Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-12-31

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

Thursday, December 31, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Pre-conditions were not met, government admits

[02] Edek poised to walk out of government

[03] Missiles in Crete: the logistics

[04] Turkish glee at 'comical' climbdown

[05] Greece hits back at Turkish threats over Crete

[06] Annan 'very glad' at missile decision

[07] Diplomats breathe a sigh of relief

[08] Humiliation or wise decision?

[09] Markets fail to react to missile decision

[10] Countdown to climbdown

[11] Teenager killed in crash

[01] Pre-conditions were not met, government admits

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday admitted that the decision not to bring the S-300 missiles had been taken even though the pre-conditions it had set for non- deployment in Cyprus had not been fully met.

The day after his dramatic climbdown on the S-300s, President Clerides was yesterday branded a traitor by his political opponents. The President's supporters said the decision to deploy the £200 million ground-to-air missiles in Crete proved Clerides was a wise custodian of the country's best interests.

Governing Disy tried to pass the buck for the controversial decision to Greece, but there were also signs of discord within the party over the S- 300 decision.

The President himself kept a low profile yesterday.

Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides defended Clerides from the barrage of criticism for his decision but also, surprisingly, conceded that the government was not completely satisfied by last week's two UN resolutions on Cyprus and pledges of active support for these from the US and Britain.

Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides indicated last week that the resolutions and promises meant the government's pre-conditions for non- deployment (significant progress towards a settlement or demilitarisation) were being met. This paved the way for Clerides's decision - something the President made plain in announcing his decision on Wednesday night.

But Stylianides apparently contradicted Cassoulides and Clerides yesterday. "Clearly, the conditions and pre-conditions set have not been met to the extent that we had hoped. This can be considered an admission of fact, we do not deny it," the spokesman said during his daily press briefing.

The two UN resolutions adopted on December 22 called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to intensify his efforts towards a settlement and demilitarisation.

Stylianides said Clerides's "re-think" on the missile issue was "in the interests of Cypriot Hellenism and wider Hellenism."

He said non-deployment would help the settlement process and Cyprus' EU accession course. Cyprus began accession talks with the EU in late March.

The spokesman insisted, as Clerides had on Wednesday, that Turkish threats to destroy the missiles and pressure from the US, UN and EU not to deploy had played no part in the decision.

The public was sufficiently aware of "political realities" to support Clerides's decision not to bring the missiles, Stylianides said.

"The President believes that this decision of his is approved of by the majority of the people."

Opinion polls have suggested only 11 per cent of the public favoured missile deployment in Crete.

The reaction from Clerides' established political foes, but even from some of his erstwhile backers, was scolding.

"If I were the President I would have resigned," Diko leader and former President Spyros Kyprianou stated at a midday press-conference. Kyprianou, an outspoken Clerides critic, said the missile decision was just plain wrong. He said his party would vote against all defence spending until "clear" explanations of government defence policy were given.

Nicos Koutsou, leader of the minority New Horizons party, said Clerides had "betrayed the people" and described the decision not to bring the missiles as an "unconditional retreat."

Clerides secured re-election in February on the back of a promise to bring the missiles.

The leader of junior government partners Edek, Vassos Lyssarides, also spoke of treachery. He likened the Cypriot public to a bride and Clerides to an S-300-bearing groom.

"You don't let the bride go to church and then not bring the groom. Even if the bride is wrong, the responsibility in the end belongs to the groom - it is a betrayal."

Edek has repeatedly pledged to abandon the government if the missiles are not brought. The party executive committee convened at 3 pm yesterday to decide what the party should do after Clerides's decision.

Lyssarides declined to say which way his party would go but made his bitterness at the President's choice clear.

"I have no doubt the public are dejected and disappointed."

"I believe this sense of dejection must be taken on board by those who take decisions so frivolously," the veteran socialist said.

Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou, an Edek minister, re-stated his oft- repeated opposition to non-deployment, saying Cyprus had a right to self- defence.

Presidential advisor Alexis Galanos, leader of the Democratic Renewal Movement, said the decision represented a "big diplomatic defeat." He said Clerides was not the only one to blame. "The decision in no way honours the government - and we must all bear the responsibility for this."

