Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-04-25

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

Wednesday, April 25, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] DIKO offers massive tax cuts

[02] Akamas mukhtars fly to Brussels in bid to sway commissioner

[03] Government says settlers now outnumber Turkish Cypriots

[04] Cyprus lodges UN protest over Cem remarks

[05] Russian murder suspect gives himself up

[06] Savvides orders probe into missing morphine

[07] CSPCA protest over culling of strays

[01] DIKO offers massive tax cuts

Socialists KISOS have already suggested the tax-free threshold be raised from the current £6,000 to £8,000 -- but centre-right party DIKO went much further yesterday.

DIKO deputy Marcos Kyprianou, who is also chairman of the House finance committee, said his party wanted to raise the tax-free threshold to £10,000 a year.

DIKO further suggested that those earning between £10,001 and £18,000 be taxed at 10 per cent, those earning between £18,001 and 28,000 at 20 per cent and those earning over £28,000 at 25 per cent. The current tax brackets are 20 per cent for earnings of between £6,001 and £8,000, 30 per cent for earnings of between £8,001 and £11,000 and 40 per cent for earnings of over £11,001.

Kyprianou, the son of DIKO founder and former President Spyros Kyprianou, said the tax slashes were designed to "improve the distribution of national wealth".

"The average citizen is worse off now than he was a few years ago," the DIKO finance expert said at a news conference yesterday.

He said the massive shortfall in state finances that the tax cuts would create would be covered by increasing Value Added Tax (VAT) from the current 10 per cent to 15 per cent. VAT had to be raised to 15 per cent as Cyprus harmonised with the EU, Kyprianou said.

An independent financial expert suggested the DIKO proposals were unwise. "On the face of it, it is just a political gambit," he said.

The EU is putting pressure on Cyprus to cut its public deficit and the civil service wage bill is currently rising by between three and nine per cent per annum while the trade deficit is also growing.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Akamas mukhtars fly to Brussels in bid to sway commissioner

The three village leaders are Sophocles Pittokopitis, father of DIKO deputy Nicos, Stelios Koupparis and Savvas Theodorou from Ineia, Drouseia and Neo Chorio respectively.

Speaking before his departure, Pittokopitis said they would clarify their complete opposition to the World Bank national park plan and what he said was the government's intention to expand the perimeter of the Akamas to include their villages.

"We will meet the (environment) commissioner and we will invite her, if she can come, to see our area and stay in the hotel at Drousia for as long as she likes, so she can see the reality on the ground. Then people will stop going to the EU and saying that the local residents want to cover the Akamas in concrete, that we're against the environment and the acquis. We just want sustainable development in accordance with EU laws," Pittokopitis insisted.

The World Bank has proposed that the Akamas should be turned into a National Park - a status first discussed 15 years ago.

But Ineia, Drouseia and Neo Chorio insist that would deprive them of their right to development. They criticised the Council of Minister's decision last year to allow "mild and controlled development" on the peninsula as unsatisfactory.

That decision was seen by environmentalists as a sell-out to developers and has been put on hold pending further consultations.

The villagers' case took a further blow when the Cyprus-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) agreed in March that the chapter on environment harmonisation should not be closed until Nicosia took definite steps to protect the Akamas peninsula.

The mukhtars' flight to Brussels coincides with increased efforts from MEPs to force Cyprus to toe the line on the environment.

The European Environment Committee is expected to advise the European Commission tomorrow not to allow Cyprus into the EU until the government gives strong guarantees that the Akamas peninsula will be protected from development.

"The need to protect our environment for the benefit of future generations is now very high on the European agenda. Cyprus is the most advanced, wealthy and sophisticated of all the nations trying to join the EU and we are looking to its government to set a standard which other countries will have to follow," said MEP Chris Davies, a member of the JPC.

The JPC wants to the government to suspend all development plans for Akamas land. They want the Habitats Directive, the NATURA 2000 programme, the 1995 World Bank plan and the Berne and Rio Conventions adhered to.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Government says settlers now outnumber Turkish Cypriots

"Our information is that today the number of settlers in Turkish occupied Cyprus far outweighs the number of Turkish Cypriots, and the majority of those living in the occupied areas are settlers," Papapetrou told his daily briefing.

