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Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 99-07-16
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Friday, July 16, 1999
CONTENTS
[01] US ‘doesn’t want to pressure anyone’ on CyprusBy Jean ChristouU.S.
DEFENCE Secretary William Cohen said yesterday Washington did not want to
pressure Turkey or Greece to move towards a resolution of the Cyprus
problem.He was speaking at a news conference in Ankara after a meeting
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.Cohen said the division of the island
was unacceptable but that the US was of the opinion that it is up to Greece
and Turkey to resolve their difference over the division of the island."On
the issue of Cyprus we believe the status quo is not acceptable and that
negotiations should be instituted quickly and without preconditions," he
said.But he made it clear that Washington did not want to pressure either
of the two Nato allies to move towards a solution."We do not seek to bring
pressure on either Greece or Turkey," he said.Cohen's comments were a
repeat of those he made in Athens on Wednesday prior to his departure for
Ankara."We are also exploring new ways to improve relations with Turkey but
the United States does not intend to pressure anyone," he said.The US
Defence Secretary's comment drew a sharp response in Nicosia from House
President Spyros Kyprianou, who said yesterday: "I wonder how the problem
will be solved if there is no pressure on Ankara?""When the US and other
powerful nations speak about ethnic cleansing they first have to take a
look at Cyprus. They have not lifted a finger in the past 25 years. Their
objective is to see Cyprus divided irrespective of any name that might be
given to a prospective solution."But President Clerides expressed no
surprise at Cohen's comments."I am not surprised and if I were in his place,
going to Turkey, I would not state that I am going there to exert pressure,
" he said."Everybody knows how the international political game is played.
One does not go to a place and announce that he will be exerting
pressure."Meanwhile diplomatic activity on the island began to wind down
yesterday as ambassadors and envoys leave for the holidays.Unficyp chief of
mission Dame Ann Hercus paid a brief visit to President Clerides before her
departure. On Wednesday she paid a similar call to Turkish Cypriot leader
Rauf Denktash.She will return to the island in three weeks.German
Ambassador Gabrielle von Malsen-Tilborch has also left the island for the
holidays, while US Ambassador Kenneth Brill will be departing from his post
by the end of the month.On Wednesday Brill, Hercus and British High
Commissioner Edward Clay met at the US embassy in what was described by
diplomatic sources as a routine meeting.Clay also met Denktash on Wednesday
and Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides yesterday.It is believed the
series of meetings was held to discuss the post-holiday strategy for the
expected resumption of direct talks in the US in October following the UN
Secretary-general's call to both sides to return to negotiations.
[02] Coup victims remembered as party leaders warn of foreign plotsBy
Martin HellicarTHE SIRENS sounded and politicians pronounced as Cyprus
yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the 1974 coup.The House of
Representatives plenum convened for its customary coup-condemning special
session and the island's political elite attended a church service,
conducted by Archbishop Chrysostomos and dedicated to those who lost their
lives.According to official figures, nearly 100 people were killed 25 years
ago in fighting between right-wing coupists, backed by the Greek military
junta, and supporters of President Makarios. Makarios was forced to flee as
the junta took temporary control of the island, triggering the Turkish
invasion of July 20, 1974."Every year we honour those who died defending
democracy, freedom and their country. It is a duty we owe to those heroes
who gave their lives so that we can live as free people," President
Clerides said after the morning church service.Government spokesman Costas
Serezis called for unity, adding: "Today is a day to remember, because lack
of memory makes the repetition of criminal actions with nationally
destructive repercussions easier."At the House, deputies observed a
minute's silence in memory of the victims before taking turns to condemn
the coup. Their speeches invariably focused on the Cyprus problem.House
President Spyros Kyprianou, in his opening address, called on everyone to
shoulder their responsibilities "because the future of our children and
grandchildren is at stake".He called for unity and vigilance on the
national issue. "We must decide collectively, we must know everything, we
must make ourselves fully informed about what is being cooked-up on the
sidelines of international diplomacy and see what we can do," the Diko
leader said.The leader of governing Disy, Nicos Anastassiades, called for
national unity. "The coup should not be used for party point-scoring," he
urged. Communist Akel has consistently charged Disy with harbouring former
coupists.Akel leader Demetris Christofias also called for unity and claimed
that the international community was leaning towards recognition of the
breakaway self-proclaimed ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, a move
demanded by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash as a precondition for
further inter-communal talks."The UN cannot seek a middle way between the
positions of the two sides when Denktash's positions are totally opposite
to UN resolutions on Cyprus," Christofias said.Edek leader Vassos
Lyssarides continued on the same theme. "We should make clear that we will
not accept a peace dialogue based on confederation or the recognition of
separate entities," he told deputies.Last night, hundreds turned out for an
anti-coup rally organised by Akel in Nicosia's Eleftheria Square.Several
anti-occupation events are planned by other parties over the coming days,
including a rally at the Ledra Palace checkpoint on Sunday.
