THE Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, used his visit to Cyprus at the weekend to reassure Greek Cypriots of their Greek "motherland's" support and to insist that the Cyprus government should do its utmost to keep its citizens out of the UN controlled buffer zone where two Greek Cypriots were killed by Turkish forces last week.
On his arrival, Mr Simitis pledged to join in "the struggle for a just and viable solution of the Cyprus problem". He warned Turkey that any "advance of its forces would be a casus belli for Greece", and called upon the "international community especially the European Union to exert the appropriate pressure on the Turkish slide" to prevent further violence.
Mr Simitis and the Greek Foreign Minister, Mr Theodoros Pangalos, attended an emergency meeting of the National Council with the leaders of all parliamentary parties, chaired by President Glafkos Clerides.
In a joint statement after the closed door talks, the Greeks and Cypriots said they "will not be drawn into a worsening of the situation" in spite of "Turkish provocations" and said the accession of Cyprus to the EU "opens up new possibilities for a solution".
Before leaving, Mr Simitis visited the families of the two victims of the latest violence, Mr Tassos Isaac and Mr Solomos Solomou, in the coastal town of Paralimni.
Mr Simitis's decision not to attend Mr Solomou's funeral on Friday promptly defused the highly charged atmosphere on the island.
In tune with his approach to the crisis, the Greek Cypriot press played down any resort to the "military option" and called upon young Cypriots, frustrated over the 22 year division of the island, to exercise "self restraint".
Commentators saw the clashes and shootings in the buffer zone as part of a "well orchestrated campaign of violent incidents" designed by the Turkish side to undermine the stability of the republic and prevent its entry into the EU.
On Saturday, the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Mr Alecos Michaelides, said "the United Nations and the international community must increase their efforts to . . . reunite the country and its people" in a bizonal, bicommunal federal republic.
He rejected the assertion of the new Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Necmettin Erbakan, that "the status quo is the solution".
Asked to react to claims by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Ms Tansu Ciller, that Cyprus and Turkey could join the EU together, Mr Michaelides said. "Cyprus cannot dictate to the EU, the EU must make its own decision on who joins."
Mr Michaelides praised US and EU Presidency statements on the Cyprus crisis which deplored the "disproportionate use of force" by the Turkish security forces.
International criticism compelled the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, to express his regret over the killings although he said the Greek Cypriots were responsible because they had crossed into the buffer zone.
AFP reports from Thessaloniki:
President Clerides and the Greek Defence Minister Mr Gerassimos Arsenis, held talks yesterday in northern Greece on improving their countries' joint defence strategy and calming tensions in Cyprus.
Violent demonstrations in Thessaloniki and in north eastern Komotini last week left five injured, including two Muslims of Turkish origin.
Mr Clerides and Mr Arsenis discussed the "joint defence dogma", a 1993 accord on military assistance. Their talks took place on the military ferry Samos which they boarded in the town of Phanari, near Komotini.
Mr Clerides said the Greek Cypriot pact was based on "a defensive, not an aggressive dogma