Main opposition party Akel again claimed that Clerides had failed to consult the National Council before ordering the missiles from Russia in January 1997. This oversight had started the rot, which led to the débâcle of Wednesday's U-turn, Akel spokesman Andreas Christou claimed.

Akel's reaction was however not one of complete condemnation, Christou conceding that his party supported the principle of joint decisions with Athens on military issues.

Clerides has stated he took the decision to send the S-300s to Crete with Athens' wishes on the issue uppermost in his mind.

Greece - bound by the 1993 Common Defence Dogma military pact to defend Cyprus in the event of Turkish aggression - had made it plain it favoured the Cretan option as a compromise solution aimed at appeasing mounting international opposition to the missile deal. The decision not to bring the missiles was fully backed by Greece on Wednesday.

The leader of Clerides' Disy party, Nicos Anastassiades, said Athens had made clear its opposition to deployment in Cyprus as long ago as November 1 this year.

He told Antenna television last night that Greek Foreign Minister Theodors Pangalos had told his Cypriot counterpart Yiannakis Cassoulides that Greece would no longer support Cyprus if it brought the missiles.

Clerides is initially said to have disagreed with the Greek government on the issue, insisting the missiles would come.

Anastassiades again backed Clerides to the hilt, but there were signs of dissent within the right-wing party yesterday.

Disy deputy Dimitris Syllouris called a news conference in which he described the President's decision as an "messy retreat" which had made Cyprus a "laughing stock".

United Democrats leader George Vassiliou gave Clerides his unconditional backing. Vassiliou, who heads Cyprus's EU accession talks team, said there had been "clear indications" entry talks would have been jeopardised by bringing the missiles to Cyprus.

The EU - along with the US and the UN - had made it clear it did not favour deployment, fearing arrival of the missiles could spark renewed military conflict in Cyprus.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[02] Edek poised to walk out of government

DEFENCE Minister Yiannakis Omirou said last night it was "very likely" the Socialist Party would leave the government after President Glafcos Clerides decided to deploy Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles on Crete instead of in Cyprus.

"The political bureau of the Socialist Party has decided to suggest to the Central Committee to abandon the government," Omirou told the Cyprus Mail in a telephone interview. "This is the decision."

"The Central Committee... will take the final decision on Saturday afternoon," he said, but he added: "No, I don't see" junior coalition partner Edek staying in the government after that Saturday decision.

Both Omirou and Education and Culture Minister Lycourgos Kappas are Edek members and are expected to hand Clerides their resignations on Monday if Edek's Central Committee follows the political bureau's recommendation.

"I don't want, of course, to say the Central Committee will make one or another decision. It is not correct. It is the rule of democracy that the party must be free to take any decision," Omirou said.

"But we have the political bureau suggestion now to abandon the government, " Omirou said, so it's "very probable" that Edek will quit the government.

"Of course, we will put a letter to the president next week," announcing the final decision, he added.

Edek's departure would not endanger the current government, which is based on a presidential system, but it would mean a cabinet reshuffle. There has been speculation that Clerides was in any case planning a reshuffle in the new year, with potential victims including Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou, embattled Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides and Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides.

Edek President Vassos Lyssarides said after yesterday's Edek political bureau decision that: "We consider the decision not to deploy the defence missile system in Cyprus as wrong, and disagree with the arguments put forward."

Lyssarides, a staunch supporter of deploying the missiles in Cyprus, said Clerides' decision to deploy them instead in Crete, "will have dire consequences for Cyprus and Hellenism as a whole."

"For reasons of political credibility and sincerity, the political bureau is recommending to the Central Committee of the party its immediate withdrawal from the government," Lyssarides said.

He said the two UN resolutions approved last week by the Security Council on the Cyprus problem "do not in the slightest, satisfy the logical preconditions our side had set in order to cancel the deployment of the S- 300s."

The Clerides government had said it would only consider cancelling the missiles' deployment if there were substantive progress in Cyprus settlement negotiations, or talks were begun for arms reduction leading to total demilitarisation of the island.

