Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-04-04

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

Saturday, April 4, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Holbrooke arrives 'with peace package'

[02] Woman charged with Aids deceit

[03] Eurovision joke is on Turkish side

[04] Matsakis arrested after bases scuffle

[05] Clinton notes negative developments in Cyprus problem

[06] Minister warns of extra water cuts

[07] Local drug companies say new bill spells disaster

[08] Uefa pulls the plug on Logos FA cup coverage

[09] Russian envoy stresses UN role

[10] Greenpeace raises quake fears over Turkish atomic plant

[01] Holbrooke arrives 'with peace package'

US PRESIDENTIAL emissary for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke arrived on the island yesterday, reportedly with a package to help renew stalled peace talks.

Holbrooke made no statements to the press at Larnaca airport when he landed at around 6.30pm. He left directly for Nicosia to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in the occupied areas.

He left the occupied areas at around 9.30pm, again without making statements. It is believed he headed for an official dinner with the Greek Cypriot side.

Holbrooke is expected to hold talks with President Clerides at 11am today. The US envoy is also due to meet Denktash again today for a working breakfast. He will leave the island early tomorrow after attempting to bring the two leaders together.

He is expected to repeat US concerns over the planned deployment of the Russian S-300 missiles on the island and the newly-constructed Paphos air base.

State Department special co-ordinator Thomas Miller, who arrived on Thursday to pave the way for Holbrooke, also met both leaders yesterday.

He described his meeting with Denktash as "constructive and useful".

The BBC World Service, quoting US State Department sources, said earlier yesterday Holbrooke was bringing a package intended to encourage trade between the two sides as well as persuade their leaders to return to the negotiating table.

Observers believe that economic measures could be a means of building confidence between the two communities and persuading the economically- ailing Turkish Cypriot side to join European Union accession talks.

The breakaway state has threatened full economic integration with Turkey if Cyprus joins the EU.

Denktash, who has just returned from a meeting in Geneva with UN Secretary- general Kofi Annan at which he reiterated his refusal to resume peace talks, is due to leave for a cruise along the southern coast of Turkey later today.

The Turkish Cypriot leader has declared the UN-led intercommunal talks dead following the December decision of the EU Luxembourg summit to open entry negotiations with Cyprus.

The Cyprus-EU negotiations officially began in Brussels on Tuesday and Denktash refuses to resume direct talks with President Clerides unless they take place on a 'two-state' basis.

He has also turned down an invitation from the Cyprus government to participate in the EU accession talks.

Holbrooke, architect of the Bosnian peace accord was last here in November when he managed to bring President Clerides and Denktash together for a three-hour meeting.

[02] Woman charged with Aids deceit

Chrysavghi Zarzour hids her face as she leaves the Nicosia court yesterdayPhoto by Christos Theodorides AN HIV-positive woman suspected of having sex with four men without informing them of her condition was yesterday remanded in custody by a Nicosia court.London Cypriot Chrysavghi Zarzour, 27, has been charged under a decades-old law criminalising the deliberate spread of life-threatening disease. Police said the suspect had in the past month had unprotected sex with four men without telling them she was an Aids sufferer. The men are now undergoing Aids tests, the court heard. The court ordered that Zarzour remain in custody till April 9, when she will go on trial.

The court also ordered that she be given the medical attention she needs for her condition while in custody. She appeared weak arriving at court yesterday, and needed assistance to climb up the stairs.

An Aids specialist at the Nicosia hospital, Evis Bagdades, said yesterday Zarzour was suffering from fully-blown Aids and had been receiving regular hospital treatment. She contracted the disease three years ago.

Zarzour left London to come to Cyprus in 1987. She has not returned to Britain since contracting the disease.

In a statement handed to the court, Zarzour admitted she did not tell her partners she was suffering from Aids, but said she had always asked them to use a condom.

She denied she was a prostitute. She said she made love to lonely young men "who needed companionship" whom she met at her regular bar in Nicosia.

Zarzour is to be prosecuted under a law enacted to combat the spread of cholera in Cyprus. The law provides for sentences of up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of £1,500, or both.

