Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 99-06-19

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

Saturday, June 19, 1999

CONTENTS

[01] Kyprianou stokes up row with Brill

[02] G8 seems likely to endorse Cyprus effort

[03] Suicide pact suspected after British women found dead

[04] Teacher appointment list remains a chronic problem

[05] Akel says it will vote against tax package

[06] New government U-turn on Akamas

[07] CA shares hit high as usually dormant stocks soar

[08] More biscuits removed from dioxin suspect list

[09] Decomposed body thought to be missing German tourist

[10] Two held after girls 'abandoned in drug haze'

[11] Women dead after ‘suicide pact’

[01] Kyprianou stokes up row with Brill

HOUSE President Spyros Kyprianou yesterday sowed further confusion in his row with US ambassador Kenneth Brill, saying President Clerides would summon the ambassador to discuss the issue on Monday.

The government, however, refused to confirm any such meeting was planned and sought to play down the affair.

Kyprianou's Diko and communist party Akel are angry over US embassy letters apparently critical of their opposition to Nato's bombing of Yugoslavia. The House President is also piqued at Brill's alleged refusal to discuss the issue with him when he was acting president during Clerides' absence in China.

Yesterday, Kyprianou told reporters, after seeing Clerides to convey party leader's views on the matter, that the President had summoned Ambassador Brill to a meeting on Monday.

But a few hours later, Government Spokesman Costas Serezis refused to confirm what Kyprianou had said.

Serezis merely said the President was contemplating what he would do -- if he decided to intervene -- and when would be the best time to do so.

Earlier, Kyprianou had said: "The President of the Republic, as he told me, has already taken a decision to take steps towards Brill, whom he will call on Monday."

He also said that Clerides would lay emphasis on the fact that Brill had refused to meet with Kyprianou as acting President.

"In particular, the President, without me wanting to say anything more on his involvement in the issue because I am not entitled to do so, will give emphasis on the fact that the Ambassador of the US refused to meet with the acting President of the Republic."

Kyprianou also criticised deputies who had not agreed to pass a full resolution condemning the American ambassador's behaviour, opting instead in favour of a lighter-weight statement.

The House president indicated Disy deputies were the main objectors to a stronger resolution: "Only Disy did not want a resolution issued."

"The contents of the statement (that was finally approved) represented the opinions of everyone," he added.

Kyprianou said the furore was something unprecedented in Cyprus.

"The parties once again yesterday put emphasis on the issue of the ambassador's refusal to meet the acting President.

"Personally and as House president, I will do what I think is right to protect the functioning of the Republic connected to the relationships of embassies and parties."

When asked if Clerides' meeting with Brill on Monday would close this issue, he replied, "We shall see."

Serezis, however, refused to confirm or deny what Kyprianou had said. The spokesman said he had spoken on the phone with Clerides after the President's meeting with Kyprianou.

He told reporters he was only authorised to say that the President would consider what he had been told and what he would do.

"I neither confirm nor deny Kyprianou's statements. All I can announce to you is that the President is thinking about how he will intervene in the issue."

The government spokesman did say that Clerides did not agree with Kyprianou's opinion that Brill should be declared a persona non grataon the island: "Kyprianou said it... Clerides did not say it."

When asked if the issue would cause problems with the relationship between Cyprus and US, Serezis said he did not believe so because the issue had not been taken up on a government level.

Media speculation had earlier suggested the spat could threaten to undermine Washington's autumn push to restart Cyprus settlement talks.

When asked if the government considered Brill's alleged refusal to meet Kyprianou a breach of protocol, Serezis said: "Brill, as far as I know, did not refuse to have a meting with the House President. He did not refuse, he just could not meet with him at exactly that time."

Disy president Nicos Anastassiades said yesterday the issue should be closed: "I have publicly said, even before the affected parties made their statements, that I do not believe we can achieve what we want to by keeping the issue open and to try to grapple with an Ambassador who is already on his way out."

Brill is coming to the end of his posting in Cyprus, and a replacement has already been named.

Speaking on CyBC radio, Anastassiades added: "The less said (on the issue) in the future, the better, not because we are afraid, but because every issue has an end."

He said he believed the American side had learned from the issue, so no further action should be taken.

