Last Updated On: Mar 08 2021 04:34 Gmt+3 Two years after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, the United States faced another threat to world peace: Turkey threatened Cyprus with invasion. But in a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Ismet Inönü, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson made it clear that, in event of Soviet intervention, Turkey could not rely on NATO’s support. In his letter, Johnson described the Cyprus issue as “one of the most complex problems on earth”. And even today, the island’s unification, together with Ireland and the Palestinian question, remains intractable. I have visited Cyprus three times, held a number of discussions and written many articles on the issue, And I too have come to share the view of U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, who called it “the most thankless and frustrating task” he had encountered.