The UN resolutions merely urge Secretary-General Kofi Annan to "intensify" UN efforts for a Cyprus settlement and demilitarisation, and commit the Western powers, led by the United States, to work energetically towards both those ends.

Lyssarides said his party had joined the Clerides government, believing it would work for "the promotion of the Cyprus problem in the right direction."

However, he said, Clerides' missile decision undermined this confidence and made Cyprus and Greece - Athens wanted the missiles stored in Crete - appear to depend for their policies on reacting to Turkey's threats and pressure from foreign powers.

Furthermore, he said, Clerides' decision undermined the credibility of the joint Greece-Cyprus Common Defence Dogma signed in 1993, and committing Greece to the defence of Cyprus in case of attack by Turkey.

Turkey had threatened to "take out" the S-300 missiles, which it saw as a threat to its dominance of the airspace of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Greece responded by warning that such action would spark war between Greece and Turkey, both members of Nato. Washington and London responded with dismay and warnings that the missiles would further destabilise the volatile Middle East.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[03] Missiles in Crete: the logistics

THE PRESENCE of a giant US Navy air base in Crete, and the Greek island's distance from Turkish coastline, could make deploying Cyprus' S-300 anti- aircraft missiles there an exercise in both redundancy and futility.

The US Naval Air Station at Souda Bay in Crete, a deep-water port of America's mighty Mediterranean 6th Fleet, is some 175 kilometres in a straight line west of Sitia, the reported deployment site of the S-300s the Cyprus Republic has declined to deploy at home. Both sites are on Crete's northern coast.

The huge Souda Bay US naval air station is not only capable of handling US warships of the deepest draught - aircraft carriers, for instance - but it can launch and land any US warplane that a US aircraft carrier can handle, and much, much more.

Additionally, Souda Bay is a major US naval communications station and serves as a staging point for a US Navy Mobile Mine Assembly Group and a Naval Inshore Warfare Detachment, according to the US Military's European Command in Stuttgart, Germany.

With all that US firepower available on Crete, the Cyprus government's decision to deploy the S-300 missiles there, rather than keep them in their packing crates, seems redundant, as neither Crete nor the Greek mainland appear to need any more anti-aircraft defences than the giant US naval air base there implies.

And it seems highly unlikely that the Turks would ever strike so close to such a large American Nato base.

Despite this, Cyprus Defence Secretary Yiannakis Omirou last night confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that the S-300 missiles would be "deployed for action," not merely stored, in Crete.

Furthermore, Sitia, almost Crete's easternmost tip, is some 160 km from the closest western Turkish coastline; about 770 km from the Turkish mainland city of Adana, where Ankara's military aircraft of closest potential menace to Cyprus are based; and more than 500 km from Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.

With a maximum range of 150 km, if fired from Sitia, the S-300s could not even crash harmlessly into the sand of the closest Turkish beach, much less pose any shoot-down threat to Turkish aircraft launched against Cyprus from either Turkey's mainland or its occupation regime in northern Cyprus.

Omirou could not confirm Sitia as the final deployment site.

The S-300 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system was developed in the mid- 1980s as the Soviet Union's answer to the US Patriot missile. It is considered the Patriot's equal, if not superior.

With a 150 km range, if based in the Republic, the S-300s could have blanketed Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, the sea between Cyprus and Turkey, and a good part of Turkey's southern underbelly - including the Adana military air bases.

For this reason - and because Ankara claimed the S-300s could be modified to become surface-to-surface missiles - Turkey had threatened to attack them if they were deployed in Cyprus.

Besides being able to shoot down aircraft at a range of 150kms, the S-300s, according to Jane's Land-Based Air Defence, can also shoot down incoming ballistic-type missiles at distances of up to 40km. They fly at speeds of 2, 800 metres per second, or 10,000 km/hour - faster than a rifle bullet.

The high-tech Russian batteries - each of which carries a maximum of 32 missiles - can be deployed in five minutes and fire one radar-guided surface-to-air missile every three seconds.

They were seen as crucial to protecting the Andreas Papandreou Air Base outside Paphos, a platform for Greek Air Force planes defending Cyprus, from attack by Turkish jet fighters.