But Akel's press representative Nicos Katsourides sought to stoke up the issue. He said Brill had "interfered" with domestic politics in the past: "from the day he arrived, he has interfered in interior and foreign policies in Cyprus in much the same way as America did after the Second World War in several countries."

He cited by way of example statements by Brill that Cyprus should not deploy the controversial Russian-made S-300 missiles.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[02] G8 seems likely to endorse Cyprus effort

PRELIMINARY indications from the G8 summit in Cologne are that the seven most industrialised nations and Russia will adopt a recommendation on the Cyprus problem.

The recommendation was approved last week by the foreign ministers of the eight countries, despite Turkey's strong opposition.

According to a Cyprus News Agency (CNA) report from Cologne, diplomatic sources said the G8 effort was not a substitute for the UN peace effort, but was "supportive" of it, as the G8's overriding goal was to get the two sides back to the negotiating table where all issues would be up for discussion.

"The role of the UN must be decisive," one French diplomat told CNA. The diplomat reiterated his country's backing for a Cyprus settlement within a UN framework.

According to American diplomats, Turkey's strong opposition to the G8 effort on Cyprus stems from Russia's active involvement in the group and to the absence of an direct or indirect reference to Turkish demands for a confederation on the island.

They also argue that Ankara objects to the fact that yet another international organisation appears to be chastising it for the absence of a desire to solve the Cyprus problem.

The US believes Turkish concerns about the G8 involvement might put in jeopardy the group's entire effort to give an impetus to Cyprus peace talks, but still believes the timing of this initiative is just as good as any other.

In Nicosia yesterday, Russian ambassador Georgi Muratov said that two UN security council resolutions on Cyprus which are expected to be approved next month would probably be influenced by the conclusions of the G8 summit.

Speaking after a meeting with President Clerides, Muratov said that the summit would to a certain degree push the Cyprus peace process forward.

The Cyprus government has made it clear to the leaders of the G8 that such talks -- if they were to resume -- would have to take place within the framework of UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus.

The government has also expressed the view that the G8's involvement and its active support of UN efforts is of particular importance.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said on Thursday that Britain and the other countries would seek to inject a new momentum into the Cyprus talks.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[03] Suicide pact suspected after British women found dead

TWO BRITISH women found dead yesterday outside their holiday home in Paphos were the victims of a suspected suicide pact.

Police named the victims as Jean Pollak, 69, and her close friend Janet Anne Deubert, 44, who had only arrived on the island several days ago from the UK.

They were found in a decomposing state inside Pollak's VW Golf parked in the garage of her Anarita village luxury home.

One of the neighbours -- in the village not far from where the BBC filmed Sunburn-- suggested that the two women were devoted friends.

A hose pipe was found attached to the exhaust and leading in through the closed front window of the vehicle, police said, making the likely cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning.

What convinced police that the two women committed suicide were several letters found in the kitchen of Pollak's villa, and the fact that there was no sign of any criminal act.

"We found several stamped addressed envelopes in the kitchen addressed to members of Pollak's family. There are no criminal circumstances suspected," a police source said yesterday.

One of the goodbye notes said the women "were tired of life", according to one informed source.

A British resident of Anarita, William Beechey, discovered the bodies at 11.30am yesterday when he went to Pollak's home after not seeing her for three days.

Pollak, originally from London, had been living on the island as a permanent resident for the past six years.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[04] Teacher appointment list remains a chronic problem

THE LATE age at which secondary school teachers are appointed to their posts remains a chronic problem in the Cyprus education system, a report said yesterday.

The criticism came in the 1988 annual report of the Education Service's Committee.

Speaking at the presentation of the report, Committee president Christos Theofilides said the Committee believed the fact that middle-aged teachers were being appointed to teaching positions for the first time could have serious consequences on pupils.

"We think yes (there would be consequences), if the person was not the best for the job, because he or she had not spent much time in the service."

He added that Cyprus was a worldwide exception in this respect, and that sometimes even a short interview with prospective teachers showed they totally were out of touch with modern teaching methods, and incapable of relating to young people.

The current teacher appointment system works on the basis of a list that gives priority to those teachers that qualified earliest. Because of the number of teaching graduates, younger candidate rarely get posted.

Graduates are then forced to work in other professions or at the very least private institutes.

Theofilides suggested that the problem of older teachers losing touch with newer teaching methods could be solved if graduates were given temporary positions in schools.

