Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-10-08

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

Friday, October 8, 1999

'New dynamic' link Greece, Turkey

THE Cyprus problem resurfaced, in different forms in yesterday’s front pages, with Greece’s friendship assault on Turkey coming under close scrutiny.

Alithia quoted Greece’s Foreign Minister George Papandreou as saying that Greece did not expect any specific goodwill gesture from Turkey but was awaiting a “change of will”. This was Greece’s official position, as described by Papandreou, after his visit to Istanbul. He had also spoken about a “new dynamic in relations” between the two countries. It all began with a letter he had sent to his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem. He said Greece would welcome any positive steps by Ankara, but would not ask for any specific moves. A “specific will” on the Cyprus issue and bilateral issues were desired, according to Papandreou. He also re-iterated Greece’s support for Turkey’s EU accession.

Simerini took a quite different view, accusing the Greek government of “sacrificing” the Unified Defence Dogma for the sake of improving relations with Ankara. It cited reports in the Athens press which noted that no Greek jets had landed at Paphos air base during the Nikiforos military exercise because of the threats of Turkish PM Bulent Ecevit. The dogma, most “important propagandist argument” of the Greek government, was no longer mentioned by ministers in their public statements. Another Athens paper, writing about the decision not to land any fighters in Paphos, said that the government “is opting for behaviour that does not raise tension, which is very positive”.

Haravghi gave prominence to Akel leader Demetris Christofias’ warning that “the distance that separates us from permanent partition has become so much shorter that it will soon disappear”. What was needed to thwart partition was a united front, he said. The paper quoted Rauf Denktash as saying that the US planned to set up a Nato base in Cyprus which would be manned by soldiers who would also act as peacekeepers. Only when his “state” was recognised would Denktash be prepared to discuss the possibility of making the US the fourth guarantor power of Cyprus.

Phileleftheros reported that the Americans would decide their next moves on Cyprus and Greek-Turkish relations at a meeting in Madrid (yesterday and today) which will be attended by top State Department officials and ambassadors based in the above-named countries. In view of President Clinton’s visit to the area, US officials believe that the preparatory work must be done so as to allow his intervention to bear results. The second-in-command at the State Department, Strobe Talbot, former envoy to Cyprus Thomas Miller (currently ambassador in Bosnia), presidential envoy Alfred Moses, co-ordinator Thomas Weston and the US ambassadors in Turkey, Cyprus and Greece were at the meeting. The three ambassadors had argued that there was little hope of a breakthrough.

Politis reported yesterday that the £325,000 which it had claimed the Louis Group owed to the VAT service had “magically” been paid. This was found by the Attorney-general when he visited the VAT department. The strange thing, according to the paper, was that no one had denied its claims for five days -- even the company had not admitted paying its VAT debt, over which it had made four unsuccessful appeals in the Supreme Court.

Machi reported that Minister of Commerce Nicos Rolandis had put back his decision to increase the price of petrol for two weeks in the hope that the international price of crude oil would fall.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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