Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-12-10

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

Thursday, December 10, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Miller arrives tomorrow to talk 'security'

[02] Russia summons US diplomat to protest Brill missile remarks

[03] Istanbul meeting will focus on implementation

[04] Cyprus grants asylum to 11 Pefkos Kurds

[05] British detectives back to question Chrysanthos

[06] Kyrenia women go on hunger strike

[07] Philoxenia set to close in March

[08] Greenpeace protest bases exercises

[09] Briton dies in office fire

[10] Protest over chopper violation

[01] Miller arrives tomorrow to talk 'security'

The US Embassy yesterday confirmed that Miller would arrive on the island at 2.40pm.

The US official will meet with UN permanent Representative Dame Ann Hercus, in a meeting expected to focus on security issues.

According to sources quoted by CyBC, Miller is coming in an effort to "evaluate the situation as far as Hercus' efforts are concerned".

Hercus began shuttle talks between the two sides in mid-October.

Miller will leave on Friday for meetings in Athens, before travelling to Istanbul for a meeting with Cypriot, Greek and Turkish businessmen.

The Istanbul meeting will also be attended by US Presidential Emissary on Cyprus, Richard Holbrooke, who is also to visit Athens next week.

A US embassy spokesman said Holbrooke was not scheduled to come to Nicosia, though he said such a visit could not be ruled out.

Visits to Nicosia by Miller have in the past laid the groundwork for Holbrooke to step in.

Holbrooke's latest efforts are thought to be aimed at finding a way to enable Cyprus not to deploy the controversial Russian S-300 missiles ordered by Cyprus.

The US, Britain and other EU countries have all voiced opposition to the missiles' arrival in Cyprus, and even Greece is understood to prefer a compromise deployment in Crete.

Turkey has threatened military action against the missiles if they ever come to Cyprus.

But speaking yesterday on his departure for Vienna, where he is to attend an EU summit, President Glafcos Clerides said Cyprus was not looking for "excuses" not to deploy the missiles.

The National Council decision to deploy the S-300s still stood, he said, as conditions for their postponement had not been met.

"They (the US) have not made a proposal, neither have we asked them to make a proposal, nor are we looking for excuses," the President said.

He repeated that only if talks for a Cyprus settlement or talks about demilitarisation were well under way would the government consider the non- deployment of the missiles. Asked if support for the demilitarisation idea in the expected renewal of Unficyp's mandate this month would be enough, he said it would not.

He disagreed with the position expressed on Tuesday by German envoy Detlev Graf Zu Rantzau that the S-300s would not be sufficient for the island's defence, saying "Cyprus can defend itself and should defend itself if there is a new aggressive act."

Clerides also said that the media had blown the missile issue out of all proportion.

"The Americans and the Europeans told us their thoughts on this issue long ago, but it is very wrong to believe that we discuss the missiles every day." he said.

Chief EU negotiator George Vassiliou said yesterday there was no connection between the S-300s and the EU accession, though he added that some countries which had originally presented the Cyprus problem as an obstacle to the island's accession were now using the missiles to back up their argument.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[02] Russia summons US diplomat to protest Brill missile remarks

In an official press release, the Russian embassy said that a diplomatic representation had been made in Moscow on Tuesday to John Ordway, the Minister-Counsellor on political affairs of the US embassy in the Russian capital.

The Russians said they had "stressed the inadmissibility of the external interference into the exclusively commercial deal", adding that the deal was "related to the sphere of the Russian-Cypriot bilateral relations".

As such, they added, it is "in no way connected to the present deadlock in the Cyprus settlement."

When asked about the missiles last week, Brill said America "would like them to go anywhere but Cyprus".

His statements were criticised at the time by Russian Ambassador to Cyprus Georgi Muratov, who said Brill was out of line.

"Neither Cyprus nor Russia are anyone's colonies, and as far as my colleague Mr Brill's statement is concerned, it at the very least causes surprise," Muratov said.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[03] Istanbul meeting will focus on implementation

AN ISTANBUL meeting between businessmen from both sides of the Green Line will focus on implementation of decisions taken at previous meetings of the group, one of the organisers said yesterday.

Businessmen from Greece, Turkey and both communities in Cyprus will meet in Istanbul on Sunday in a two-day session, to be chaired by US presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke.

"We are calling it the implementation conference," said Stein Stoa, special envoy of the Norwegian International Peace Research Institute Oslo, which helps organise the businessmen's meetings.

