MONTHLY REPORT -- NICOSIA BUREAU -- APRIL 1988

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-01355R000400100008-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 11, 2013
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 10, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/06/11: CIA-RDP91-01355R000400100008-7
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Monthly Report -- Nicosia Bureau
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO.
DATE
Chief, Operations Group
April 1988
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICER'S
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
INITIALS
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
AC/Ops
9
JUN 198
2.
3.
C/E&PS
r
4.
DD/FBIS
s.
D
F
IS
/
B
6.
PO/RA
lS
8.
SA/CD
9.
10.
C/AS ---
11.
C/BEF/AS
- -
-
- -
12.
I
I
13
C/AG
tiol~
Exec. Reg.
FORM 6 USE PREVIOUS
1.79 EDITIONS
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/06/11: CIA-RDP91-01355R000400100008-7
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/06/11: CIA-RDP91-01355R000400100008-7
FI3I S.....4t 307-?88i
10 May Be
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH Chief, Operations (Group
SUBJECT : Monthly Report """"" Nicosia Bureau -- April. 19E::8
The new U. S? ambassador to Cyprus, William Perrin, arrived on the
island on 27 April after" a wait of many months for confirmation by the
Senate. The acting bureau chief and his wife represented FBIS a : an
Embassy reception welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Perrin the following evening.
Ambassador Perrin is empec't.ed to visit the F^1':I:S bureau soon
Turkish Cypriot officials began new procedures at the Nicosia
crossing point to the northern part of the island dur?i ng the month,
insisting on putting their administration's stamp in the passports of
traveler's, emcept those with diplomatic passports. The U.S. Embassy and
the Cyprus Government have both objected to the procedures, which have
cont.:i. nued for over three weeks now. No bureau personnel or official
visitors have been affected, but some non-official visitors have turned
back at the checkpoint rather than have their passports stamped.
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. Bureau editors and monitors were involved from the
beginning in the 15-day ordeal of a hijacked Kuwaiti airliner that was
first diverted to :Gran and later spent 4 days at. Lar?naca Al r'por..... in
C yprussa At the beginning of the hijacking the bureau covered Kuwait radio
early morning programs for reports on the drama at the request of the BBC,
opening the bureau early for three days. When it became apparent that.
Iran would allow the plane to leave, the bureau developed a contingency
plan for overni ght. staffing in case the plane came to Beirut or some other
part of our coverage area. When the plane actually wound up in Cyprus,
the bureau instituted midnight shifts to watch for reports an the
situation from Paris AF?'F and the Beirut Voice of Lebanon radio's all-night
broadcasts, even though Nicosia radio observed its usual ssigr"loff time
throughout the crisis. The duty editors stayed in close contact with the
U. S. embassy task force established in Nicosia to monitor the situation,
advising them of fast-breaking news, including the killing of two
hostages. After the hijackers freed 12 passengers and the plane was
allowed to leave for Algiers on 12 April, the bureau stayed open late
until it was clear" that the plane was not going to return to our area.
The bureau's two newest trainee editors, who arrived the day after the
Kuwaiti jet :landed in Cyprus, got an unusual opportunity to observe field
bureau c r i s i s coverage in action during their first few days.
Bureau coverage of the hijacking elicited a message from
the acting chief, Operation Group congratulating the bureau on "its
initiative, creativity, and professionalism." The BBC Newsroom also
empressed its thanks for Nicosia's handling of one Tehran television item
on the hijacking.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/06/11: CIA-RDP91-01355R000400100008-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/06/11: CIA-RDP91-01355R000400100008-7
2. I_ar"naca Airport was also the scene of a different kind of
excitement on 8 April. U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz stopped in
L..ar'naaca en route to Washington after a &'-day tour of the Middle East. He
held meetings here with Cypriot Foreign Minister Yeor"yios Iakovou and
Lebanese President Amin al. -" Jumaayyi l , who had flown in from Beirut to see
him. Shultz departed the same morning.
