Word: kyprianou
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Both Premier Caramanlis and Cyprus President Spyros Kyprianou have rejected the Turkish proposals as a form of de facto partition of the island. Their counterproposal demands more limited Turkish-Cypriot autonomy, a guaranteed return to their homes for the majority of Greek-Cypriot refugees, and withdrawal of 29,000 Turkish troops still on the island...
...this point President Kyprianou promised them Cypriot passports and safe conduct to Athens in exchange for the hostages. In the course of negotiations, Kyprianou received two fateful overseas telephone calls. The first was from Arafat in Beirut. The P.L.O. leader was furious because a close aide was among the hostages. Arafat offered the services of a twelve-man squad of experienced gunmen. Kyprianou accepted and dispatched an airliner to Beirut to pick them up. The squad, armed with Soviet AK-47 submachine guns, was kept out of sight inside the terminal, waiting for a crack at the hijackers. Later, there...
More puzzling was the role of the Egyptian commandos. The second telephone call had come from Sadat. In anguish over the assassination of his friend, he begged President Kyprianou to rescue the hostages, one of whom was Egyptian, and to send the Palestinian killers to Cairo for trial. Kyprianou told him, "I personally will handle the matter...
That assurance was scarcely comforting to Sadat, who knew that Cyprus had long been a haven for Palestinian terrorists. Fearing that the killers might be freed, Sadat alerted the Egyptian army's crack Saiqa (Lightning) commando team and ordered it sent to Larnaca. Cairo merely informed Kyprianou that "we have people on the way to help rescue the hostages." Clearly, Sadat was preparing for an Entebbe-like raid. When the Egyptian transport arrived, Cypriot officials were stunned to discover that the "helpers" were Commando General Nabil Shukry and his assault team. Most were wearing combat suits. For some unexplained...
Adamantly, Kyprianou refused to allow the Egyptian team to act. As negotiations wore on late into Sunday evening, Shukry correctly decided that the Cypriots were preparing to release the two assassins. He sent his men into action-and disaster...