Only a no-fly zone will do, says Clerides

By Martin Hellicar

PRESIDENT Clerides returned from his two-week Aegean cruise in uncompromising mood yesterday. He said the government would not postpone deployment of the S-300 missiles and would not accept any US proposal for an overflights moratorium – only a no-fly zone would do.

“We have made no plans for a postponement. For the time being, the National Council decision on the arrival of the Russian missiles stands,” Clerides told journalists after disembarking from his yacht, the Kate, in Larnaca marina yesterday morning.

The National Council decided earlier this year to postpone delivery of the S-300s until October.

Earlier this week, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis said deployment of the ground-to-air missiles could be put back if talks with the Turkish side restarted.

Turkey has threatened to strike the missiles if they are deployed, and both the United States and the European Union have made clear their opposition to the deal.

Talks on the Cyprus problem between the two sides have been stalled since last summer. Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has set recognition of the breakaway ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ as a pre-condition for his return to the negotiation table.

Clerides also commented yesterday on US-led efforts to secure postponement of S-300 deal by getting the two sides to agree to a ban on military overflights – an idea first put forward by Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos.

US envoy to Cyprus Thomas Miller had little luck trying to sell this idea to Ankara during contacts there on Wednesday.

“What Pangalos proposed was not a moratorium but a guaranteed no-fly zone,” Clerides said. “This appears not to have been accepted so they (the US) returned to the idea of a moratorium. It is the common position of both sides that a moratorium is not acceptable.”

The government has indicated it would consider postponing deployment of the missiles if Nato enforced a no-fly zone.

But Turkey has rejected any form of bargaining on the S-300 issue.

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.