Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-01-16

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

January 16, 2000

CONTENTS

[01] Dive death inquest hears conflicting testimony

[02] ‘I only wanted to make people think’, says Spyros

[03] Denktash ‘puts No.1 before the people’

[04] Fire guts pub

[05] Abducted boy back with mum

[06] Six remanded ‘for plotting to leave illegally’

[07] Environmental foot-dragging criticised by EU Commission

[08] In search of lost marbles

[01] Dive death inquest hears conflicting testimony

Sergeant-Major John Rann, 38, a father of three, suffocated while diving on the sunken wreck of the Swedish ship Zenobia off Larnaca last January 26.

A companion on the dive had told an earlier hearing of the inquest that there had been no indication Rann was in any trouble until Rann used a torch to signal him and his two companions as they dived in the same compartment of the sunken ship.

But another diving expert on Friday told the hearing that his two companions had gone to a different compartment of the wreck when Rann got into trouble, and by the time they returned Rann was already unconscious.

This same expert said Rann was only carrying two-thirds of the air supply that he had needed to make a safe dive to the wreck, a popular underwater site for experienced divers in Cyprus.

At this point, Coroner Matthews halted the hearing and ordered the recall of the other divers who had previously testified so they can, as he said, "reconsider" their previous testimony or refute the allegations made on Friday.

Rann, a senior non-commissioned officer from Keynsham near Bristol, had 20 years of army service and was serving with the 1st Battalion, Light Infantry, at Episkopi at the time of his death. He had been in Cyprus only since early January, 1999.

The Swedish ship was carrying a cargo of lorries when it sank 19 years ago. It has since become a popular tourist attraction for divers, and several local dive schools specialise in expeditions to the wreck.

Rann was the second diver to die while diving on the Zenobia in the past five years.

[02] ‘I only wanted to make people think’, says Spyros

HOUSE President and Diko leader Spyros Kyprianou yesterday denied that his Friday outburst had been a result of momentary anger or because of poor health.

In a statement issued from London, where he was on a stopover en route to heart surgery in the US, Kyprianou that while comments made by President Glafcos Clerides and government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou "caused him deep sadness and human bitterness", he would not react to them. He said his intention in his own comments before leaving on Friday had been to inspire concern and thought over the current "critical" stage in the Cyprus problem.

Hours before leaving for London, the 67-year-old former president openly attacked Athens and Nicosia, saying the two governments’ policies on the Cyprus problem were dangerous. He also said that he had asked Clerides to call fresh elections.

The row worsened when Papapetrou said Kyprianou had been scheming with other parties to take power, asking if he would have their backing if Clerides resigned.

The government spokesman accused Kyprianou of wanting to become the new president, not for the 45 days stipulated in the constitution, but for the rest of Clerides' term ending in February 2003.

In a parting shot before leaving, Kyprianou said Papapetrou had revealed to him that Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Clerides had agreed, in the run-up to last month's EU Helsinki summit, to allow Turkey to become an EU candidate without Ankara making concessions on Cyprus.

He said he had advised Clerides to remove Papapetrou, EU accession negotiator George Vassiliou and Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous for being Simitis supporters.

Political party leaders yesterday said they were saddened and surprised by Kyprianou's call for Clerides to step down.

Disy chief Nicos Anastassiades said that his statements could poison party relations, while the opposition parties Akel and Edek, denied Papapetrou’s statement that Kyprianou had approached them to see if they would support his taking Clerides' place until new elections in 2003.

CyBC radio reported that Akel secretary-general Demetris Christofias said he was saddened by the "cruel" statements made by both Kyprianou and by Clerides via the government spokesman.

Edek President Vassos Lyssarides said yesterday he felt the statements were unnecessary, and he called for unity "at such a crucial period of the Cyprus problem".

Vassiliou, head EU Negotiator for Cyprus and United Democrat president, said that he had been surprised by Kyprianou's outburst but did not take it seriously.

[03] Denktash ‘puts No.1 before the people’

"Rauf Denktash's only dream is to make Cyprus part of Turkey, and he is determined to do this whether it is viable or not," Talat said.

Denktash preferred to be seen as a hero in Turkey than the leader responsible for guiding the Turkish Cypriots to peace and a solution to the Cyprus problem, he charged.

Meanwhile, the ‘prime minister’ in the north, Dervis Eroglu, yesterday said that Varosha would not be returned to the Greek Cypriots "just to satisfy Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou."

He said the Greek Cypriots wanted both Famagusta and Morphou to be returned, but that this would never be possible until the occupied area was recognised as a separate state.

Speaking after talks in London on Thursday with British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Papandreou had played down reports on initiatives under which the EU could build trust on the island, including plans for the ghost-city of Varosha to be taken over by the European Union.

"These ideas have been around for many years. I assume every time there is a new movement in Cyprus they come to the fore. Some movements exist but we can't be too optimistic after 25 years," he said.

Papandreou completed a two-day visit to Cyprus on Wednesday, and he is due to visit Ankara this week.

[04] Fire guts pub

The fire was eventually spotted by neighbours and put out by the Fire Brigade, but not before it had destroyed the pub and all its contents.

