Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-06-05

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

Friday, June 5, 1998

Turks happy if missiles stay in boxes

DEVELOPMENTS in the ongoing saga of the S-300 missiles were reported yesterday, but the government has avoided confirming them.

Phileleftheros said that for the first time since the missile issue arose, Ankara had made a distinction between the arrival of the missiles and their actual deployment. This was widely reported in the Turkish press, and tied in with speculation of the previous day, suggesting that the missiles would come but would not be deployed.

Turkish press reports had said that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright would be informed about what would happen when she visits Ankara later this month. Turkey would upgrade its occupation troops if the missiles came, and warned that there would be a pre-emptive strike if they were deployed.

The government declined any comment about this scenario, because negotiations were continuing and because there were domestic disagreements; the Minister of Defence insists that the missiles should be deployed.

Alithia said that the proposal for bringing but not deploying the missiles had been made by US envoy Thomas Miller and was not rejected by the Cyprus government. Miller's other suggestion, for the missiles to be under UN control, had been rejected.

While there were claims that Miller's proposal was a non-starter, statements by the government of Cyprus and Greece tended to support the view that the missiles would be brought and kept in their boxes.

Machi reported that neither Athens nor Nicosia had changed their position on the missiles. This transpired after a meeting in Athens, chaired by Prime Minister Simitis and attended by the Foreign and Defence Ministers of Greece and Cyprus.

Greece's government spokesman said that nothing had changed with regard to foreign and defence policies. The Cyprus government spokesman and Defence Minister both ruled out the possibility of keeping the missiles in storage.

Simerini accused the governments of Greece and Cyprus of covering up the "act of piracy" committed by the British bases against a Greek ship sailing off the coast of Cyprus. The paper did not believe the claims by the bases that the RAF helicopter involved in the incident was carrying out routine rescue exercises.

It said that the helicopter had used special equipment to establish what cargo the ship was carrying. It claimed the British were searching for S- 300 missile parts.

Haravghi said that the Cyprus problem situation was critical as the deadlock was becoming entrenched, while the artificial crisis over the missiles only made matters worse.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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