiza- tion. We must do something immediately, something to avoid the danger of international conflict in the Balkans right away. It seems to me that the resolution presented by th~ repre- sentative of the USSR, which goes much less far than what, for instance, Ml'. Sumner Welles has proposed, provides a means of avoiding immediate international conflict. You will re- member that the resolution d(;1llands, essentiaIly, Before completing the presentation of the posi- tion of our Government on this subject, 1 should like to address one request to the Council, and this request is not to approach the Greek prob. lem in the spirit of Munich. 1 have already mentioned the experience of Munich when 1 spoke of the poliey of supporting irresponsible and unscrupulous fascist clements. The revival of the shadows of Munich has been mentio~~ed here by other representatives, and doubts have been expressed as to whether the shadows of :Munich are not being revived today. 1 wish J could say that this is not true.. Unfortunately, we of the Poiish nation cannot say this, because the shadows of :Munich affect us todav in a most direct way. 1t has been proposed recently that we cede, in particular, the industrial region of Silesia to Germany and thus provide &Il un- regenerate reactionary Germany with an arsenal in which to prepare a new war of conquest against the nations of eastern Europe. The spirit and shadows of Munich strike directly at the borders of our nation. Vife rcmember much tao weIl the sad experience of our Czechoslovak sister nation, which in 1938 yielded to the spirit of Munich and, by sa yiclding, gave up her own independence, our independence and the peace of Europe. We shall not yield. Our reply to this spirit of Munich today is the same resolute "No" with which we met that spirit on 1 September 1939. 1 waut to make to this Council one very seri- ous request. The request is dùs ~ When you consider the Greek case, whatever your decision may be, in takiï1g that decision do nat be guided by that spirit of Munich. There is another spirit by which 1 would like this Council to be guided. This is the spirit of Dumbarton Oaks~ the spirit of San Francisco, the spirit of unity among all the United Nations, a unity which was forged in a war against fascism and not in a policy of defence and support of fascist policies. This spirit has created our Organization, and 1 hope that we will be guided by this spirit; and then, whatever decision we shall reach in this case, it will be one which will strengthen the United Nations as an organization designed to preserve international peace and security. Ml'. MANUILSKY (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) (translated /rom Russian): Before proceeding to deal witb. the objections of·my nier au monarchiste B~kôpoulos, in supporting this rnquiry, stated that: pellation~ Judge for yourse1ves who is right, the de1e- gation of the Ukrainian SSR or the Greek rep- resentàtive and the representative of the United Kingdom who is supporting him. The representative of the United Kingdom has further asserted that the British military authorities have nothing to do with the puni- tive expeditions sent by the Greek Government against democratic e1ements. He has even heatedly characterized such a supposition as a libe1. The delegation of the Ukrainian SSR submits to Sir Alexander Cadogan the news- paper Vradini, an organ of Ml'. Tsaldaris. On the fust page of the issue aI this newspaper for 6 August 1946 are photographs: on one side are shown tanks and armoured cars coneen- trated for an attack against democratic e1ements at Mount Olympus, while on the other side is shown a: group of officers among whom can be recognized the Minister for t.'he Interior, the not unfamiliar Spiro Theotokis, and also ~ the assistant to the head of the British Military Mission. In the same issue a reference is made in the leading article to a statement by the assistant to the head of the British Military Mission, Mr. Rmgan, who in observmg the progress of the operations said: cèWe were offered an opportunity of find· ing out what the Greek army had leamed and we mûst confess that we were surprised." If that is a libel, then Sir Alexander Cadogan should institute' a lihel action against Mr. Tsaldaris and his newspaper. The representative of the United Kingdom has tried to explain to the Security Council the reasons for· the execution of Irene Jini. The delegation of the Ukrainian SSR sincerely re- grets that the representative of the United King- dom took this task upon hiInself; and did Ilot Even if no other documents were available to us regarding the persecution of national minori- ties in Greece, that example alone would show what a hostile atmosphere prevails in Greece towards national minorities, The Greek representative referred in bis speech to the statement by the great Bulgarian, Mr. Dimitrov, who in 1943 mercilesslyexposed the poliey of the Bulgarian clique headed by Prime Minister Fiiov, and afforded an example of the necessity of fighting a reactionary govern- ment of one's m'ln country if it violates the rights of other peoples. The old Bulgaria is no more. There is a new, democratie Bulgaria with such statesmen as Dimitrov, who at the Leipzig trial so coura- geously defendéd humanity from the aggressors