Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-08-02

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

Thursday, August 2, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Let us know who you are, minister tells mystery donors

[02] Antenna campaign 'must be backed up by credible wildlife policy'

[03] Turkish Cypriot property issue 'exploited for self-promotion'

[04] Americans plan VoA antenna in Cyprus

[05] Paphos farmers demand inclusion in drought scheme

[06] Petrol prices fall

[07] Arsonists target bases policewoman's car

[01] Let us know who you are, minister tells mystery donors

A MYSTERY £400 million donation of computers for Cyprus schools was left hanging high and dry yesterday, after the Cabinet decided it would not consider the anonymous offer unless the donor was made known.

The donors, represented by a local law firm, have made it clear the offer of 160,000 free computers is conditional on their anonymity.

Education Minister Ouranios Ioannides said the Cabinet, which pored over the details of the super-generous offer yesterday, had decided it had to know the identity of the donors. He said this was necessary so the government could be sure the donors had the "capability" to come through on the offer to provide computers for all students and teachers at nursery, primary and secondary schools and the Cyprus university.

"On the basis of what we have before us, our position is that the representative company must indicate the non-profit-making organisation making the donation before we can discuss anything further with them," Ioannides said.

He also said the Auditor-general's office had found that the terms of the offer "needed clarification".

The mystery offer has 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 the donation.

Local computer suppliers have been lobbying the minister to turn down the unprecedented offer, saying the donation would ruin the local computer business. The suppliers yesterday warned they would react, though they did not say how, if the donation was accepted and the 160,000 computers came from abroad, bypassing local suppliers. "If companies come from abroad and say we will implement this project ignoring local companies then that is when we will react," said Nicos Nicolaou, of the computer suppliers' association.

Ioannides said that a letter was being sent to the lawyers representing the donors, asking them to name their employers.

The minister said it would not be enough for the donors to make themselves known to the government alone. He said the government would have to reveal the mystery donors in the interests of "openness".

On Tuesday, the lawyers said the donors wished to remain anonymous to avoid a flood of begging letters. But they also said the name of the donors would be revealed if the Cabinet accepted the offer of computers, which they said was worth £400 million.

The donation, the lawyers said, was being offered for "genuine and altruistic" reasons.

The lawyers also said that if the government did not want the free computers for schools, then they would be given to students and teachers directly, for use at home.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Antenna campaign 'must be backed up by credible wildlife policy'

CYPRUS may be 'playing' the habitat protection card in the showdown with the British bases over a controversial new antenna for the Akrotiri salt lake, but Nicosia has not put the wetland forward for protection under the recently ratified Ramsar Convention.

The Cyprus Conservation Foundation (CCF) charges that only the Larnaca salt lake has been included for protected status under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands on International importance, even though the Limassol lake is probably a more important wildlife site.

While welcoming the government's concern over the potential impact of the riot-sparking British antenna, the CCF called for a more 'holistic' approach to environmental protection.

"For the government's case to be credible, this protection must be part and parcel of a general policy for the protection of wildlife," stated CCF director Artemis Yiordamli.

The government Environment Service yesterday said the officer responsible for conservation issues would not be available for comment on the status of the salt lakes under the Ramsar Convention till she returned from holiday on August 20.

Nicosia is pushing London to agree to an independent impact study for the massive new antenna that sparked bloody anti-bases riots on July 3. The riots began as a protest against a bases mast local residents fear will give them cancer, but the government is making more of the possible impact on the rich bird and plant life of the Akrotiri salt lake.

The CCF said such expressions of concern rang hollow when illegal bird- trapping was rampant in the southeast of the island and the authorities were doing nothing to stop the Anassa hotel illegally placing sun umbrellas and building on an Akamas turtle-nesting beach.

The Akrotiri salt lake and fresh water marsh system has been severely affected by the construction of a massive dam of the Kouris River, the wetland's main source of life-giving water.

