Chastiser (NWCM4)

Chastiser (Part 4 of 8)

Cyprus Affair Campaign

New World Order series

HDS3 MEDC Battleset

When the NSC made good on its promises to deliver SA-10 Grumble SAM systems to the Greek Cypriots in Spring 1995, despite Turkish protest, the stage was set for another conflict in Cyprus. The presence of the advanced weapons shifted the delicate balance of power, as it put nearly all aircraft operating from the Turkish side of the island at risk. When regular Turkish forces stormed the island a few months later, NATO was embarrassed. It had not been aware of Turkey's intention to reclaim Cyprus once and for all. Hand in hand with the economic boom in the NSC came military modernization and revitalization, funding for which was fuelled at least partly by an unprecedented level of arms exports. The NSC would no longer sit idly by while its national interests were decided by others. It launched a major attack against Turkey in June 1995. The NSC did not believe NATO would intervene in the Cypriot affair after having been snubbed by its Turkish partner and after the beating it had received in the Baltic conflict a year earlier. The NSC was wrong.

The move to seize the Bosporous-Dardenelles was a mistake. The prospect of a modernized, ambitious New Soviet navy with a front yard on the Eastern Med was too much for NATO to bear. The US Sixth Fleet, standing off Italy and observing the conflict in Turkey from afar, has now been called into action. The task force will be entering an extremely hostile zone. Yesterday the NSC launched a major airborne assault upon the Turkish contingent in Cyprus, and all indications are that the island will be firmly under NSC control by tomorrow. The ROE remains tight - do not fire unless fired upon. (Released August 2000).