Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-06-11

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

June 11 , 2000

CONTENTS

[01] Police suspect suicide in death of girl, 17

[02] Two held after shots fired

[03] Both sides blamed for the stalemate

[04] Greenpeace puts the pressure on

[05] Greens slam the tree fellers of Acropolis

[06] Tickets selling fast for Carreras and Carmen

[07] Probe priest says he met Bishop’s gay accuser

[01] Police suspect suicide in death of girl, 17

According to a police report, 17-year-old Nadia Peponia's parents found her unconscious in the bath at around 8.30pm on Friday.

They broke down the locked door after being concerned about how long she had been in the bathroom.

Peponia was rushed to Limassol hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Limassol police yesterday said a syringe and drug used to put down animals was found at the scene.

They said yesterday they were investigating the exact circumstances behind the suspected suicide.

Peponia had been due to finish her final high school exams in the next few days.

Her funeral will be held tomorrow afternoon in Limassol.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 2000

June 11 , 2000

[02] Two held after shots fired

Mazotos builder Petros Andreas Mappouros, 23, told Kiti police that he had been making a call in a public phone booth at 2.10am when he heard two gunshots.

Mappouros said that when he turned his head he saw two men speeding off in a car.

The police later arrested two 24-year-old men on suspicion of being connected with the shooting and confiscated a double-barrelled shotgun.

The two suspects, one of whom is reported to have once been romantically involved with Mappouros' sister, were to be kept in police custody for 24 hours.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

June 11 , 2000

[03] Both sides blamed for the stalemate

THE FORMER UN Secretary-general’s Resident Representative in Cyprus, Gustave Feissel, has blamed both sides for the continuing stalemate in efforts to solve the Cyprus problem.

Speaking in an interview with CyBC, he said, however, that he was still optimistic about a solution being reached.

President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash are due to enter a third round of UN-sponsored ‘proximity talks’ on Cyprus in Geneva next month.

In his interview, Feissel placed equal blame on both sides because "each side has disregarded the concerns of the other".

"The Cyprus problem did not begin in 1974...," he said. "... in March 1964 the UN came to Cyprus. One of the problems is that each side only focuses on their own problems."

"A more active and constructive approach must be taken by the mother countries" Greece and Turkey, he added, citing the approach of the Republic of Ireland and Britain in the case of Northern Ireland as a positive example.

Interviewer Costas Yennaris pointed to a number of details raising doubts about the political determination of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and Turkey to reach a solution, all of which Feissel dismissed.

These included the continued existence of an army of occupation in the north and Denktash appearing to shy away from objectives already outlined by the Security Council.

When asked why people should be convinced the UN will find a solution to the Cyprus problem "if they have been ineffective for 25 years", Feissel replied that the process had been effective in spite of the continuing failure to reach a settlement.

He said that some of the objectives of the talks are mutually exclusive and it will not be possible to reach all of them.

"If the day ever comes that we have a settlement, they probably will not be dancing in the streets... but people will be, I'm sure, satisfied and pleased and relieved that a settlement has been achieved...," Feissel said.

Although demilitarisation of the island is a goal shared by both communities, Feissel said that it did not address all safety concerns, particularly those of the Turkish Cypriots whom he said feared action by paramilitaries.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

June 11 , 2000

[04] Greenpeace puts the pressure on

GREENPEACE is turning the screws on the government over the Akamas by urging Euro-MPs to oppose a cabinet plan to allow tourism development on the unspoilt peninsula.

Earlier this week, Greenpeace Cyprus informed members of the EU parliament's environment committee and the Cyprus-EU joint parliamentary committee of the contents of what it considers an "unacceptable" cabinet decision.

The cabinet plan, announced on March 1, allows for tourism development on a large plot of land on the north coast of the Akamas owned by businessman Photos Photiades. It also allows for "mild and controlled" development everywhere else, except for the already protected state forest land and the turtle nesting beaches of Lara and Toxeftra.

Greens say implementation of the plan would signal the end of the Akamas as a wilderness.

There is no official EU position on the Akamas, but a number of European officials have expressed the desire to see the area protected: Greenpeace is hoping to cash in on this concern to put pressure on Nicosia to make good repeated promises to declare the area a National Park.

"The government of Cyprus has been delaying and postponing the protection of the Akamas peninsula for more than a decade. This must be done now, as suggested by the EU, with minimum delay," Greenpeace spokeswoman Irini Constantinou said.

According to a Greenpeace press release, Euro-MPs were informed that the cabinet plan "leaves much to be desired in effectively ensuring the protection of the Akamas peninsula".

"Although the cabinet decision does recommend the protection of Lara and Toxeftra beach, both precious nesting sites for endangered turtles in the Mediterranean, the cabinet does not define boundaries clearly since the recommendations are couched in vague terms," the international pressure group stated.