[03] Turks remove checkpoint propagandaBy Jean ChristouPROPAGANDA posters
at the Turkish Cypriot checkpoint in Nicosia have been removed and replaced
with tourism pictures and visa charges on visitors have been abolished,
newspapers in the north reported yesterday.In addition the Turkish Cypriot
side is asking the government to lift restrictions on tourists crossing to
the north on day trips who are not allowed to shop and who must return by
5pm.But Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis told the
Cyprus Mailyesterday there are no plans to change the situation at the
moment.The Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibrissaid yesterday that the ‘TRNC
Council of Ministers’ lifted the £4 sterling visa fee on tourists crossing
to the north at the Ledra Palace.Since it was first imposed at the end of
1997, in response to Britain's clampdown on Turkish Cypriots entering the
UK, the number of visitors going to the north has dropped by more than half,
from 30,000 a year to 14,000.Following the `cabinet' meeting on Wednesday
Turkish Cypriot `Deputy Prime Minister' Mustafa Akinci told Kibristhat all
the massacre posters had been removed from the checkpoint in order to prove
the Turkish Cypriot side's "desire for peace".Akinci then called on the
Greek Cypriot side to reciprocate by removing their own "provocative"
photographs and posters.The Greek Cypriot side displays posters of the
killing of two Greek Cypriot demonstrators at protests in Dherynia in
1996.Akinci referred to the posters as something that "kindles the flame of
hatred between the two peoples".On the issue of tourists visiting the north,
Akinci said the Greek Cypriot side demands that those who cross should not
do any shopping and should return to the south by 5pm at the latest.Greek
Cypriots from the anti-occupation group Pak have also been running a
campaign at the Ledra Palace for the past three years in an effort to
dissuade tourists from crossing to the north."The Greek Cypriot
administration creates every obstacle to prevent tourists form crossing to
the north," Akinci said."We on our part demanded a crossing fee from the
tourists, thus contributing to the obstacles created by the Greek
Cypriots".He said the Turkish Cypriot side was now trying to send a message
to the world on the eve of the July 20 anniversary and spoke about opening
a tourist office at the Ledra Palace.Akinci said he had called on Rolandis
to suggest the restrictions be lifted. "I have received no response yet to
my call," he said.Rolandis told the Cyprus Mailthat he had spoken with
Akinci in the past about tourism."He made a proposal in the past to open up
the line so that tourists might cross," Rolandis said. "We have not looked
into this."Rolandis said the problem would be that tourists staying in the
north on holidays and crossing to the free areas would be entering the
island through an illegal channel."At the moment we shall stick to the
existing situation," he said.
[04] Kissinger knocks 1974 plot theoryBy Anthony O. MillerTURKEY'S 1974
invasion of Cyprus not only was not a plot colluded in by the United States,
but it was both the unparalleled paradigm of future ethnic conflicts and
beyond the control of even the wisest of diplomats, according to Henry
Kissinger.He also believes that political forces in Greece, the US and
Turkey, including a mercurial US Congress, made it all the more difficult
to try to prevent (and, failing that, minimise) the potential damage to
Nato, and the actual damage to Cyprus, from Turkey's invasion.These and
other assertions lard Chapter 7 of Years of Renewal, the concluding
installment of Kissinger's memoirs, just published by Simon and Schuster
and available in the US for $35.But if readers seek from the former US
Secretary of State and National Security Adviser for US Presidents Richard
Nixon and Gerald Ford the kind of Cyprus problem mea culpathat US
Presidential Envoy for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke offered last year, they
will search for it in vain.For Kissinger's version of the events of 1967-74,
while genuflecting to their obvious roots in ancient Greek-Turkish
animosities, ranges far and wide in ascribing blame to anyone but
himself.Kissinger denies there was any Cyprus conspiracy, terming "a
mythology" the notion that he and President Nixon "contrived the crisis in
pursuit of a vendetta against Archbishop Makarios III... or in collusion
with Turkey for unspecified geopolitical objectives.""Contrary to the
mythology that the United States encouraged the Turkish invasion -- or even
colluded with it -- our strategy during the first week (of the July 15,
1974 coup against Archbishop Makarios) concentrated on removing Turkish
pretexts for military action," Kissinger declares.While he and Nixon surely
"had our reservations about some aspects of Makarios's policy," he admits,
"they were relatively minor irritations, and Cyprus had an altogether low
priority in the general scheme of things" as viewed from Washington.The
Cyprus crisis was new turf, and not preventable even for America. "It
initiated the United States into the archetypal and as yet unfamiliar drama
of ethnic conflict," which would in the Bosnias, Lebanons, Rwandas and
Kosovos of the remainder of the century become all too familiar to US
administrations.Not only were there no "intelligence warnings which were
ignored by an administration driven by its dislike of Makarios and its
obsession with geopolitics," but there were no red-flag forebodings of the
July 15, 1974, coup against Makarios, he writes.In fact, "as late as July
