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Clerides was dismayed to find that the entire political hierarchy of Cyprus was pessimistic about the civil war. They believe that it is impossible for Greece to defeat the Turkish-backed northern regime, and that the promise of peace with Turkey is undoubtedly worse, and that Cyprus desperately needs a new ally when the United States is unreliable.www.biquge.info

Although there were concerns that the Soviet Union would not do the same thing as the United States, the vast majority of pro-Soviet high-level officials still believed that Yanayev would not pit Cyprus on this issue once. Moreover, the loss of Cyprus, which was close to the Soviet Union, was equivalent to cutting off a considerable share of the Soviet Union's arms revenues. The Soviet Union also hoped to open up the international market for sales of missiles through Cyprus.

In the room, with the exception of Clerides, who did not express an opinion, everyone else maintained the tacit view that Cyprus should cooperate with the Soviet Union rather than refuse the last straw in a moment of crisis. As for the question of the Cyprus garrison? They said that Britain already had an air base in Cyprus, and what about adding another Soviet one.

Clerides nodded, satisfied with the result, "Since everyone thinks that we should accept the Soviet Union's terms, then the Cypriot government has agreed to the Soviet Union's establishment of a military base on our soil." ”

"We want to know President Clerides' opinion, do you agree or disagree?" One of them asked a key question. However, Clerides' answer made him speechless.

Clerides said in a deep voice, "Does my point of view matter? It doesn't matter, it should be said that our opinions don't matter. What is important is the opinion of the British, Greek and Turkish. Now that you have decided on this plan, the future of Cyprus is in your hands. ”

Clerides' words silenced the room, and everyone understood what Clerides meant, for they were nothing more than puppets of great power politics on certain political issues that would affect the decisive political situation, and had no say.

However, things were far from being as simple as Clerides thought, and just after the meeting, Clerides received a phone call from Athens, and President Stefanopoulos personally called Clerides, who of course surprised Clerides even more by the content of the call.

President Stefanopoulos said, "Greece is prepared to avoid NATO's eyes and ears and trade warships with the Soviet Union, so it needs Cyprus as a cover." At that time, representatives of the USSR will make a deal with Clerides. After that, it was sold to the Greek government on a 'sell' basis. Of course, these ships will be deployed in Cyprus to deal with the threat from Turkey. ”

Clerides was completely stunned when he heard this, how many chess pieces did the visiting Soviet envoy carry on his back, and even the Greek president was brought into this game.

"Greece is now helpless. The eight destroyers that were originally sold to us have come to naught, and now only one old Perry-class is smashed in our hands, so now we are buying Cheetah and Mob M corvettes from the Soviet Union to barely maintain the balance of the situation. You must know that the United States has restarted the Perry-class project with Turkey, and the remaining seven Perry-class ships will be delivered to the Turkish Navy according to the previous contract. ”

Primakov's previous speculation about himself turned into reality, which also made it a little difficult for Clerides to accept such a reality. It's all far worse than you think.

Clerides hesitated and said, "Okay, I'll be in charge of trading with the representatives of the USSR, but I wonder if the USSR is really reliable?" ”

Stefanopoulos asked rhetorically, "We have put all the bets on the Soviet Union, is there any other way than to believe in them?" ”

After that, there was only a long silence between the two sides, and the sound of heavy breathing.

Before hanging up, Stefanopoulos said to Clerides, "Trust them, President Clerides, because now we have no way out." ”

There is no way back. This sentence kept echoing in Clerides' mind, lingering.

By the time Clerides summoned Primakov again, it was already the afternoon of the second day, and by the second day in the small country where the smell of war had grown, Primakov had clearly grown impatient, and he wondered how long Clerides was going to discuss. Just as Primakov wanted to leave the hotel and go straight to the presidential palace, he was summoned by Clerides again.

This time Clerides will give Primakov a definite answer about the attitude of Cyprus.

Walking through the long corridor dappled with light and shadow, Primakov saw Clerides at the end of the corridor, and he looked around and saw that the intricately designed courtyard was not guarded by any of the guards, as if Clerides had broken away from the others and wanted to talk to Primakov face to face.

"Sit down, Comrade Primakov." Clerides beckoned Primakov to sit down and offered him a cup of coffee.

Primakov sat in front of Clerides, admiring the flower-filled landscape, and said with a smile, "Such a well-designed courtyard seems to be suitable only for small talk, not for discussing intrigues." ”

"The most important thing is that the person is not there, isn't it?" Clerides asked rhetorically, "It's the state of mind that determines the environment around us." ”

Primakov already knew about the arms deal between Yanayev and President Stefanopoulos, so he replied with a smile, "Yes, at least I smell the clouds on President Clerides." The Greek side seems to be hoping to deploy a new naval force in Cyprus as soon as possible to influence the situation. There is still a considerable gap between frigates of no more than 1,500 tons and the Perry class, which moves three or four thousand, but this does not mean that we are weaker than American destroyers. These frigates have the ability to launch gems and club missiles, and in the event of an encounter with a Perry-class destroyer, they will launch anti-ship missiles as soon as possible, and then preemptively destroy the Turkish Navy. ”

Clerides shook his head, "But we just bought the Bastion system, and we can't buy any more Soviet frigates." ”

"Who said you need to buy frigates?" "What I mean by this is that Greece is going to deploy all these frigates to the waters of Cyprus so that Cyprus doesn't have to worry about its own coastline and that someone else will have to pay for your military spending, so why not," Primakov explained. And you also have the Bastion anti-ship system, with the cooperation of these two insurances, at least it is more than enough to deal with the aggression of the Turkish Navy. ”

After hearing Primakov's affirmative answer, Clerides breathed a sigh of relief, and the nervousness in his heart was temporarily relieved, and even the bad mood caused by the successive defeats of the Cypriot troops at Morfu in the past few days was slightly better.

"Let's talk about our problems, right? President Clerides. What about the airport? Primakov asked directly.

"Cyprus has already agreed, but if you really want to build a Soviet air base, Cyprus alone is useless." Clerides replied honestly, "When Cyprus signed the treaty of independence, there were three countries, Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom. Even if Greece agrees, what about the opinion of Turkey and the United Kingdom? ”

Primakov said disdainfully, "Does the Soviet Union's establishment of an overseas military base still need to take into account Turkey's opinion?" It's a joke. Even if the Soviet Union annexes Turkey, it does not need to go through their consent, and this is our confidence. ”

Primakov's confident reply shocked Clerides. Then Primakov said slyly, "As for the British, they will agree." ”

"And one last reluctant request."

Clerides said seriously, "We hope that the Soviet side will send troops to participate in the Cypriot civil war, and now Cyprus lacks nothing but people." (To be continued.) )