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THE trade has rounded on the Government for “talking up” the threat of Iraqi strikes in the eastern Mediterranean to justify military action in the Gulf.

The industry has issued an appeal for calm, urging agents to stay positive and support Cyprus, Turkey and Greece after fears were raised these countries could be targeted by Saddam Hussein in the event of war.

Cyprus was named specifically by the Government as being “within 45 minutes” range of the Iraqi dictator’s weapons of mass destruction.

Operators admitted they were maintaining a “watching brief” and would shift capacity if necessary, while the outlook for specialists is bleak.

ABTA president Stephen Bath said: “Talk of attacking beach resorts in Cyprus and Turkey is ludicrous. Blair is scaremongering because Saddam’s not in the business of hitting tourist targets.

“He has had scud missiles and chemical weapons for many years, so why use them now? Blair is hyping things up because he’s promised to support George Bush and now he’s got to square it with people back home. He is doing a great deal of harm to all areas of British industry except, perhaps, the arms industry."

Meanwhile, Federation of Tour Operators secretary-general Alan Flook warned of a massive bookings slump in the eastern Mediterranean if public fears escalated. “It’s no different to the position we were in during the Gulf War,” he said.

Longwood Holidays managing director Rafi Caplin added: “This is happening just as we are expanding our offices and taking on more staff, so the timing couldn’t be worse.

“I imagine there will be some job losses. It is one of those situations like September 11 - big companies will use this as an excuse to offload people.”

Caplin added agents and operators should not make the situation worse by refusing to sell any destination with a perceived threat, no matter how small.

The appeal for calm follows a poor summer and

is compounded by last week’s Airtours Holidays coach crash in Turkey and airport strikes across Greece. Cyprus is 12% down in a market depressed by

7%-8% overall.