12," Makarios himself declared the Cyprus situation merely "'delicate' but
not 'critical,'" Kissinger says. And "the United States, preoccupied with
Watergate, did not believe the situation was approaching the critical
point" either.After the coup, the US obsession was in preserving Nato's
eastern flank from collapsing in a Greco-Turkish war over Cyprus, thus
allowing Soviet penetration of the Mediterranean, he says.Between the July
15 coup and Turkey's initial invasion on July 20, Kissinger's files show he
warned Turkey against invading Cyprus, while pledging simultaneously to
oppose the island's enosiswith Greece -- just as Kissinger claims the US
simultaneously opposed the junta then ruling Greece -- as a way of
balancing US interests.This, he says, was typical of the US policy of
"evenhandedness in defence of America's national interest in the
preservation of the eastern flank of Nato."But this policy "...was
inevitably rejected by the ethnic adversaries," of Greece and Turkey, which
were "obsessed with their blood feud" and refused to negotiate an end to
the Cyprus invasion/crisis: Greece threatened to pull out of Nato and
called up its reserves, while Turkey bolstered its forces in Cyprus.After
Greece's junta fell and democracy returned to Athens, foreign and domestic
voices clamoured for either military force to reverse Turkey's second
invasion and occupation of Cyprus, or sanctions to be applied against
Ankara to punish it.Both were anathema to Washington, Kissinger says, as
Turkey was too important to US/Nato ends for military force or sanctions --
a notion seemingly at odds with his claims that America was not
geopolitically obsessed vis-à-vis Turkey and Cyprus.Kissinger reveals that,
far from delighting in the coup against Makarios solely as a pretext for
working its will in Cyprus, Turkey actually wanted Makarios -- the bête
noir of Turkish Cypriots -- returned to power so badly that it threatened
to "invade Cyprus unless Makarios was restored to power within 24 hours" of
his ouster.As Makarios' return in that 24 hours did not occur, the first
phase of Ankara's two-stage invasion of Cyprus did, and Turkey quickly
dropped any wish to see Makarios or the status quo of his pre-coup
presidency restored. America's chief goal then became avoiding an intra-
Nato war, securing a Cyprus ceasefire, and beginning negotiations between
the parties, he writes.Undercutting all negotiations was the cutoff of all
US military aid to Turkey by Congress in October 1974, Kissinger grouses,
as "this removed flexibility from both sides".The aid cutoff was welcomed
by Greece as a punishment, and by Turkey as a pretext for cancelling
negotiations by Kissinger for a Cyprus settlement, he says. It was the last
nail in the coffin of conciliation."Our inability to explore seriously any
Turkish hint of flexibility froze the Turkish occupation at its maximum
extent and facilitated absolute Turkish control" of the occupied part of
Cyprus that Ankara holds to this day, Kissinger writes.Despite the
occupation, the US secured "its most important objective: the eastern flank
of Nato, though strained, remained intact." Greece and Turkey, despite
hostilities, stayed in Nato, and the Soviet Union was kept out of the
Mediterranean."The communal conflict between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus has
proved intractable for centuries," and this, more than any US diplomatic
failures, lies at the root of the Cyprus problem, he believes.For "once an
ethnic conflict breaks out, its outcome is much more apt to be either a
massacre of the minority, or the forcible separation of the ethnic groups,
than the restoration of political unity," writes Kissinger.
[05] Sentencing of Aeroporos killer postponedBy Charlie CharalambousTHE
CRIMINAL court yesterday delayed setting a date for when confessed killer
Prokopis Prokopiou will be sentenced for the murder of Hambis Aeroporos.As
the prosecution dropped charges on Wednesday of attempted murder and
conspiracy to commit murder, and Prokopiou had pleaded guilty to killing
Hambis in cold blood, the court could have imposed sentencing straight
away.But the court chose not to complicate proceedings at this stage by
having the prosecution give their closing argument for one of the accused
while four other suspects were still on trial.Therefore, it agreed that
Prokopiou will either be sentenced at the end of the trial in Nicosia or at
another juncture if the need arises.Prokopiou faces a life sentence after
Tuesday's outburst when the 35-year-old waiter confessed to gunning down
Hambis in a Limassol street on December 16 last year.He also claimed that
two co-defendants -- murder suspects policeman Christos Symianos, 35, and
ex-special policeman Savvas Ioannou, alias Kinezos, 33 -- were not involved
in the killing.The President of the three-judge bench, Michalis Fotiou,
said Prokopiou need no longer sit in the dock but that he could attend the
hearings if he so wished.Proceedings continued yesterday with a ‘trial
within trial’ following objections by defence lawyer George Georgiou over
the admissibility of a police statement made by his client Zoe
Alexandrou.Georgiou argued the hospital cleaner did not give a voluntary
statement, that she was not informed of her rights by police, and that
proper procedure was violated.The fifth suspect in the murder trial is
cabaret owner Sotiris Athinis, 43, who -- along with his 51-year-old sister
Zoe -- has pleaded not guilty to lesser charges of conspiring to kill 36-
year-old Hambis Aeroporos.The trial continues.
