Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-03-21

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Saturday, March 21, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Bases delay Akamas exercise in face of opposition

[02] Four held after shooting incident

[03] 'Cordovez stance is unacceptable'

[04] Brazilian extortionist behind missing claim?

[05] Fishermen fined and released

[06] Queuing up to fly to Greece

[07] Mobile desalination plants?

[08] Great grandma pleads for visa for 26-year-old holiday husband

[09] New can recycling drive

[10] Koshis: 'no cabaret as long as I'm around'

[11] Relegation has helped Ael

[01] Bases delay Akamas exercise in face of opposition

BRITISH bases authorities have decided to postpone planned military exercises in the Akamas in the wake of opposition from parliament and environmentalists.

The government's willingness to find an alternative site for the war games was apparently instrumental in securing the postponement.

"As a result of discussions with the Republic of Cyprus government and the subsequent offer of another area, on this occasion we have decided to postpone the training on the Akamas peninsula next week," bases spokesman Captain John Brown said yesterday.

The suspension was welcomed by environmental groups and the chairman of the House environment committee, Demetris Eliades. But Eliades was cautious, pointing out that it was only a temporary respite for the Akamas.

"It is a positive development which gives us breathing space but we must remain on our guard because you can never be sure when you are dealing with the British," Eliades said.

Environmentalists, who have long actively opposed the use of live ammunition by the British military in the proposed national park area, had threatened protests to disrupt the exercises &#151; originally scheduled for March 23 to 27. Under pressure from the House, the government has pledged to find an alternative, less ecologically sensitive, site for the exercises.

"British forces Cyprus are aware that the proposed training on the Akamas was of concern to many people and we are obviously not insensitive to this, " Brown said. "It is in everyone's interest to have a site where we can train without people getting upset," he added.

"It is important to note that the government recognised our right to train in the Akamas but requested that alternative arrangements be made while efforts to find another site continue," Brown said.

Britain was given the right to exercise on the Akamas for 70 days a year under the terms of the 1960 treaty establishing Cyprus's independence.

The spokesman said bases officials would be inspecting alternative sites next week, but he declined to say where these were. Exercises would be re- scheduled for next month, he said, and would take place in the Akamas if no alternative site had been found by then.

Eliades said the House insisted that the British "must never again exercise on the Akamas, an environmentally sensitive area that we must protect from the continuing barbarism of exercises."

He attributed the postponement to the "insistence" of the government.

[02] Four held after shooting incident

FOUR MEN were arrested yesterday in connection with a shooting incident in Paralimni and the illegal possession of drugs.

Police said the four - businessman Avraam Constantinou, 29; Charalambos Petrou; George Martis, 25; and Demetris Polykarpou - were involved in a street brawl in Paralimni on Thursday night during which a revolver was fired and a carving knife brandished.

Constantinou is suspected of firing the revolver, and Martis of wielding the knife, during an altercation with Petrou and his associates.

Polykarpou was the last to be detained, following an investigation which uncovered five kilos of hash, a quarter-pound of TNT and a number of bullets in an open field near his home in Trachoni.

The search was carried out by Limassol and British bases police.

Police are looking to question three other suspects in connection with the Paralimni incident.

They believe that the illegal use and possession of weapons is linked to "conflicting business interests" of the parties involved.

[03] 'Cordovez stance is unacceptable'

TOP U.N. envoy Diego Cordovez has been accused of trying to shift the goal posts in his efforts to kick-start peace talks.

House President Spyros Kyprianou yesterday slammed Cordovez for trying to limit the basis of a new dialogue as merely a problem between the two communities.

"Cordovez's view that, more or less, it's up to the two communities to find the basis of the intercommunal dialogue is unrealistic and unacceptable," Kyprianou said after meeting President Clerides yesterday.

He underlined that the international community had a responsibility towards Cyprus and the issues of invasion, occupation and the abuse of human rights.

During his visit, Cordovez has hinted that there may be changes in both the basis for the dialogue and the parameters of a solution.

The UN envoy said a settlement was in the hands of Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

Cordovez came under fire for saying on Thursday that he would discuss a demand by Denktash that direct talks be held "between two equal states" or not at all.

Kyprianou described this condition as a "provocation not only for Cyprus, but the international community."

