Clinton offer came before S-300 decision

A PROPOSAL for a Washington meeting between President Glafcos Clerides and US President Bill Clinton was made before the decision not to deploy the S- 300s was taken last week, Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides said yesterday.

He was responding to widespread weekend speculation that Clinton had authorised US envoy on Cyprus Richard Holbrooke to convey to Clerides an invitation to the White House, together with his satisfaction over the S- 300 decision.

But the reports, which were credited to a government source, went on to say that Clerides had declined the invitation until there was progress on the Cyprus problem.

Speaking at his daily press briefing yesterday, Stylianides clarified the reports, saying that the invitation had, in fact, come earlier than at first thought; it was not a ‘reward’ for the decision to cancel the missiles, as was being suggested.

“President Clerides replied it would be better if such a meeting took place after there was a concrete practical move in the Cyprus problem,” Stylianides said.

While welcoming the offer, Clerides felt such a meeting “should not have a social context but a practical political result.”

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.