He wondered what would happen "if there were a new Socrates out there and he was only given the opportunity to teach when he was 45."

Committee member Christos Georgiades said the average appointment age was around 40. "These people graduated at least 25 years earlier. How much of their basic training remains intact after so long?"

He said some teachers were appointed at an age when they were already looking towards retirement.

He said that suggestions of giving the prospective teachers time in school would help them refresh what they had been taught as well as introducing them to new methods, "but would not be a complete solution to the problem."

But responding to reporters' questions, Georgiades said the 'priority list' system could not go on indefinitely "because attempts to improve the current system are being carried out, and because it's a point of meritocracy."

He was not in favour of going to the extreme and introducing an age limit, but did point out that "13 and 14-year-olds with problems do need someone they can relate to."

Another member, Costas Ierokipiotis, added that any change in the policy would constitute a political decision and would not be within the Committee's jurisdiction.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[05] Akel says it will vote against tax package

MAIN opposition party Akel yesterday gave the official "thumbs down" to the government's key tax package.

Party spokesman Nicos Katsourides said the package as presented to parties would hit the poor hard and warned Akel would do all in its power to block its passage through the House.

Katsourides' statements, coming after a party meet, were bad news for Finance Minister Takis Clerides, who has been doing his best to woo parties into approving his tax hikes. The government does not have a majority in the House.

The package -- details of which have not been released -- is thought to include a two per cent rise in VAT, increases to fuel tax, a 20 to 25 per cent road tax hike, a £5 a month tax on mobile phones and a proposal for the liberalisation of interest rates.

Katsourides said the package would net the government £225 million over two years and provided for only £21 million a year in tax concessions to lower income groups.

"If these proposals are adopted, the burden will undoubtedly be unbearable for the masses," Katsourides told a news conference.

He also complained that the government had ignored Akel's suggestions on taxation. "The government has not adopted even one of our suggestions which aimed at placing the burden of taxation on those who have," he said.

Katsourides said Clerides' tax package was a carbon copy of one submitted to the House by his predecessor Christodoulos Christodoulou last summer. Christodoulou's package was thrown out by the House amidst criticism that the minister had failed to consult with parties beforehand.

Clerides has done his best to avoid the same pitfalls, presenting his package to parties for consideration well ahead of its going before the plenum.

Governing Disy have welcomed the tax package as a "well-balanced" proposal but it has been slammed by both smaller opposition parties, Diko and Edek, as well as by Akel.

The package is expected to go before the House plenum this month. Clerides has said tax increases are vital for economic recovery.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[06] New government U-turn on Akamas

THE GOVERNMENT did a U-turn on the Akamas yesterday, saying it had decided there was, after all, no reason to protect parts of the peninsula as "white", or no-development, zones.

Earlier this month, Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous told the House environment committee that the Asprokremnos, Ayios Georgios Peyias and Neo Chorio areas (currently zoned for tourism development) would be declared white zones. The aim, the minister explained, would be to block development to allow a relevant ministerial committee time to arrive at a final decision on the future of the pristine area, earmarked for National Park status.

"In the end it was judged that there was no need to implement this measure as it was agreed to fast-track procedure to deal with the issue by the Spring of 2000," Themistocleous said after a meeting of the ministerial committee yesterday.

The government declared its intention to make the Akamas a National Park a decade ago, but has been dragging its feet ever since, wary of local villagers' strong opposition to conservation plans.

Themistocleous said the agreed procedure for "fast-tracking" the decision- making process would involve yet another round of negotiations with Akamas area residents -- with the aim of finding a National Park formula to satisfy them.

The minister said talks with villagers would last five or six months. A final proposal would then be submitted to the cabinet for approval, by the Spring of 2000, he said.

He defended the length of time the government was taking over deciding about the Akamas: "The delay observed is due to the complexity of the issue and the need to secure the consent of local communities."

The government has said the park management plan will be based on a World Bank study which proposes development be restricted to within existing village boundaries, with the rest of the peninsula protected as a wilderness area.

Greens, who support the World Bank plan, fear that the government's reluctance to act to protect the Akamas will allow further tourism developments in the area -- creating a de factosituation. Local residents favour tourism development.

