Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-06-08

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

Friday, June 8, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Christofias takes the helm and calls for unity

[02] New deputies sworn in

[03] Turkish Cypriot takes army to European court for holding his property

since 1974

[04] Police say road deaths well down on last year

[05] Acropole plans to resume Romance screenings after court triumph

[06] Camp fires warning after forest fire, and farmers blame 'arson'

[01] Christofias takes the helm and calls for unity

DEMETRIS Christofias yesterday became the first ever politician from left- wing party AKEL to be elected House of Representatives president, winning a landslide victory as the new parliament voted in on May 27 held its inaugural session.

The 55-year-old opposition party leader cruised in on opposition party support despite governing DISY's claims that voting in a "communist" House president would jeopardise the island's EU accession course. The AKEL party goes under the communist label and its members like to greet each other as 'comrade', but their policies are far from Marxist.

Christofias' triumph means the country now has a right-wing President in Glafcos Clerides and a left-wing House president. But, in his acceptance speech, the AKEL leader vowed to do his utmost to ensure Cyprus presented a "unified" face to the world.

The Christofias' candidacy was, as expected, backed by the opposition majority in parliament: by his own party's 20 deputies, by the nine of centre-right DIKO and by the four of socialists KISOS. The 19 right-wing DISY deputies voted against, while the four one-deputy parties - ADIK, the United Democrats, new Horizons and the Green party - abstained.

DISY had proposed its leader, Nicos Anastassiades, for the post, considered second in importance only to the Presidency itself.

Observers believe DIKO joined forces with AKEL to elect Christofias hoping AKEL would back DIKO leader Tassos Papadopoulos as a candidate for the 2003 Presidential elections. Both parties deny any such deal making.

After yesterday's vote, Christofias got a standing ovation from all sides of a packed house as he replaced KISOS leader Vassos Lyssarides in the chair. The 81-year-old Lyssarides had presided over the vote in his capacity as eldest member of the House.

Even the upper public gallery of the House, usually empty, was packed to the rafters for yesterday afternoon's inaugural plenary session. The proceedings were broadcast live on all TV channels.

In his victory speech, Christofias told his colleagues the election of an AKEL House president represented a "significant" step forward for local politics. "It is a step which contributes to the overcoming of outdated attitudes and prejudices," he said. In a call for unity, he said he would rely on "the co-operation of all of us" in fulfilling his new duties. He vowed to be objective and work for the common good, but also said a House president had "a duty and a right" to his own political "philosophy and positions".

First to the podium to congratulate Christofias was DISY chief Anastassiades. He referred to Christofias as his "friend" and promised DISY would work with him. But Anastassiades also repeated his warnings about the threat to Cyprus' accession process posed by Christofias's election. "We do not doubt Christofias' ability, but we are concerned about the interpretation those who want to block our accession might give to this election," the DISY leader said.

DIKO leader Papadopoulos, next on the podium, took issue with Anastassiades, saying he was wrong to suggest Christofias's victory could harm accession prospects. Papadopoulos said access to the EU was not restricted to those of the "right" political persuasion.

New Horizons deputy Christos Clerides, who abstained from the vote, expressed concern about his colleagues' choice. He said he could not see how a leader of an opposition party could, as House president, work in tandem with President Clerides on the Cyprus problem front.

George Perdikis, of the Green party, criticised what he said was a deal struck between DIKO and AKEL to elect Christofias. Perdikis spoke of political practices "which benefit politicians and not citizens".

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] New deputies sworn in

FIRST day in Parliament yesterday was more like first day at school for the 23 newcomers who attended the maiden plenary session of the new House of Representative and were sworn in as deputies.

The newly elected House of Representatives, renewed to the tune of 41 per cent, convened yesterday at 4pm for the first time since the May 27 elections and elected its new President, AKEL leader Demetris Christofias.

Out of 56 deputies, 23 have not served in Parliament before, and of those five are women. From a total of 56 deputies, six are women, compared to four in the last House.

The first plenum was held in an upbeat atmosphere and was marked with handshakes, congratulations and jokes between the chosen few.

All 56 deputies were sworn in with one voice, vowing: "I officially swear that I will act in faithfulness and respect to the Constitution and its laws and to maintain the Cyprus Republic's independence and sovereignty."

The 23 newcomers were clearly ecstatic but some appeared nervous, as the plenum's amphitheatre was packed with hundreds of people, including reporters, ministers, policemen and members of the public who attended the event.

But the new deputies did not have to do much at the House yesterday.

Real work will come when committees start convening on a daily basis in September.

The increase in the number of parties from five to eight is expected to cause major logistic problems when that time comes.