who were beginning to raise their heacls. Now, in tokenof thanks for fuat, the extreme Greek monarcrnSts are directing their blows against the new democratic Bulgaria, which defended Greece in the dark hour of the Italian and Ger- man occupation. The Greek monarchists want to deprive this riewdemocratic Bulgaria of ancient Bulgarian lands. UIf you do not vote for us, the Greek mon- . archists, you will be dec1ared Bulgarian au- tonomists and then woe betide you!" And woe reaUy did befaIl the Macedonians. In the village of Tikhio alone, two thousand head of cattle were taken away and all houses were looted excepting those Ïnhabited by the Comitadjis who had co-operated with the Ger- mans, but who had posted on their houses the words: "Long live the monarchy!" Are not such inhumanly brutal slogans as those we found in the Newspaper Eleftheria of 23 April 1946 real1y characteristic of the dis- criminatory policy of the present Greek Govern- ment? This newspaper wrote: "On the northern Greek frontiers live the Sudetens of the third world war. They are the Slav Macedonians. If Greece does not rid herself of them, the third world war will begin at the Greek frontiers . . . May aU of them leave Greece to the last man. . . ." Judge for yourselves whether the delegation of the Ukrainian SSR is right in apprising the Security. Council of the persecution of the national minorities in Greect>:. The delegation of the Goyernment of the Ukrainian SSR, in making reference to the state- ments.of prominent Greek statesmen of the most varied politicaltrends, and fulfilling its obliga- tions as a Member of the United Nations, has warned the Government of Great Britain and iriformed the Security Council that the conduct of the plebiscite under the pressure of the British Government, with the presence of British troops and in the face of the unrestrained licence of ex- treme monarchis~ gangs, is not conducive ta peace in Greece, but on the contrary aggravates and complicates still further the situation in that country. Dr. Lange has today cited the news- paper Daily News. The newspaper New York Herald Tribune of 16 September 1946, which defends not the position of the delegation of the Ukrainian SSRin'the Greek question, but that of tbe Government of the United States of Amer- ica, published a dispatch from Greece showing that in the district of Mount Olympus, Greek Kalamb~likis are slaughtering and killing the peaceful population. 1 will quote only a A:,·,rt extraet from this dis- patch: "The Government, moreover, has sanc- tioned the activities of at least two large bandit gToups. One is led py a bearded bandit, Spyros Sourlas, who once had a priee on bis head for thievery and murder, and the other by Spyros Kalambalikis. A British consular official told us that Kalambalikis was a former Gestapo stooge who still has a priee of 5,000,000 drachmas on bis head for collaborationist aetivities. "Yet these two men enjoy complete im- munity today· and, voicing royalist slogans, terrorize and kill. They c~ be seen regularly in coffee houses at Volos and Larissa, and regularly use motor trucks lent to the Govern- ment by UNRRA." It is to the tender mercies of such people that the Greek population is delivered by the ruling classes of Greece. Judge for yourselves who is right, the delega- tion of the UkraÎIÙan SSR or those who speak about the baselessness of the statement of the UkraÎIÙan SSR. To justify bis vote against the admission of AlbaIÙa into the United Nations, the representa- tive of the United Kingdom could find no other argument than the fact that the. Italian ma- rauders had med to drag Albania into the war with Greece. Accordingly, all that the Albanian people did for the common cause of the UIÙted Nations, about which political and military leaders of the Allied nations have expressed themselves in such laudatory terms, counts for nothing. In thè opÎIÙon of the representative of the United Kingdom, Albania sh~uld not be gz:anted admission into the ranks of the United Nations. Wel1, what about Italy? Italy, which on 7 April 1~39 attacked Albania, when the great Powers directing the League of Nations did not move a finger to defend the Albanian .people against Italian aggression; perhaps the . gates of the Umted Nations will be closed against Italy, which was the ally of hitlerite Germany and of Japan in the Axis? Itis weIl known that after the peace is signed, It~ly will be admitted , into the UIÙted Nations. ' Atteinpts have beèn made to admit inio the United Nations, States such as Portugal, whose PQlitical regime is in obvious conflict with the Charter of the UIÙted Nations. There .are sorne States, Members of the United Nations, whose benevolent neutrality towards, Germany caused greater harm to' the United Nations than, .for example, .the ; t.. • • , '., •• ,' ", .' •• , A still worse situation will be brought about if the Security Council passes over the question raised by the delegation of the Ukrainian SSR and does not take any decision, as has been recommended by the representative of Australia, whom the other representatives are apparently ready to support. Therecan be only one way out of the situation which has arisen, and that is the adoption by 'the Security Council of the resolution proposed by.. the representative of the USSR