The family firm of former Foreign Minister Alecos Michaelides has already built a massive hotel complex on the Asprokremnos coast, West of Latchi, after securing planning relaxations from the cabinet. Planning permission has recently been granted for a second 5-star hotel on the same stretch of coast.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[07] CA shares hit high as usually dormant stocks soar

SHARE prices ended marginally lower yesterday, but were up one per cent on the week. The Cyprus Stock Market all-share index closed at 155.05, up 0.19 per cent on Thursday.

Traders said investors, as in the past few days, maintained their interest in non-banking stocks now that the blue-chips of the two main banks -- Bank of Cyprus and Popular bank -- have stabilised after weeks of meteoric rises.

"Many investors cashed in on their bank stocks on high levels and are now showing interest in stocks which are often neglected despite their good fundamentals," said Koullis Panayiotou of the leading CLR brokerage.

Interestingly, Cyprus Airways, the national carrier often plagued by acrimonious industrial relations, led the non-banking stocks in terms of investors' interest. In the second successive day of life in the limelight, 888,310 of the usually dormant shares changed hands yesterday, accounting for 7.2 per cent of the day's total trade.

The share closed up 4.5 cents at £0.58 apiece, a year's high. On Thursday, nearly 300,000 of the airline's shares were traded, notching up three cents.

Beside the interest shown by investors in many non-banking titles, traders said, the Cyprus Airways' shares appeared to pull speculators on the back of reports that a rights issue by the company would be announced later this month.

The company, in which the government has an 82 per cent stake, last week said its 1999 profit prospects looked good and that it planned to pay shareholders a final dividend of 4.7 cents.

A company spokesman yesterday said that Cyprus Airways' authorised capital of £75 million would be increased to £100 million later this month in a move aimed at reducing the government's stake in the company to below 70 per cent to meet stock market regulations.

Cyprus Airways pilots have offered to buy 12 per cent of the company's share capital, a move that could give them two representatives on the company's board. But a Cyprus Airways' spokesman said earlier this week that any decision on the issue rested with the government and not the company.

Other shares which have in recent days attracted investors include Libra Holidays. Trade in the stock yesterday began a two-week suspension requested by the company ahead of a two-for-five share split announced last week.

The split will come into force on June 30 and the nominal value of the share will be reduced from 25 cents to 10 cents.

In a statement issued this week, the company said that reservations for the company's package holidays in Greece and Cyprus had dramatically increased in Britain for the year ending next September and that it planned to apply to British aviation authorities for an increase in the seats earmarked for the company from 159,000 to 190,000.

Other announcements that deepened interest in the so-called peripheral shares included one by Nicos Shacolas' Woolworth and CTC that the two trading companies are forming a new company with a Greek partner to set up two chain stores for training on recent technologies such as databanks and palmtops and one providing services on home computing and business solutions.

Both titles were traded heavily on Thursday and also yesterday.

In the banking sector, all four listed banks finished in negative territory yesterday with Hellenic Bank the biggest loser, closing 4.50 cents down at £4.21. The Bank of Cyprus was next on the losing trail, shedding three cents to close at £6.73 but accounting for 15 per cent of the day's trade.

The Popular Bank, ending its second week after a two-for-one split, closed down by a single cent at £3.75.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[08] More biscuits removed from dioxin suspect list

THE HEALTH Ministry yesterday removed Jacques brand biscuits from the list of 103 Belgian products suspected of poisoning by dioxin, a highly toxic compound that causes cancer and grotesque birth deformities.

The action was the third such by the ministry this week for products wrongly placed on its June 11 list of 104 suspected Belgian food imports and four types of imported animal feeds.

The six Jacques-brand biscuits removed from the list were: the 45-gram Fourre Pralines (batch #D5389A4, expiry 01.10.99); 50-gram Milk Biscuits (batch #D32389A4, expiry 01.12.99); 45-gram Noisettes (batch #D4387B1, expiry 01.10.99); 38-gram Biscuite 100 (batch #D4383A4, expiry 01.09.99); 45-gram Praline 100 (batch #D2481A4, expiry 01.11.99); and 47-gram Mocca Rhum (batch #D2383B1, expiry 01.09.99).

Five additional batches of Barry Callebaut industrial raw chocolate were also removed from the suspect list yesterday. Nine batches of Barry Callebaut raw chocolate were scratched from the list on Thursday.

