US looking at Pangalos no-fly plan

By Martin Hellicar

THE U.S. is “discussing” a proposal by Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos for the creation of a no-fly zone over Cyprus.

“There has been that discussion that was raised by the Greek side in Washington and we’ve spent some effort to follow it up in Athens,” US Ambassador Kenneth Brill said after a meeting with President Clerides yesterday morning.

According to press reports, Pangalos put the proposal to his US counterpart Madeleine Albright when she raised the issue of Cyprus’s decision to deploy Russian-made S-300 missiles, a deployment the US wants cancelled. The Greek Foreign Minister replied that the missile issue could be reviewed if the US and Nato would consider guaranteeing a no-fly zone for military aircraft over Cyprus, the press reports suggested.

“We’ve said that we want him (Pangalos) to follow up on the idea, to see precisely what he had in mind,” Brill said. He also said the no-fly zone had been raised during a recent visit to Athens by US Defence Secretary William Cohen.

Asked if he had discussed the matter with Clerides, Brill replied that “all issues across the board” had been raised.

The US Ambassador also confirmed that Thomas Miller, the State Department’s Special Co-ordinator for Cyprus, would be paying another visit to the island towards the end of this month.

In Washington meanwhile, US State Department spokesman James Rubin stated that the US placed the blame for the deadlock in settlement efforts squarely at the feet of the Turkish side.

“The Turkish side bears primary responsibility for the lack of progress in talks,” Rubin told a press briefing.

The government had made its displeasure clear after what it saw as US envoy Richard Holbrooke’s failure to blame the Turks after he failed to kick- start talks during a visit to Cyprus earlier this month.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash is refusing to return to the negotiating table unless the break-away “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” is granted recognition.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.