[06] £ 300m may have been poured into Louis IPOBy Hamza HendawiQUICK-profit
hopefuls may have poured as much as £300 million this week to snap up as
many shares as possible in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Louis
Cruise Lines' Ltd, traders said yesterday.The share issue itself is worth
only £9.5 million at 40 cents apiece. The title, however, is widely tipped
to debut in early August at £1 or £2 and then to rise rapidly in the
following days.No exact figure for how much money Cypriots spent to become
Louis shareholders will be available before the weekend or early next week,
and the traders explained that the £300 million figure was largely an
educated guess based on the massive demand over the four days when
registers were open in banks and brokerages across the island."Interest is
beyond belief and I will not be surprised if it exceeds 30-fold," said
Koullis Panayiotou of top brokerage CLR. "The timing made that possible
because the issue comes after two successful listings," he told the Cyprus
Mail, referring to the recent market debut of Share Link Financial services
and engineering firm Caramondani Bros.For the issue to be 30-fold
oversubscribed means that some £290 million will be returned to investors,
leaving most of them with a much smaller number than they wished for in the
coveted title.But there may be a silver lining in their disappointment.Once
the balance is refunded to them, which should happen after 15 working days,
a flood of money is expected to go to the market either to buy Louis shares
in their early trading days, when they are still a relative bargain, or to
snap up traditional blue-chips, according to traders."Imagine the
expectations of this market when even as little as 10 per cent of the £290
million returned to investors finds its way to the market," said Panicos
Kaiserlides of Benchmark Securities.The Louis issue has virtually taken
hold of the lives of many people in recent days, and a lot of them are
known to have borrowed in an attempt to get a piece of the action. Tales
abound of investors who wrote cheques for as much as £1 million knowing
that only this way can they get a decent number of shares in Louis."We know
that some of the money which came to us is borrowed," said Kaiserlides of
Benchmark. Panayiotou agreed, adding: "Some of it also came from other
investments and from deposit accounts. This money will never go back to the
deposit accounts." He said the market's bullish mood was attracting hordes
of new investors."People who never thought they would ever invest in stocks
are now in the market. We even have some investors who may not even have
heard of the existence of the market until recently," he said."So long as
the funds keep coming there is no stopping the market," concluded
Kaiserlides.The Louis issue has dramatically raised the stakes in the
seemingly unstoppable Cyprus bourse. Yesterday, the all-share index closed
at 184.91, the third consecutive all-time high. It was up 3.80 per cent on
Wednesday's close.All seven sectors finished in positive territory with a
volume worth a decent £16.39 million, of which £4.37 million went to the
blue-chips of the banks.The tourism and trading sectors again finished
strong with their sub-indices rising by 5.88 per cent and 6.92 per cent
respectively.
[07] Government ‘close to decision’ on Akamas National ParkBy Martin
HellicarTHE GOVERNMENT is now making good headway towards a final decision
on the future of the Akamas peninsula, Agriculture Minister Costas
Themistocleous said yesterday.The government vowed to declare the pristine
peninsula a National Park ten years ago but has been dragging its feet ever
since, wary of local residents' objections.But Themistocleous said
"significant" work had been done during a meeting of the appropriate
ministerial committee yesterday. The committee heard the government
Environment Service's position on what form the National Park should take.
A final National Park proposal would now be submitted to the cabinet for
approval in the autumn, the minister said.But the opposition of local
residents remains a potential obstacle. "On the basis of this proposal
there will be negotiation with the (Akamas) communities to secure their
consent for the management plan to be implemented in the Akamas area,"
Themistocleous said.The long delay in taking a final Akamas decision has
angered both greens -- who claim the state is pandering to the interests of
big Akamas landowners -- and local villagers, who say uncertainty over the
future status of the area renders their land useless.The House of
Representatives has unanimously approved a state-commissioned World Bank
proposal for an Akamas National Park, and the government has adopted this
as a template for the area.Last month, Themistocleous said the remaining
tourism development zones in the Akamas would be frozen to allow time for a
final decision on National Park plans to be made. But the idea was soon
abandoned, with the minister saying a decision was near and the development
freeze was thus unnecessary.Environmentalists, who support the World Bank
plan, fear that the government's reluctance to act swiftly to protect the
Akamas will allow further tourism developments in the area -- creating a de
facto situation. 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.
