Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-12-15

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

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Christodoulou warns over Cyprus-EU: VAT must go up to 15 per cent by 2002

[02] Hercus briefs Clerides on missile talks with Miller

[03] Sex allegations fly in unholy crusade

[04] Cypriot gunned down in Tennessee car park

[05] Double murder suspect confessed to police

[06] Looking for his father since 1976

[07] Businessmen agree on further cross-community co-operation

[08] Ankara 'foolish for blocking own EU dreams'

[09] Petrol to stay costly despite fall in the price of crude

[10] Police rein in on alien arrests

[11] Unesco's listing of site 'a great honour'

[12] Transplant ward marks highlight of 'Hope Week'

[13] Cut rate Christmas calls

[01] Christodoulou warns over Cyprus-EU: VAT must go up to 15 per cent by 2002

VALUE Added Tax must go up by seven percentage points from the present eight per cent by December 2002 if Cyprus is to gain full membership of the European Union, Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou said yesterday.

The announcement, made to reporters after the minister addressed a conference in Nicosia, came less than a week after he warned the House that failure to take measures to bolster public revenues could put at risk the country's EU accession course.

It also comes seven months after deputies threw out a package of tax hikes proposed by the government to reduce a yawning fiscal deficit and a burgeoning public debt. The biting tax package, which included an increase of VAT by four percentage points, was designed to bring the treasury some £150 million in additional revenues.

The minister is widely expected to resubmit in the near future a revised version of the tax proposals. "It is necessary and a prerequisite for the (EU) harmonisation and accession course," Christodoulou told the reporters yesterday. "It is a fact that up till December 2002, VAT should reach 15 per cent, which is the minimum required for a country to become a full member of the EU." He said measures would be taken to cushion the impact of the increase in VAT on Cypriots with limited incomes. He did not give any details, but appeared to suggest that the VAT increases would be introduced gradually.

Cyprus opened membership talks with the EU in March, but only started the so-called substantive negotiations last month. It has declared January 1, 2003 as its target date for membership of the elite 15-nation club.

Beside increasing VAT, Cyprus is expected, among other things, to liberalise interest rates, lift foreign exchange restrictions and end controls on the movement of capital.

Christodoulou, a stalwart of President Glafcos Clerides' Disy party and a powerful Cabinet member, told the House last Thursday that, without steps to replenish state coffers, the fiscal deficit was expected to grow to 5.8 per cent of GDP in 1999 and the public debt to more than 60 per cent of GDP. Under the Maastricht treaty for Monetary Union, the fiscal deficit and public debt deficits are set at three per cent and 60 per cent respectively.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[02] Hercus briefs Clerides on missile talks with Miller

UNDER increasing outside pressure over the controversial Russian missiles issue, President Clerides yesterday met Unficyp Chief of Mission Dame Ann Hercus as part of the ongoing shuttle talks.

No statements were made after the one-hour meeting, but it is believed Dame Ann briefed the President on her contacts last week with US State Department Co-ordinator Thomas Miller.

Miller paid a one-day visit to the island on Friday to meet Dame Ann in connection with the missiles issue.

Miller and UN presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke travelled to Athens yesterday from Istanbul where Holbrooke had chaired a meeting of business leaders from both sides of the Green Line.

While in Turkey, Holbrooke avoided commenting on the crisis over the Russian S-300 missiles which the United States strongly opposes.

According to Associated Press reports, the initial delivery schedule had the missiles leaving Russia today but there was no independent confirmation that the repeatedly delayed delivery was imminent.

While in Athens, Holbrooke met Greek Defence Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos, and later had a private dinner engagement with Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos at the residence of US Ambassador Nicholas Burns.

Holbrooke and others are said to favour placing the missiles in storage in Greece, or deploying them on Crete. The suggestion has caused a dispute between Nicosia and Athens.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis has firmly placed the decision with President Clerides.

Both men met in Vienna on Saturday on the sidelines of the EU summit, but little about the meeting was revealed.

On his return from the Austrian capital on Sunday, Clerides said the deployment of the missiles would go ahead as scheduled.

"The real picture of the situation is that at present there is nothing on the table, either from the UN or the US co-ordinator for Cyprus or anybody else with regard to a reduction in tension," Clerides said.

"We know that everybody is examining this matter, but we have not seen any concrete proposal so far."

