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

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

Wednesday, August 1, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Mystery computer donors blast critics

[02] Safety fears as billboard situation runs out of control

[03] Mood upbeat as Akrotiri emissions tests start

[04] Synod ignores threats from archimandrite

[05] CIA blocks release of Cyprus documents from the sixties

[06] Crewman arrested over cocaine find

[07] Tourists hurt in minibus crash

[08] 'We'll name those buying Turkish Cypriot properties'

[09] Kyprianou attends National Council

[01] Mystery computer donors blast critics

THE MYSTERY donors offering 160,000 free computers for local schools yesterday hit out at widespread scepticism over their £400 million generosity, saying they would give the PCs to students at home if the government decided to spurn their offer.

Local computer hardware suppliers have been lobbying Education Minister Ouranios Ioannides to turn down the unprecedented proposal from an unnamed group represented by two local lawyers. The suppliers say the donation would ruin the local computer business.

The mystery offer has also been the subject for much negative press speculation since it was made public last week, with a number of reports suggesting there could be hidden motives behind it.

Faced with this barrage of criticism, the lawyers representing the unknown donors held a news conference in Nicosia yesterday.

Lawyer Christos Theodorou said the donors were determined to help Cyprus achieve higher technological levels.

"The decision to make this donation to the Cypriot people is binding and irrevocable," he said. "In the unlikely event that the government of Cyprus decides to take a negative stance, then the donation will be made directly to the Cypriot people, and to every home where there are students or teachers," Theodorou said.

Minister Ioannides has said the terms of the donation would be pored over by both the offices of the Attorney-general and the Auditor-general before being tabled before the Cabinet for approval. Ioannides repeated yesterday that the aim of putting the offer under the microscope would be to ensure there was absolutely no cost to the state.

Theodorou vowed the computers for schools offer would not cost the state "a single pound".

He slammed those questioning the motives behind the multi-million-pound offer. "The planning for the donation began some three years ago and comes from people whose feelings for Cyprus and local education are so genuine and altruistic that they cannot be questioned," the lawyer said.

Initial reports put the value of the donation at £12 million. This was later revised to £120 million, but Theodorou yesterday said donation was worth in excess of £400 million.

The donors were remaining anonymous because they wanted to avoid a flood of begging letters, the lawyer said. But he added, and Ioannides agreed, that the identity of the donors would be revealed if and when the Cabinet gave the go-ahead for the computers to be handed over.

Turning to the specifics of the computers offer, Theodorou said a central server would be established connected to the 160,000 computers installed in local nursery, primary and secondary schools and the Cyprus University.

He said the donation package included technical support for 10 years and that the donors would be in charge of systems support while the Education Ministry would control the content of the computerised educational aids.

"We will design the base of the system, the model of the system and its technical specifications. When it comes to educational content, that will be given to us by Education Ministry, because it defines the policy and specifications," Theodorou said. Getting the system up and running and the computers installed in schools would take three years, he said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Safety fears as billboard situation runs out of control

SEVEN months ago, the Public Works Department (PWD) embarked on a campaign to rid the island of the growing eyesore and potential hazard of mushrooming advertising billboards.

Yesterday, the Chief District Public Engineer Lefteris Stylianides said the situation was out of control.

"We are at war but for the time being we are alone," he said.

But who is to blame for the situation?

Stylianides said the law states that any relevant authority must consider public safety and appearance before issuing a permit for putting up a sign.

"The authority should make sure the signs do not hide traffic signs, block vision or distract drivers' attention," Stylianides said.

But, judging by the number of billboards, it seems the relevant authorities are doing little to stem the problem.

Stylianides said the PWD had sent letters to the municipalities asking them to refrain from issuing permits because the law says that where they distract drivers' attention billboards should not be allowed.

He said the law was clear that municipalities should consult with the PWD before issuing permits, something he claimed they did not do.

"I have already asked the Attorney-general to take measures in several cases but there is no result yet," he said.

Three days ago workers dug up the pavement on Limassol Avenue in Nicosia to install electricity to light up the billboards, Stylianides said.

"They cannot do such a thing without PWD approval; it is illegal," he accused.

He added: "I gave instructions to my engineer to report the contractor to the police."

The PWD has asked the Electricity Authority (EAC) not to provide electricity for the specific billboards.

The Cyprus Mail contacted Strovolos Municipality to find out who gave permission for breaking the pavement, but an official there said no one would be available for comment until August 6.

