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| Europe |
| France Noses Into Cyprus With A View To Lebanon |
| 2006-08-08 |
| Turkey and France are engaged in a diplomatic tussle over Cyprus. France has been discussing a new "military cooperation" agreements with Cyprus. The terminology of one of the Turkish reports is shorthand for the problem: Turkey insists that France is talking to Greek Cypriots, not Cyprus. France insists that this is not a "new" agreement. However, France is interested in assuring access to military facilities on Cyprus. Why? Think Lebanon. France is also offering training for the Cypriot national guard. In early August, the Turks claimed that France wanted to build a military base in "southern Cyprus" (ie, the Greek-area of the island). Building a new base strikes many observers as unnecessary. Britain has bases in Cyprus and there is a large airbase at Paphos. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #3 Nose, camel, tent. Some assembly required. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2006-08-08 20:17 |
| #2 You Turkish towels best recall that Al-Shiraq has said he would not hesitate to use full nuclear capacity if necessary. If you antagonize him it may be necessary. |
| Posted by: SOP35/Rat 2006-08-08 01:44 |
| #1 Britain has 2 large military bases on Cyprus, which are UK sovereign territory, i.e. they are legally part of the UK. Cyprus doesn't have any say over those bases. So France talking to Cyprus rather than Britain is curious to say the least. EU military integration in practice? |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-08-08 00:34 |