Clerides dismissed press reports that the US was working on some kind of formula, and said Miller had not been in touch with him. But in response to questions on possible US intervention, he said: "I would not rule this out, just as I would not rule out any intervention from UN resident representative Ann Hercus".

He said the shuttle talks were aimed at finding common ground between the two sides.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[03] Sex allegations fly in unholy crusade

THE BISHOP of Paphos continued his 'moral' crusade yesterday against an 80- year-old Mount Athos elder and the Abbot of Macheras monastery.

Bishop Chrysostomos claimed he knew of many nuns who could testify to elder Iosif's "sexual misdemeanours" when he was in Paphos 17 years ago. He also accused Abbot Athanasios of having "questionable" morals, although he declined to say in what way.

The Paphos Bishop even criticised Archbishop Chrysostomos for being too "soft" on the two alleged miscreants.

George Iliades, representing supporters of elder Iosif and Father Athanasios, said Bishop Chrysostomos's sole aim in making what he insisted were false allegations was to undermine Athanasios' candidacy for Limassol Bishop.

Last week, after Chrysostomos alleged that Iosif, a close associate of Athanasios, had molested nuns and young girls, the elder's monastery in Greece, Vatopedhio, threatened to take legal action against the Paphos Bishop.

Bishop Chrysostomos has not been put off by these threats. On Sunday, he released what he said was a letter sent by Iosif to a Paphos nun following the elder's visit to Cyprus 17 years ago.

The letter, which Chrysostomos described as "semi-erotic", is written to a 'Maria', whom the writer describes as "my love, the joy of my soul".

The writer repeatedly refers to Maria as his "daughter" and himself as her "Father". He makes no reference to a sexual relationship, although he does express the desire to spend the night with her.

"The world tires me, my love... because I cannot stay away from my daughter any longer. Yes, I very, very, much want to stay the whole night with my little child..." the letter reads.

The Bishop said yesterday he could produce nuns to testify against Iosif if the Holy Synod asked him to.

"The girls are still alive; their parents, who are responsible people, are alive. In fact one of the parents, who is a priest, came to Paphos from Larnaca where he lives to kill him (Iosif), when he found out he was molesting his daughter - I had to restrain him."

"I am ashamed to say all this, but I have been forced to, because, after all, the people need to know."

Chrysostomos said he had warned Athanasios not to associate with Iosif, but his advice had fallen on deaf ears.

He said the Macheras Abbot was himself guilty of "moral" misdemeanours: "I cannot say what it was about, but I would

happily tell the Holy Synod."

The Bishop said he had broken his 17-year silence on these alleged misdemeanours because "I want the Church to remain clean and know who it has in its ranks".

Archbishop Chrysostomos had been informed of the "wrong-doings" at the time, the Bishop said.

He said his namesake had agreed Iosif was "not a good man" but had refused to believe anything bad about Athanasios.

The Bishop criticised the Archbishop for not taking any action at the time. "He was not strict on this issue," he said.

But Iliades dismissed the Bishop's allegations. "The only impropriety is in the Bishop's head," he said.

"To be honest, I don't understand what the charges against Father Athanasios are, and concerning Iosif... why did he (Chrysostomos) never put his accusations to the Synod?"

He did not deny the letter to 'Maria' had been sent by Iosif, but insisted its content was entirely platonic.

"Concerning this letter, which the Bishop labelled 'semi-erotic', let me tell you, this is the kind of phraseology the elder uses. He is over- effusive in his expressions. He is nearly 80, the content is spiritual."

He said the Bishop was manufacturing charges in an attempt to scupper Athanasios' candidacy for Bishop of Limassol.

"If this all happened in 1980, some 20 years ago, why these charges now? Why did he not go to the Synod then?"

He said Bishop Chrysostomos had made the allegations against Iosif and Athanasios 17 years ago because he wanted them out of the way so he could build a golf course in the area of the Paphos monastery they were at.

The unholy row is further denting the reputation of the Church in Cyprus, already reeling from allegations that Chrysanthos, the former Bishop of Limassol, has been involved in multi-million dollar financial scams all over the globe.

Chrysanthos resigned last month, and elections to find a replacement for him are set for January.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[04] Cypriot gunned down in Tennessee car park

American sources said the female attacker cornered 43-year-old Achilleas Theodoulos Georgiou in a car park near his restaurant in Bristol, Tennessee.

She then emptied a gun into Georgiou at close range as his wife Georgia and daughter stood by, screaming. The woman had reportedly been harassing Georgiou for some time.