With the S-300s' deployment in Cyprus cancelled, reports say Greece is now willing to provide Cyprus with anti-aircraft missiles of lesser range to protect the Paphos airfield. Omirou was unable to confirm this report last night.

In Moscow, Russia's Foreign Ministry said yesterday it was up to the Republic to decide where the missiles are delivered, as long as Cyprus respected the terms of its £200-million deal with Russia.

"The Russian side is fulfilling all the terms of the deal," the ministry said. "It is important that the buyer... also abide by the obligations. We feel the Cyprus side has the same opinion."

The ministry said Russia's main arms exporter, Rosvooruzheniye, would renegotiate with the Cyprus government the missiles' delivery conditions. The missiles were in a Russian port awaiting shipment when Cyprus announced diverting delivery to Crete.

Omirou said he could not say anything about reports the Greek government planned to reimburse Cyprus part of the £200 million it paid Russia for the missiles. "We have to wait to see the news from Athens" about this, he said last night.

"The Cyprus government paid for the missiles, so it will be an agreement between the two governments what is going to happen to the amount that has already been paid," Omirou said.

"In the National Council, nobody mentioned such things," when deciding on Tuesday not to take delivery of the missiles.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[04] Turkish glee at 'comical' climbdown

CYPRUS' decision not to deploy the S-300 missiles is a victory for Turkey, the country's Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said yesterday, warning that attention would now be turned to preventing their deployment in Crete.

President Glafcos Clerides announced yesterday that Cyprus would now negotiate with Moscow for a compromise deployment of the missiles on the Greek island of Crete.

"Theoretically, in Crete or elsewhere, if there is a threat directed toward Turkey, we will analyse the threat and react with appropriate means, according to the scope of the threat," Cem said, adding Turkey would "take all appropriate political and military means if the missiles were to be deployed in Crete."

Turkey had threatened to use military force to block the missiles' deployment in Cyprus ever since the announcement of the S-300 deal two years ago.

"All we said was this: 'If these missiles are deployed, we will do all that is necessary militarily and politically,' and this determined policy ended with the Greeks and Greek Cypriots getting themselves into a comical situation," Cem told Turkish television.

He also said the missiles had been ordered in an attempt to force concessions from Turkey, which was "a wrong calculation".

The Turkish Foreign Minister described the Crete decision as unacceptable because it would increase tension between Nato-members Greece and Turkey, and mean that Russian technicians would have to be present on Nato soil. He also claimed that the missiles' radar system would allow Russia to observe Nato flights in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey would "continue to take every kind of measure possible," Cem said. "They should not think that Turkey will sit around with its arms crossed."

Turkey rejected a Greek Cypriot proposal to cancel the missile deal if Ankara accepted the demilitarisation of the island.

Greece had urged Cyprus to shift the missiles to Crete in order to avoid a military showdown with Turkey. Athens, committed to defend Cyprus from Turkish attack by the 1993 Joint Defence pact, was also fearful that any military showdown would prove costly to Greece and smash its austerity measures, put in place in order to get Greece into the EU's single currency club.

Athens also feared that the S-300 situation could scupper Cyprus' EU accession bid. Cyprus is economically top of the list of applicant countries and has been lauded for its compliance with the acquis communautaire. Turkey also aspires to joining the European Union, but has failed to meet even the criteria for negotiations to begin.

On the Turkish side of the island, a spokesman for Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash told journalists that it was "unlikely" Denktash would comment before the end of the day.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[05] Greece hits back at Turkish threats over Crete

Tsohatzopoulos, on a visit to neighbouring Albania, said the possible deployment of the missiles on the Greek island of Crete would pose no threat to third parties.

On the other hand, Greece was not frightened by any Turkish threats, he told a news conference. "Their installation in Greece does not pose any threat," Tsohatzopoulos said. "Even their installation in Cyprus did not pose any threat to anyone."

The Cyprus government announced late on Tuesday that it would not bring the S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Cyprus, as previously planned, but would negotiate with Russia to base them on the Greek island of Crete instead.

