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US-Greece Relations Good-Cyprus War
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US-Greece Relations Good-Cyprus WarU.S. Backing Greece is Key to Solving Cyprus WarBurns 2k [Nicolas Burns, Former Ambassador to Greece, “Greece-U.S. Relations: The Generation Ahead” 10/13/00 http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event&event_id=121578&doc_id=121581)
Barber 97 [Tony Barber, Financial Times’ Brussels bureau chief. He has also been bureau chief for the FT in Rome and Frankfurt, Europe editor and East Europe editor of The Independent and a Reuters correspondent in New York, Washington, Warsaw, Moscow and Belgrade, “Europe's coming war over Cyprus” 1/23/97, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/europes-coming-war-over-cyprus-1284661.html] Just as EU foreign ministers sit down over lunch in Brussels to thrash out what to do, word arrives that four Greek Cypriots have been killed along the Green Line dividing government-held southern Cyprus from the Turkish-occupied north. The government, backed by Greece, retaliates by vowing to take delivery within a week of a batch of Russian S-300 anti- aircraft missiles ordered in January 1997. As a Russian-Greek naval convoy carrying the warheads and launchers edges towards the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish armed forces swing into action. Troop reinforcements pour into northern Cyprus. Planes raid the Greek-built missile base near Paphos in south-western Cyprus. The Turkish navy prepares to blockade the island. Greece declares Turkey's actions a cause for war and, angry at lukewarm EU support, invokes the secret defence clause of a recently signed treaty with Russia. Fighting on Cyprus spreads to disputed Aegean islands on Turkey's coastline. The United States warns Russia not to get involved. President Alexander Lebed, with Chinese support, tells the US to mind its own business. All three powers go on nuclear alert. Like Cuba, another island involved in a missile dispute 36 years before, Cyprus has brought the world to nuclear confrontation. If the above scenario seems fantastic, bear in mind that much of it is already unfolding. First of all, the EU gave a cast-iron promise in 1995 to open accession talks with Cyprus, even though with hindsight some states regard the pledge as rash. "Anyone who wants to join the EU must know that the European Union cannot deal with the accession of new members that bring in additional external problems," Germany's foreign minister, Klaus Kinkel, said last Monday. This is to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted. Knowing that EU membership talks must start by about mid-1998, and encouraged by Greece, the Greek Cypriots feel they can play hard to get on a Cyprus settlement. Without major Turkish concessions, they will demand that southern Cyprus joins the EU on its own - a sure recipe for a crisis. Secondly, President Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash, the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders, may meet in spring to launch fresh peace talks. But even if such talks get under way - a big if - there is little reason to suppose they will be crowned with success. The diplomatic climate is too frosty, and both sides have a deeply entrenched belief that to blink first will be to lose. Thirdly, several clashes along the Green Line erupted last year, causing the deaths of four Greek Cypriots and one Turkish Cypriot. It was the most violent period on the island since the Turkish army's invasion in July 1974. Lastly, the Cyprus government says that the missiles it ordered from Russia will cost 200m Cyprus pounds (pounds 250m) and will arrive in 16 months - May 1998. According to a government spokesman, Yiannakis Cassoulides, the deal does not include a clause allowing Cyprus to cancel the order. Turkey says that its armed forces will attack the Greek Cypriots if they deploy the missiles, whose range enables them to destroy planes in mainland Turkish airspace. Turkey has also talked of imposing a naval blockade of Cyprus. According to one Nato diplomat with long experience of Turkey, these are not idle threats. "Turks can be incredibly stubborn in matters where they think the national interest is at stake. They've got to be taken seriously," the diplomat said. This week Turkish naval vessels are visiting northern Cyprus in a show of teeth-baring solidarity with the Turkish Cypriots. Turkish and Turkish Cypriot forces may also be combined for the first time at a new military base in the north. For its part, Greece's Socialist government is preparing a huge, 10-year modernisation of its armed forces that will cost 4,000bn drachmas (pounds 9.64bn), or almost pounds 1,000 for every man, woman and child in Greece. Greece has also tightened its military links with the Greek Cypriots, especially by creating a common defence space. In short, virtually all the ingredients for a bloody confrontation on Cyprus, sucking in Greece and Turkey, are present. The island is the world's most densely militarised confrontation zone. Like a dormant volcano that finally releases a torrent of fire and ash, Cyprus is poised to explode after 22 years of diplomatic stalemate and military stand-off. All outsiders, from the United States and the EU to the United Nations, recognise the dangers. Indeed, many see Greece and Turkey, whose mutual antagonism long predates their alliance in Nato, as the most likely contestants in Europe's next war. Some Western experts believe that conflict may break out over other Greek- Turkish tensions, notably the disputed Aegean islands. This issue brought Greece and Turkey close to war in January 1996. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 1.27 Mb. Share with your friends:
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