Makarios Reported Set to Yield Arms

ATHENS, March 1 — Archbishop Makarios, the President of Cyprus, has reportedly notified the Greek Government that he will allow a United Nations peace force to control the Czechoslovak arms he imported clandestinely last January.

Surrender of the arms was one of the several Greek demands last month that the Archbishop had refused to meet. There has been no announcement of his reported decision to yield on this point, but it was confirmed by qualified sources oz’ both sides of the issue, and a spokesman for his Government said’ the weapons issue was “at the stage of being settled.” There was no indlbation whether the Greek GovVinment had made any conceson to the Archbishop in return.

In his reply to Athens, which reportedly arrived yesterday, President Makarios is also said to have accepted a Greek demand that he agree to shuffle his Government to create a “national unity” regime more acceptable to Greece.

The reply reached Athens 48 hours before a special meeting of. the Holy Synod, the executive of Cyprus's Orthodox Church, which is headed by Archbishop Makarios. Qualified sources disclosed that the three other bishops of the synod would ask him to resign the presidency on the ground it was a violation of orthodox holy canons for a churchman to hold the temporal office of president of the republic.

The three bishops, Metropolitans Anthimos of Kitium, Kyprianos of Kyrenia and Gennadios of Paphos, have already pressed the Archbishop to give in to the demands of Athens, whose will, they say, should prevail in matters of national policy concerning the island's half‐million Greeks.

It is not clear if the three bishops have the power to depose Archbishop Makarios from the leadership of the Cyprus Church.

The reported settlement on the weapons issue recalls a similar case in 1966 when the custody of arms, also imported from Czechoslovakia, was granted a United Nations force. The arms had been imported by Greek Cypriotes as a result of their conflict with the Turkish Cypriote minority, and the settlement was arranged after strong protests from Turkey.

This time Turkey was not involved. President Makarios ordered $2.5‐million in small and medium arms from Czechoslovakia to equip a trusted militia in the wake of rumors of an Athens‐sponsored plot to remove him as the obstacle to a Greek‐Turkish accord over Cyprus.

The Archbishop, who has been President since 1960, is said to have blocked two alternative proopsals—first, continued independence with selfgovernment for the Turkish minority of Cyprus, and secand, union with Greece with territorial concessions for the Turkish Cypriotes.

The Greek Government, it is said, had hoped to use Gen. George Grivas, an underground fighter who reportedly has organized irregular military units on the island, to put pressure on the President.

But the general's appearance on the island last fall, after exile in Greece, was followed by the importing of the Czechoslovak arms. In addition, General Grivas reportedly began to balk. Then, in its virtual ultimatum delivered on Feb. 11, the military‐backed Greek Government asked the 58‐year‐old Archbishop Makarios to agree to the surrender of the arms to the United Nations force and to shuffle his Government.

This week, in an apparent move to forestall the new attempt to oust him from power, the Archbishop was reported to have sent his reply to Athens through Maj. Gen. Haralambos Haralambopoulos, the Greek commander of the 12,000‐man Cyprus National Guard, the island's only defense force, which is controlled by 1,300 officers from mainland Greece.