3. The bureau initiated open watch on Tehran early morning
casts, opening the bureau early for the coverage for three days starting
19 April, when U.S. forces attacked two Iranian oil platforms in the
a series f :7'f clashes. "T"ehran reports and comments on
Persian Gulf sparking
the events were the topic of an AG Trends piece on 27 April. The clashes
also led to an embassy security alert t based on reports that Iran would
authorize terrorist attacks against U.S. targets in the near" futur'e.
4. Near the end of the month, Saudi. Arabia severed diplomatic
relations with Iran. The bureau c:.aught the first report buried near the
end of a Saudi Television newsscasst being watched primarily in response to
an ad hoc request on another topic. The fast bureau handling of the
report brought complimentary messages from the BBC Newsroom and from
Acting Chief, Operations Group, who noted that the Nicosia Bureau report
"easily beat all local media here by about an hour?, and also proved to be
a significant contribution to an article planned for high-level
publication." Bureau e'ffor'ts to monitor Saudi. Television for material on
the original request about new rockets and Israeli reaction to them also
earned an expression of thanks from Liaison on behalf of consumers.
5. With the situation in Soviet. Armenia and Azer'baai Jaan
becoming quieter again, the bureau c.ut back coverage of Yerevan and Baku
domestic services. Deteriorating reception became too poor for continuing
phone-patches of the coverage to the BBC, and productivity of coverage by
Nicosia monitors had dropped sharply. We continue covering one domestic
service program daily from Baku and Yerevan and are making backstop
recordings of several others. With this change, the bureau was able to
take back its normal coverage of Tehran Domestic Service morning casts,
which the BBC had been covering while our Persian/Armenian monitor was
detailed to Soviet coverage. In response to a Headquarters request, the
bureau prepared two hour's of Armenian-language voice recordings for'
training use and sent them to London by DI?fl_ courier for forwarding to
Headquar'ter's over Internet..
F,. At the request of a Headquarters consumer relayed by MOD,
the bureau forwarded a videotape of a news conference by Cypriot President
Yeoryiouss Vasiliou directly to Washington by DHL courier.
7. The bureau I'iass begun receiving Tehran newspaper's and
magazines two or three times a week via an air" courier company. F'arsi and
English papers are being forwarded to London Bureau along with our regular''
courier shipments of videotapes for a trial coverage period, while Nicosia
bureau scans the magazines for possible processing.
S. Tehran Domestic Service has returned to a schedule of
broadcasting Friday prayers at a time when the BBC's reception is still
fair". This has allowed Nicosia to discontinue the regular phonepat.chi.net
of the prayer broadcasts to the BBC, although we continue to backstol--)
record them.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/06/11: CIA-RDP91-01355R000400100008-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/06/11: CIA-RDP91-01355R000400100008-7
B. Communications
1. Bureau communications were down several times during the
month. A scheduled outage an 15 April for a satellite upgrade was
interrupted because of heavy communications traffic in the area due to the
hijacking situation. Communications were down for 10 hours an 18 April
STAT clue to satellite problems and trouble at0 In addition,
initiated a scheduled downtime on 30 April that continued for 6 hours
2? The bureau switched over to Bach 2.1 and the new F BIS
message format on 28 April, as scheduled by Headquarters. Both changes
appear to have gone smoothly.,
1. Part-time asecr?etar'y I Iberian work on 4 STAT
April, overlapping with until. 2') April. Berri gave birth to STAT
a baby girl the following day. She is rotating out of Nicosia in June
with her husband, an embassy staffer. E:di is also an embassy spouse..
2. Deputy Chief
United States from 8 to 24 April.
was on personal travel to the STAT
3. wife of the bureau chief, departed for? the STAT
United States on Medevac on 24 April.
4a Bureau Chief
was on emergency visitation to the STAT
United States from 27 April to 8 May.
5. Senior editor
United States on 18 April.
eturned f rc: m R-