Greenpeace was particularly scathing about the proposed arrangements for Photiades' land, noting that the area opened for development was "recognised as having special ecological interest" in a state-commissioned 1995 World Bank Report on management of the Akamas. The report recommended that the remote area be protected with tourism development limited to within existing village boundaries.

A ministerial committee is this month expected to come up with a blueprint for implementing the March 1 cabinet decision.

The Sunday Mail campaign to block the March 1 cabinet decision continues, with copies of readers' letters to President Clerides and Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous still coming in (see page 10).

You can back our campaign to save Akamas from the bulldozers by writing polite letters to President Glafcos Clerides (at the Presidential Palace, Nicosia) and Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous (at the Agriculture Ministry, Loukis Akritas Avenue, Nicosia). Urge them to reverse the March 1 cabinet decision and preserve the Akamas as a wilderness to be enjoyed by current and future generations.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

June 11 , 2000

[05] Greens slam the tree fellers of Acropolis

The greens say there has been a storm of reaction from residents in the area "because recent pavement construction has destroyed the greenery".

The party says that while it agrees pavements are for pedestrians and that certain trees could be looked upon as obstacles, "bearing in mind the climate here, it is also obvious that no trees on the pavements will make them unattractive to pedestrians".

The greens have drawn up a list of trees suitable for planting on pavements and said that those not obstructing pedestrians, cyclists and drivers should be left where they are.

Pavements should also be made wide enough to be of real use and measures should be taken to prevent parking on them, the party says.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

June 11 , 2000

[06] Tickets selling fast for Carreras and Carmen

TWO upcoming classical music events are set to beat all previous box office records in Cyprus -- the Jose Carreras concert in Nicosia on July 3 and four performances of Bizet’s Carmen in Paphos from September 8-11.

Carreras, the celebrated Spanish tenor, will perform for the first time in Cyprus with Soprano Isabel Rey and the Dell Valles Symphonic Orchestra under conductor David Gimenez.

The concert begins at 9pm on July 3 at the D’Avila Bastion of Nicosia’s old city walls.

Panicos Schinis, event organiser with Cyprus Music Days 2000, said promoters had already sold 2,000 of the 4,500 seats available for the one- night only performance.

Carmen, meanwhile, has broken box office records during the three weeks since tickets went on sale, with opera buffs already snapping up 5,000 of the 10,000 seats available for four concert dates.

The performances by the Estonian National Opera at Paphos castle will take place from September 8 to 11 at a production cost of some £350,000.

Carmen, sponsored by the Cyprus government, will be in French and directed by Albert-André Lheureux.

Some 2,500 people will be able to attend each performance, at ticket prices ranging from £15 to £35.

Tour operators abroad are also buying tickets to encourage their customers to combine a holiday in Cyprus with a major cultural event in the region.

The opera is being staged within the framework of the Paphos Festival, which last year put on a performance of Aida.

Tickets for Carmen are available from the Municipality of Paphos (06- 235369), Action PR (02-590555) or any municipal theatre in Cyprus.

For Carreras tickets, call the general event information number on 05- 372855. They are also available from Nicosia Municipal Theatre, Pattichon Theatre in Limassol, and Larnaca Municipal Theatre.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

June 11 , 2000

[07] Probe priest says he met Bishop’s gay accuser

LIMASSOL Archimandrite Andreas Constantinides yesterday admitted he had met a homosexual Greek who says he once had a relationship with the current Bishop of Limassol.

Archbishop Chrysostomos had said on Friday that the Salonica hairdresser, a defrocked monk, knew Constantinides, who is currently at the centre of investigations into whether he fathered two little girls.

The hairdresser has sent a 22-page letter to the Holy Synod describing his alleged affair with Bishop Athanassios when they were both monks on Mount Athos in Greece.

Chrysostomos on Friday also said that the man was an unreliable witness and described him as a "sick man".

Athanassios has emphatically denied all the charges, calling them part of a plan to destroy him.

Speaking to Ant1 yesterday, Constantinides said that he had met the hairdresser once in Cyprus and helped him financially.

"He was never my friend... This young man came to Cyprus once. They told him there was someone in Limassol who could help him. He asked for my help and I gave it. I never saw him again after that."

He said that the 33-year-old hairdresser had spent time with another Archimandrite and with Athanassios. "He had no particular friendship with me. He had one with them; they were also at the monastery with him."

The allegations against Bishop Athanassios emerged shortly after Constantinides' case was brought before the Holy Synod last week.

Constantinides has called for the Archbishop to be removed from the panel examining his case, saying that he is prejudiced.

He has also said he would undergo a DNA test to determine the paternity of the two little girls, but only if others-- whom he did not name -- were tested too.

Bishop Athanassios is a respected cleric who shuns business and concentrates on his flock and helping people in Limassol, including drug addicts.

His supporters say his popularity has worried those in the Church eyeing the Archbishop's throne and has spurred them to devise plots against him.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail

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