Kissinger talks of Cyprus in declassified docs

The Central Intelligence Agency has declassified hundreds of pages of internal reports, dubbed “the family jewels,” which detail various “embarrassments” in the organization's history such as plotting assassinations against foreign leaders or illegal wiretapping.

The 703-page of “family jewels” were declassified on Tuesday, in line with the Freedom of Information Act.

According to the National Security Archive Web site, which has put pressure on the U.S. administration to declassify secret documents in the past, the latest documents include more than that. One document, among three others made public by the Web site on Friday, includes a statement by the then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the “unspilling of secret service activities,” which also involve Turkey.

The document, dated Feb. 20, 1975, is a memorandum of a conversation between Kissinger, Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger and CIA Director William Colby, among other officials.

The ‘Turkey aid':

Kissinger, complaining about “professional leakers” in the agency and also investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, says at one point: “In all the world, the things which hurt us the most are the CIA business and Turkey aid. The British can't understand us. Callaghan says insiders there are routinely tapped. Our statements ought to indicate the gravity with which we view the situation.”

According to the “rawstory.com” Web site, what Kissinger refers to by ‘Turkey aid' is “illegal financial aid and arms support to Turkey” for the July 1974 Cyprus military intervention.

“Most historians consider that Kissinger … not only knew about the planned attack on Cyprus, but encouraged it,” claimed the Web site, in an article published Tuesday.

“Some Greek Cypriots … still believe that the invasion was a deliberate plot on the part of Britain and the U.S. to maintain their influence on the island.”

Author Christopher Hitchens, specifically in his book “The Trial of Henry Kissinger”, voiced similar allegations against Kissinger.

Plotting against Castro:

According to the main bulk of declassified documents, the CIA recruited a former FBI agent to approach two of the U.S.'s most-wanted mobsters and gave them poison pills meant for Fidel Castro during his first year in power, The Associated Press reported.

The documents show that in August 1960, the CIA recruited ex-FBI agent Robert Maheu, then a top aide to Howard Hughes in Las Vegas, to approach mobster Johnny Roselli and pass himself off as the representative of international corporations that wanted Castro killed because of their lost gambling operations.

At the time, the bearded rebels had just outlawed gambling and destroyed the world-famous casinos operated by American mobsters in Havana.

Collaborating with mobsters:

Roselli introduced Maheu to "Sam Gold" and "Joe." Both were mobsters on the U.S. government's 10-most wanted list: Momo Giancana, Al Capone's successor in Chicago; and Santos Trafficante, one of the most powerful mobsters in Batista's Cuba.

The agency gave the reputed mobsters six poison pills, and they tried unsuccessfully for several months to have several people put them in Castro's food.

This particular assassination attempt was dropped after the failed CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961.

Other documents detail the testing of mind and behavior-altering drugs like LSD on unwitting citizens, wiretapping of U.S. journalists, spying on civil rights and anti-Vietnam war protesters, opening mail between the United States and the Soviet Union and China, break-ins at the homes of ex-CIA employees and others.

Another set of documents, also newly declassified, is known as the CAESAR-POLO-ESAU papers. This is an 11,000-page analysis, done between 1953 and 1973, on Soviet and Chinese internal politics and Sino-Soviet relations.

Expert notes rise in interest in Cyprus property investment

Interest in property investments in Cyprus has increased significantly in recent times, according to an expert from the Property Secrets group.Simon Tweddle, head of research at the independent analysts and commentators, has noted how property purchases among external investors has been particularly strong over the last year.

Properties have increased in value in Cyprus by between 20 and 25 per cent, with the country perceived as desirable due to its cheap air access, predominantly English speaking population and low taxes.

Asked whether a property boom were likely to occur in Cyprus in the near future, ahead of a 15 per cent VAT being placed upon land in the country sold after January 2008, Mr Tweddle said "that kind of boom has already taken place".

Mr Tweddle also noted how: "Quite a few UK [property] companies are starting to get a bigger interest in Cyprus – they're marketing Cyprus as an investment destination.