The suspect -- who told police she contracted Aids three years ago

in Cyprus -- was arrested last Friday following a complaint from a 25-year- old local man who said she had had sex with him without informing him she was HIV-positive. The man was told Zarzour had Aids by a friend of hers, police said.

Zarzour was released without charge after questioning as police could not find what to charge her with.

The issue was referred to the attorney-general's office, which ruled on Thursday that she could be charged under the cholera prevention law.

This is the second court case in Cyprus involving an Aids patient. Last July, Ayia Napa fisherman Pavlos Georgiou was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment for knowingly infecting his former British lover, Janette Pink, with the Aids virus. Georgiou was granted a presidential pardon and released five months later.

[03] Eurovision joke is on Turkish side

But the original story broadcast by CyBC radio was an April fool's joke.

On April 1, the state broadcasting station said organisers of the Eurovision contest - under pressure from Germany, Italy and France - had cancelled Cyprus's entry because there was no Turkish Cypriot participation in the singing effort.

Cyprus has just opened accession negotiations with the EU. Turkish Cypriots refuse to participate in the talks, despite the urging of the international community.

The Turkish Cypriot press, obviously convinced of the authenticity of the April 1 story, published it on their front pages yesterday.

The story in the Kibris daily even elicited satisfied comments from the breakaway state's 'officials'. It was aired on all radio stations and also moved on the Turkish Cypriot news agency TAK, CyBC said.

CyBC said last night it had issued a retraction of the story later on Wednesday. The disclaimer was evidently not picked up by anyone on the Turkish Cypriot side.

[04] Matsakis arrested after bases scuffle

DIKO DEPUTY Marios Matsakis was arrested by the British bases authorities yesterday after a scuffle outside a court in Dhekelia, a bases spokesman said.

Witnesses said Matsakis leapt over a barricade after being denied entry to the Dhekelia base where he had gone to observe a court case involving a Greek Cypriot farmer.

The court area had been sealed off to prevent trouble.

After jumping the barricade, Matsakis, a former state pathologist and active member of the island's anti-British bases lobby, became engaged in a heated argument with bases police. He told them he had the right to visit the farmer both as a deputy of the House of Representatives and as a doctor.

A scuffle ensued during which Matsakis was dragged off by force by SBA police. The incident happened around 11am.

"I can confirm that Mr Marios Matsakis is currently being interviewed at the SBA (Sovereign Bases Area) police station," bases spokesman Mervyn Wynne-Jones said early yesterday afternoon.

"He is in custody following a scuffle with police officers at the SBA court at Dhekelia earlier this morning."

Matsakis was eventually released at around 3.30pm after being charged with criminal trespass and causing a breach of the peace, Wynne-Jones said.

"He will be summoned to appear in court in due course.

"Mr Matsakis is well known to the bases for this sort of irresponsible behaviour," he added.

House President and Diko leader Spyros Kyprianou said yesterday he would protest his party member's arrest by the British bases.

Wynne-Jones said Matsakis had turned up in the area at the same time as local farmer Hambis Chimonas was due to appear in court.

Xylophagou resident Chimonas was arrested by British Bases police on Thursday during a disturbance at the Pyla firing range when the bases authorities began clearing illegally planted trees.

Chimonas, who has had several run-ins with the British authorities in the past, drove his car on to the firing range during the tree-clearing exercise.

The trees are planted by people involved in illegal bird trapping and are directly in the way of the range, the bases say.

Himonas was yesterday charged at Dhekelia court with driving recklessly, illegally entering a military area and breach of the peace.

The court offered to release him on £100 bond until May 28, but Chimonas refused to sign the papers. He was then taken back into custody.

[05] Clinton notes negative developments in Cyprus problem

In the report to Congress covering December 1, 1997 to January 31, 1998, Clinton said international efforts toward the Cyprus problem had slowed down in anticipation of the February 1998 presidential elections.

"There were negative developments in Cyprus, including on December 27, suspension by Turkish Cypriots of bi-communal contacts between Greek and Turkish Cypriots," a press release from Washington said.

"Additionally in January, the Greek Cypriot National Guard assumed control of the Paphos air base which was upgraded to serve as a base for fighter aircraft."

In the letter to Congress, Clinton referred to the EU's Luxembourg decision to open accession negotiations with Cyprus.

