Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-02-18

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

Thursday, February 18, 1999

'Lamb to the slaughter'

THE OCALAN capture dominated the front pages of all the dailies yesterday, with every paper carrying a front-page picture of a Kurdish protestor in Athens engulfed in flames after setting himself alight.

Phileleftheros reported that, after falling into Turkish hands, Kurdish rebel leader Ocalan was now "face to face with death."

Politis reported that Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos was being pushed by Greek opposition parties to resign over his alleged part in the Kurd fugitive's capture.

"Lamb to the Slaughter" was Machi's chosen title for the Ocalan story.

The Kurdish rebel leader was likely to suffer torture at the hands of his Turkish captors, the paper reported.

Haravghi reported that Ocalan had been the victim of an international conspiracy.

All the papers devoted many column inches to Kurdish protests all over Europe in the wake of their leader's arrest and focused on the occupation of various Greek embassies by the protestors.

Holbrooke's pessimistic statements about the chances of a swift Cyprus settlement were also given wide coverage.

Alithia said the US Cyprus envoy had stated, after a meeting with Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides in New York, that the deadlock in Cyprus peace talks was unlikely to be broken soon.

"We will continue our efforts. It is a very difficult problem and due to the current attitude of the Turkish side it will be very difficult to achieve progress," Holbrooke was quoted as saying.

The US was totally committed to achieving a settlement, the envoy was reported as saying. "But we cannot honestly tell you that a way out of the impasse is in the offing, because this would require the co-operation and active involvement of all sides."

Politis also reported that Defence Minister Yiannakis Chrysostomis' trip to Moscow was as much about securing a deal for a new missile system as it was about closing the deal redirecting the S-300s to Crete.

The Defence minister was to enter "substantive" talks with the Russians on the purchase of new weapons, including BUK M1 short-range missiles, the paper stated.

More T-80U tanks were also on the government's shopping list, the paper reported.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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