Turkey had previously threatened to destroy the missiles if they were deployed in Cyprus.

Yesterday, Ankara said that basing the missiles in Crete would still increase tension in the Aegean.

"The reaction of Ankara... confirms once again that Turkey is a threatening factor to our area," Tsohatzopoulos said.

"Turkey's threats will never put Greece into difficulty. We will find the necessary force to their threat," he added.

Western allies of Greece and Turkey heaved a sigh of relief at the plan to base the missiles in Crete, a move expected to cool tension between the two Nato allies.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[06] Annan 'very glad' at missile decision

Annan's representative in Cyprus, former New Zealand government minister Dame Ann Hercus, has been holding separate meetings with President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

He said Hercus' talks were aimed at "reducing tension and promoting progress towards a just and lasting settlement."

"The secretary-general was very glad to hear of President Clerides' decision not to deploy S-300 missiles on Cyprus," a statement from Annan's office said.

Cyprus announced on Tuesday it would not store the Russian missiles which Turkey has threatened to destroy on the island and would negotiate with Moscow for their deployment in Crete instead.

The last-minute change of heart, as the rockets were awaiting shipment in a Russian port, was made after an appeal by the UN Security Council to the two sides to work toward reducing tensions. Annan said this was a "tangible, positive, response" to the council's resolutions.

UN-sponsored efforts spanning decades aimed at reuniting Cyprus as a bi- communal, bi-zonal federation have so far failed. The two sides no longer even agree on the format or objective for substantive negotiations.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[07] Diplomats breathe a sigh of relief

KEY PLAYERS in the international community's drive to stop the missiles being deployed on the island were yesterday congratulating themselves for their successful efforts.

But as policy-makers abroad heaped welcoming platitudes onto Cyprus, diplomats in the field breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"There has been an enormous amount of work going on behind the scenes, especially in the last month, to ensure that everything went the right way. It's been a lot of work," said one Western diplomat who wished to remain anonymous.

"This is a positive step for Cyprus and we wish all Cypriots could see it that way because it will help us to move forward on the real issues."

The diplomat said that it would not be entirely right to look on the recent UN resolutions on Cyprus - widely seen as an "exchange" for the non- deployment of the missiles - as a face-saving exercise for the government.

"The resolution in fact gives formal backing to the Hercus process," the diplomat said, referring to the UN-backed shuttle talks being carried out by Unficyp chief of mission Dame Ann Hercus.

A second western diplomat said the missiles had been a major stumbling block to solving the Cyprus problem. "The missiles were militarily not significant for defence, but politically they were disastrous," the diplomat said.

"From all the possible negative options, this one (cancellation) was the least negative. It was the best of a bad lot of options."

The diplomat denied there had been a significant amount of arm-twisting by the international community. "We see the dilemma of Clerides and we know the intransigence of Turkey but it was never our intention to blackmail, but to convince as friends of Cyprus. The decision to bring the missiles was not in favour of the efforts of all of us to solve the Cyprus problem."

In official statements yesterday, the US and Britain in particular welcomed the outcome of the two-year missile saga, which has dominated the Cyprus problem in general.

Austria, which holds the EU's six-monthly rotating presidency announced that Cyprus was now fit to join the bloc. Germany, which takes over the presidency from tomorrow, said the move would build the EU's trust in Cyprus.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said: "The decision is a significant contribution to international efforts - in which Britain played a prominent part - to reduce tensions in the region."

Cook said Britain was committed to supporting the UN effort and that Clerides' decision not to deploy the missiles created the conditions necessary for a just and lasting settlement.

The US was also full of praise for Clerides and repeated the same supportive statements for the UN process.

"We welcome and support President Clerides' decision... we commend the government of Cyprus for taking this important step to ease tensions on the island," said Lee McClenny, a state department spokesman.

EU bedfellows Austria and Germany were not far behind.

Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel said the decision vindicated the inclusion of Cyprus in the "fast track" membership of the bloc.

"Now we see that this vote to confidence was justified," Schuessel said in a statement. "Membership prospects obviously motivated Cyprus to make a significant contribution to stability in the region."

