Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-10-29

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

Thursday, October 29, 1998

Did Akel know about the missiles?

YESTERDAY'S papers were divided in their main coverage. Half focused on the latest scandal on the S-300 issue, with left-wing Akel continuing claims that the purchase of the Russian missiles had not been discussed with them and President Clerides responding that the matter had been discussed at a meeting of the National Council.

The rest of the papers continued their focus on the police violence against the illegal immigrants being held in Larnaca.

Alithia stood out by concentrating on Cyprus' accession process to the European Union. A meeting between Clerides, chief EU negotiator George Vassiliou and other government officials on Monday discussed among other issues, Cyprus' apparent obligation to stop its embargo on Turkish goods.

Speaking after the meeting, Alithia reported, Vassiliou said Ministers would have to keep a constant eye on EU developments in order to keep up with the preparation of laws and services deemed necessary by EU standards.

Machi wished a happy birthday to the president of the House of Representatives, Spyros Kyprianou, who turned 67 yesterday.

The right-wing paper continued by claiming Akel knew about the order for the S-300 missiles. It said Akel was now trying to cover up and that Clerides' statement "revealed the Akel leadership's hypocritical stance".

Left-wing Haravghi has the headline "Clerides confirms Akel!". The paper says a statement by Akel confirms that the issue of the S-300 was not brought up at the National Council until after the deal had been closed.

Simerini focused on the immigrants and the fact that Attorney-general Alecos Markides had ordered three more state lawyers to investigate the allegations against Mmad special forces. Attention was also given to Israel's embargo on selling weapons to Cyprus after an apparent USA prompt. The paper said that, "according to an official Israeli source, the USA gave friendly instructions recommending that Israel refrain from any military agreement that would involve the sale of weapons to Cyprus".

Phileleftheros leads under the headline, "Cyprus: All importance now on the accession talks." Focusing on Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash's latest threats and on concern over French intervention, the report says that the lack of prospects in settlement talks has led the Cyprus government to closer co-operation with Athens. The issue of EU accession and the solving of the Cyprus Problem are generally thought to be linked, the paper said.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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