[01] US ‘doesn’t want to pressure anyone’ on CyprusBy Jean ChristouU.S.
DEFENCE Secretary William Cohen said yesterday Washington did not want to
pressure Turkey or Greece to move towards a resolution of the Cyprus
problem.He was speaking at a news conference in Ankara after a meeting
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.Cohen said the division of the island
was unacceptable but that the US was of the opinion that it is up to Greece
and Turkey to resolve their difference over the division of the island."On
the issue of Cyprus we believe the status quo is not acceptable and that
negotiations should be instituted quickly and without preconditions," he
said.But he made it clear that Washington did not want to pressure either
of the two Nato allies to move towards a solution."We do not seek to bring
pressure on either Greece or Turkey," he said.Cohen's comments were a
repeat of those he made in Athens on Wednesday prior to his departure for
Ankara."We are also exploring new ways to improve relations with Turkey but
the United States does not intend to pressure anyone," he said.The US
Defence Secretary's comment drew a sharp response in Nicosia from House
President Spyros Kyprianou, who said yesterday: "I wonder how the problem
will be solved if there is no pressure on Ankara?""When the US and other
powerful nations speak about ethnic cleansing they first have to take a
look at Cyprus. They have not lifted a finger in the past 25 years. Their
objective is to see Cyprus divided irrespective of any name that might be
given to a prospective solution."But President Clerides expressed no
surprise at Cohen's comments."I am not surprised and if I were in his place,
going to Turkey, I would not state that I am going there to exert pressure,
" he said."Everybody knows how the international political game is played.
One does not go to a place and announce that he will be exerting
pressure."Meanwhile diplomatic activity on the island began to wind down
yesterday as ambassadors and envoys leave for the holidays.Unficyp chief of
mission Dame Ann Hercus paid a brief visit to President Clerides before her
departure. On Wednesday she paid a similar call to Turkish Cypriot leader
Rauf Denktash.She will return to the island in three weeks.German
Ambassador Gabrielle von Malsen-Tilborch has also left the island for the
holidays, while US Ambassador Kenneth Brill will be departing from his post
by the end of the month.On Wednesday Brill, Hercus and British High
Commissioner Edward Clay met at the US embassy in what was described by
diplomatic sources as a routine meeting.Clay also met Denktash on Wednesday
and Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides yesterday.It is believed the
series of meetings was held to discuss the post-holiday strategy for the
expected resumption of direct talks in the US in October following the UN
Secretary-general's call to both sides to return to negotiations.
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Friday, July 16, 1999
[02] Coup victims remembered as party leaders warn of foreign plotsBy
Martin HellicarTHE SIRENS sounded and politicians pronounced as Cyprus
yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the 1974 coup.The House of
Representatives plenum convened for its customary coup-condemning special
session and the island's political elite attended a church service,
conducted by Archbishop Chrysostomos and dedicated to those who lost their
lives.According to official figures, nearly 100 people were killed 25 years
ago in fighting between right-wing coupists, backed by the Greek military
junta, and supporters of President Makarios. Makarios was forced to flee as
the junta took temporary control of the island, triggering the Turkish
invasion of July 20, 1974."Every year we honour those who died defending
democracy, freedom and their country. It is a duty we owe to those heroes
who gave their lives so that we can live as free people," President
Clerides said after the morning church service.Government spokesman Costas
Serezis called for unity, adding: "Today is a day to remember, because lack
of memory makes the repetition of criminal actions with nationally
destructive repercussions easier."At the House, deputies observed a
minute's silence in memory of the victims before taking turns to condemn
the coup. Their speeches invariably focused on the Cyprus problem.House
President Spyros Kyprianou, in his opening address, called on everyone to
shoulder their responsibilities "because the future of our children and
grandchildren is at stake".He called for unity and vigilance on the
national issue. "We must decide collectively, we must know everything, we
must make ourselves fully informed about what is being cooked-up on the
sidelines of international diplomacy and see what we can do," the Diko
leader said.The leader of governing Disy, Nicos Anastassiades, called for
national unity. "The coup should not be used for party point-scoring," he
urged. Communist Akel has consistently charged Disy with harbouring former
coupists.Akel leader Demetris Christofias also called for unity and claimed
that the international community was leaning towards recognition of the
breakaway self-proclaimed ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, a move
demanded by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash as a precondition for
further inter-communal talks."The UN cannot seek a middle way between the
positions of the two sides when Denktash's positions are totally opposite
to UN resolutions on Cyprus," Christofias said.Edek leader Vassos
Lyssarides continued on the same theme. "We should make clear that we will
not accept a peace dialogue based on confederation or the recognition of
separate entities," he told deputies.Last night, hundreds turned out for an
anti-coup rally organised by Akel in Nicosia's Eleftheria Square.Several
anti-occupation events are planned by other parties over the coming days,
including a rally at the Ledra Palace checkpoint on Sunday.