Georgiou was rushed to the nearest hospital where he was declared dead.

Georgiou's father-in-law, former Larnaca deputy police chief Lambros Soteriades, left for Tennessee on learning of the murder.

Arrangements are being made to bring Georgiou's body back to Cyprus for burial.

Georgiou left his native Larnaca for the US in 1976 where he established successful restaurant and car dealership businesses.

He is survived by his wife, daughter, a brother in America and two sisters in Cyprus.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[05] Double murder suspect confessed to police

CHINESE double murder suspect Wang Yang has confessed to strangling a female compatriot and helping to kill her partner, a Limassol district court heard on Sunday.

After strangling student Jiang Ming Xia, 23, he then helped his alleged accomplice to kill Lou Jian Hui, also 23, according to Wang's statement to police.

When the facts of the case were read out by investigating officer Andreas Karyolaimos, a visibly pale Wang kept his head bowed and started to weep.

Asked if he had anything to say the suspect only said that he had a stomach complaint.

The district court remanded Wang, 21, in custody for a further seven days.

His alleged accomplice, 22-year-old Bu Hua Cheng, was remanded for eight days last Saturday after he was arrested the previous night at a private clinic in Limassol.

Bu was spotted rummaging around in the basement and was apprehended by civilians until the police arrived to arrest him, ending a week-long manhunt.

Bu was characterised as extremely dangerous by police who believe he planned the brutal killings of the Chinese couple whose bodies were discovered in a ravine on December 2.

Police consider the crime solved and the motive to be robbery.

Bu was named by Wang, a fellow student from the same private Limassol college where the victims also studied. Wang said Bu planned the murders in an alleged attempt to rob the victims of around $3,000.

The two victims were tortured and sexually abused before being strangled to death, according to forensic evidence.

In an effort to find out where their money was hidden, the victims were hit repeatedly with an iron bar.

Their bodies were then wrapped in a blanket and taken from their Limassol flat to the Troodos mountain range and thrown down a 100-metre-deep ravine.

A large number of the island's 600-strong Chinese community, most of them students, are understood to have actively helped police during the investigation.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[06] Looking for his father since 1976

A MAN who left the home of his adopted parents in England at the age of 16 has been searching for his real father ever since.

That was in 1976, and Tony Moss now believes he is the son of a Greek Cypriot, who was jailed in the UK and probably deported later after serving his sentence.

"I had been told I was Italian, so it was a surprise to find out that my father was Greek Cypriot," Moss told the Cyprus Mail.

He was given the news after he located his natural mother, Margaret May Sharman (also known as Joy), who told him that he had been born John Peter Sharman on August 8, 1960.

She said that his real father's name was Neophytos Savvas.

"Racial discrimination towards my father from my mother's family apparently made their relationship difficult," Moss said.

"According to my mother, my father was sent to prison for a minor offence. I was taken to see him there, and he was apparently very proud of his son."

His father was subsequently given a longer prison sentence for assaulting a prison officer, and Moss believes that he was probably deported after serving his time.

"My mother could not wait for him," Moss said. "At that time it was socially and financially difficult to remain a single parent, and my mother eventually married an Irishman who was physically abusive towards me.

"This abuse was so serious that I was adopted. The adoption did not go well and I left home at 16. I have been searching ever since."

Now living in Nottingham, and with a son of his own, Tony Moss just wants to meet the father he last saw 35 years ago.

"I would be very happy to know that my father is alive and well," Moss said. "I would like to tell him that he has a son and a grandson who would like to meet him - if that is what he wants."

Tony Moss can be contacted via Athena Karsera at the Cyprus Mail (02-462074).

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[07] Businessmen agree on further cross-community co-operation

"Not everything that we agreed here will happen, but some will. It is better to try and fail that not to try at all," Holbrooke told the 20 entrepreneurs.

He said it was positive that the Greek and Turkish Cypriot businessmen had agreed to try and solve a water shortage problem on the island and launch projects to have their languages taught in each other's schools, to establish an agreement to have cell phones work on both sides, and make efforts to restore historic monuments.

"Simply by being here we have continued an important part in bringing reconciliation," Holbrooke said at the end of the first day of meetings. "I am encouraged by the spirit we have seen here... and hope that authorities in the region support these people."

Holbrooke was speaking at the opening of the two-day meeting on Sunday, before he set out for Athens yesterday on his real task of meeting Greek leaders to discuss the future of the Russian S-300 missiles.

