Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-06-25

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

Thursday, June 25, 1998

Clerides was in the dark about planes

NEITHER President Clerides nor Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis had been informed about the arrival of the Greek fighter jets to the Paphos air base.

Alithia picked up the revelations made on Alpha TV, saying it appeared that Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou had not informed Clerides about the arrival of the planes. The decision for the arrival of fighters had been taken several months ago and was aimed at checking the facilities of the Paphos air base.

Originally, the fighters' arrival would have coincided with a military exercise, but this was put back because US mediators would have been in Cyprus at the time. According to Alpha, Clerides was informed about the arrival of the fighters just before they landed in Paphos. The Defence Minister was the only member of Greece's government who knew of the arrival in advance.

Phileleftheros said that thanks to Clerides' letter on demilitarisation to the UN, foreign mediators now had enough material to work out serious proposals with regard to the S-300 missiles. This was evident from Richard Holbrooke's contacts in Athens.

An anonymous government source told the paper that "with Clerides' letter and with other positions we have embraced we have given many options for foreigners to work on if they do not want the missiles to come". It was encouraging that the letter was seen as a positive step by three permanent members of the UN Security Council - the UK, the US and Russia.

Machi accused Britain of putting pressure on the Cyprus National Guard to force it to remove it newly-installed radar facilities from mount Olympus. British High Commissioner David Madden had twice met the Chief of the National Guard, General Demetris Dimou, to make his "audacious demand".

According to the paper, Britain was concerned that if Turkish aircraft tried to take out the National Guard's radar installations, they could also hit the British facilities.

Haravghi said that, after meeting President Clerides, Attorney-general Alecos Markides had turned down a request by Efstathios Efstathiou, lawyer of the three Aeroporos brother, for a meeting between his clients and the new Police Chief.

Markides wondered what the brothers, recently acquitted of charges of attempted murder, would have to discuss with the police chief. He also said that any such meeting was liable to send the wrong messages to the public.

Simerini said that Archbishop Chrysostomos' decision to intervene in the matter of the alleged involvement of the Bishop of Limassol in a case of financial fraud gave added significance to the issue. Chrysostomos was expected to meet the Bishop, who has refused to talk about the allegations, yesterday.

The Archbishop has asked the police to keep him informed about the progress of investigations into the matter.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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