Greek warplanes in Nikifors exercise

FOUR Greek military planes took part yesterday in the National Guard’s Nikiforos ‘99 exercises.

The two A-7 Corsair bombers and two F-16s flew missions over the Nicosia and Paphos districts.

Defence Minister Socrates Hasikos, who watched the exercise, later stressed the excellent co-operation between the military commands of Greece and Cyprus.

Greek Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos, who ended a four-day visit to Cyprus on Sunday, told a news conference that the island’s defence capability is of a very high standard.

He and Hasikos had visited the Andreas Papandreou air base at Paphos, where work to complete phase two of the base is continuing. The Greek minister described it as an excellent military airport ready to accommodate aircraft taking part in annual manoeuvres.

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.