The House president is also unhappy that Cordovez is even considering such a proposal.

"We should all contribute to a collective strategy and examine how to face the situation."

However, Cordovez made it clear yesterday that he was bound by UN resolutions on Cyprus and that if Denktash wanted to change the mandate he should apply to the Security Council.

"I am trying to find a way to proceed with negotiations and continue the search for a peace settlement. If they want to do that, we proceed in that direction," the envoy said after a working lunch with Clerides.

Denktash has rejected the idea of going to the Security Council and Clerides will not accept the idea of "state-to-state" talks, said Cordovez.

"They basically have to indicate to us how they want to proceed."

Cordovez will meet Clerides for a second time today and later give a press conference before leaving for Athens tomorrow.

[04] Brazilian extortionist behind missing claim?

First to air the claim that 14 of the 1,619 missing persons were alive and living in a neighbouring country was president of the Struggle Committee for the Relatives of the Missing Father Christoforos on Monday.

A day later, Michael Kyprianou, a Greek Cypriot living in Canada, came forward and said he was the one who told the priest.

Alithia claimed yesterday that Irineu Francisco Kapp, 44, a Brazilian, had tried to pull a similar scam in May 1996 and attempted to extort £50,000 from the government.

The newspaper said that in May 1996 he tried to extort the money by allegedly saying he could get information on the missing in Turkey.

A senior officer in the Foreign Ministry said the government had suspected that Kyprianou's story was the same as Kapp's, the paper said.

The government rubbished the claims and declared the case closed on Wednesday. On Thursday Father Christoforos apologised to the relatives for the missing for any upset he might have caused.

[05] Fishermen fined and released

TWO GREEK Cypriot fishermen arrested by Turkish troops a week ago were fined by a 'court' in the north yesterday and released, a UN spokesman said.

The 'court' found Andreas Constantinou, 50, and Lefteris Zelou, 65, guilty of "entering a military security zone without authorisation".

The two men from the village of Dherynia were arrested by Turkish soldiers early last Saturday after crossing the Maritime Security Line (MSL), the sea equivalent of the island's Green Line.

Cyprus police said at the time that Turkish soldiers had fired warning shots at the fishermen near the Kapparis area of Paralimni where they crossed the MSL.

Constantinou and Zelou were yesterday fined 60 million (£250) and 30 million (£125) Turkish lira respectively, UN spokesman Waldemar Rokoszewski said.

He said Constantinou's fine had been doubled because it was his second offence in three years.

After paying their fines, the fishermen were handed over to the UN around 3.30pm and released to the Greek Cypriot side at 4pm, Rokoszewski said.

Crossing at the Ledra Palace checkpoint, the two refused to make statements to the press, but confirmed that four soldiers had been involved in their arrest. They had, they said, been treated well throughout their detention.

They were then taken for debriefing by police.

Rokoszewski said the Turkish Cypriot lawyer representing the fishermen had to make an application within two weeks to the authorities in the north for the return of the men's boat.

"Unficyp is co-operating in the negotiations for the return of the boat," Rokoszewski said, adding the peacekeeping force would also be the ones to arrange for its transportation back to the Greek Cypriot side.

[06] Queuing up to fly to Greece

But airline spokesman Tassos Angelis told the Cyprus Mail it was still too early to tell whether the increase was due to the recent devaluation of the Greek drachma.

Ushering Greece into Europe's Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) last weekend, the drachma was devalued by 14 per cent, giving a big spending boost to Cypriots travelling to Greece.

So far, CA has added two extra flights to Salonica and an extra flight to its twice daily schedule to Athens between March 24 and 28, coinciding with the March 25 Greek national holiday.

Angelis added that the demand for flights to Athens had also forced the airline to upgrade the route from the regular A320 planes, seating 165 passengers, to larger A310 planes that seat 241.

"But it is very early to say whether the increase is due to the devaluation, " the spokesman said.

He attributed the heightened demand to the holiday period and the end of March expiry of special flight-offers for bank clientele and cheaper family and senior citizen air-fares.

"We also don't know whether there will be an overall benefit (from the drachma devaluation) in the long term... maybe there will be balance" said Angelis.

On the positive side, he admitted "people will be encouraged to travel to Greece," but cited the parallel expectation that fewer Greeks would come to Cyprus.