"Turkey perceived the Luxembourg EU summit as a setback to its goal of closer integration with Europe," Clinton said. "When I met Prime Minister Yilmaz here in December, I urged him to remain focused on Turkey's long- term interest in Europe."

Clinton also said the US had again reiterated its concern about the arrival on the island of the Russian S-300 missiles, "which present a serious obstacle to achieving a settlement based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation".

In New York, UN special advisor Diego Cordovez, who last week briefed the Security Council on his recent visit to Cyprus, told the Cyprus News Agency he was "disappointed" by his trip.

He said there appeared to be no common ground to get the two sides to the negotiating table for the resumption of the UN-led intercommunal talks between President Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

"The mood between Clerides and Denktash during the first round of talks last year at Troutbeck was extremely good," Cordovez said. "All the elements for moving towards a settlement wee in place. Agreement was even reached on the missing persons issue. Then this bomb exploded."

Cordovez was referring to the Turkish Cypriot reaction to the EU negotiations with Cyprus which began this week and which he called a "troublesome complication".

Cordovez welcomed the current visit to the island of US special emissary Richard Holbrooke.

"The US has a very important role to play in the resolution of this problem, " he said.

[06] Minister warns of extra water cuts

EVEN more water cuts are in the pipeline from June if reservoirs remain empty, Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous warned yesterday.

Water pricing was also an option, the Minister said.

This was one of the issues that would be examined when the government looked in to creating a joint water management agency, Themistocleous added.

The Minister's dire warning about further measures was issued as he announced cuts from this month that have just been approved by the Council of Ministers.

These will see supplies cut to 72 per cent of estimated needs for domestic use, and down to 44 per cent to agriculture.

In all, only 56 per cent of the island's total needs will be catered for under the present cuts, the Minister said.

The current drought is the third worst this century, according to the government. But Water officials say that with the planned cuts, current supplies will last until the end of the year, even if it does not rain.

March has been one of the wettest this century, but the rainfall has made only a marginal contribution to low reservoir supplies, which are running at some ten per cent.

Other measures announced yesterday included the acquisition of private boreholes, the creation of desalination plans and the replenishment of the water table.

Themistocleous said overpumping had depleted the water table in recent years.

The ministry estimates that 33 million tonnes of water can be taken from the ground in 1998.

Themistocleous made it clear that if the situation did not improve there would be further measures in two months time.

These would include deploying mobile desalination plants, he said.

Themistocleous said the government would assess the impact of the cuts on agricultural families, who would receive help when it was needed.

Farmers have already called for a state of emergency to be declared.

Tourism will not be affected because the Dhekelia desalination plant will supply the needs of Larnaca and Famagusta while Limassol and Paphos have plenty of underground supplies.

The House Agriculture Committee has called into questioned the validity of a government policy that "abandons agriculture for tourism".

[07] Local drug companies say new bill spells disaster

INDUSTRIALISTS yesterday denounced approval of a bill tightening up local patent law, saying it would hit local industry hard.

But in government circles the new law was hailed as a big step forward on the road towards EU accession.

Under pressure from the government, the House plenum unanimously approved the controversial bill on Thursday night. It was passed seven years after the bill was tabled and two days before Cyprus had to approve the amendment to meet its European patent convention obligations.

"Without doubt not only will the pharmaceutical industry be hit but there will be problems for high tech industry also," the chairman of the Employers and Industrialists Federation (Oev), Andreas Pittas, said yesterday. Pittas is also owner of a big local pharmaceutical concern.

The local pharmaceutical industry, which predominantly markets copies of foreign drugs, has lobbied hard for years to have the law shelved. The industry claimed the law would ruin the sector -- a major foreign currency earner -- by banning experimentation on patented drugs.

Foreign pharmaceutical firms have countered that the law needed to be tightened up to stop local firms pirating their patented drugs -- a charge local firms deny outright.

Drug importers, who along with US pharmaceutical giants, the US government and the EU campaigned hard to get the bill passed, were silent in victory yesterday. But the registrar of companies, Maria Kyriacou, who is responsible for patent registration on the island, said the law was crucial to the EU harmonisation process.