"With Cyprus set to join the Euro following EU approval later this week, he also speculated that such a situation would offer more "security" to the property market and "probably increase the short-term prices rises".

On a quest for roots in divided Cyprus

By Dina Kyriakidou

KYTHREA, Cyprus (Reuters) - Armed with vague childhood memories, printouts of Google Earth maps and hand drawings of streets that might no longer exist, I crossed into north Cyprus in search of my grandmother's home town.

It was a journey to the birthplace of a larger-than-life woman whose memory I cherish, to the house my besotted grandfather built for his 17-year-old bride in 1928.

"When you marry, find someone handsome because you'll have to look at him for the rest of your life," my barely literate but very practical grandmother advised me when I was 10.

She died aged 90. That was before 2003, when the crossing points on the U.N.-patrolled green line that splits the Mediterranean island opened, allowing Greek and Turkish Cypriots the first glimpse of each other in nearly 30 years.

The Nicosia checkpoint was not the busy spot I remembered from previous trips. Lethargic officials now sat in white booths, waiting for the occasional car to pass.

"The honeymoon is over," said Mete Hatay, a Turkish Cypriot researcher for the Oslo-based International Peace Research Institute, my companion on this trip. "Fewer and fewer people cross over every day. Reality has overtaken curiosity."

I've lived my adult life away from this island and this journey is not hard for me. But I know that people on both sides of this divide, which has defied decades of international peace efforts, still nurse open wounds.

For many of the 160,000 Greek Cypriots who fled in 1974 when Turkey invaded the island after a Greek Cypriot coup, it is a heart-breaking experience, especially when they find their ancestral homes occupied by Turks.

"For the Turkish Cypriots, moving to the north was more like migrating to freedom, not the tragedy it was for the Greek Cypriots," said Mete, whose grandmother comes from the south.

About 40,000 Turkish Cypriots were also displaced after inter-communal fighting in the 1960s, shortly after Cyprus declared its independence from the British.

WORLDS APART

As we drove through the divided capital, it became clear the breakaway north -- recognised only by Turkey -- had seen few benefits from Cyprus's accession to the European Union in 2004.

In the south, luxury showrooms, hotels and restaurants abound in a tourism-driven economy. In the north, shops sell fashions of past decades and provincial casinos are the main attraction for the few foreigners who venture here.

Star-and-crescent flags are everywhere. One is painted on the mountain, its huge form outlined with flashing lights.

We reached the town of Kythrea, 15 km northeast of Nicosia. It's known in Turkish as Degirmenlik -- water mills.

The bleak, crumbling town was foreign to me. Gone were the animals grazing in green fields and farmers picking oranges and olives that impressed me as a suburban child visiting relatives.
Most houses appeared deserted and the land abandoned.

The large Church of Holy Mary Chardiakiotissa was built with the island's trademark yellow sandstone in a gothic-orthodox style mix. The bell tower is now adorned with speakers for the muezzin's call to prayer.

Nearby stands the simple, white, two-storey house where my grandmother arrived as a bride, where my mother and her siblings were born.

I knocked on the door but there was no answer.

"The people who live there are Turks from the Aegean coast," said a friendly neighbour, Ramazan Kaldirim, 23, whose family came here from a village near the Black Sea in 1976.

I told him I have no claim on this house, sold after my grandfather died in the 1950s. I am connected to it only through stories of happy matchmakings and tragic deaths, of children's mischief and friends' kindness during hard times.

We also stopped at my uncle's 19th century house to admire its carved stone entrance, now padlocked. He lived here until 1974 and he drew for me the maps of my mission.

Back in Nicosia, he asked me if his house was still standing but barely looked at the snapshots I show him.

"I know what my house looks like," he told me.

Cyprus approved for Eurozone entry

Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos announced on Thursday that the European Council had approved the proposals of the European Commission and the European Central Bank for the accession of Cyprus and Malta to the Eurozone on 1 January 2008.

He added that the Council would instruct ECOFIN to set a date for the parity of the Cyprus pound to the Euro next month.