Greece could also potentially vie with Cyprus for EU tourists, added Angelis, since it was fast-becoming a cheaper holiday destination.

Greek national carrier Olympic Airlines (OA) is also experiencing a greater demand for trips to Greece, with a 25 per cent increase in demand for its Athens flights.

[07] Mobile desalination plants?

He also said the cabinet would on Tuesday meet to approve "drastic" measures concerning cuts to both irrigation and domestic water supplies. With dams less than ten per cent full, the Minister issued a plea for the public to watch every drop of water.

"On the basis of all the measures being taken we will have water in the dams till the end of the year," Themistocleous promised.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Themistocleous also said a second desalination plant, at Kalo Chorio outside Larnaca, would be brought into action by the end of 1999.

[08] Great grandma pleads for visa for 26-year-old holiday husband

According to the Daily Telegraph, great grandmother Rene Aslan married pavement artist Emin Aslan whom she met on holiday in he north five weeks ago.

However, while she has returned to the UK, Aslan has not been granted a visa by the British High Commission in Nicosia.

Britain imposed visa restrictions on travellers from the north earlier this year in response to a spate of bogus asylum claims from the occupied areas.

Mrs Aslan told the Telegraph the two were deeply in love and said she could not understand why the High Commission in Cyprus had not given him a visa.

The 70-year-old, who lives in sheltered accommodation in Merseyside, said: "I know cynics will say Emin is just using me to get into the country, but his is a love marriage and we have a very physical relationship. The age gap does not bother us. He's not a toy boy - he's a real man. I'm not going to just sit around and wait to die. I'm determined to fight for our rights."

Mrs Aslan, whose first husband Peter Jackson died 18 years ago, met her husband in December 1996 while he was being employed as a seasonal worker drawing sketches of tourists. They were married in a civil ceremony.

The Telegraph said Mrs Aslan had denied that her new relationship had caused a rift with her six children, 12 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. But they are a bit "cool" about the matter.

"Emin is such a talented artist," she added. "he doesn't want to be a burden on the state; he just wants to work."

Speaking from the occupied areas, Aslan told the paper: "She is a very special lady. I want to care for her. We want to be together in England where I could study at art college."

A British High Commission spokesman in Nicosia said yesterday they did not comment on consular matters. He said the issue of Aslan's visa was still pending.

[09] New can recycling drive

The Nicosia Municipality has undertaken to empty collection trolleys, but each school is responsible for its own can bank and the money raised by the collection is "credited to the school".

The children of the school will then decide which piece of medical equipment they want to give to the hospital and present it themselves when it is purchased.

"In this way, not only will the children be learning about the importance and the rewards of recycling, they will also have the pleasure of knowing that they helped sick children," said the charity's president Olga Demetriades.

Cans for Kids hopes the new trolleys will save people the trouble of always going to the Makarios Hospital. "Hopefully one of the new banks will be closer and more convenient for many of our customers," Demetriades said.

The new banks are at the Ayios Andreas School, behind the Municipal swimming pool; next to the entrance to the D'Avila moat car park beneath the Town Hall, next to the BP petrol station opposite the moat by the Famagusta gate and outside the Kaimakli C Elementary School.

In the past eight years, through its recycling efforts, Cans for Kids has donated in excess of £61,000 worth of equipment to the children's wards at Makarios Hospital.

[10] Koshis: 'no cabaret as long as I'm around'

The meeting with Koshis was the result of a week-old clash between Strovolos community members and Nicosia Gymnastic Centre (NGC) owner, Bambos Charalambous, who wants to turn the NGC into a cabaret. Residents believe the establishment will bring disrepute to the area.

According to Strovolos mayor Savvas Eliophotou &#151; who did not attend the meeting but was later briefed on its proceedings &#151; Koshis assured residents that, "as long as I am minister", the requisite permit would not be given.

But the Interior Ministry has the final say on the matter, and residents are therefore planning a meeting with Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides to voice their opposition.

The issue arose when the Strovolos Council's technical committee recommended that Charalambous be allowed the permit, as long as he incorporated adequate parking and surrounded the club with trees.

But Eliophotou said yesterday the committee was only one part of the Council and it had been asked to "look into the matter again".

"The issue will be discussed at a meeting of the (Strovolos) municipal Council soon," he added.

