Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-06-04

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Thursday, June 4, 1998

Helicopters on spying missions?

TWO HELICOPTER stories, related to allegations of spying by Britain and the US, appeared yesterday.

Simerini reported that a helicopter from the British base of Akrotiri had followed a Greek cargo ship sailing off the Limassol coast and demanded information about its port of origin, destination, cargo and crew members from the captain. The paper described this as a 'hostile act', undermining the Cyprus Republic.

The Council of Ministers was expected to discuss the matter, as it raised "major legal and political issues", which threatened to worsen the relations between Cyprus and Britain.

Agon said that the two American Blackhawk helicopters, at which flares had been fired 10 days ago when they flew over a National Guard camp in Zygi, had not secured flight permission from the Cyprus authorities.

It wondered whether the control tower of the British bases, at which the Blackhawks are based, had deliberately failed to inform the Larnaca control tower about the helicopters' flight. However, the Cyprus authorities were investigating the possibility that the Blackhawks did not come from the bases, but from US warships in the Mediterranean.

Phileleftheros said that, according to government sources, the golden mean with regard to the S-300 missiles was in sight. Negotiations on the missiles between Washington and Nicosia were "going well", although Ankara is not involved.

No 'heated incident' would take place if the US accepted Nicosia's formula, presidential sources said. According to the report, the plan involves bringing the missiles to Cyprus, but not deploying them. The proposal for an overflight ban was also being discussed, the paper said.

Alithia said that Cyprus' attention had been focused on protecting tourism from the possible negative effects of the Sunday Times report about the possibility of hostilities.

The assurances that the government had tried to secure from the British government were given without great difficulty and the threat to tourism from Britain had been eliminated.

Haravghi reported a rift among the co-governing parties -- Disy, Edek and the United Democrats -- over the tackling of the fiscal deficit. Aware of the high political cost that support of the government's tax package would incur, the junior partners had tried to avoid taking responsibility for it.

While the two smaller parties rejected Disy's proposal for closer co- operation, the tax package had also caused division and disagreement within Disy, the paper said.

Machi said the government would withdraw its tax package so that consultations could take place with the other political parties. A new package, that would include proposals for cutting government spending and for protecting lower income groups, would be prepared.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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