Cypriot minister gives defensive pledge on controversial missiles

On the eve of the handover by contractors of the republic's sole military airfield to the Greek Cypriot National Guard, the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Mr Ioannis Cassoulides, said that the airfield is "defensive" and would not be used as a permanent base for Greek aircraft. "It will be used for refuelling. . .only in case of an attack by Turkey," he said.

Mr Cassoulides also told The Irish Times that Russian S-300 ground-to-air missiles due to installed at the Paphos military airfield in mid-1998 to protect the installation from Turkish air raids would "never be used" except in case of attack.

Since the deal for the purchase of the missiles became public a year ago, high-ranking Turkish politicians and generals have repeatedly threatened to "take out" the system and the airbase as soon they the missiles were installed, precipitating a full-scale conflict between Ankara and Athens.

However, an article by a well-connected correspondent, Yusif Kanli, in the Turkish Daily News this week, cited "top Turkish officials" as saying that Ankara was no longer concerned about either the Paphos airfield or the Russian missiles. This report would seem to counter alarming predictions by western diplomatic and intelligence sources of a Greek-Turkish conflict over Cyprus during 1998.

"We have taken note" of this report, Mr Cassoulides said. "It is well sourced and we must see if there is follow up."

The downside of the report was that Ankara considered the present de facto partition of the island to be the "final settlement" of the Cyprus problem and would not support a return to UN-sponsored bicommunal negotiations for the reunification of the island in a federation except on a "two-state basis".

Mr Cassoulides dismissed this policy as illusory. The expectation, he said, was that "this is going to be the year of the big push" involving the US presidential envoy, Mr Richard Holbrooke, the UN and the EU, which begins accession talks with Cyprus in April. "Turkey will weigh the costs and benefits," he said. "If it refuses what the international community is asking. . .Turkey could lose. . .the generous offer [made by the EU during the Luxembourg summit]." Mr Cassoulides expected Turkey to yield to external pressure and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, who has boycotted negotiations since last August, to be "ordered by Ankara to return to the talks. . . Cyprus can become a peaceful paradise if everybody focuses on a settlement in the next few months", Mr Cassoulides said.

Proof that progress could be made even in the present uncertain climate was demonstrated yesterday when the two sides made an initial exchange of files containing information on 400 of the 1,493 Greek and 200 of the 503 Turkish Cypriots missing since the troubles began in 1963.