Papapetrou said that when the 30,000 Turkish troops were added to the number of settlers, Turkish nationals constituted a clear majority in the occupied areas.

He added that the exodus of Turkish Cypriots from the island had worsened and that thousands of visa applications from Turkish Cypriots were pending at foreign embassies.

Papapetrou's comments come as the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was preparing to discuss the demographic changes on the island.

Assembly rapporteur Jaakko Laakso is preparing a report on the colonisation of the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus by Turkish settlers.

A 1992 report on the demography of Cyprus said "the waves of migrants were particularly large in 1975 and 1977. Even on the lowest estimates, they represented 10 per cent of the Turkish Cypriot population."

"The aim of the Turkish Cypriot administration's policy regarding Turkish migrants has been to encourage their permanent settlement in the island," the report said.

Turkish Cypriots made up 18 per cent of the Republic's total population before the 1974 invasion. Estimates suggest there are now around 80-90,000 Turkish Cypriots in the north, compared to just over 100,000 Turks.

Turkish Cypriot papers yesterday reported that a settler from mainland Turkey had protested to Ankara over its failure to find him a place to live since he arrived in the north three years ago.

Aydogan Gungor said he had been forced to share a house with an enclaved Greek Cypriot man, Antonis Kyriacou, who "welcomed him and his wife at the time" opposition newspaper Avrupa said.

Gungor told Turkish Cypriot reporters: "I am calling on those who brought us here after 1974 as special immigrants and forced us to need Greek Cypriots. Shame on you that forced us to need the Greek Cypriots who live here. I am calling on Ankara from Rizokarpasso, please protect us."

Avrupa said that although Gungor had a point about the lack of interest from Ankara, his railing against his Greek Cypriot host was inappropriate.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Cyprus lodges UN protest over Cem remarks

In a letter to the UN Secretary-general, Cyprus' permanent representative to the UN, Sotos Zacheos, said Ankara and Cem were "totally disregarding the increasing voice of desperation of the Turkish Cypriot people and denying them the opportunity to share the benefits" of the Republic's accession to the EU.

Zacheos said the Turkish Minister's statements "further exacerbate the situation on the island and obstruct your efforts to continue the process of the talks for a solution to the Cyprus problem".

During his recent visit to the north, Cem said the UN proximity talks had "moved away from a serious atmosphere" for a settlement and that EU accession would be a "Pyrrhic victory" for the Greek Cypriots and would bring about "new suffering".

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash pulled out of the UN peace effort late last year with Ankara's full backing, and said he would only participate in negotiations if his breakaway regime was recognised.

"Unfortunately, instead of promoting a climate of reconciliation, and encouraging Mr. Denktash to abandon his well-known intransigence and return to the negotiating table with the necessary political will for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem, based on Security Council resolutions, Mr. Cem used the opportunity to unleash a torrent of provocative and threatening statements," Zacheos said.

Referring to Cem's statements that Turkey's reaction to Cyprus' EU accession "would have no limits", the ambassador said it was "a deliberate attempt at blackmail towards the EU and intimidation of and threat of use of force."

"It is of course ironic that Turkey, while promoting its own accession to the EU, objects to the accession of a sovereign state that, as repeatedly stated in European Commission reports, meets all the political and economic criteria for accession," Zacheos added.

"It is all the more disappointing that Mr. Cem has come to Cyprus preferring to totally disregard the ever increasing voices of desperation emanating from Turkish Cypriot compatriots who are the ultimate victims of Turkey's military occupation of the northern part of Cyprus and its policy of integrating the occupied areas with the faltering Turkish economy, which is the source of the malaise of the Turkish Cypriots," he added.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Russian murder suspect gives himself up

The Limassol District Court heard that the suspect had threatened to kill Marina Sliptchenko a few days before the murder.

Sliptchenko was found lying in a pool of blood with a stab wound to the throat on February 28. There was no sign of a struggle or sexual assault.

Limassol police began looking for the 38-year-old suspect the day after the murder on Kimonos Street in the town's Ayios Nicolaos suburb. Interpol eventually tracked him down in Moscow, the court heard. The suspect flew to Cyprus of his own free will after being informed that Limassol police wanted to question him, the court was told.