and supported by the delegation of the Govemment of the Ukrainian SSR. Mr. DENDRAMIS (Greeee) (translated from French): In the course of the discussions which have been going on for several days now, 1 have endeavoured to refute all the allegations which betokened, whether intentionally or not, the greatest possible confusion in the minds of our accusers as to the actual situation in my country. l have quoted facts, authentic documents, evi- dence even from people to whom erroneous state- ments were attributed. The representative of the Ukrainian SSR has resorted to the most ex- traordinary methods in disputing the validity of the arguments advanced by 'Llther members of the Council, as weIl as by myself. By repeating what he had already said the previous day, :he has tried to make this august assembly look like à county court. Today the representative of Poland repeated several arguments previously put forward by other representatives, but which had already been answèred before they were stated. ~e read out to us passages froni correspondenee ID a newspaper. 1 shall not resort to such meam and shall refrain from reading the letters, speeches and telegrams of thousands of Poles who fought heroically on aIl the Allied fronts and who, protesting .against the present regime in their own country, prèfer to live in exile rather than return there. . l note with regret that the representative of Polaud quoted Mr. Sumner Welles' article in such a way as to distortit beyond all recognition. That was the article in which Mr. Sumner WeIle~ .' specifically mentioned the Soviet Press barrage directed against the elections in Greece and the fact that its predictions had proved to be unfounded. . 1 have taken note of the report in today's Daily News. It filled me with great pride for my country. At the present time, when it is assailed by countless forces of darkness threaten- ing its independenee and territorial integrity, my country fee1s so sure of itself that it maintains inviolate all the freedoms, of democracy, includ- ing the freedom to dispatch faIse reports lacking the slightest shred of evidence. The representatives of Poland and the Ukrainian SSR have quoted a so-called state- ment by Ml'. Tsaldaris, which has sinee been denied, and they have forgotten my own state- ment in which 1 said that the British troops are in Greece at· the request of all the political parties. . 1 do notthink 1.neecl. reply to the Polish rep- rel?entative's allegations concerning so-called col- laborationist officers. Our officers and soldiers s1;lowed on·all fronts, wherever they fought, that they were well able to defend the honour of their country. In connexion with the trade union movement in Greece, 1 have today laid before the Council a memorandrim containing a full survey of the state of that' movement in Greece. No better reply to Ml'. Saillant's allegations could be given than ilie following letter sent by the National Work~' Federation of Greece, representing 430,000 members, to the Security Council; it reads as follows: "On behalf of the labourers of Greece, who became the vanguard of the nation when iœ entire population was defending world free- dom, we consider it· necesc;ary to protest against the insult that Greece endangers world peace. As representatives of the National Fed- eration of Labourers of Greece, a federation with 430~000members, or two-thirds of the Greek Labour Party, we assùre the Security Council of the United Nations that, today, Greeee isthe oruy Balkan nation that offers her labourers democratic and syndicalist freedoms. "Having accepted.the kind invitation of the American Federation of Labor, we are now in the United States with the purpose of re- questing- that the United Nations give justice to Greece and that Greece be protected from the terrorist· intrigues of the Greek Commu- nist p~ and the hostile forces co-operating with it against the welfare of our suffering nation. "The Greek labourers wish that the United Nations insist on the enforcement of the At- lantic Charter and on the protection of the ~'Paris, 16 September "Contendillg that the Ukrainewas mis- represented at the Paris Conference by 'hand· picked' agents of the Soviet regime, Stephen Shumeyko, President of the UkrainiaJ!. Con· gress of America, presented to the Conference today a memorandum urging an independent Ukraine. "On behali of a group that is said to repre- sent 750,000 Americans of Ukrainian descent, the memorandum said that 'Red commissars are conducting a ruthless campaign tù exter- minate the Ukrainian national consciousness or pervert it ta the pattern of Soviet Russian ideology',," Is any credence to be given to assertions of this kind? 1 think the time has now come for us to l'aise the nature and scope of our discussions to a slightly higher levei. A few days ago the repre- sentative of the USSR maintained that the visit of American warships was an affront to the Greek people. 