Britain says a 1997 impact study found the new mast, due to go up in 2003, would have no health impacts and minimal impact on salt lake wildlife.

In a news conference late on Tuesday, the CCF joined forces with the Cyprus Ornithological Society (COS) to dispute this 'all clear' assessment for the 100-metre antenna.

"Studies carried out in other countries show that many million of birds are killed every year after hitting aerials and the cables that hold them up," said COS ornithologist Melis Charalambides.

Charalambides pointed out that the design of the new antenna - 100-metre masts with a wire curtain slung between them - made it an ideal bird trap. While admitting there were no local studies to go on, the bird experts said the antenna's location next to a wetland and important bird migration site added to its bird-trapping potential. The British bases say not a single bird has been killed by the existing complex of Akrotiri masts, some of which were put up 30 years ago.

Charalambides described the Limassol salt lake as "perhaps the most important wetland habitat in the Eastern Mediterranean," used by 238 different bird species, most of them protected under EU law.

CCF director Yiordamli suggested the government was weakening its case against the new mast by not focusing on potential health impacts. Britain has been careful to make clear that the antenna plans will only be shelved if proof of an impact on human health is found. Yiordamli said new scientific research suggested the danger from electro-magnetic emissions from aerials was greater than previously thought.

"There will be some impacts on human health. What is not known is how significant these will be," Yiordamli said.

In line with an agreement between Nicosia and London, a Cypriot team yesterday continued to test emissions from existing antennae at the salt lake listening site in a bid to assess the health impact of the planned new mast.

The CCF argued that the 'precautionary principle' should be applied in the case of the new antenna. "This principle advocates that in any case where the consequences of an action are uncertain. then it is prudent, regardless of whether of not scientific evidence exists to support such a decision, to err on the side of caution and avoid the potentially harmful action," Yiordamli said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Turkish Cypriot property issue 'exploited for self-promotion'

MICHALIS Kyriakides of the Turkish Cypriot Properties Management Department yesterday slammed deputies Aristophanis Georgiou and Lefteris Christoforou for exploiting a national issue "to promote their personal interests".

Georgiou of AKEL, who is chairman of the House Refugee Committee, on Monday raised the issue of Turkish Cypriot properties in the government-controlled areas being sold to Greek Cypriots.

Asked by the committee to submit evidence about the matter, Interior minister Christodoulos Christodoulou revealed on Tuesday that 89 former Turkish Cypriot properties had been sold by their owners to Greek Cypriots.

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.

But Lefteris Christoforou of DISY, also a member of the Refugee Committee, yesterday took the matter further, claiming that Turkish Cypriots were forcing Greek Cypriots using their properties in the south after the 1974 invasion to purchase them at very expensive prices.

"Unfortunately, with the help of Greek Cypriot lawyers and entrepreneurs, those Turkish Cypriot owners threaten to kick Greek Cypriots off their properties that they are legally using. So they force them to buy the properties at expensive prices in order not to lose their businesses and industries that are housed in them," Christoforou claimed yesterday.

But Kyriakides, legal advisor of the Interior ministry's Turkish Cypriot Properties Management Department, yesterday described the fuss about the Turkish Cypriot properties as "populism that trashes certain people and certain issues for the sake of promoting the personal interests of the two deputies."

"I take offence at their unjustified attitude which has alarmed the displaced over nothing," he added.

Kyriakides argued that the transfer of ownership titles of Turkish Cypriot properties in the south to Greek Cypriots had been a long-standing and sensitive issue which was being addressed discretely by both the government and parliament.

Kyriakides charged that the two deputies exposed the issue in a way that could put Cyprus in a tight spot.

"We have always been careful not to get ourselves accused for violation of human rights by the European Court. We have tried to deal with the matter by changing the relevant law so that it would be in line with the Cyprus Constitution."

Turkish Cypriots, like all citizens of Cyprus, have every right to exploit their properties as they wish, including selling them to whoever they like.