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Friday, July 16, 1999
[03] Turks remove checkpoint propagandaBy Jean ChristouPROPAGANDA posters
at the Turkish Cypriot checkpoint in Nicosia have been removed and replaced
with tourism pictures and visa charges on visitors have been abolished,
newspapers in the north reported yesterday.In addition the Turkish Cypriot
side is asking the government to lift restrictions on tourists crossing to
the north on day trips who are not allowed to shop and who must return by
5pm.But Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis told the
Cyprus Mailyesterday there are no plans to change the situation at the moment.The Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibrissaid yesterday that the ‘TRNC Council of Ministers’ lifted the £4 sterling visa fee on tourists crossing to the north at the Ledra Palace.Since it was first imposed at the end of 1997, in response to Britain's clampdown on Turkish Cypriots entering the UK, the number of visitors going to the north has dropped by more than half, from 30,000 a year to 14,000.Following the `cabinet' meeting on Wednesday Turkish Cypriot `Deputy Prime Minister' Mustafa Akinci told Kibristhat all the massacre posters had been removed from the checkpoint in order to prove the Turkish Cypriot side's "desire for peace".Akinci then called on the Greek Cypriot side to reciprocate by removing their own "provocative" photographs and posters.The Greek Cypriot side displays posters of the killing of two Greek Cypriot demonstrators at protests in Dherynia in 1996.Akinci referred to the posters as something that "kindles the flame of hatred between the two peoples".On the issue of tourists visiting the north, Akinci said the Greek Cypriot side demands that those who cross should not do any shopping and should return to the south by 5pm at the latest.Greek Cypriots from the anti-occupation group Pak have also been running a campaign at the Ledra Palace for the past three years in an effort to dissuade tourists from crossing to the north."The Greek Cypriot administration creates every obstacle to prevent tourists form crossing to the north," Akinci said."We on our part demanded a crossing fee from the tourists, thus contributing to the obstacles created by the Greek Cypriots".He said the Turkish Cypriot side was now trying to send a message to the world on the eve of the July 20 anniversary and spoke about opening a tourist office at the Ledra Palace.Akinci said he had called on Rolandis to suggest the restrictions be lifted. "I have received no response yet to my call," he said.Rolandis told the Cyprus Mailthat he had spoken with Akinci in the past about tourism."He made a proposal in the past to open up the line so that tourists might cross," Rolandis said. "We have not looked into this."Rolandis said the problem would be that tourists staying in the north on holidays and crossing to the free areas would be entering the island through an illegal channel."At the moment we shall stick to the existing situation," he said.
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Friday, July 16, 1999
[04] Kissinger knocks 1974 plot theoryBy Anthony O. MillerTURKEY'S 1974
invasion of Cyprus not only was not a plot colluded in by the United States,
but it was both the unparalleled paradigm of future ethnic conflicts and
beyond the control of even the wisest of diplomats, according to Henry
Kissinger.He also believes that political forces in Greece, the US and
Turkey, including a mercurial US Congress, made it all the more difficult
to try to prevent (and, failing that, minimise) the potential damage to
Nato, and the actual damage to Cyprus, from Turkey's invasion.These and
other assertions lard Chapter 7 of Years of Renewal, the concluding
installment of Kissinger's memoirs, just published by Simon and Schuster
and available in the US for $35.But if readers seek from the former US
Secretary of State and National Security Adviser for US Presidents Richard
Nixon and Gerald Ford the kind of Cyprus problem mea culpathat US
Presidential Envoy for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke offered last year, they
will search for it in vain.For Kissinger's version of the events of 1967-74,
while genuflecting to their obvious roots in ancient Greek-Turkish
animosities, ranges far and wide in ascribing blame to anyone but
himself.Kissinger denies there was any Cyprus conspiracy, terming "a
mythology" the notion that he and President Nixon "contrived the crisis in
pursuit of a vendetta against Archbishop Makarios III... or in collusion
with Turkey for unspecified geopolitical objectives.""Contrary to the
mythology that the United States encouraged the Turkish invasion -- or even
colluded with it -- our strategy during the first week (of the July 15,
1974 coup against Archbishop Makarios) concentrated on removing Turkish
pretexts for military action," Kissinger declares.While he and Nixon surely
"had our reservations about some aspects of Makarios's policy," he admits,
"they were relatively minor irritations, and Cyprus had an altogether low
priority in the general scheme of things" as viewed from Washington.The
Cyprus crisis was new turf, and not preventable even for America. "It
initiated the United States into the archetypal and as yet unfamiliar drama
of ethnic conflict," which would in the Bosnias, Lebanons, Rwandas and
Kosovos of the remainder of the century become all too familiar to US
administrations.Not only were there no "intelligence warnings which were
ignored by an administration driven by its dislike of Makarios and its
obsession with geopolitics," but there were no red-flag forebodings of the
