Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-03-12

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

Friday, March 12, 1999

Simitis' third coming to heal wounds

GREECE'S Prime Minister Costas Simitis is expected to visit Cyprus next month in order to announce certain decisions about the island's EU accession course.

Politis, which broke the story, reported that Simitis' visit had two objectives - to heal the wounds caused by the S-300 missiles decision and to show that Greece was determined fully to back Cyprus' accession course.

This would be Simitis' third visit to Cyprus since 1996. The paper said that Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou and his deputy Yiannos Kranidiotis could come to Cyprus beforehand to make all the preparations for Simitis' visit.

State Department envoy Thomas Miller's visit to Cyprus and his meetings also sparked some press speculation.

Alithia said that Miller and President Clerides discussed ways of resuming the intercommunal talks -without any conditions - after the elections in Turkey. According to the paper, Miller was sounding out Clerides regarding the possibility of getting the Group of the eight (G8) most developed countries involved.

Clerides was willing to attend talks, without conditions, under a new procedure sponsored by G8 countries. Diplomatic sources believed the Group of Eight, which included Russia, was a "strengthened version of the UN Security Council" which meant that it would work within the UN framework.

Phileleftheros played down the G8 angle, concentrating instead on the US demand, voiced by Miller, that the government distance itself from the Kurds. A large part of Clerides meeting with Miller was devoted to discussing the Ocalan affair.

Miller had raised the issue of the Cypriot passport used by Ocalan, the comments by Party leaders on the matter as well as the events organised by youth organisations in Nicosia to show solidarity with the Kurdish movement. The US expects Cyprus and Greece publicly to condemn the Kurdish movement and the PKK.

Simerini claimed that Turkey's aggression had made her "play with fire" in Thrace and the Aegean Sea. US ambassador to Athens Nicholas Burns confirmed that there had been movements of troops on the Turkish seashore and the Aegean islands.

At the same time, Greek radar had recorded several violations of Greek airspace by Turkish fighter planes. As a result of this activity, the Greek air force had been put on alert while patrols of the Greek Naval fleet have increased dramatically, the paper said. The Americans were working behind the scenes to defuse the tension.

Machi, for the third day running, led with a report that warships of unknown origin had surrounded the island. Despite a denial from the Ministry of Defence, the paper insisted that its story was accurate.

It reported that one of the warships was seen off the coast of Zygi, alarming the area's residents. It was not the first time warships had been seen sailing off Zygi, but the authorities refused to do anything about it, the paper said.

Haravghi said that the government, as had been widely expected, had given the Minister of Interior Dinos Michaelides a clean bill of health after reviewing the report by the ombudsman into allegations of corruption.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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