There are currently no offices for New Horizons, ADIK and the Greens, which each made their debut in Parliament with one seat each.

Each party has an office at the House, and there are only five offices at the moment.

Work on the building of extra bungalows is expected to start soon but until the new offices are ready, some deputies will have to wonder around between meetings.

Those parties with just one deputy fear they will face difficulties handling the workload on days when two or three committees meet at the same time.

Parliament will reconvene next Thursday to set up 12 House committees. The next few days will see more wheeling and dealing as each party tries to get as many committees chairmanships as possible.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Turkish Cypriot takes army to European court for holding his property since 1974

A TURKISH CYPRIOT living in the north is to take Turkey to the European Court of Human Rights for denying him access to his home at occupied Elia, near Morphou, since the 1974 invasion.

The same court five years ago upheld a similar appeal by a Greek Cypriot.

Salim Salmanay was quoted in yesterday's edition of Turkish Cypriot daily Avrupa as saying that the Turkish army had gone back on an agreement to use his home, newly built in 1974, for only three months. Salmanay told Avrupa the Turkish army had kept him out of his home for the past 27 years.

Salmanay would be the first Turkish Cypriot known to appeal to the European rights court over Turkey's occupation of the northern half of Cyprus.

In a landmark 1996 decision, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to pay Greek Cypriot Titina Loizidou $900,000 compensation for denying her access to her land in occupied Kyrenia since 1974. Turkey has yet to comply with the decision, despite two subsequent resolutions from the Council of Europe (CoE) demanding that Ankara do so.

"At the village of Elia Morphou I had a newly built house with 22 olive trees," Salmanay told Avrupa. "I made a three-monthly agreement with the district commander. They would have stayed in my house for three months but although 27 years have passed, they have not got out yet," the Turkish Cypriot said.

"I went to the army commander. He said: 'Go to the government'. The time came when the soldiers forced me to leave. I was selling olives and olive oil, but now I am buying," Salmanay said. 'I want my own house. I want them to pay the rent I have been paying for the past 26 years," he was quoted as saying.

Apart from compensation for being barred from his home, Salmanay also wants reimbursement for being denied access to irrigation water his family was entitled to under a pre-1974 co-operative agreement.

"Because I realised that I cannot have my rights through legal means in order to take my water and my house back, I decided to apply to the European Court of Human Rights," the Turkish Cypriot stated.

Success for Salmanay's appeal would mean further embarrassment for Ankara. Last month, Turkey was condemned by the Strassbourg-based court for a whole series of human rights violations arising from the 1974 invasion.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Police say road deaths well down on last year

DESPITE the increasing visibility of traffic police on the nations roads, horrific scenes, like the accidents that left two people dead and several others with crippling injuries last weekend are a troubling reminder of Cyprus' poor traffic safety record.

At last count, Cyprus was the third worst in Europe for traffic fatalities, trailing only Portugal and Greece. But police insist the figures are declining.

"According to our statistics, there is no pickup, but a steady decrease in traffic fatalities," Demetris Demetriou, director of statistics for the traffic police, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

As evidence, he cites 11 less deaths on the year, 36 as opposed to 47 this time last year.

"We can see that the population and the number of cars has increased every year, but the number of fatal accident is constant or even decreasing," he added.

Of the 36 deaths, 23 have been drivers and passengers in cars and trucks, three motorcycle riders and 10 pedestrians.

Drivers and passengers between the ages and 15 and 24 suffered the most, accounting for 29 per cent of all traffic fatalities.

Six of the 23 drivers killed were wearing seatbelts, and two others were rear seat passengers and therefore not required to wear safety belts under the current laws, although this may change soon if the new parliament votes through legislation to make them obligatory.

Nevertheless, while traffic deaths have remained fairly constant for the last four years, serious injuries have dropped steadily every year from 1996, when they numbered 1,250, and had dipped to 1,016 by last year.

In an effort to improve the situation, Traffic Department chief George Voutounos has set out a goal of reducing traffic deaths and serious injuries by five per cent. He is optimistic the island will meet this goal and even surpass it by the end of the year.

In fact, all European Union members and prospective members have introduced strategic plans for how to reduce traffic accidents, and with the introduction of the strategic plans, the EU-wide target is to reduce traffic fatalities by 20 per cent by 2005.

"Having in mind new legislation, the point system, obligation of the owners to maintain their cars, the campaign to educate children in school as well as other campaigns, we have managed to change the mentality of people in Cyprus," Voutounos told the Mail yesterday.

He and Demetriou explained that the department was using a three-pronged approach to attack the problem through the 'three Es': education, enforcement and engineering.

One officer in each of the Republic's six police districts has been trained especially to deliver traffic safety awareness messages to children of all age groups in local schools.