Regarding Turkey's EU accession course, he said Cyprus was determining its position chapter by chapter, adding that discussions were ongoing regarding the chapters the German presidency wishes to open and ''we don't want to be unduly negative.''

Referring to the areas of Cyprus under Turkish occupation, President Papadopoulos expressed regret that the political conditions did not allow for the introduction of the Euro, so that the Turkish Cypriots could enjoy its advantages, but pointed out that it was impossible to introduce the Euro in the occupied areas for many reasons.

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, President Papadopoulos said ''this is a very historical day for Cyprus.''

''It has become possible, through the hard work of the government officials, the experts who advise us, the understanding of the European Central Bank and the Commission, and it is proof that the economic policy we have followed in Cyprus has been rewarded by making it possible for us to accomplish the indicators which are very strict and which are demanded by the European Central Bank and the Commission,'' he said.

He added that ''we managed to reduce our deficit from 6.3% when this government took over to 1.4% this year, with very good prospects'' and noted that ''it will go further down.''

''The public debt, which was 72% against the GDP is now 64% with falling inclination and the inflation has been kept within the boundaries of the three best performing members of the EU, and unemployment is very little. All this we have achieved with the help and sacrifices of our people,'' the President said.

President Papadopoulos noted that Thursday's decision is ''interpreted as being a confirmation of the sound policies which the government has followed.''

''In the case of Cyprus, we are expecting that the rounding up of prices will be downwards, not upwards, because right now our currency is stronger than the euro and a great number of businesses have already declared their policy and are bound to reduce their prices by 1%,'' he pointed out.

Referring to the Turkish occupied areas, he said ''it is sad that the political conditions do not allow for the introduction of the Euro, so that our Turkish Cypriots compatriots can enjoy its advantages,'' but pointed out that it was impossible to introduce the Euro in the occupied areas for many reasons.

President Papadopoulos pointed out that ''it is not possible'' to introduce the euro in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus ''unless the area is under the control of the Central European Bank and the Commission, which it is not, and if they manage to comply with the requirements, which are very strict, as to the economic indicators.''

''That cannot be achieved now when the economy of the occupied areas is completely controlled by Turkey in Turkish lira, not in euros,'' he said.

Asked if Cyprus would veto the opening of negotiating chapters for Turkey, President Papadopoulos said ''we have stated our position in the working groups.''

''There is a further meeting going on. Negotiations are going on. Our position is very clear. We say we raise our objections. There are matters relating to policy, in addition to technical conditions, and also bearing in mind the attitude of Turkey towards Cyprus. It seems really unbelievable that Turkey will in one day exercise its veto in a number of international organisations which we try to join, for example the European Meteorological Agency. Cyprus is vetoed. Now what political impact that would have getting the weather forecast, which we get anyway, published. I don't understand. Do they expect us the following day to vote for them to open chapters, especially those where there are technical objections, not only from us, from other countries as well,'' he said.

President Papadopoulos pointed out that ''Cyprus is determining its position chapter by chapter,'' adding that discussions are continuing on the chapters the German presidency of the EU wishes to open and ''we don't want to be unduly negative.''

Athens defies MGK warning on Greek Cyprus

The response to a statement by Turkey's National Security Council (MGK) describing the Greek Cypriot government as an "element of instability" came on Thursday, not from the southern part of the divided island but from the Greek capital via a statement by the Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

A statement was released by the MGK following a meeting on Wednesday that also served as a warning for the Greek Cypriot administration, which launched an international licensing round for offshore exploration of oil and gas in February in spite of opposition from Turkey.

The MGK statement warned the move could stoke tensions in the region, chiding the Greek Cypriot administration for acting as an "element of instability" while also noting that its attempts to take steps on behalf of the entire island were "invalid."


Greek Foreign Ministry spokesperson George Koumoutsakos' response to the statement came in the form of an answer to a journalist's question regarding the statement which was aired on the ministry's Web page on Thursday.

"The fundamental factor for stability in our wider region is the European Union, of which the Republic of Cyprus is a member state, exercising its sovereignty and sovereign rights with full respect for international law," Koumoutsakos said.