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Erdmann called on Turkey to reduce its military presence on the island.

He said such a move by Turkey would contribute to building trust in Cyprus.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[08] Humiliation or wise decision?

People on the streets of the capital are divided on the landmark decision taken by President Glafcos Clerides not to deploy the Russian missiles on the island.

"Clerides made the right decision," said 36-year-old Marios Yiannos, who was having his shoes shined at Eleftheria Square.

Shoe shiner Andreas Pouros, 61 agreed: "I believe in the President and I think he did the right thing."

Panayiotis Constantinou, 57, a Greek Cypriot returned from South Africa, said the missile issue was the biggest mistake Clerides had ever made.

"It wasn't well thought out from the beginning. They were trying to cheat the people just to get votes in the (presidential) elections," Constantinou said. "They could have brought them here without making a big deal out of it, if it was really about security."

Friends Nasia Leonidou and Andri Mili, both 18, disagreed between themselves on whether Clerides should have stuck to his election promise to bring the missiles to the island.

"He promised they would come and he should have brought them," said Leonidou, "but I don't think he should have to resign over it."

"It's a good thing they are not coming because other countries have been giving us a hard time over it and we don't want a war with Turkey," said Mili.

Two teenage boys pass hurriedly and say they agree with the President's decision, but don't want to say any more.

It appears most people would rather keep their identity a secret on the missile issue: a 50-year old taxi driver, who likewise did not wish to be named, simply said: "I wanted them to come."

He did not want to say why.

"It was the correct decision not to bring them," said mother-of-two Maria Stavrou, 37. "If such a decision was reached then it must have been reached with a lot of thought. Of course I would feel safer if the missiles were here but what can we do."

"It's better not to say anything at all because whatever happens Cyprus is ruined," an obviously disillusioned lottery ticket seller said.

Theodosis Efsthatiou, 55, a shopkeeper on Ledra Street was more emphatic. "Humiliation," he said. "It is the biggest humiliation that Hellenism has ever had."

Efsthatiou said he has never heard of a sovereign country not being able to bring weapons, and that if the government continued the way it was going, the remainder of Cyprus would become occupied by Turkish troops.

He said the next thing the international community would demand would be the scrapping of the 1993 defence pact with Greece and the dismantling of the Paphos air base.

"Our country has become a joke. If our politicians are leaders than I am a General in the army," said Efsthatiou. "They should just pull their pants down and bend over. It's a sell out. The president should just get on his boat and leave."

Efsthatiou said Clerides had come to power on the back of the S-300 issue and the defence pact with Greece. "People think Greece is standing at our side but that is just coffee-shop talk and they are fools if they believe it."

The Nicosia man's views may sound extreme, but they were strongly supported by a group of boy scouts further up the street.

"The decision says to Turkey 'we are afraid of you'," said one of the three 13-year-olds, none of whom wished to be named.

"We have to show that defence plays an important role in our country. The missiles may have had a negative effect on tourism, but it was good for morale," said one. "We spent our money in vain," said the second.

A former national guard commando was also disillusioned.

"What's the point of fighting any more. It's all obviously planned," he said.

He added the felt like handing in his gun and not even going for training again, adding that all his friends felt the same.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[09] Markets fail to react to missile decision

PRESIDENT Glafcos Clerides' controversial decision not to deploy the S-300 missiles in Cyprus appears to have failed to impress the island's stock market yesterday, but the move is likely to bring back a measure of confidence to local investors and boost consumption during 1999.

The official Cyprus Stock Exchange all-share index shed 0.53 per cent at the end of yesterday's trade to settle at 90.64 on trade worth £2.84 million.

"You know how it is in the market: Buy the rumour and sell the fact," said Neophytos Neophytou of AAA United Stockbrokers. He was alluding to the reports which had swirled around for weeks that the missiles would not come to Cyprus and led traders to discount the final decision on the issue.

The Tuesday night announcement that the Russian surface-to-air missiles will instead go to the Greek island of Crete may have also failed to influence the bourse because it interfered with end-of-year market rituals. These include liquidating positions and rearranging portfolios in what traders call "window dressing" to beautify end-of-year results.