The 38-year-old was arrested upon arrival at Larnaca airport on Monday.

The case investigator told the court yesterday that the suspect had made a threatening phone call to Sliptchenko's business partner a few days before the murder. The police officer said the suspect had said: "Since you will not pay up, you will live but someone else will not." The investigator said this was a threat on the life of Sliptchenko.

The court also heard that the suspect was claiming that he was in Russia at the time of the murder. But police say the man was sighted leaving the victim's flat on Kimonos Street the day before the killing. The case investigator also said the suspect was believed to have travelled on two separate passports.

He was remanded in custody for eight days.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Savvides orders probe into missing morphine

Savvides vowed to punish anyone found guilty of negligence that might have led to the drug's disappearance, regardless of what the police uncovered in their criminal investigation.

"We informed Limassol police headquarters who took action immediately, and we await the findings of their investigation," said the Health Minister. "We can say clearly that when it comes to controlled substances, there are clear-cut procedures that dictate supply and storage, and if in this case criminal responsibility cannot be apportioned, then we will impose disciplinary penalties for the disappearance of the drugs."

An advisor to the Health Minister, Panayiotis Yiallouros, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday "the government is doing everything to prevent narcotics use and (that of) other drugs."

He added that the recently-formed Cyprus Narcotics Council would try to address the growing problem of drug use in Cyprus by representing all interested parties on the problem of drug abuse and narcotics in the areas of prevention, public education, treatment and control of institutions that dispense controlled substances.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] CSPCA protest over culling of strays

Around 30 members of the Society staged a demonstration outside the Veterinary Services' offices in Nicosia yesterday morning, threatening that if the government did not take care of the matter they would report it to the European Commission.

"It was about two weeks ago when I saw two municipality twin-cabin trucks carrying stray dogs to the Services. The animals were placed in the back of the open-air truck with the risk of getting hurt. Most of them jumped off the cars at some point. We disapprove this method of animal carrying and we condemn the method of euthanasia that the Services use," said the society's Toulla Poyadji.

"A few days later, I was right here, outside the Services' offices and I heard dogs screaming. When I later talked to the doctor who had put them down, he explained to me that because he had difficulty giving them intravenous injections, he gave them cardiac ones instead."

The CSPCA accused the Veterinary Services of applying euthanasia by giving cats and dogs lethal injections through their muscles instead of their veins, this way causing animals excruciating pain.

"Fortunately, President Glafcos Clerides has shown interest in our campaign to stop this practice. He is our only hope, but if he fails to address our demands then we shall report the situation to the European Commission and with the support of international organisations, I am sure we'll have a strong case," Poyiadji warned.

Municipalities pick up wandering cats and dogs and take care of them for a couple of weeks while trying to locate their owners or find people willing to take care of them, according to Andreas Orphanides, acting director of the Veterinary Services.

"If those efforts are not fruitful then the municipalities hand the animals over to us to put them down," he added.

Orphanides dismissed the allegations made by the CSPCA, insisting the methods used by the Services were internationally approved.

"We only give animals intravenous injections and they die almost instantly. We will look into the Society's claims and if we find that any wrongdoings occurred then we shall take the necessary measures," he said.

But later in the day, Orphanides admitted to the Cyprus Mail that: " I just talked to my colleagues and they informed me that when they have problems applying the conventional method of euthanasia they resort to cardiac injections.

"It's a bit more painful but it is internationally approved as an alternative practice," he insisted.

Demetra Georgiou, a 15-year old girl attending yesterday's demonstration broke into tears as her father Yiannakis told reporters how their eight- year-old pet poodle had died: "I bought that poodle for my daughter eight years ago. Some neighbours complained about the dog making too much noise and called the Veterinary Services who came and picked it up without our knowledge. We called the Services and they promised us they would give the dog to the Association for the Protection of Animals. Two days later, we found out it had been put down. I am determined to sue the Services for this cruel action. My daughter has been crying day and night over this since we found out three days ago."

Both the chairman of the CSPCA, Lila Seraphim, and Orphanides stressed that, according to the law, pet owners must prevent the production of strays by neutering their animals.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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