Nikiforos to be called off

THE NIKIFOROS military exercise is to be cancelled for the third year running, reports said yesterday.

According to Politis newspaper, the decision, made in Athens on Wednesday, was “unofficially suggested” to the government, which then agreed. Unlike previous years, however, the official announcement will come from the Cyprus government and not from Greece.

The paper said all that was left was for the official announcement to be made by Defence Minster Koullis Mavronicolas. Mavronicolas has for some time now been saying all possibilities were still open and that the exercise was being planned as usual. He added that its cancellation would or would not be decided at “high political levels” after taking into account political developments on the Cyprus problem.

Despite the cancellation, reserves will be called up as usual on October 15 and 16. After the weapons and material inspections have been completed, the ‘exercise’ will be called off.

Politis reported a source as saying this year’s cancellation would maintain the smooth climate which has been established over the past few years and save additional costs from further burdening an already inflated public deficit. However, it will cause problems for the National Guard’s reserves, as they will be losing out on the training involved in a large-scale co-ordinated military exercise.

The Defence Ministry spokesman was yesterday unavailable for comment.

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.