Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-12-31

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

Thursday, December 31, 1998

Missile decision divides the dailies

THE DRAMATIC decision to divert the S-300s to Crete was greeted with highly contrasting headlines in the dailies yesterday.

"S-300s off the rails," was the banner headline in Left-wing Haravghi.

"Decision of Shame," was right-wing Machi's chosen title for the same story.

"Brave decision," was pro-government Alithia's headline.

"They've buried the S-300s without getting anything in return," Simerini announced.

Phileleftheros was, as usual, more measured in its response to events. The decision not to bring the missiles is expected to cause major reactions on the domestic political scene, the paper stated.

Phileleftheros said the decision to take the missiles to Crete had been taken months ago jointly by Athens and Nicosia.

The paper noted that President Clerides had taken full responsibility for the decision not to bring the missiles.

Haravghi, a mouthpiece for opposition party Akel, stated that the emergency National Council meeting that preceded Clerides' announcement had been a stormy affair, with party leaders reacting strongly to what the paper said was a decision in which they were allowed no real say.

It reported that Akel had described Clerides' climbdown as the inevitable result of a catalogue of government mistakes. The National Council was never consulted on the initial decision to buy the S-300s, the paper stated.

"With a decision of shame, the Presidential Palace last night wrote the epilogue to the much talked about missile issue and buried Cypriot Hellenism's dream of standing up to its full height and proving that it would not passively accept the realities of the invasion and occupation," Machi stated.

Machi also reported, under the banner "exclusive", that Clerides and Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis had struck a secret deal whereby Greece would give the National Guard shorter-range Russian missiles in exchange for the S-300s.

The TOR-M1 missiles would provide the air cover for the Paphos air base the S-300s had been destined to protect.

Simerini reported that socialist party Edek was now ready to abandon the government in protest at the decision. The paper added that Cyprus' Common Defence Dogma agreement with Greece was now in the balance.

Alithia described the President's decision as being in the best interests of the country and stressed Athens' "complete" agreement with the decision not to bring the missiles.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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