Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-03-11

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

Sunday, March 11, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] CY adds Budapest and Warsaw to flights

[02] DISY plays the Europe card in poll campaign

[03] The Pope may be invited to visit Cyprus

[04] Tsiakourmas' wife Niki to see Greek FM Papandreou

[05] Tourist injured in robbery attempt

[01] CY adds Budapest and Warsaw to flights

CYPRUS Airways (CY) is adding two new destinations to its scheduled routes, Budapest and Warsaw, and will increase flights to Athens to four per day.

Daily flights to Salonica and Paris are also on the agenda.

A CY statement said that during the new summer programme, which will come into effect between March 25 and October 27, the airline would be flying to a total of 32 destinations, including Amman, Corfu, Geneva, Frankfurt, Beirut, Rhodes, London, Rome, Tel Aviv, Vienna, Dubai, Jeddah and Brussels.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] DISY plays the Europe card in poll campaign

THE governing DISY party yesterday announced that the island's European Union accession would be at the focus of its election campaign in the countdown to the May elections to the House of Representatives.

The party revealed its election slogan -- “All together for Cyprus, together for Europe” -- to an extraordinary congress of the party in Nicosia yesterday, signalling the start of the DISY election campaign.

The congress was marked by speeches in which the main opposition party, communist AKEL, came in for strong criticism.

“What can we expect from Akel Secretary-general Demetris Christofias, who has branded the European Union as a complete capitalist system and has described the Cypriot Social Democrats as right wingers?” DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades wondered, addressing hundreds of the party faithful at the International Conference Centre.

“Where is AKEL going to lead Cyprus, pledging that the country should join a 'Socialist Europe'? Obviously, he means a Communist Europe,” he added.

Anastassiades pledged: “We carry the banner of the force of renewal and European modernisation: we shall avert a return to the past and block stale anti-European experimentation and choices which may lead us to adventures.”

But Christofias was quick to react to Anastassiades' claims about his party's ideology, telling reporters later: “He has misinterpreted our views about Cyprus' EU accession... This way he damages the country,” he argued.

Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides, who attended the DISY congress, said: “DISY should have the people's support in the elections. There is no other alternative.”

President Glafcos Clerides, who was also present yesterday, last month ordered government officials -- including ministers -- not to take part in any of the parties' election campaigns.

The party candidates for May's elections were presented to the congress, which also heard a message of support from the chairman of the European People's Party and European Democrats in the European Union, Hans-Gert Poettering, who called on the EU to “play a more active role in finding a solution to the Cyprus issue”.

The House of Representatives elections will be held on Sunday, May 27. The electorate will be voting to fill 56 seats.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] The Pope may be invited to visit Cyprus

THE GOVERNMENT is looking into the possibility of inviting Pope John Paul II to Cyprus on the sidelines of the Pontiff's tour in the Mediterranean, sources confirmed yesterday.

The Pope's journey is also a pilgrimage that will include places visited by the Apostle Paul, and Cyprus was one of those countries.

The Vatican has already announced that the Pope is to visit Athens, Damascus and Malta.

“We are considering inviting the Pope to Cyprus. We haven't contacted the Vatican yet because we must first sort out some sensitive matters, but he is more than welcome,” the source told the Sunday Mail.

If the Pontiff includes Cyprus in his tour, it will be the first time a head of the Roman Catholic Church has come to the island.

The source said that the Orthodox Church has not opposed the idea of the Pope visiting Cyprus.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Tsiakourmas' wife Niki to see Greek FM Papandreou

THE relatives and friends of Greek Cypriot contractor Panicos Tsiakourmas who has been held in the occupied north on drug possession charges since December, staged a protest yesterday, calling for his swift release.

“My diabetic husband has been rotting in jail for the past three months and no action has been taken to ensure his release. We ask for the internationalisation of this matter because we are having to do with an illegal arrest and detention,” Tsiakourmas' wife Niki said during at demonstration at the Ledra Palace checkpoint in Nicosia.

She said that she was going to meet Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who is due to arrive in Cyprus today, to discuss the situation.

Tsiakourmas' supporters marched from the Ledra Palace checkpoint to the city centre, chanting: “Free Panicos now”.

The 39-year-old contractor is due to appear in a Turkish Cypriot 'court' next Monday, March 19. He had been due to appear tomorrow at the end of the Muslim holiday of Bayram, but the case was postponed for another week.

Tsiakourmas was taken forcibly from his car on the Pyla-Pergmos road inside British bases territory on December 13.

His supporters have staged many demonstrations since his abduction.

His wife, who has many times crossed to the north to see him, said his health had deteriorated because he had not received proper medical treatment.

The detainee's family last month said he was a total wreck and that he had asked for poison so he could commit suicide.

Panicos and Niki have two young children.

The government, which has condemned his abduction and continued detention, has vowed to do everything in its power to free Tsiakourmas.

Meanwhile a verdict is expected on Friday at the trial in Larnaca of a Turkish Cypriot on drugs charges.

Omer Tekogul, 42, from the mixed buffer-zone village of Pyla, was arrested on December 1 on charges of possessing two kilos of heroin.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has said Tsiakourmas will only be released in exchange for Tekogul.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Tourist injured in robbery attempt

A 23-year old British tourist was yesterday remanded in custody for five days by Famagusta Court after another British tourist was injured in a robbery attempt.

Police arrested Mark Christopher Watts shortly after an attack on a woman while she was in a phone box in Ayia Napa at about 1am.

According to attack victim Myra Child, who filed a complaint against the suspect, Watts kicked and hit her so he could run away with her bag.

She is being treated at Ayia Napa Polyclinic for a broken wrist.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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