Electricity Authority Spokesman (EAC) Tassos Roussos told the Cyprus Mail he would look into the issue.

One businessman claimed he had been given hell by a municipality about a sign he put up on his property, while the pavement in front was littered with advertising billboards.

Stylianides said his department was doing everything it could about the problem.

"I've already asked for legal measures to be taken against those who install them without permission.

"I believe municipalities in several cases give permits illegally.

"The whole island has filled with billboards, most of the illegal.

"It's a huge problem," Stylianides said.

"The Rizoelia junction near Larnaca looks like an open cinema," he added.

Stylianides said that most of the signs put up on motorways were illegal.

For a while, he said, motorways were free of signs, but in recent months they are cropping everywhere.

Areas outside municipal boundaries need the permit of the district officer before putting up a sign.

But advertising companies agree with the owners of land near the motorway to put up billboards for a fee, in most cases without the permission of the district officer.

The General Director of the Cyprus Consumers Association Dinos Ioannou echoed Stylianides.

"Unfortunately because municipalities make a lot of money out of this they give permits continuously and the issue is getting out of control," he said.

He added: "especially on motorways there is now a very high risk of accident."

Ioannou said that the association had written letters to the Communications Ministry, which replied that current legislation was inadequate and they were trying to update it.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Mood upbeat as Akrotiri emissions tests start

A CYPRIOT team began emissions tests for a controversial British bases (SBA) antenna at Akrotiri yesterday afternoon after a disagreement over access to aerial specifications was apparently ironed out.

The Communications Ministry expert heading the Cypriot test team, Andronikos Kakouras, had complained on Monday that the British side was holding back vital technical information concerning the riot-sparking new mast.

Bases spokesman Rupert Greenwood, who on Monday denied these claims of British obstruction, yesterday said the concerns of the Kakouras team had been addressed during a morning meeting at Akrotiri.

"We are all happy," Greenwood said after the meeting. "I cannot speak on the Cypriot team's behalf, but the mood is positive," he added.

Kakouras could not be contacted in the field for comment yesterday, but the comments made before the meeting by fellow test team member Stelios Himonas were anything but antagonistic towards the bases.

Himonas, the director of telecommunications at the Communications Ministry, said he "welcomed" the co-operation of the British side. "Our common aim to make measurements which will be assessed to see if aerials are acceptable or not," the Cypriot expert said, referring to concerns that the new mast could cause cancers among the local population.

Greenwood repeated the British line that the 100-metre antenna set to go up in 2003 is harmless: "We are doing everything we can to co-operate and make sure we assist the Cypriot test team because we do not have anything to hide and we know that things are okay."

During yesterday's meeting, the Cypriot team and the team of British experts who are to shadow them agreed on a common methodology for the emissions tests.

The tests, which kicked off at 4pm yesterday and are set to continue today and tomorrow, are the Cypriot team's second attempt at assessing electro- magnetic emissions from the new antenna by measuring radiation from existing aerials at the salt lake listening site. Tests carried out earlier this month proved unreliable due to the methods used.

Two French experts from France Telecom are joining the local team this time round as measurements are made at the mast site and at Akrotiri village, 1 kilometre away.

The start of groundwork for the 100-metre high new bases antenna on July 2 sparked anti-bases rioting at the salt lake mast site and at the Episkopi SBA police station the next day. Over 40 people were hurt in clashes after protests against a mast locals fear will give them cancer.

London and Nicosia were unanimous in their condemnation of the July 3 riots, but the antenna issue has strained relations between the bases and Cypriot residents of the Akrotiri SBA.

With work on the new mast stalled, Nicosia and London have since had a series of meetings aimed at arriving at a consensus over the impact of the antenna. While insisting the new mast is harmless, Britain has also vowed to shelve the antenna plans if an adverse health affect is shown.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Synod ignores threats from archimandrite

UNMOVED by the banished archimandrite's threats to "expose" fellow clergymen, the Holy Synod yesterday declined to discuss further Andreas Constantinides' indefinite suspension for slandering Limassol Bishop Athanasios.

A Synod spokesman said after the hours-long meeting of Church leaders at the archbishopric that the Constantinides issue had been brought up but had not been discussed. The spokesman made no further comment.

On Monday, archimandrite Constantinides said that if the ban was not lifted he would 'tell all' about what he said was the part played by bishops and other clergy in last year's sustained attack on Bishop Athanassios.

The archimandrite did not carry out his "exposure" threat yesterday.

