THE standoff between Britain and Cyprus over the relocation of a National Guard radar on Troodos had yesterday turned into a showdown between the current Defence Minister, Socratis Hasikos, and his predecessor, Yiannakis Omirou.
Omirou, of opposition party Kisos, took violent exception to what he saw as Hasikos’ suggestion that he should have had the radar moved while he was in office to its current position. Hasikos, of governing Disy, denied pointing the finger at Omirou, and invited his predecessor to come talk things over face-to-face. But the acting chairman of the House Defence committee, Antonis Karas, a Disy deputy, fanned the flames by insisting Hasikos’ predecessors were answerable for the fact that the National Guard radar had for years operated with a major “blind-spot”.
Earlier this month, the radar was moved to a point higher up on Mount Olympus, allowing it, for the first time, a full, 360 degrees, field of view. The relocation brought the Cypriot radar much closer to the British army’s Olympus radar and reportedly prompted Britain to demand the National Guard facility be put back where it was.
Hasikos rose to the British challenge, insisting he would not move the radar and that any interference between the two watching systems could be sorted out. He pointed out that the National Guard radar should have been moved years ago.
But by yesterday, any clash between Britain and Cyprus over the radar had taken a back seat, as Hasikos and Omirou crossed swords over the issue.
The Omirou-Hasikos clash began on Sunday, when the Kisos man issued a lengthy statement insisting all the groundwork for moving the radar had been carried out in 1998 – during his 10-month tenure at the Ministry.
Hasikos did his best to dampen things yesterday, insisting he had never tried to blame previous Ministers for the years of blind-spot radar cover.
“What I said to Mr Omirou is that he should come to my office to discuss things, there is no need to discuss in public and say things that are damaging for our defence.”
But Hasikos could not resist a dig at Omirou, saying there were “inaccuracies” in his Sunday statement and that moving the radar had been a matter of only “days”.
Omirou described Hasikos’s statements as “unacceptable and inaccurate” and said he expected an apology. He went further, saying that Hasikos was to blame for the violation of Cyprus airspace by Turkish air force jets on Friday.
On Sunday, Hasikos said two Turkish Fantom RF-4 jets had over flown Troodos specifically in order to photograph the new National Guard radar site.
Omirou said yesterday that the jets would never have come over had Hasikos not gone public with the relocation of the radar system.
Karas – whose committee was shocked to learn last week of the radar’s years of partial “blindness” – hit out at Omirou and other former Defence Ministers. “They are to blame because they either were unaware that the radar was in the wrong position, or they knew about it but kept quiet, or they were aware and did not change things because of pressure from foreign powers or from internal powers,” Karas stated.
Omirou said Karas’s statements were also “unacceptable”.
“I am proud that, despite unbearable pressures, we both repaired the radar and prepared the new area for it during my ten months in the post,” the former Minister said.