The US envoy, architect of the Bosnian peace agreement and the recent Kosovo ceasefire, refused to comment publicly on the missile issue, indicating that developments may be at a crucial point.

He did not seem optimistic that a Cyprus solution may soon be found. "If we can't solve it, at least we can improve conditions," Holbrooke said.

He also defused tensions when politics crept into the proceedings in Istanbul. "We came here to unite Cyprus, not separate it," said Constantinos Lordos, head of the Greek Cypriot delegation, in response to a comment by Vedat Celik, head of the Turkish Cypriot group, calling for international recognition of the breakaway state in the north.

But Holbrooke managed to get back to basics by reminding participants that the meeting was designed to avoid politics and deal with practical issues that can be addressed by the business community.

"We didn't come to Istanbul to settle the Cyprus question. The two sides have to do that," Holbrooke said.

The meeting was organised by teams headed by David Phillips of Columbia University's International Conflict Resolution Programme and Dan Smith of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, with sponsorship from the American and Norwegian governments. It was the third such meeting since late last year.

"I'm not happy we have not made progress in the past year, but we must persevere," Holbrooke said.

He said he placed great importance on the business meeting as "this doesn't change the objective realities of Cyprus, but it helps smooth down the edges so we don't have a tragedy again like we had in the past".

Lordos told CyBC radio yesterday that things were moving positively but "very slowly" because of the lack of communication between both sides imposed by the Turkish Cypriot side.

"This lack of contact has made us move at a snail's pace," Lordos said. "But under these conditions there are two choices. One is for efforts to be abandoned. The other is to say that even if it is slow it may gradually bring results."

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[08] Ankara 'foolish for blocking own EU dreams'

After talks with President Glafcos Clerides yesterday, Desmond O'Malley, chairman of the Irish Parliament's Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, pointed to Northern Ireland's 'Good Friday' peace accord as an example of how perseverance can move veritable diplomatic mountains.

"Precise parallels" are not possible between British involvement in Northern Ireland and Turkey's occupation of northern Cyprus, O'Malley said. There has been "great good will" between Dublin and London in recent years, whereas none such exists between Nicosia and Ankara, he added.

But the Irish peace pact "should be a source of encouragement on this island... What did appear intractable in Northern Ireland only a few years ago has now actually been solved by the political will" of Ireland and Britain, aided by the EU and US.

Both Cyprus's occupation and its EU negotiations were included in his talks with Clerides, O'Malley said. In this context, he issued a not-so-veiled warning to Turkey vis-à-vis Ankara's own hopes of eventual EU membership: "It is foolish to prolong the Cyprus problem, and I hope those who are prolonging it will come to realise that."

"We are anxious that Cyprus will achieve full membership as quickly as possible," O'Malley said, despite the "complications caused by the Cyprus question, itself".

In a snub to Turkey's obstructionism, he said "that no veto should be allowed because of the problem within Cyprus - that it is not the fault of the Cyprus government or the people, and it would be wrong if the accession of Cyprus for full (EU) membership were delayed."

"Ireland, like other small states in the EU, is anxious that a country like Cyprus" - a stable democracy with a successful economy and "fully in the European tradition, would be able to join as a full member," he said.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[09] Petrol to stay costly despite fall in the price of crude

THE PRICE of petrol is set to remain artificially high, after the House Finance committee yesterday agreed not to challenge a government bill keeping the retail price at current levels.

But the committee pledged to re-examine the issue in two months' time in the face of protests by opposition party Akel that keeping pump prices high amounted to 'secret' taxation.

The price of crude oil has dropped from $26 a barrel in 1996 to $10 today, but the cost of petrol at the pumps has remained the same.

Committee chairman Alexis Galanos said this was unfair.

"The state cannot push for increases in water charges - citing increasing costs - while at the same time not lowering the price of petrol when the price of crude drops," the European Democratic Renewal Movement leader told the committee.

George Mitides, of the Commerce Ministry's price control committee, countered that lowering the retail price of fuel would "only benefit farmers and transporters who would not lower their prices anyway".

If the government did not have the revenue from petrol sales it would have to find other sources of income, he argued.

Mitides said the state coffers were boosted by about £50 million a year thanks to keeping the petrol retail price high.

Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis has said that much of what the government collects from petrol sales is returned to the consumer in the form of electricity bill rebates. Much of the additional revenue goes to the Defence Fund, he added, helping to keep defence contribution levels down.