The Limassol Bishop was only cleared of allegations that he was gay after a Major Synod convened in Nicosia last November. Constantinides, who had led the anti-Athanassios campaign, and fellow Limassol archimandrite Chrisostomos Argyrides, were suspended for their attacks on Athanassios soon after.

The two banished archimandrites claim they were singled out for they 'gay bishop' claims and face financial ruin without their Church salaries. They also say they want to return to their flocks.

The Holy Synod yesterday decided to establish a university level school of theology on the island. A relevant study is to be carried out by the Bishop of Morphou, Neophytos, and the Trimithounda Bishop, Vassilios.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] CIA blocks release of Cyprus documents from the sixties

THE RELEASE of important US State Department documents on Cyprus, Greece and Turkey for the period 1964 to 1968 is being halted by the CIA, the Washington Post has revealed.

On Friday, the George Washington University's National Security Archive posted on the Internet one of two State Department documentary histories whose release the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was stalling, even though the documents included in the volumes were officially declassified in 1998 and 1999.

The two disputed State Department volumes cover Indonesia-Malaysia- Philippines in the years 1964-68 and Greece-Turkey-Cyprus in the same period.

The CIA, as well as action officers at the State Department, had prevented the official release of both volumes, which were already printed and bound by the Government Printing Office. The National Security Archive obtained the Indonesia volume when the GPO, apparently by mistake, shipped copies to various GPO bookstores; but the Cyprus-Greece-Turkey volume is still locked up in GPO warehouses.

US officials are now trying to recall the official records of the US's dealings with Indonesia that documents some American responsibility for the killing of thousands of Indonesian communists in the mid-1960s, including a cable recommending payments to army-backed death squads, the newspaper said.

"They're trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube," said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a non-profit research group at George Washington University. His group bought a copy of the 830-page Indonesian archive last Thursday and put it on its website on Friday.

Blanton accused the CIA of trying to suppress the evidence covering the two sensitive regions, even though the documents were declassified two to three years ago.

The State Department Historical Advisory Committee's summary as of September 1, 1999 shows that the Panel decided on April 20, 1998 to acknowledge covert action in Indonesia, that the CIA completed review of the documents on August 28, 1998, and that the volume then went into page proofs, "however, publication has been delayed."

The summary also shows that CIA completed its review of the Cyprus-Greece- Turkey volume on May 14, 1999, that the volume was in revised page proofs as of September 1 and was expected to be published by December 1999.

The documentary history dealing with Greece, Cyprus and Turkey was printed in February 2000, but is locked up at GPO under the label: "Embargo: This publication cannot be released." Officials declined to say why, the Washington Post reported.

A CIA spokesman, Mark Mansfield, denied sole responsibility.

"The notion that the CIA has unilaterally blocked the release of these histories is simply not the case," he said. "We work closely with the State Department on these matters. All of us are intent on complying with the law, while at the same time protecting classified information that if disclosed could be damaging to us."

The CIA's intervention in the State Department publication is only the latest in a series of such controversies, dating back to 1990 when the CIA censored a State volume on Iran in the early 1950s to leave out any reference to a CIA-backed coup in 1953.

But Congress passed a law in 1991 requiring the State Department volumes to include covert operations as well as overt diplomacy, so as to provide an accurate historical picture of US foreign policy, 30 years after the events.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Crewman arrested over cocaine find

The 46-year-old crewman was arrested at the weekend when the ship, the 60, 000-tonne Greek-managed Aramis returned to San Francisco to assist authorities with their enquiries.

A spokesman for Tsakos, the ship management company, said the crewmember had been on board the tanker for the past 11 months. "He has never given the company any reason to suspect his involvement in drug related activities," the spokesman told shipping newspaper Lloyds List.

The drugs, which have an estimated street value of $20-$25 million, were discovered in the rudder of the Aramis on July 21 but the find was not publicised until Wednesday last week. US authorities said it was the biggest drugs bust in a decade.

After determining that the Greek master had taken precautions while docked in Ecuador, including confining the crew to quarters, searching the vessel and using security on the gangway, the Aramis was released to deliver its 350,000 barrels of oil to a US refinery before returning to San Francisco to continue the investigation.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] Tourists hurt in minibus crash

TWO TOURISTS were seriously injured and another six people slightly injured yesterday as a tourist bus collided with a car in the Larnaca district.

