A CYPRIOT team began emissions tests for a controversial British bases (SBA) antenna at Akrotiri yesterday afternoon after a disagreement over access to aerial specifications was apparently ironed out.
The Communications Ministry expert heading the Cypriot test team, Andronikos Kakouras, had complained on Monday that the British side was holding back vital technical information concerning the riot-sparking new mast.
Bases spokesman Rupert Greenwood, who on Monday denied these claims of British obstruction, yesterday said the concerns of the Kakouras team had been addressed during a morning meeting at Akrotiri.
“We are all happy,” Greenwood said after the meeting. “I cannot speak on the Cypriot team’s behalf, but the mood is positive,” he added.
Kakouras could not be contacted in the field for comment yesterday, but the comments made before the meeting by fellow test team member Stelios Himonas were anything but antagonistic towards the bases.
Himonas, the director of telecommunications at the Communications Ministry, said he “welcomed” the co-operation of the British side. “Our common aim to make measurements which will be assessed to see if aerials are acceptable or not,” the Cypriot expert said, referring to concerns that the new mast could cause cancers among the local population.
Greenwood repeated the British line that the 100-metre antenna set to go up in 2003 is harmless: “We are doing everything we can to co-operate and make sure we assist the Cypriot test team because we do not have anything to hide and we know that things are okay.”
During yesterday’s meeting, the Cypriot team and the team of British experts who are to shadow them agreed on a common methodology for the emissions tests.
The tests, which kicked off at 4pm yesterday and are set to continue today and tomorrow, are the Cypriot team’s second attempt at assessing electro-magnetic emissions from the new antenna by measuring radiation from existing aerials at the salt lake listening site. Tests carried out earlier this month proved unreliable due to the methods used.
Two French experts from France Telecom are joining the local team this time round as measurements are made at the mast site and at Akrotiri village, 1 kilometre away.
The start of groundwork for the 100-metre high new bases antenna on July 2 sparked anti-bases rioting at the salt lake mast site and at the Episkopi SBA police station the next day. Over 40 people were hurt in clashes after protests against a mast locals fear will give them cancer.
London and Nicosia were unanimous in their condemnation of the July 3 riots, but the antenna issue has strained relations between the bases and Cypriot residents of the Akrotiri SBA.
With work on the new mast stalled, Nicosia and London have since had a series of meetings aimed at arriving at a consensus over the impact of the antenna. While insisting the new mast is harmless, Britain has also vowed to shelve the antenna plans if an adverse health affect is shown.
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.