The S-300 announcement also coincided with the much-heralded market début yesterday of Orphanides Supermarkets and came a day after another stock, that of printers Cassoulides &amp; Sons, began trading.

The two shares have attracted the attention of traders and yesterday combined for about 30 per cent of the bourse's trade.

"You cannot count on stock market behaviour, but I believe the decision not to bring the missiles will have positive results on the economy starting from the second-half of 1999," said Yiannis Tirkides, the Popular Bank's chief economist.

"People will feel comfortable to invest more, build houses and buy more durable goods."

But Tirkides warned against expectations of an economic boom following the removal of the tension generated by the missiles deal since its announcement in January 1997. The economy, he said, continues to suffer from ills which are not related to political developments.

A boost in consumption and in local investment would be more than welcome developments in 1999. The economy is expected to slow down next year after a 1998 growth which some economists have revised up to five per cent of GDP from the official forecast of 4.7 per cent.

"I would be happy to see any growth at all in 1999," said a senior government economist, who forecast a growth of about three per cent in GDP terms for next year. The 1999 slowdown will partly be the result of declining per capita spending by tourists and shorter holidays, said the economist.

"The international trend now is for more but shorter holidays," he said.

Tourist arrivals are projected to have increased by nearly seven per cent this year, but the vital sector is registering a low growth rate in real terms, perhaps no more than three or five per cent.

"Next year, the growth in tourism will either be very low or around zero," said the economist. "It is going to be a difficult year."

"Tourism will not be able to drive the economy on a fast expansive path next year, but there is healthy growth in other parts of the services sector such banking and finance," said Tirkides.

It took the Russian financial crisis which began in August several months before affecting tourism from the former communist country, allowing Cyprus to receive nearly 200,000 tourists from there in 1998.

But this looks set to change in 1999 as Russia's economic woes continue and actually worsen. Notwithstanding the positive picture painted by early 1999 bookings, the slowdown in the British economy does not bode well either for tourism next year.

Already, the growth in 1999 arrivals is expected to be no more than three to four per cent over this year.

Construction, which has been badly hit in recent years, is said to be showing signs of a partial revival, but economists say that the change in the political climate following the resolution of the missiles crisis will improve the sector's prospects dramatically.

"Now that the missiles question is resolved, there will undoubtedly be a boost in consumption and construction," said the government economist.

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[10] Countdown to climbdown

THE FATE of the S-300 missiles has finally been decided, leaving an aftermath of political and social dilemmas as a result of the two year saga.

March-December 1996

4 January 1997

6 January 1997

7 January 1997

8 January 1997

9 January 1997

10 January 1997

13 January 1997

4 June 1997

15 October 1997

16 October 1997

8 November 1997

December 1997 to February 1998

9 January 1998

12 January 1998

24 January 1998

15 February 1988

17 February 1998

March to April 1998

Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos suggests a no-fly zone above Cyprus with Nato guarantees in exchange for cancelling the missiles. The US rejects this and wants complete cancellation of the deal.

11 May 1998

June to July 1998

June 1988

2 July 1998

9 July 1998

10 July 1998

13 July 1998

7 August 1998

20 August 1998

September to October 1998

5 October 1998

22 November 1998

1 December 1998

4 December 1998

8 December 1998

9 December 1998

15 December 1998

16 December 1998

23 December 1998

24 December 1998

29 December 1998

Thursday, December 31, 1998

[11] Teenager killed in crash

Just over a week after the life of teen model Ioanna Georgiou was brutally cut short when her boyfriend's car ploughed into a safety rail, Nicholas Hadjiyiannis, 16, was killed when the car in which he was passenger slammed into a telegraph pole with such force that the pole was split in two.

The accident happened at around half past midnight in Akaki, the victim's native town. The car, driven by 17-year-old Antonis Chrysostomou, went off the road and hit the pole. Hadjiyiannis, who was sitting in the back, was fatally injured and pronounced dead at Nicosia General Hospital, where Chrysostomou and a second passenger, Tassos Anastasiou, 21, were being treated for serious injuries.

Police are investigating the exact cause of the crash.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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