Ankara opposes agreements that the Greek Cypriot administration has signed with Lebanon and Egypt over maritime borders to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Some estimates suggest that the seas around Cyprus could contain unproven reserves of between 6 and 8 billion barrels of oil with an estimated value of $385 billion.

Ancient hatreds divide tragic Cyprus

By David C. Henley

NICOSIA, Cyprus - It was 49 years ago when I first set foot on this island in the Eastern Mediterranean. Nearly 2,000 years before my arrival, Paul came to Cyprus and converted to Christianity in the presence of Apostles St. Mark and Barnabas.

The island, once part of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, also figures prominently in Greek mythology as it is the birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and her lover, Adonis.Paul, Mark, Barnabas, Aphrodite and Adonis, alas, would have found few expressions of love and humanity during both my visit here in 1958 and my most recent, in late May of this year.

In 1958, while spending two weeks in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, I was writing articles about the ongoing conflict between the British government, which had ruled the island since 1878, the land's Greek Cypriot majority, which was demanding "enosis" or union with Greece, and the Turkish minority that historically has been at odds with the Greek population's cultural, religious and linguistic ties to Greece.

Covering the troubles for several California daily newspapers at the time, I wrote in one of my dispatches from Nicosia, "Five people were killed recently in the hotel where I am staying by EOKA, the Greek Cypriot organization spearheading the drive for union with Greece.

"The correspondent of a London newspaper showed me the bullet hole in his car's front window that was fired at him as he drove his wife and daughter through the streets of Nicosia. So many have been killed on narrow Ledra Street in this city that the road has been named 'Murder Mile.'"

Since my visit here in the late 1950s, the difficulties have continued unabated. Instead of union with Greece, Cyprus attained independence from Britain in 1960, but the dispute between the Greek majority and Turkish minority heightened.

In 1974, the ruling military government of Greece and the Greek Cypriots once again attempted to unite Cyprus with Greece. That resulted in Turkey invading the island with massive land and air forces.

Many were killed in battles between the Greeks and Turks, and hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed during the fighting. The Turks occupied the northern third of the island and they remain today, administering the rump "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" (TRNC) composed primarily of ethnic Turks and Turks sent here from the nation of Turkey.

Only the presence of a 1,000-man United Nations force of soldiers and police officers keeps the peace today.

Currently headed by an Argentine general who took over from an Uruguayan general five months ago, the blue-helmeted UN troops, operating under a command called the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), are composed of units from Argentina, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Britain, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Bosnia.

Operating out of the art deco Ledra Palace Hotel, where I stayed in 1959, the U.N. forces patrol a buffer zone in white trucks, vans, armored cars and helicopters.Supplemented by Cypriot and Turkish troops on their respective sides of the border, the buffer zone is a no-man's land blocked off with barbed wire, concrete bunkers, watchtowers and 20-foot high mounds of empty oil drums.

This 187-mile buffer zone runs throughout the entire island as well as the capital, Nicosia, making it the last divided city in the world.Both the Greeks and Turks maintain governmental headquarters in their sectors of Nicosia, and passports and visas are required of visitors passing through heavily-fortified checkpoints.

A comparison with East and West Berlin before Berlin's unification in 1989 can easily be made. Concrete, blocks and bricked-up buildings separating commercial and residential neighborhoods from Greek and Turkish sectors are appalling.

The so-called "Green Line" that divides Nicosia and the island (it was given this name because a British general who drew the boundaries on a map used a green pencil) goes through the nation's popular swimming beaches, resorts, farms, villages and mountains, zig-zagging throughout the island for no apparent reason.

The two halves of Cyprus barely communicate with one another, and the proliferation of bombed-out buildings on every block adjacent to the Green Line, together with empty streets and the armed troops manning watchtowers and sentry booths, are intimidating to all who venture here.Turkish and Greek Nicosia are two different worlds. The Greek sector is full of life, fine restaurants and shops, and well-kept streets.

