CYPRUS said yesterday it would not play “children’s games” with Turkey in the skies over the island and had no more plans for visits by Greek military aircraft.
But Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz urged Greece to “stop testing our resolve” on Cyprus and said military actions undertaken by Athens there posed a threat to Turkey itself.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides said this week’s stopover of four Greek F-16s and two transport carriers was part of a long-scheduled exercise.
“We had absolutely no intention of either causing a crisis or provoking anyone. There was a training exercise which we had planned for a very long time,” he said.
Turkey sent six F-16 planes to the occupied north on Thursday in reaction to the Greek aircraft’s arrival at a military base in Paphos on Tuesday.
Cyprus and Greece played down the move, describing it as a reaction by Ankara to its failure to be accepted for fast-track entry to the European Union.
“We are not going to follow the game of small children, that because four planes came and then Turkey sent six we will send eight… there are no more exercises with the participation of the Greek air force, at least for the period before us,” Cassoulides said.
Yilmaz, speaking in Bucharest at the end of a two-day visit to Romania, said the main problem remained what he called attempts by Athens to turn Cyprus into a Greek island.
“Turkey wants a fair and just solution in Cyprus and remains prepared to co- operate. But the first condition for such a solution is to reject any attempt to transform the island into a Greek island…,” Yilmaz said in Turkish. “Our recommendation to Greece is to stop testing our resolve.”
Yilmaz said the unprecedented arrival in Cyprus this week of Greek military aircraft and proposals to install Russian missiles in the government- controlled area constituted an issue “that goes beyond the dimension of a Cypriot problem. It is in fact a threat to Turkey.”
Turkey, he said, had repeatedly denounced the proposed deployment of Russian surface-to-air missile system in the autumn and repeated pledges to take whatever measures were necessary to counteract them.
“Installing Russian missiles in the southern part of Cyprus not only destabilised peace in Cyprus, but is also an action which will lead to the deterioration of the balance in the eastern Mediterranean,” he said.
“This issue does not concern only Turkey. But Turkey will without hesitation take all measures incumbent on it.”
Yilmaz said there were no plans to seek mediation in the long-running dispute over the island’s future. But Britain, the former colonial power in Cyprus, had to be reminded of its responsibilities as a guarantor of stability.
“We are not waiting for mediation from anyone,” he said. “We only wish to remind Britain that it has a duty… as a guarantor.”
Washington expressed concern at the incidents over Cyprus this week. Kenneth Bacon, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said a US aircraft carrier, the Eisenhower, would be in the Mediterranean soon on a previously scheduled tour.
Cassoulides said the Eisenhower would be heading to the Adriatic because of the crisis in Kosovo, and not for Cyprus.
He reserved especial criticism for international media which, he said, reported “false news” on Cyprus.
“Unfortunately the international press has reported false news, maybe by mistake, which may have created some problems internationally. These issues are being dealt with and controlled,” he said. He did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan for the second time this week appealed for parties to the Cyprus dispute to avoid stoking tension.
“In recent days, there have been signs of increased military activity in Cyprus and in the region,” a brief statement issued through a UN spokesman said.
“The secretary-general reiterates the appeal he made in his good offices report of June 16 and trusts that all parties involved will abstain from any action which could add to the tension,” the statement concluded.
Annan was referring to an appeal he made in his latest report on the so far fruitless efforts to revive talks aimed at reuniting the island under a federal system.
In that report, he said: “I strongly hope that all parties involved will abstain from any action which could further exacerbate tension and I count on their fullest support in the United Nations continuing efforts.”