"It will be a working conference with very few flashy speeches," Stoa said adding that the meeting would focus on three key words: 'open', 'realistic' and 'specific'.

The Istanbul meeting is the follow-up to two previous ones. The first was held in Brussels at Holbrooke's initiative in November 1997 and the second in Oslo last July.

According to reports in yesterday's Turkish press, the meeting is only going ahead because of US pressure on Ankara.

The Turkish government, the report said, had previously been distinctly unenthusiastic about the initiative, and the Istanbul meeting was only given the go-ahead after insistent demands by the United States.

"The Americans insisted very much. They attribute a great importance to this initiative and believe that it can bring about a breakthrough in the Cyprus problem. We do not believe that it can bear any fruit, but we agreed to the organisation of the conference as a kind of goodwill gesture," a high level Turkish Foreign Ministry official told the Turkish Daily News.

In order to evade legal obstructions preventing the Greek Cypriots from entering Turkey, their visas will not be stamped on their passports, but on separate slips of paper.

Around 10 Greek Cypriots will travel to the meeting in Istanbul, according to businessman Constantinos Lordos.

"We will be discussing the implementation of decisions taken at previous meetings," Lordos said. "We are not getting very far."

Out of a list of objectives made at the original meeting, so far the Brussels Group has managed have telecommunications between the two sides transformed from a manual three-line system to an automated 20 lines.

Now they plan to focus their efforts on the protection and preservation of the cultural heritage on both sides.

According to the Turkish press, Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot regime are playing down the importance of the initiative, emphasising that the core of the problem is political and that the targets determined by the forum cannot be met "given the political reality on the island".

The Greek and Turkish Cypriot businessmen cannot meet in Cyprus due to a ban on all bi-communal contacts imposed by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash over the EU's decision to begin accession talks with Cyprus.

The Turkish side is also irritated by the massage conveyed by the Holbrooke initiative that there is no problem between the two communities in Cyprus.

"We are trying to achieve a joint strategy, taking the political climate into consideration," Stoa said.

He said that, in addition to Holbrooke, the conference would also be attended by US State Department Co-ordinator Thomas Miller and US ambassador to Cyprus Kenneth Brill.

Oslo Institute Director Dan Smith will also be attending, along with representatives of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and the Norwegian ambassadors to Cyprus, Greece and Turkey.

"We are trying to bring all the experts we have to Istanbul and use this as a basis for constructive discussion," Stoa said.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[04] Cyprus grants asylum to 11 Pefkos Kurds

CYPRUS has granted political asylum to 11 boat people, all of them Kurds, who were among 113 boat people rescued in June from a stricken Syrian trawler.

"The asylum was given by our government... We accepted the recommendations of the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees)," as to the 11 Kurds' eligibility for asylum, Costas Papamichael, a Migration Department official, said yesterday.

The 11 were among 49 of the boat people housed at government expense in the three-star Pefkos Hotel in Limassol since their rescue in June. They left the hotel on Tuesday for other lodgings, including "a house near our hotel, " Andreas Polycarpou, accountant for the Pefkos Hotel, said yesterday.

"The police were there, and the people from the Welfare Department (on Tuesday) to try to help them with their new accommodations," Papamichael said.

Their departure left 38 of the boat still living in the Pefkos, Polycarpou said. Another 36 of the original 113 remain in the old Famagusta detention centre, and two others are being held in a nearby jail, Larnaca police said yesterday.

The remainder of the original 113 are believed to have been deported to their countries of origin, police sources indicated yesterday.

Before the 11 won asylum this week, UNHCR sources had indicated all those boat people in Larnaca police detention and 40 of the 49 at the Pefkos were unlikely to receive asylum, and faced deportation as "economic refugees". This week's government action changes that picture slightly.

"There are some (asylum application) cases that are still pending, as far as I know from the UNHCR officer," Papamichael said. "We have to wait for the people who are conducting the investigations" before determining what to do with them.

Welfare Director Lula Theodorou said yesterday the 11 asylum recipients "are entitled to public assistance and rent allowance until they are able to get jobs. So we shall assist them to find accommodation and give them all their rights from public assistance until they are able to work."

"They have to apply to the Labour Office (for work). Of course their social worker will help them to go there and advise them. But it is something which is within the competence of the Labour Office."

The amount of public assistance money granted "depends on the number of people living in the same family, and it depends on their special needs," Theodorou said. "It's not the same for every person. They are individually assessed, and the amount varies from person to person."