A separate programme will target army conscripts to teach safe driving habits, since these men, generally in the early twenties, are generally the highest risk category.

As far as enforcement is concerned, the force feels that the points system, which went into effect on January first this year and is modelled on the one in the UK, has been instrumental in improving road safety, although the programme is too new to have yielded any meaningful statistics.

To increase vigilance on the highways, the department last month created a special squad based in Xylophagou, in addition to the central highway patrol in Nicosia, for patrolling the roads from Larnaca to Ayia Napa and Protaras.

Last year, they created a similar squad to patrol new highways from Limassol to Paphos.

And by next year, they will be ready to install cameras on highways and at intersections to identify speeders and send them a fine in the mail, says Voutounous.

However, one disturbing number is that 10 of this year's traffic fatalities involve pedestrians.

With regard to pedestrian safety, an official in the Public Works Department told the Cyprus Mail: "not a lot has been done, but a lot is being done."

"First of all we are implementing zebra crossings wherever possible according to the demand," said the official.

Another option is the pedestrian bridge planned near CyTA headquarters to span over a four-lane road with high-speed traffic and a gymnasium nearby.

However, the official clarified that "it is not recommended to have two- level crossings, either bridges or underpasses, on two-lane roads. Where we have implemented such schemes, they have not been used consistently."

He pointed out that many pedestrians, particularly the elderly, were reluctant to go down steps when it appears easier to make a quick dash across the street.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Acropole plans to resume Romance screenings after court triumph

THE ACROPOLE Cinema yesterday announced it would resume private screenings of the sexually-explicit film Romance after the Nicosia District Court ruled the state had been wrong to interfere and confiscate the print last summer.

Wednesday's court decision vindicated the cinema's decision to show the French film to its cinema club, despite it being banned by the Censorship Board as indecent for Cyprus audiences.

By law, cinemas are allowed to show any film to private members, but police barged in and confiscated the print mid-way through the film's 15th screening last September.

The Acropole insisted that all viewers were members of a private club, but the Censorship Board alleged that the Acropole Cinema Club was a sham, claiming the film was in fact being shown to public audiences.

Their arguments failed to stand up in court.

"We're obviously very happy with the ruling. We believe that common sense and judgment has prevailed. It's an outright victory, a clear vindication of everything we've done," Acropole proprietor Susan Papas told the Cyprus Mail.

She and her husband Michael Papas have contacted the Attorney-general's office to check whether or not the state will appeal the ruling.

If not, then the courts will return the print so that Romance can be shown to members of the cinema's private club.

The court ruling follows a report from Ombundswoman Eliana Nicolaou, which condemned the censorship and confiscation of the film as wrong, old fashioned and hypocritical.

Her investigation and the fact that Romance was given an adult certificate across Europe, has called the censorship law and the composition of the censorship board in Cyprus into question.

The Acropole said it hoped the new Parliament would amend the censorship law to bring it forward into the 21st century.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Camp fires warning after forest fire, and farmers blame 'arson'

A FOREST fire yesterday threatened the Kakopetria forest while another blaze burnt crops and scrub near Peristerona village, coming close to animal farms in the area. In Paphos, three fires - at Tala, Emba and Nata - had local farmers crying foul.

The fire at Kakopetria, in the Troodos Mountains, prompted the government to vow it would come down hard on anyone caught lighting a camp fire in a forested area. The forest blaze broke out at around 12.15 pm and burnt ten donums of private pine trees before the fire brigade and forestry department, helped by helicopters from above, could get it under control.

"Due to the proximity of the fire to the state forest, the inaccessibility of the area and the thick vegetation, we almost lost one of the finest forests in Cyprus, near the church of Ayios Nicolaos tis Stegis," an official announcement stated. "It is noted that, due to the huge cost of fire fighting, state services have decided to henceforth strictly enforce the law on illegal fire lighting which provides for up to five years imprisonment or a fine of up to £5,000, or both," the statement warned.

Just before 3 pm yesterday, another fire broke out in the Vathia Gonia area between the villages of Peristerona, Orounda and Potami, West of Nicosia. A combined effort from the fire brigade, forestry department, game wardens and villagers got the fire under control by 5.30pm.

In Paphos, just after midday a fire broke out in farmland near Tala village. Local farmers helping the fire brigade battle the flames claimed the fire had been started deliberately. Their suspicions were fuelled when a fire broke out in farmland near Emba later in the afternoon. The new fire broke out on land belonging to the same farmers hit by the Tala blaze.

Incensed farmers threatened to take matters into their own hands if police did not arrest the arsonists they said were responsible. Another fire later broke out in farmland near Nata village. Police are investigating all of yesterday's fires.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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