July 15, 1974, coup against Makarios, he writes.In fact, "as late as July
12," Makarios himself declared the Cyprus situation merely "'delicate' but
not 'critical,'" Kissinger says. And "the United States, preoccupied with
Watergate, did not believe the situation was approaching the critical
point" either.After the coup, the US obsession was in preserving Nato's
eastern flank from collapsing in a Greco-Turkish war over Cyprus, thus
allowing Soviet penetration of the Mediterranean, he says.Between the July
15 coup and Turkey's initial invasion on July 20, Kissinger's files show he
warned Turkey against invading Cyprus, while pledging simultaneously to
oppose the island's enosiswith Greece -- just as Kissinger claims the US
simultaneously opposed the junta then ruling Greece -- as a way of
balancing US interests.This, he says, was typical of the US policy of
"evenhandedness in defence of America's national interest in the
preservation of the eastern flank of Nato."But this policy "...was
inevitably rejected by the ethnic adversaries," of Greece and Turkey, which
were "obsessed with their blood feud" and refused to negotiate an end to
the Cyprus invasion/crisis: Greece threatened to pull out of Nato and
called up its reserves, while Turkey bolstered its forces in Cyprus.After
Greece's junta fell and democracy returned to Athens, foreign and domestic
voices clamoured for either military force to reverse Turkey's second
invasion and occupation of Cyprus, or sanctions to be applied against
Ankara to punish it.Both were anathema to Washington, Kissinger says, as
Turkey was too important to US/Nato ends for military force or sanctions --
a notion seemingly at odds with his claims that America was not
geopolitically obsessed vis-à-vis Turkey and Cyprus.Kissinger reveals that,
far from delighting in the coup against Makarios solely as a pretext for
working its will in Cyprus, Turkey actually wanted Makarios -- the bête
noir of Turkish Cypriots -- returned to power so badly that it threatened
to "invade Cyprus unless Makarios was restored to power within 24 hours" of
his ouster.As Makarios' return in that 24 hours did not occur, the first
phase of Ankara's two-stage invasion of Cyprus did, and Turkey quickly
dropped any wish to see Makarios or the status quo of his pre-coup
presidency restored. America's chief goal then became avoiding an intra-
Nato war, securing a Cyprus ceasefire, and beginning negotiations between
the parties, he writes.Undercutting all negotiations was the cutoff of all
US military aid to Turkey by Congress in October 1974, Kissinger grouses,
as "this removed flexibility from both sides".The aid cutoff was welcomed
by Greece as a punishment, and by Turkey as a pretext for cancelling
negotiations by Kissinger for a Cyprus settlement, he says. It was the last
nail in the coffin of conciliation."Our inability to explore seriously any
Turkish hint of flexibility froze the Turkish occupation at its maximum
extent and facilitated absolute Turkish control" of the occupied part of
Cyprus that Ankara holds to this day, Kissinger writes.Despite the
occupation, the US secured "its most important objective: the eastern flank
of Nato, though strained, remained intact." Greece and Turkey, despite
hostilities, stayed in Nato, and the Soviet Union was kept out of the
Mediterranean."The communal conflict between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus has
proved intractable for centuries," and this, more than any US diplomatic
failures, lies at the root of the Cyprus problem, he believes.For "once an
ethnic conflict breaks out, its outcome is much more apt to be either a
massacre of the minority, or the forcible separation of the ethnic groups,
than the restoration of political unity," writes Kissinger.
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Friday, July 16, 1999
[05] Sentencing of Aeroporos killer postponedBy Charlie CharalambousTHE
CRIMINAL court yesterday delayed setting a date for when confessed killer
Prokopis Prokopiou will be sentenced for the murder of Hambis Aeroporos.As
the prosecution dropped charges on Wednesday of attempted murder and
conspiracy to commit murder, and Prokopiou had pleaded guilty to killing
Hambis in cold blood, the court could have imposed sentencing straight
away.But the court chose not to complicate proceedings at this stage by
having the prosecution give their closing argument for one of the accused
while four other suspects were still on trial.Therefore, it agreed that
Prokopiou will either be sentenced at the end of the trial in Nicosia or at
another juncture if the need arises.Prokopiou faces a life sentence after
Tuesday's outburst when the 35-year-old waiter confessed to gunning down
Hambis in a Limassol street on December 16 last year.He also claimed that
two co-defendants -- murder suspects policeman Christos Symianos, 35, and
ex-special policeman Savvas Ioannou, alias Kinezos, 33 -- were not involved
in the killing.The President of the three-judge bench, Michalis Fotiou,
said Prokopiou need no longer sit in the dock but that he could attend the
hearings if he so wished.Proceedings continued yesterday with a ‘trial
within trial’ following objections by defence lawyer George Georgiou over
the admissibility of a police statement made by his client Zoe
Alexandrou.Georgiou argued the hospital cleaner did not give a voluntary
statement, that she was not informed of her rights by police, and that
proper procedure was violated.The fifth suspect in the murder trial is
cabaret owner Sotiris Athinis, 43, who -- along with his 51-year-old sister
Zoe -- has pleaded not guilty to lesser charges of conspiring to kill 36-
year-old Hambis Aeroporos.The trial continues.