Those granted asylum included four females: Gazal Zak, 31, Rangin Zak, 6, Almaza Hasan, 20, and Noiros Ali, 2; and seven males: Ayaz Mirani, 16, Mohamed Zak 12, Sadri Zak, 10, Farhad Ali, 30, Metan Ali, 2, Mohammed Hanif Al Bream, 31, and Koshman Algey, 31.

Bream, a talented artist, drew half-a-dozen water-coloured Christmas cards, one of which contained a letter written by Emad Otih on behalf of those Pefkos Hotel boat people who did not win asylum, and which was addressed to the President, the Attorney-general and the Interior Minister.

The letter acknowledged the efforts of Cyprus government and public to care for them since their rescue, and expressed their desire "to celebrate the joy of this season with thanks to all the Cypriots" who had helped them.

It also formally asked President Glafcos Clerides, Attorney-general Alecos Markides and Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides "to kindly look into out situation and render possible assistance that could lead to our freedom." And it wished them "a very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year."

Markides has opened two probes into allegations of police brutality against the boat people in Cyprus custody. One stemmed from a police beating in August of many of the 113 boat people when they were in the Pefkos Hotel. Another is examining a savage police assault in October on 48 of the boat people who had been moved to the old Famagusta detention facility. Markides has not released any results from either of the two investigations.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[05] British detectives back to question Chrysanthos

BRITISH detectives have returned to Cyprus to question disgraced former Bishop Chrysanthos over his alleged involvement in a scam to defraud British investors.

"The British detectives arrived two or three days ago for further inquiries and investigations," CID chief Nathanail Papageorgiou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

He said the detectives would be questioning both Chrysanthos - who resigned as Limassol Bishop last month - and representatives of the Nicosia offshore branch of the Serbian Karic bank in an effort to get to the bottom of an alleged $3.7 million scam to defraud British investors.

The CID chief declined to say when the British investigators would be interrogating Chrysanthos, saying police were keen to avoid a "media circus".

This is the second time the detectives have visited Cyprus. They last questioned Chrysanthos, then Bishop of Limassol, in the Summer.

Cyprus police are currently investigating the former Bishop for alleged involvement in over 30 financial scams in both Cyprus and abroad. Papageorgiou said yesterday these investigations were continuing, but the files would not be ready to send to the Attorney-general, Alecos Markides, till "some time in the first three months of 1999". He said Cyprus police investigators still had to make further trips abroad as part of the investigations.

Justice Minister Nicos Koshis last month stated the file on the $3.7 million scam was only days away from completion.

Chrysanthos, who has always maintained his complete innocence, resigned last month after the Holy Synod presented him with an eight-point indictment related to the fraud allegations. The indictment included charges of acting out of greed and for his own benefit, of profiteering through currency speculation, of taking advantage of his ecclesiastical position for illicit gain and of making unauthorised use of the holy seal to guarantee huge loans.

The Synod accepted Chrysanthos' resignation and suspended the disgraced cleric from his duties for two years.

Newspaper reports suggested the Church was providing the suspended Chrysanthos with a luxury residence, servants and a £1,000 a month stipend during his suspension. He would also continue to act as a Church emissary abroad, the reports suggested.

Archbishop Chrysostomos said at the time the Church would not be letting the former Bishop "go hungry."

The race to find a successor for Chrysanthos was hotting up yesterday, with Bishop Chrysostomos of Paphos angrily denying allegations that he was trying to undermine the candidacy of Father Athanasios, the Abbot of Machairas monastery.

"I have nothing against Father Athanasios," the cleric said.

In Limassol, the committee for support of the candidacy of Father Varnavas of Stavrovouni monastery officially launched its election campaign with a press conference.

Elections are to take place in January.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[06] Kyrenia women go on hunger strike

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Association president Eleni Koliou-Kirkou said UN resident representative Dame Ann Hercus had agreed to meet with a delegation that would hand over a petition for UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan.

Kirkou said: "On December 10, the organisation is celebrating international human rights day, but its chiefs are closing their eyes to numerous UN resolutions on Cyprus, especially those concerning human rights.

"The women of Kyrenia know better than anyone what a violation of human rights means. And also what it means when those who call themselves our protectors are the first to make violations or pretend they don't hear the cries of pain and agony from a small island on the edge of the Mediterranean."

Lapithos mayor Nicos Evangellou, speaking on behalf of the Municipalities and Organisations of Kyrenia, congratulated the women on their efforts. He called for "human rights also to be enforced in Cyprus, where unfortunately they have been trampled on for 24 years".