Charalambous has said he merely wishes to play music and present floor shows in the club's restaurant. He has also said the club would be exclusive to members.

[11] Relegation has helped Ael

NO FAN likes to see his club being relegated, but in some cases a spell in the second division could be very beneficial as Ael have found out.

Ael were relegated two years ago for the first time in their history, after a terrible season which threw the club into disarray. Coaches had been sacked, players squabbled, the board was under attack from fans and club finances were in a mess.

Last season's stay in the second division gave the club the opportunity to sort out all these problems. Younger players, who were promoted to the first team, gained experience, the finances were sorted, a new board was elected and, with promotion, a new coach, Kalma Misoi, was hired.

After a poor start in the first division, the club have settled down and are now in eighth place in the table, improving with every game. Ironically, their best performance, so far, was the unfortunate 3-2 home defeat by Anorthosis, a game in which they showed unrivalled passion and commitment.

Speaking to the press this week about the club's progress, Misoi said: "In six games in the second round we took six points, but could have taken more if we were more careful.

"We lack experience, confidence and the mentality of the big teams which know how to get what they want. I am happy with the performance of the team, although individuals still make big mistakes."

Big progress had been made but there were still things that needed to be put right, consistency being one of them, he said.

With a good collection of emerging young players, including the top-scoring Cypriot player of the league, Neophytou, who has netted 12 goals, Ael are certainly on the way up.

Tonight this progress will be tested when they meet city rivals and title contenders Apollonas in the Limassol derby. In their first meeting of the season Apollonas were held to goalless draw, but Ael could do better this time.

The pressure to win will be on Apollonas for whom even a draw might mean the end to their challenge for the championship. They are currently in third place, three points behind Omonia and Anorthosis.

Midfielder Nikki Papavassiliou could return to Apollonas' starting line-up after a six-week absence as he is already back in training.

Could a spell in the second division also benefit Salamina, who, last weekend, after their ninth consecutive league defeat, sacked their second coach, Loucas Kotrofos, this season.

The last time the club won was at the end of November, when they beat Ethnikos Ashia 3-1. Since then, it has been downhill all the way, but was the coach to blame?

At the end of last season they lost their three best players - Yiannakis Okkas, Paris Elia and Bambis Andreou - all of whom signed for Anorthosis. Big clubs would have struggled after losing three key players, but for a small one like Salamina this season was certain to be difficult.

Today they could drop into the relegation zone for the first time this season if they fail to beat a resurgent Anagennisis side, boosted by two successive wins, at home.

Anagennisis, who had been languishing in the relegation zone, climbed above Salamina to 10th place after defeating Evagoras and Aek in successive weeks. The two clubs have one thing in common - an appalling defensive record - both having conceded 51 goals. Only Alki have a worse record.

Evagoras could also overtake Salamina, if they defeat Ethnikos Ashia in Nicosia today. Of course they will need to fight for the points. Ashia, despite being certain to go down, are a difficult side to beat when playing on their home ground.

Champions Anorthosis could go top today, for 24 hours, if they avoid defeat against Apop in Paphos. It is highly unlikely that the 7-0 drubbing, suffered by Apop in their first meeting this season, could be repeated.

Apop have improved under coach Nicos Argyroullis and, playing at home, will not be so easy to beat. Of course they remain an inexperienced side who are defensively naive at times, something no-one can afford to be against Anorthosis.

Will Paralimni, undefeated in 1998, score their third home victory of the season when they entertain Aek today? On current form, they should have no trouble, but after last weekend's humiliating 3-1 home defeat by Anagennisis, the Larnaca side will have a point to prove.

Top of the table Omonia should have no trouble taking three points on their visit to Larnaca to play Alki in a clash that pits the best attack of the league (Omonia have scored 67 goals) against the worst defence (Alki have conceded 54).

In their first meeting this season Omonia crushed Alki 8-0 and a repetition cannot be ruled out as Omonia continue to improve their goal difference.

With Omonia's German goal machine, Rainer Rauffman in lethal form - he has scored 14 in the last three games - Alki might be in for yet another torrid Sunday afternoon.

Finally, Ethnikos Achna will be hoping to re-discover their winning form against Apoel in Nicosia, after taking one point from their last two games.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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