IN AN attempt to play down media hysteria about alleged British spying against Cyprus, Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides yesterday reminded reporters that “Cyprus is not the epicentre of this issue, nor is it the centre of the Earth”.
Over the past few days the government has been doing its best to keep things in perspective, but rampant media speculation about British espionage against the island has taken on a life of its own.
The local reports were sparked by debate on the >Echelon= monitoring network at the European parliament’s civil liberties committee on Wednesday.
A report tabled before the committee by British physicist and researcher Duncan Campbell suggested the British-American satellite monitoring system was used to intercept fax, telephone and radio exchanges across the globe.
The report notes that one of Echelon’s 10 ground monitoring stations is located within the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) on Cyprus.
This led local newspapers and radio quickly to conclude that the British were spying on Cyprus.
Speaking at an impromptu news conference yesterday, Cassoulides said there was evidence in Campbell’s report that the principle of privacy had in fact been violated.
“Cyprus will do anything within its powers to protect the undeniable right of privacy, hence it will support any EU actions concerning the Echelon issue,” he said.
Cassoulides said the reference to Cyprus was made in two lines on page six of the hefty report, which said the SBA had the potential during the Cold War to collect intelligence on the former Soviet Union for Nato members such as Greece and Turkey through its installations at Ayios Nicolaos.
He said he agreed with Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou’s comments on Thursday which suggested it was self-evident that monitoring was part of the function of the British bases:
“The British have military bases, as we all know, and these bases are not schools or colleges,” Papapetrou said in his briefing. “Everyone knows the British have radars (on Cyprus); what they do, we cannot say.”
Cassoulides said the government was not planning to raise the issue with the British government.
“We do not want to raise an issue, especially now, when efforts are being made to solve the Cyprus problem, and we seek the help of those who can influence (Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf) Denktash to change his stance,” he said.
“We do not think it would be wise for Cyprus to open other fronts. We do not need other enemies; one is enough.”
Cassoulides told reporters the British government had assured him that they have no reason to spy on Cyprus.
“If we realise that this friendly country, whose support we seek and have in EU accession talks, uses these installations which cover the globe to monitor our communications then we will surely protest,” he said.
Pressed by reporters who insisted on the spying matter, an irritated Casoulides countered yesterday that Britain did not need to set up such powerful and complex equipment to spy on Cyprus.
“If they wanted to spy on us they could have done it from somewhere else,” he said. “The report says the network can cover the whole world; if it does, then it probably covers us.”
“Do we like it? No. That is why we support any actions taken by the EU to protect privacy,” he said.