After the Turkish invasion and occupation of the northern part of the island in 1974, Greek Cypriots fleeing the north were allowed to use properties belonging to Turkish Cypriots who had moved to the occupied areas.

"We have to sort his matter out. We have to find a way to secure the rights of all citizens. At the moment there is no strategy on how to do that," Kyriakides charged.

"If I claim my house in the north, how can I deprive a Turkish Cypriot of his right to claim his or her house in the south?" he asked.

Meanwhile, DIKO deputy Nicos Cleanthous yesterday dismissed reports that he had bought Turkish Cypriot properties in the south.

"I have been charged with that over and over again. But the truth is the property I purchased had always belonged to Greek people," he countered.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Americans plan VoA antenna in Cyprus

The US embassy yesterday said only that Cyprus was a possible location for a new transmission mast. "The US international broadcasting bureau is considering Cyprus as a possible site for the medium wave transmission of the 'Voice of America' Arabic language programmes for the Middle East region," an embassy spokesman said.

The spokesman added that the 'Voice of America' was a news and music service transmitted in various languages.

The embassy would not comment on the possible environmental impact of the proposed new mast.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Paphos farmers demand inclusion in drought scheme

PAPHOS livestock farmers held a demonstration yesterday in protest at being excluded from a state support programme for the farming sector.

Several farming unions marched through Paphos because claiming they would be ruined if the government did not help them.

In February, the Agricultural Ministry announced £6 million in state support for the farming sector. The government is planning to subsidise farmers in Nicosia and Larnaca to the tune of £3 per animal, after they were judged to have been affected the most by the drought.

But10 farms in Paphos that produce 60 per cent of livestock for the area say they too have been affected by the drought.

According to the farmers, if yesterday's demonstration does not bring about results, they will be bringing their grievances to Nicosia.

Meanwhile, grain farmers are threatening to hold a demonstration in Nicosia if the Finance Ministry does not approve an increase in the price of wheat and barley.

Farmers have proposed an increase of 15.11 cents per kilo for wheat and 15.09 cents per kilo for barley because of the 14 per cent increase in their costs.

However, the Grain Commission has advised the government not to increase the prices.

The farmers are threatening to hold a demonstration with their tractors through the streets of Nicosia next Thursday.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Petrol prices fall

Rolandis said that the price would remain steady until the end of August.

According to Rolandis, the Ministry is working towards the liberalisation of the energy sector in line with EU harmonisation requirements, and will submit a proposal to the Cabinet in the first six months of 2002.

Rolandis said in June that the government was looking at introducing a price cap on pump prices to keep charges down after the planed liberalisation, which is to take place ahead of accession to the EU, expected in 2003.

In keeping with a new automatic pump price adjusting mechanism approved by parliament last year, prices for petrol, diesel and kerosene can change each month in line with fluctuations in the price of crude and exchange rates.

The lower petrol pump prices approved yesterday are:

98 octane 'Super' petrol: down from 45.1 cents a litre to 44 cents a litre

Unleaded 'Super' petrol: down from 45.1 cents a litre to 44 cents a litre

95 octane unleaded petrol: down from 43 cents a litre to 41.9 cents a litre

Kerosene: down from 22.6 cents a litre to 21.5 cents a litre

Diesel: down from 18.2 cents a litre to 17.1 cents a litre

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] Arsonists target bases policewoman's car

On July 3, Cypriot protesters attacked the Episkopi police station and Akrotiri mast site after protests over a planned new antenna local residents say will give them cancer.

Yesterday's fire in Trachoni, which completely destroyed the car. broke out at around 3.40pm. Papayianni was in hospital with her daughter at the time.

Preliminary examinations showed the cause of the fire to be malevolent. Police at the British bases are investigating.

An hour later, a second fire broke out in the car of 35-year-old Christina Chrysanthou from Limassol, which was parked in the basement of her apartment block in the city. The fire, which completely destroyed the car, was extinguished by the fire brigade.

On-site examinations confirmed the fire was arson.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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