1 should like to state solemnly that the Greek people and Government were profoundly touched by the delicate compliment ·on the part of the GoVeiThïlent of the United States of America H. .3ending its vessels (inelud- ing one bearing the name of Franklin Roosevelt) on a visit to Greece, lOr this enabled the Greek people to pay renewed tribute to the memory of that great statesman. The Greek people remem- ber, and will always remember gratefully, the help afforded to Greece by that ~eat democrat and his friendly and reassuring words at the time ·of the Iiberation of Athens, whe~ he said: "America has always had the highest regard for the gallant Greek people, who gave birth to democracy. The contribution of Greece to our present struggle by the con- tinued resistance of i18 people has been invaluable. "1 am glad to have this opportunity to reassure my friends of Greek origin and Greek birth everywhere that· it is the desire of the "Franklin D. Roosevelt" The representatives of the USSR and of the Ukrainian SSR have aIso charged with aggres- sion, those who love their country and do not wish to see it destroyed. They charged with aggres- sion those men who, in mue of their rights, have, at the Paris Conference, which was called to establish peace, asked that their brothers in northern Epirus be freed from a tyrannical yoke and that our frontiers with Bulgaria, formerly a satellite of the Axis, which has attacked us three times in a generation, be rectified in accordance with strategic requirements. And yet they do not see any aggressive intent in the fact that, with the support of the USSR, an ally is requesting that Greek Macedonia should he in- corporated in the Yugoslav Federation, nor in the fact that one of the four Powers which in- vaded Greece is now demanding the cession to her of western Thrace, one of our finest prov- inces) the very province which Hitler had agreed ta hand over ta that Power as a reward for dis- tinguished services rendered ta the cause of the Axis. Not that we have anyanxiety about the result of sucb daims! No one has the power to in- fringe the territorial integrity of Greece. The Greeks did not shed their blood and brave two mighty empires only to be forced in the end to accept the violation of their country's territorial integrity by no matter whom. But 1 cannot help saying that the Greek people, on whom expres- sions of sympathy are being showered at the very moment when attempts are being made t~ crush them, feel astonished and embittered against those who are provoking a nation which has offered such immense sacrifices on the aitar of liberty and independence. Greece is convinced that public opinion in all those nations that fought against fascist megalo- mania will wholeheartedly condemn this resur- gence of the spirit of conquest. We are aIso cer- tain that the Yugoslav people, to whom we are bound by so many battles waged in common on hehalfof tne liberty, ~ no way approves a policy which might constitute a veritable threat to peace in the Balkans. It is a matter of regret that these AlJied States, ta which we have ren- dered invaluable services, should now be adopt- ing the policy of dismetr.bl':rment of Greece, which was Hitler's aim. . 1 Hitler. The policy of aggression must be looked for in certain neighbouring States where bandits are given arms, and anarchis~ raids into our country are encouraged in an attempt ta undermine order and peace. Ït is in these places that cc••• noting that aIl States have an equal right to independence, security, the defence of their territories and the free development of their institutions; "and desirous to ensure to all peoples the inviolability of the territory of their countries; "have decided to recognize as the aggressor any State which provides support to armed bands formed in its territory, which have in- vaded the territory of another State, or which refuses to take, in its own territory, aIl the measures in its power to deprive those bands of all a;;sÏstance or protectioll." Further on in the same treaty it is stipulated that: "No political, military, economic or other considerations may serve as an excuse or justi- fication for sucb aggression." And lastly, in the annex to the treaty, it is laid down that: "The B~l:1;h Contracting Parties dec1are that no act of ~6gression can be justified on either of the following grounds: " (a) The internal condition of aState; its political, economic or social structure; alleged defects in its administration; distur- bances due to strikes, revolutions, counter- revolutions, or civil war. "( b) Frontier incidents." 1 repeat that aIl the incidents which have taken place on the Albanian frontier were de1ib- erately provoked by the Albanians for the pur- pose of creating the requisite conditions for the dispatch of anarcbist bands into Greece. Whenever such incidents have occurred, the Greek Government has brought them to the notice of the Governments of the United King- dom, the United States of America and France, whereas the Albanian Government did not raise the question ol incidents until its application for admission into the United Nations was being con- sidered, and it did so oilly after our own ~emo­ randum on the series of Albanian provocations had been submitted. 1 even have here in my file a number of notes sent by us to the State Depart- ment, which is the oilly government office main- taining an unofficial diplomatie representative in Albania. Albania daims that she is not at war with Greece, but this does not prevent her from per- petrating war-like acts. Enver Hoxha himself bas said that their coastal batteries sbelled British The meeting rose at 6.35 p.m.