The accident occurred at 10.45am when a hired minibus containing French tourists collided with a car at an intersection in Mosfiloti. The driver of the car had not seen a stop sign because it was hidden by bushes.

Two tourists on board the minibus were seriously injured. The tree occupants of the car were slightly injured as were the Cypriot driver of the bus and his son and a third French tourist on the bus.

All were taken to Nicosia General Hospital where they were treated for their injuries.

Kofinou police are investigating the details of the accident.

On Monday night, a 44-year-old Pontian Greek was killed in Paphos while trying to cross the road.

Elena Karangiozidou was killed in the Kolpou Korallion area at 11pm when a hired car driven by a 29-year-old Bulgarian hit her.

The Bulgarian, who was slightly injured, underwent a breathalyser test, which showed he was not under the influence of alcohol.

Karangiozidou was taken to the Paphos General Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[08] 'We'll name those buying Turkish Cypriot properties'

INTERIOR minister Christodoulos Christodoulou yesterday revealed that 89 former Turkish Cypriot properties in the government-controlled areas had been sold by their owners to Greek Cypriots living in the south.

And while admitting the practice was perfectly legal, the minister said he would hand over details of the properties to the House Refugee Committee, whose chairman threatened to make them public, suggesting such transactions were contrary to national interest.

Christodoulou was addressing a joint news conference that he and House Refugee Committee chairman Aristophanis Georgiou of AKEL called after meeting yesterday.

The two men discussed allegations made by Georgiou last week that Cypriot businessmen were illegally exploiting properties in the occupied areas.

The House Refugee Committee launched an investigation into the claims on Monday and put questions to the government requesting information about the affair.

But the committee also asked the Interior minister to submit evidence about the transfer of ownership titles of Turkish Cypriot properties in the south to Greek Cypriots.

Christodoulou said yesterday that, according to evidence collected from the Land Surveys Department, "89 properties totalling 421 donums of land have been transferred to Greek Cypriots since 1975."

The minister noted that of the 89 properties, 77 were transferred to Greek Cypriots between 1975 and 2000 and 11 in the last 10 months.

"It looks like this business is flourishing lately. There is an increased interest among the Greek Cypriots in buying Turkish Cypriot properties according to our information," Christodoulou said.

The minister, however, admitted that Turkish Cypriots, like all citizens of Cyprus, had every right to sell their properties to whoever they liked.

But Georgiou suggested buying property from Turkish Cypriots in the south - and even more selling it to them in the north - was tantamount to cementing the division of the island.

"There is a moral issue here too. Does not this practice harm the interests of the Cypriot people who struggle for the freedom of their country and isn't it damaging to the Cyprus issue? We must find the answer to this sensitive issue," Georgiou added.

The Refugee Committee chairman vowed that, "we will do our best to stem this business."

A ministry report identifying the properties in question and naming their former and current owners is due to be submitted to the committee soon.

"We will give it to the media as soon as we have it," Georgiou pledged.

Christodoulou also commented on Georgiou's claims that Greek and Turkish Cypriot businessmen profited from illegally buying and selling Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied north.

"We just discussed the matter with Georgiou and it has been decided that the Interior and the Foreign ministries as well as the Attorney-general's office will investigate these allegations. If and when we verify those claims then we will expose those involved," the minister threatened.

Georgiou insisted that he had already "confirmed part of the information" but conceded that, "official confirmation is always welcome".

He claimed on Monday that the government was aware of the "immoral and illegal actions" and challenged it to reveal any information it had about the matter.

But Christodoulou denied having "any concrete information about the issue" and urged anyone who had evidence in relation to the alleged activities to submit it to him or bring it to public attention.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[09] Kyprianou attends National Council

HIS doctors may be saying little about the state of his health, but ex- President Spyros Kyprianou - diagnosed as suffering from malignant cancer in June - was well enough to turn up for a National Council session yesterday.

The 68-year-old ex-DIKO leader arrived in a wheelchair to attend the morning meeting of President Clerides' top Cyprus problem advisory body in his capacity as former President.

Doctors treating Kyprianou at the Bank of Cyprus Oncology centre have recently been declining to provide updates on the veteran politician's progress under radio and chemotherapy.

When the bone and lung cancers were diagnosed in early June, doctors expressed confidence they could control the disease, saying they were heartened by Kyprianou's "positive" attitude.

When he stepped down as House of Representatives president earlier this year, Kyprianou drew the curtain on a 40-year political career that included a decade as President, between 1978 to 1988, and 12 years as Foreign Minister before that.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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