By Jean ChristouTURKEY yesterday said it would complain to the UN Security Council over the Paphos air base which was handed over to the government yesterday.
“We are bringing this dangerous development to the attention of the United Nations Secretary-general and the head of the Security Council,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in the statement.
It said Ankara would stand by the Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in the north.
“Turkey will continue to take the necessary measures against any threat to the security of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as well as its own soil,” the statement said.
The contractors who built the Paphos air base yesterday morning handed it over to technical defence staff without a hint of ceremony.
The low-key affair began out of the public eye at around 10am, according to state radio.
Reports from Paphos said the Defence Ministry and National Guard technicians had toured the base for around two hours to check the installations.
The handover was not an inauguration of the base nor an indication that it may become operational any time soon.
The government has been at pains to make this clear ever since President Clerides told a TV show by that the base would be “delivered” on January 24.
The government was yesterday also keen to stress the defensive nature of the base. Defence Minister George Charalambides said it was “clearly a defensive work, and will be used only in incidents where Cyprus suffers an attack.”
CyBC said yesterday that, according to sources in Athens, the base, designed to serve Greek military aircraft, would be officially inaugurated at the end of March by Greek Defence Minister Akis Tzohatzopoulos.
Clerides has proposed that the base be named after the late Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou who, with Clerides, was the main instigator of the 1993 Cyprus-Greece defence dogma within which the base will operate.
On Friday, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash threatened to “break the wings” of any planes taking off from the base.
Under the headline “Tense day”, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris yesterday reported the base was being quietly handed over, but reports were rife in the north that Turkish forces had beefed up their positions along the Green Line.
