By Jean Christou
CYPRUS is willing to postpone the controversial missile deal if political talks resume and will consider cancellation if progress is made on demilitarisation, President Clerides said yesterday.
Speaking at Larnaca Airport before his departure for Moscow, where he will hold talks with Russian President Boris Yeltsin tomorrow, Clerides said the government had made its position clear in a letter to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
“If talks on the Cyprus issue begin and substantiative progress is made, then we would delay the arrival of the missiles,” Clerides said. “We would not want to be blamed for blowing up the negotiations”.
Clerides said after arriving at Moscow airport that he would discuss military co-operation at talks with President Boris Yeltsin and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov.
Negotiations on the Cyprus problem stalled a year ago after the failure of the UN-led intercommunal talks at Glion in Switzerland.
The situation was exacerbated in December when Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash declared the talks “dead” in the wake of the EU’s decision to open accession talks with Cyprus.
Subsequent attempts by the UN, the US and Britain to restart the negotiations have all failed. The most recent effort was made by UN special envoy Diego Cordovez only last week.
The international community opposes the deployment of the controversial S- 300 Russian missiles; the government confirmed this week that there had been an exchange of letters on the issue between Clerides and Albright.
The US has also promised to look into a Greek proposal for a no-fly zone over Cyprus as a means of reducing tensions, which could lead to the non- deployment of the missiles.
“If we see that there is progress towards a solution, then within the framework of Cyprus’ demilitarisation we could discuss this issue,” Clerides said.
But he warned that the government would not accept the creation of a no-fly zone without guarantees.
Referring to recent comments by Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz that missiles would be deployed in the occupied areas if Cyprus went ahead with its S-300 deployment, Clerides said this would be an illegal act.
Clerides is accompanied on his visit by Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides. He is officially the guest of the Mayor of Moscow, who invited him to attend the World Youth Games, but his visit comes at a time of growing tension over the missiles.
In Moscow, Clerides joined Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou, who attended a test-firing of the missiles in southern Russia on Thursday, and Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou, officially in Russia for talks on a double taxation treaty.
Omirou on Friday met Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev in talks understood to have included discussions of the missile system.