The Turkish areas are drab, dirty and unkempt. Turkish and Greek Cypriot flags fly over the two entities, and each nation maintains its own currency and postage stamps. Mosques and minarets are found all over the Turkish area, giving the nation a Middle Eastern feel. In the Greek sectors, Cypriot Orthodox churches proliferate.

The Turks appear surly and withdrawn. The Greeks are decidedly more outgoing, friendly, animated, better-clothed and receptive to foreigners.Despite the rundown condition of the Turkish side, I enjoyed wandering its crooked streets and examining its Arabic architecture. There was also a sense of adventure walking about Turkish Nicosia, the capital of a pariah nation diplomatically recognized by no nation other than Turkey.

On the last day of my four-day visit here, I attempted to enter the Ledra Palace Hotel astride the U.N. Buffer Zone, the beautiful 1920-era hotel I stayed at on my first trip here in 1958.I was denied entry by the U.N. troops billeted there. But they let me walk around its gardens, now full of weeds and debris and walled-off by concertina wire.

Bullet holes pockmarked its walls and military uniforms of the U.N. forces living there hung from some of the windows of the upper floors.

Cyprus may still be a beautiful land to come to, but for now, its tragic past and present give little hope for a better future.

Kasoulides lays into ‘defeatist’ policy on Cyprus problem

THE administration was yesterday caught in the middle of crossfire, on the one hand fending off salvos from presidential hopeful Ioannis Kasoulides while on the other answering jibes from their main coalition partners AKEL.

Kasoulides, an MEP and former Foreign Minister, turned up the heat after announcing last week he would be standing for the top job.Yesterday he took on the administration head-on, accusing it of a “defeatist” policy on Cyprus and of a lack of initiative.

“To say that Turkey holds the key [to Cyprus] is merely an excuse for inaction and inertia,” said the MEP.“We must bring the key back to Nicosia. Turkish intransigence is not without its weak points. I aim to adopt an aggressive diplomacy, take the initiative and back Turkey into a corner.”

And the government’s “tough guy” attitude abroad had isolated Cyprus, he added.“Look at [our] treatment of [former British Foreign Secretary] Jack Straw. In world diplomacy, never have I seen anything like it, except maybe with Iran’s Ahmadinejad or Venezuela’s Chavez.

At least those two countries have oil. What do we have to behave the way we do?”Responding to Kasoulides, Government Spokesman Vassilis Palmas accused the MEP of “bulldozer tactics.”He insisted the government had a clear-cut policy on Cyprus, and challenged Kasoulides to explain his own vision.“Is he [Kasoulides] a concessionist, a hard-liner… what?” mused Palmas.

“For someone who served as Foreign Minister for years, if he still thinks that he and Mr Talat can together find a comprehensive settlement, if he does not realise that Turkey holds the key…then I rest my case.”

But during yesterday’s press briefing, Palmas was also taken to task over a comment made by Nikos Katsourides of AKEL.In an interview with Simerini over the weekend, Katsourides said that it was not enough for the next President to belong to the “no” camp – he should also be someone who can pave the way for a solution.

The remark was understood as a response to the other coalition parties’ criticism of a possible Christofias nomination.AKEL has taken flak from ruling DIKO and socialists EDEK for considering Christofias as a rival candidate, wondering why the communists would want to go their own way if they were pleased with the Papadopoulos administration.

Weighing in, EDEK honorary chairman Vassos Lyssarides said he was confident Papadopoulos would make it to the second round and that his party would back him all the way.“For us, there are no dilemmas. It is others who will be faced with choices,” added the veteran politician, alluding to AKEL.

Neither Papadopoulos nor Christofias have officially announced their candidacies. It is said the government camp is waiting, holding out hope that AKEL will abort the Christofias nomination and renew their oath to the three-way coalition under Papadopoulos.

Meanwhile, a new poll commissioned by daily Politis found that Papadopoulos should garner 31.2 per cent of the popular vote in the first round, followed by Kasoulides at 26.2 per cent. Christofias came in third at 23.1 per cent.According to the survey, around 20 per cent of the electorate are undecided