Akel has demanded that the government end the "injustice" by either lowering the price of petrol or by giving the money back to consumers in the form of subsidies to help the poor.

The Green party came out in support of keeping pump prices high yesterday, saying the extra money going into state coffers should be channelled for "protection of human health and the natural environment".

The greens said it was high time the cost of petrol took account of "the huge damage to the natural environment and to human health caused by use of petroleum fuels".

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[10] Police rein in on alien arrests

WITH Central Prison and police holding cells bursting at the seams, the Immigration Department is reported to be reluctant to arrest illegal aliens for the time being.

As the number of arrests has risen, the authorities have realised there is no suitable place to hold either suspects on remand or foreigners awaiting deportation.

Police holding cells in Nicosia are reportedly full and the overflow is being directed to the Central Prison in Nicosia which is also finding it hard to cope with the numbers.

The problem has been compounded by the fact that around 80 illegal immigrants are being accommodated on a long-term basis in cells that would normally be used for those awaiting deportation.

According to reports, the situation has become so bad that the Immigration Department has temporarily suspended planned swoops on illegal immigrants.

The authorities hope the situation will ease with the completion of 50 additional holding cells, in two months' time, at the Central Prison.

The prison has more than 50 long-term inmates above capacity who have to be accommodated in other cells which are already overcrowded.

It is not only the arrest of illegal residents which is causing the log-jam, as statistics show that the number of local arrests has also increased.

Statistics indicate that on average six foreigners and ten Cypriots are arrested daily.

Most offences for which Cypriots are arrested involve burglary and theft, while the main reason foreigners are detained is over residence permits.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[11] Unesco's listing of site 'a great honour'

ANTIQUITIES Department Director Sophoclis Hadjisavvas yesterday said he was delighted and proud that Unesco has added Cyprus's neolithic, or 'new Stone Age', settlement of Choirokitia to its World Heritage List.

He called the inclusion of the site, which dates from about 5800 BC and is one of the oldest so far discovered on the island, "a great honour for Cyprus". It shows that "Cyprus can compete with the bigger countries in the archaeological field".

The site was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List last week at the World Heritage Committee's annual meeting in Kyoto, Japan, Choirokitia is believed to have been founded by a community of primitive farmers, whose origins are uncertain. They depended on raising such livestock as sheep, goats and pigs, on hunting wild animals, and on trade with neighbouring countries.

Their houses, which were shaped like beehives or the igloo ice-houses of the Inuit natives of Alaska and northern Canada, were built on foundations of stone - mostly river pebbles - and had superstructures of mud or sun- baked mud bricks.

The first excavations on the site were begun by the Antiquities Department in 1936. They uncovered many examples of primitive agricultural implements, domestic utensils, arrow-heads, as well as stone axes, adzes and chisels believed to have been used in carpentry.

"It took six years to prepare the site and its natural surroundings," all of which had to be protected, not just to preserve it, but to comply with Unesco submission requirements, Hadjisavvas told a news conference.

Pavlos Flourentzos, deputy director of the Antiquities Department, has called the settlement "one of the most important ancient sites in the Eastern Mediterranean," and said its placement on the Unesco list was significant for the entire region.

Choirokitia was one of 30 sites from various countries added last week to the prestigious Unesco list, which now includes 582 archaeological sites from 114 countries.

Other Cyprus sites on the list include nine Byzantine churches in the Troodos mountains, the village of Kato Paphos, and Aphrodite's Temple in Palaipaphos.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[12] Transplant ward marks highlight of 'Hope Week'

The Elpida Foundation, established in 1991 to help sick children and their parents, has organised several events this week to raise both funds for and awareness of their cause.

Foundation president Dr Loizos Loizou told a news conference yesterday that cancer is a common disease, with a person's chance of becoming a sufferer increasing with age.

The National Cancer Institute in the US, he said, calculates that one in three people in developed countries will develop some form of cancer before the age of 74.

Cancer and leukaemia are a main reason for the death of children and teenagers in developed countries, Dr Loizou said. One in every 500 to 600 children under 15 will develop leukaemia.

There are around 35 to 40 new cases in Cyprus every year, and the expected death rate is 10 to 15 cases yearly.

But the good news is that two out of every three children who do become get cancer will live and be able to lead a normal life after treatment.

Tuesday, December 15, 1998

[13] Cut rate Christmas calls

The holiday rate applies to calls made to any country with an automatic telephone exchange from both mobile and regular phones.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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