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Friday, July 16, 1999
[06] £ 300m may have been poured into Louis IPOBy Hamza HendawiQUICK-profit
hopefuls may have poured as much as £300 million this week to snap up as
many shares as possible in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Louis
Cruise Lines' Ltd, traders said yesterday.The share issue itself is worth
only £9.5 million at 40 cents apiece. The title, however, is widely tipped
to debut in early August at £1 or £2 and then to rise rapidly in the
following days.No exact figure for how much money Cypriots spent to become
Louis shareholders will be available before the weekend or early next week,
and the traders explained that the £300 million figure was largely an
educated guess based on the massive demand over the four days when
registers were open in banks and brokerages across the island."Interest is
beyond belief and I will not be surprised if it exceeds 30-fold," said
Koullis Panayiotou of top brokerage CLR. "The timing made that possible
because the issue comes after two successful listings," he told the Cyprus
Mail, referring to the recent market debut of Share Link Financial
services and engineering firm Caramondani Bros.For the issue to be 30-fold
oversubscribed means that some £290 million will be returned to investors,
leaving most of them with a much smaller number than they wished for in the
coveted title.But there may be a silver lining in their disappointment.Once
the balance is refunded to them, which should happen after 15 working days,
a flood of money is expected to go to the market either to buy Louis shares
in their early trading days, when they are still a relative bargain, or to
snap up traditional blue-chips, according to traders."Imagine the
expectations of this market when even as little as 10 per cent of the £290
million returned to investors finds its way to the market," said Panicos
Kaiserlides of Benchmark Securities.The Louis issue has virtually taken
hold of the lives of many people in recent days, and a lot of them are
known to have borrowed in an attempt to get a piece of the action. Tales
abound of investors who wrote cheques for as much as £1 million knowing
that only this way can they get a decent number of shares in Louis."We know
that some of the money which came to us is borrowed," said Kaiserlides of
Benchmark. Panayiotou agreed, adding: "Some of it also came from other
investments and from deposit accounts. This money will never go back to the
deposit accounts." He said the market's bullish mood was attracting hordes
of new investors."People who never thought they would ever invest in stocks
are now in the market. We even have some investors who may not even have
heard of the existence of the market until recently," he said."So long as
the funds keep coming there is no stopping the market," concluded
Kaiserlides.The Louis issue has dramatically raised the stakes in the
seemingly unstoppable Cyprus bourse. Yesterday, the all-share index closed
at 184.91, the third consecutive all-time high. It was up 3.80 per cent on
Wednesday's close.All seven sectors finished in positive territory with a
volume worth a decent £16.39 million, of which £4.37 million went to the
blue-chips of the banks.The tourism and trading sectors again finished
strong with their sub-indices rising by 5.88 per cent and 6.92 per cent
respectively.
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Friday, July 16, 1999
[07] Government ‘close to decision’ on Akamas National ParkBy Martin
HellicarTHE GOVERNMENT is now making good headway towards a final decision
on the future of the Akamas peninsula, Agriculture Minister Costas
Themistocleous said yesterday.The government vowed to declare the pristine
peninsula a National Park ten years ago but has been dragging its feet ever
since, wary of local residents' objections.But Themistocleous said
"significant" work had been done during a meeting of the appropriate
ministerial committee yesterday. The committee heard the government
Environment Service's position on what form the National Park should take.
A final National Park proposal would now be submitted to the cabinet for
approval in the autumn, the minister said.But the opposition of local
residents remains a potential obstacle. "On the basis of this proposal
there will be negotiation with the (Akamas) communities to secure their
consent for the management plan to be implemented in the Akamas area,"
Themistocleous said.The long delay in taking a final Akamas decision has
angered both greens -- who claim the state is pandering to the interests of
big Akamas landowners -- and local villagers, who say uncertainty over the
future status of the area renders their land useless.The House of
Representatives has unanimously approved a state-commissioned World Bank
proposal for an Akamas National Park, and the government has adopted this
as a template for the area.Last month, Themistocleous said the remaining
tourism development zones in the Akamas would be frozen to allow time for a
final decision on National Park plans to be made. But the idea was soon
abandoned, with the minister saying a decision was near and the development
freeze was thus unnecessary.Environmentalists, who support the World Bank
plan, fear that the government's reluctance to act swiftly to protect the
Akamas will allow further tourism developments in the area -- creating a de
facto situation. 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.
© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999
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