Former enclaved teacher Eleni Foka, who is taking part in the hunger strike, appealed for more international interest "in the violation of human rights in Cyprus" by Turkey.

Foka taught enclaved children in the occupied areas until she was forced to come to the free area for medical treatment and was not allowed to return.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[07] Philoxenia set to close in March

THE BOARD that runs the government-owned Philoxenia Hotel, threadbare from years of neglect, wants to close it in March, and that could occur before the government can sell it, thanks to a straight-jacket that the House of Representatives passed into law.

The problem arose, Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis explained yesterday, when the hotel supervisory board last year asked the Council of Ministers to underwrite £1.9 million in repairs and renovations.

The Cabinet declined because, while the state legally owned the hotel and the adjacent International Conference Centre, there was no semi- governmental organisation or company with a board of directors "under whose umbrella they come," Rolandis said.

The Cabinet wanted such an "umbrella" before paying for any fix-up. The House obliged, Rolandis said, passing a law allowing creation of "a company limited by shares, which will take over these properties," thus clarifying their legal status.

Enter the straight-jacket:

While the House allowed creating a share-based company - as in the case of the government-owned Nicosia Hilton Hotel - it denied the government (which would have been the company's sole share-holder) the right to sell any of the company's shares. Moreover, Rolandis added, the House insisted no share sale could occur without its approval.

Rejected by President Clerides, the bill was amended in the House. The new bill still barred the government from selling any of the company's shares. "But they changed it, so that not even with their approval, will sale of the shares of this company be possible," Rolandis said.

Clerides had to sign this amended law, Rolandis said, because, despite its obvious fettering language, Attorney-general Alecos Markides could not find anything unconstitutional about it. "So the law has been signed now, and this is the position."

Rolandis did not deny that, at this point, the House had bound the entire question of the Philoxenia, the Conference Centre, the company, the shares, their sale, and any renovations to the threadbare hotel, solidly in ice.

But "this paradox" remains, he said: "The government is the owner of this company... (but) cannot do what any owner of property can do: sell the property... We are deprived of this right."

"So I have to take the case to the Council of Ministers in the light of this recent decision of the House of Representatives, and we shall decide what to do," he said.

"Now, the supervisory board of the hotel, taking into account the (deteriorating) situation there... has, itself, recommended that we suspend the operation as of the first of March next year," Rolandis said.

"I believe that the whole matter will be determined by the Council of Ministers probably sometime in January. In the meantime, I think it will remain open" until next March.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[08] Greenpeace protest bases exercises

In a press release responding to Tuesday's news that the British army was to carry out live-fire exercises on the peninsula in January, the international environmental pressure group said Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous had promised the issue of war games within the proposed National Park area would be resolved by the end of 1998.

"Once again, promises have been broken by the Cyprus government concerning the protection of the Akamas area and its declaration as a National Park," Irene Constantinou, of Greenpeace Cyprus stated.

Following repeated protests against the exercises by environmentalists, the government entered into talks with the British bases with the aim of agreeing an alternative site for the war games. No such site has yet been agreed.

Greenpeace said the exercises threatened the nesting beaches of endangered Green and Loggerhead turtles. The bases line is that the exercises do not have a negative environmental impact.

"No environmental assessment of the impact of the military's training has ever been carried out," Greenpeace stated yesterday.

"This important area must be preserved from the destructive training of the British military and any other destructive development," Constantinou said.

Greenpeace called for the swift implementation of a government-commissioned and House approved 1996 World Bank proposal for the protection and development of the Akamas as a National Park.

"Our government must fulfil its promises and protect this area once and for all," Constantinou said.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[09] Briton dies in office fire

David Allen, 45, was pronounced dead yesterday morning at Nicosia General hospital after suffering third degree burns to most of his body.

Fire fighters rescued Allen from his flat, which was also used as his offshore company office, during a blaze on Tuesday.

The Briton was found slumped at his desk when rescuers fought back billowing black smoke coming from the apartment.

He was first taken to Larnaca general hospital but due to the seriousness of his injuries Allen was ferried to Nicosia.

A post mortem will be carried out today to conclude the cause of death.

Larnaca police and fire brigade are investigating the cause of the blaze.

Thursday, December 10, 1998

[10] Protest over chopper violation

A Defence Ministry spokesman said yesterday that the protest had been made after the helicopter flew over National Guard outposts in Nicosia's Omorphita suburb.

He said the helicopter hovered over the outposts for about three minutes at a height of no more than 100 metres.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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