Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-07-07

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

Tuesday, July 7, 1998

Turkish army re-thinks S-300 strike

TURKISH Army leaders are having second thoughts about carrying out threatened military strikes against the Paphos air-base or the S-300 missiles, Simerini reported yesterday.

The paper quoted reliable sources as saying the Turkish military command had discussed various scenarios for a strike against the Andreas Papandreou base and other strategic targets in the government-controlled areas.

Such an attack could be carried out either with fighter jets or with helicopters and would last between seven and nine minutes only, Simerini stated.

However, Turkish generals are concerned about what would happen if such an attack went wrong, the paper reported.

Diplomatic sources say the political cost of the international outrage which such an attack would cause is also being weighed up, according to the paper.

They apparently feel that the Turks would now seek an excuse or pretext for not carrying out a strike.

To Tharros reported that the government was concerned about spying against the National Guard by British army personnel, diplomats and citizens.

The President has dozens of top secret Intelligence Service (KYP) reports containing irrefutable evidence of British spying activities, the paper stated. The spies are interested in anything to do with National Guard activities and the S-300 missiles in particular, said the report.

Spying British citizens - both men and women - are active throughout the free areas, with Troodos and the Paphos air base being particular targets, it said.

The British spies are working for the British government but also exchange information with secret services in "two other European countries," the right-wing daily reported.

Not even the Greek forces serving on the island escape the prying eyes of the spies, said the paper.

Phileleftheros reported on another Cyprus Airways "scandal".

A Eurocypria flight from Dublin to Larnaca ended up in Athens because the pilot had worked his allotted hours and refused to fly the extra miles to Cyprus, the paper stated.

The incident, the second of its type in a fortnight, threatened to strain further the poor relations between the company and management and had also prompted foreign travel agencies to threaten never to use Cyprus'national carrier again, the paper reported.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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