"After the accession agreement, this law is perhaps the most significant step because it is the key to (joining) European industry," Kyriacou said.

"It is now possible, as from April 1, for an invention to be protected when it has been registered in Europe or in Cyprus. That is to say Cypriot inventors are now protected," she said.

"Soon we will, I believe, see the benefits of the law which will be the transfer of high technology to Cyprus," Kyriacou said.

The head of Cyprus's EU accession talks team, George Vassiliou -- who flew in from EU talks in Brussels to push for approval of the bill on Thursday -- has said the new law would open the gates for foreign firms to set up shop on the island.

But Pittas dismissed these scenarios yesterday.

He said market size and not patent protection was the factor determining whether a foreign firms came to Cyprus.

"When they say multinationals will come to Cyprus I ask 'to do what in this small market?' They are in Turkey despite there being no patent protection there because the market there is big," Pittas said.

He said local industrialists were not opposed to the bill in its entirety but only certain provisions. He welcomed Attorney-general Alecos Markides's undertaking to seek a way of amending the approved legislation to make it easier for the local industry to swallow.

By way of concession to the local drug makers, House president Spyros Kyprianou told the plenum on Thursday that Markides had undertaken to review the patent law of all 15 EU countries with a view to amending the bill within two months, should a "more favourable" legislation be found.

[08] Uefa pulls the plug on Logos FA cup coverage

The first, between Wolves and Arsenal, was scheduled for 2pm, but cannot be shown as this will violate a Uefa ruling that matches cannot be broadcast between 1 and 5pm on a Sunday.

The second semi-final, between Sheffield United and Newcastle, was to be shown at 7pm, but Uefa will only allow it to go out at 6.45pm. As a protest, Logos will not be showing it at all.

The station said yesterday the rulings were "killing" televised football in Cyprus.

The rulings stem from events surrounding last Sunday's broadcast of the English Coca-Cola cup final by the station at 6pm. Uefa had deemed that it should be shown at 6.45pm, but Logos claim the fax sent to them arrived too late.

Logos says it had not expected any further action, but the Cyprus Football Authority had complained to Uefa and the book was now being thrown at them.

The channel warned that future televised matches could also be affected.

[09] Russian envoy stresses UN role

Speaking after a meeting with House President Spyros Kyprianou, Chizov dismissed claims that the US was leading the search, adding that the current situation was "a step back" from last summer's situation where negotiations were being held between the two sides.

He added that Russia was "concerned" about the situation, and that the present deadlock required more involvement on behalf of the UN security council's five permanent members in order to be broken.

On his part, Kyprianou expressed gratitude for Russian efforts on Cyprus, and concurred with Chizov's statements regarding the Security Council, saying "there is no other way" to a solution other than greater involvement of the five permanent members.

He also pointed out that the Turkish side was aiming for "geographical and ethnic" partition of the country, something the Greek side would never accept "because it would mean a large part of Cyprus would be Turkified."

[10] Greenpeace raises quake fears over Turkish atomic plant

The report points out that Akkuyu on Turkey's south-east Mediterranean coast -- one of several proposed nuclear sites -- is west of the junction of three tectonic plates and only just clear of the Ecemis fault.

It also cites a 1991 report by Turkish seismologists warning that the fault is "active".

According to the United States Geological Survey, more than 50 earthquakes occurred in the region between 1871 and 1975, the largest of which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale. Others have measured between 5 and 5.7.

The Greenpeace report also mentions an earlier 1993 report, entitled Seismic Hazard in Turkey, which states that the region could be prone to earthquakes up to 8 on the Richter scale. An earthquake of this magnitude would have a devastating effect on a nuclear plant.

"At the very least," the report says, "the possibility of serious damage to cooling pipes and control mechanisms would be very high."

Last week, the government called for an International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) probe into the suitability of the station locations. Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides said this had been asked for in view of the seismic activity in the area, but that no reply had yet been received from the IAEA.

Turkish projections state that contracts to build the plant will be signed in June. The plant will go into action in June 2007.

The Turks are also hoping to build a further nine reactors by 2020. The first three power stations will supply the country with just five per cent of its electricity, and the nearest would be just 250 kilometres from Cyprus.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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