Manufacturers using Barry Callebaut raw chocolates can contact the Health Ministry for a list of the relevant batch numbers and expiry dates.

On Monday, the ministry removed Lu brand's Choco Prince and Pim's biscuits from its June 11 list of 104 suspect brand-name products. Health Department officials have said dioxin contamination is not a major problem in Cyprus.

Faced with so many list reversals, the Health Ministry has asked Belgium to state what food products it knows to be dioxin-tainted, so Cyprus can destroy any it finds, and can return for sale those items wrongfully swept from store shelves.

The Republic has impounded tons of food products and animal feed from Belgium, and ordered food stores to strip shelves of all Belgian foods on the June 11 list with a January 15-June 1 production date, and hold them for possible destruction. Stores failing to withdraw the banned items face their confiscation and fines.

The Verkest fats and oils company, of Ghent, Belgium, supplied dioxin- poisoned fats to animal feed producers in Belgium, Holland and France. Those companies then supplied feed to poultry, pig and cattle farms in their own countries, and Germany and Spain.

The contamination sparked an EU ban on the sale or transfer of Belgian- produced animal feeds, raw food and processed food products. Countries throughout the world banned the import of various raw and processed foods from Belgium and other affected EU countries. Cyprus followed suit.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[09] Decomposed body thought to be missing German tourist

A BADLY decomposed body discovered by police is believed to be that of a 74- year-old German tourist reported missing from his Protaras hotel since April.

Police said yesterday that the body they found near the Paralimni coast, in a stream bed on Thursday night, was that of German tourist Oscar Werner Mayr from Ingolstadt.

Found at the scene was a shoulder bag, hat and walking stick.

"We believe the body belongs to the German tourist who went missing, but we can't be absolutely sure until the DNA results," Famagusta deputy police chief Lefteris Solomou said yesterday.

Mayr was reported missing to police on May 2 by the manager of the Sunrise Hotel in the popular tourist resort of Protaras.

The manager became suspicious when Mayr did not return to the hotel. He was last seen on April 30 at around 11.30pm and his belongings in the hotel room were untouched.

He had arrived alone on the island 24 hours before he went missing.

Police discovered the body in the gully after they were alerted by another German tourist.

State pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous examined the scene on Thursday and said that at first sight there appeared to be no sign of foul play.

However, Sophocleous said yesterday he could not ascertain the cause of death because the body was practically a skeleton and had no organs.

"I took some x-rays which showed no breaks or fractures... there are no suspicious circumstances," said Sophocleous.

[10] Two held after girls 'abandoned in drug haze'

Police said the mothers of the two young girls had complained that their daughters had been beaten and had probably used drugs. The two girls were admitted to hospital and one bore scratches and bruises on the face, but there was no evidence to suggest they had used narcotics, police reported.

An 18-year-old man from Aglandjia was arrested in connection with the incident late on Thursday night. Another man, 20, from the same Nicosia suburb, was arrested in the early hours yesterday.

Both were brought up before Nicosia District court yesterday morning and remanded for six days.

Saturday, June 19, 1999

[11] Women dead after ‘suicide pact’

TWO BRITISH women found dead yesterday outside their holiday home in Paphos were the victims of a suspected suicide pact.

Police named the women as Jean Pollak, 69, and her close friend Janet Anne Deubert, 44, who had only arrived on the island several days ago from the UK.

They were found in a decomposing state inside Pollak's VW Golf parked in the garage of her luxury home in Anarita village.

One of the neighbours -- in the village not far from where the BBC filmed Sunburn-

- suggested that the two women were devoted friends.

A hose pipe was found attached to the exhaust and leading in through the closed front window of the vehicle, police said, making the likely cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning. What convinced police that the two women committed suicide were several letters found in the kitchen of Pollak's villa, and the fact that there was no sign of any criminal act.

"We found several stamped addressed envelopes in the kitchen addressed to members of Pollak's family. There are no criminal circumstances suspected," a police source said yesterday. One of the goodbye notes said the women "were tired of life", according to one informed source.

A British resident of Anarita, William Beechey, discovered the bodies at 11.30am yesterday when he went to Pollak's home after not seeing her for three days.

Pollak, originally from London, had been living on the island as a permanent resident for the past six years.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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