‘Greece contributes over $ 1 billion to National Guard’

By Martin Hellicar

GREECE’S contribution to the National Guard is worth more than $1 billion, President Glafcos Clerides revealed yesterday.

The President’s surprise statement came on the day National Guard forces paraded through Paphos and Larnaca to mark the end of the five-day Nikiforos military exercise.

“Cypriot Hellenism feels a great debt of gratitude towards Greece for the substantial material help she has given towards the upgrading of the National Guard, which, though the public don’t know it, exceeds a billion US dollars,” Clerides stated during a visit to the Greek Navy frigate Limnos, moored at Larnaca port.

Clerides did not say what these “materials” were or make clear over what time period the Greek contribution had been made.

Greece has sought to demonstrate its support for Cyprus by sending Greek air force jets and transport planes to participate in the Nikiforos war games and by mooring Greek Navy ships at submarines at the island’s ports during the exercise.

Greek fighter jets yesterday engaged in mock dogfights with Turkish Air Force jets off Cyprus. Nicosia has protested to the UN over Turkish violations of the Nicosia Flight Information Region (FIR) during Nikiforos.

Four Greek F-16s flew over yesterday’s “victory” parade by ground units which took part in Nikiforos.

Clerides rejected suggestions that the Greek F-16s had not landed at the Paphos air base because of behind-the-scenes pressure from Turkey and other countries. He argued that their flying visit was a planned exercise to prove the Greek air force could defend the island even should the Paphos base be put out of action.

Clerides and visiting Greek deputy defence Minister Demetris Apostolakis again expressed their complete satisfaction with the National Guard’s battle readiness.

Ever since his embarrassing December climb down over the deployment of the S-300 ground-to-air missiles, Clerides has been at pains to demonstrate that Cyprus is not a sitting duck for Turkish war planes.

During last week’s traditional October 1 military parade, short-range TOR-M1 anti-aircraft missiles were put on show for the first time. The Russian-made missiles were given to Cyprus by Greece in exchange for the long-range S-300s being re-directed to Crete in the face of Turkish threats and mounting international pressure.

Clerides won re-election in February 1998 largely on the back of a promise to bring the S-300s to Cyprus.

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.