Police say the fire is thought to have been started maliciously. The building in which the pub was situated was insured but the pub's contents were not, they said.

[05] Abducted boy back with mum

Daniel Magid Han was reunited with his Greek Cypriot mother, Elena Gastrioti, after being voluntarily returned to the free areas by his Pakistani father, Yusuf, who took the boy north during a regular visit last December 29.

The reunion with the boy's mother and her family took place at the Ledra Palace checkpoint in Nicosia with the assistance of the Rural Affairs Department of Unficyp, which helped trace the boy and broker his return.

[06] Six remanded ‘for plotting to leave illegally’

Requesting an eight-day remand for five of the men yesterday, investigating officer Solon Solomonides told Larnaca District Court they had been arrested on Friday morning after being spotted acting suspiciously near a small harbour near Vassiliko.

He said that the five had been driving along the beach in a rented car hired by one of the suspects, Lebanese national Mahmoud Mohammed Doumar.

Also in the car were Indian student Baltej Singh, Pakistani student Abdul Rana Khaliq, Pakistani refugee Alan Masood and Lebanese illegal immigrant Mohammed Halel Hilal.

Solomonides said that at Kophinou police station it was established that Rana and Singh had conspired with a sixth person, Lebanese national Farhat El Mashri, to find a crew to take them to Italy or Greece without obtaining permission through the proper channels.

Mashri was arrested later on Friday and remanded separately for eight days yesterday.

Solomonides told the court only one of the suspects had his passport with him when arrested. He said Doumar had arrived in Cyprus shortly after the New Year, saying he would be staying at a Larnaca hotel but he in fact lived in a Limassol apartment.

He said Hilal had been living and working in Limassol for the past two years while Masood lived and worked with illegal immigrants in Kophinou.

Singh and Khaliq, though registered as college students in Nicosia, rarely went to class, Solomonides said.

Three bags of clothing were found in the vehicle along with three credit cards which police believe Khaliq was planning to use to obtain cash to pay the ship's crew.

Solomonides said one of the suspects, who was not named, was to be paid $3,000 by each of the others to get them to Europe.

The court also heard that a ship off the coast of Limassol had been searched and its crew questioned by the harbour police in connection with the case, but no arrests were made.

[07] Environmental foot-dragging criticised by EU Commission

MARGOT Wallstrom, European Union Commissioner for Environmental Affairs, obliquely criticised Cyprus this week for failing to comply promptly with EU requests to designate environmentally sensitive areas such as the Akamas Peninsula for special EU protection.

Wallstrom told Greenpeace Cyprus by letter that the EU Commission is "asking Cyprus to speed up the adoption of the body of EU law, commonly referred to as the acquis communautaire".

Adopting the acquis not only means passing laws harmonising EU and Cyprus laws, EU officials have told The Sunday Mail; it also means giving voice to that harmony, so that Cyprus law and EU law are congruent "on the ground".

"Regarding nature protection," Wallstrom said, "this would require Cyprus to designate areas for inclusion" in the EU's Natura 2000 Network of ecologically endangered areas.

In a back-handed swipe at Cyprus's foot-dragging, Wallstrom notes the EU is even funding Cyprus to help it quickly "draw up a proposed list of ... Special Areas of Conservation" to include in the EU's Natura 2000 network.

"Thus," she said, "we are pressing (Cyprus) for the designation of the protected areas with the minimum of delay."

The Akamas has long been of special concern to environmentalists, who want it designated as a national wildlife area that is off-limits to development.

On Friday, Britain and Cyprus - in a show of uncommon ecological sensitivity - signed a memorandum of understanding whereby British forces will no longer exercise their right under the Treaty of Establishment to use the Akamas 70 days a year for live-fire military exercises.

In return, Britain gets the right to use the National Guard firing range at Kalo Chorio for 10 days a year.

The Akamas, whose beaches shelter the eggs of an endangered species of green sea turtle, is an area of uncommon beauty in Cyprus. A World Bank study in 1989 recommended preserving it as a national park.

But a decade of delays allowed construction there of the huge luxury Anassa Hotel by former Foreign Minister Alecos Michaelides. And Greenpeace claims a relative of Justice Minister Nicos Koshis has been granted permission to build yet another hotel there.

In still more veiled pique at Cypriot tardiness, Wallstrom noted that her deputy, Jean-François Verstrynge, in a recent Cyprus visit, emphasised "our insistence that Cyprus should complete its transposition and implementation of EU environmental law as quickly as possible".

This again translates to: harmonise Cyprus and EU environmental laws, and then implement the Cyprus changes "on the ground".

In an echo of Verstrynge and of resident EU Ambassador in Cyprus Donato Chairini, Wallstrom noted: "I can assure you that the (EU) Commission is paying great attention to nature protection in the process of enlarging the EU."

"The government must finally take this opportunity and push for the Akamas to be categorised as a protected area," declared Irene Constantinou, Greenpeace Mediterranean Campaigner in Cyprus.

[08] In search of lost marbles

Yesterday he was reported as kicking off his 6,000-km trek from Evros, starting to cross Greece and heading for Crete and then Cyprus.

Andreoupoulos aims to collect signatures from each municipality and community, eventually presenting the petition to the British government.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 2000

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article