THE GOVERNMENT has offered to destroy a cache of police weapons stored inside the UN-controlled Nicosia Airport since before 1974.
The weapons – more than 4,000 assault rifles and other arms – were imported from Czechoslovakia by the government of Archbishop Makarios in early 1972 in a bid to combat mounting threats from paramilitary groups. But their presence in Cyprus infuriated not only the Turkish Cypriots and their backers in Ankara, but also the Greek military junta that was conspiring to overthrow Makarios at the time. Following intensive negotiations, it was agreed that the UN would keep the arms under their control while the government would have inspection rights.
Yesterday, the government revealed that, on January 10, it proposed the destruction of the weapons in a document submitted to the UN. The offer was submitted as a unilateral move to help improve the climate for the ongoing face-to-face talks between the leaders of the two communities. A proposal to remove anti-personnel mines in and around the buffer zone was also submitted in the same spirit.
Other proposals submitted to UNFICYP, such as returning the guns to their official owners, the Cyprus police, giving them to the UN, or selling them to fund peacekeeping operations or charity, were rejected.
Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday the plan to destroy the weapons was a gesture of good will to the Turkish Cypriot side. “They are old, of course they are still usable, but we have decided to send them to be destroyed,” he said.
It is also a response to appeals by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides to reduce armaments on the island.
UNFICYP spokesman Brian Kelly last night confirmed the government had offered to destroy the guns. “The government has made a proposal for the disposal of the arms. We are currently in discussion as to how this might be accomplished and until such time that these discussions are completed, we will not be in a position to say anything further,” he told the Cyprus News Agency.
No date has been set for the beginning of the operation. “That is to be determined,” Papapetrou said.
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.
