Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-12-12

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

Wednesday, December 12, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Greek and Turkish Cypriots to share out wall repairs

[02] Ministry official vents anger at deputies

[03] Life remains life, whatever happens in Europe

[04] Embargo making defence equipment obsolete

[05] SEC recommends new suspension for GlobalSoft

[06] Nigerian released to stay for court appeal

[01] Greek and Turkish Cypriots to share out wall repairs

GREEK and Turkish Cypriots have agreed a joint plan of action to repair one of Nicosia's crumbling Venetian bastions, which collapsed last Friday in a torrential downpour.

The stretch of wall on the Roccas Bastion to the west of Paphos Gate - part of the ramparts not restored by Nicosia Mayor Lellos Demetriades because of opposition from Turkish Cypriots - gave way in appalling weather conditions last week.

The bastion marks the edge of the boundary between the UN buffer zone and north Nicosia, and the Turkish Cypriot regime has previously refused permission for the wall to be tampered with.

But the crisis situation has forced the two sides to co-operate and the UN yesterday confirmed that the Turkish Cypriots would be responsible for repairing the top of the wall and the Greek Cypriots, for the bottom and the middle of the wall.

The agreement was reached on Monday and yesterday members of the Antiquities Department started work.

The Turkish Cypriot side is still evaluating technical considerations and will begin as soon as consultations are completed, a UN spokesman said.

UNOPS are paying for the cost of the renovation.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Ministry official vents anger at deputies

THE CIVIL servant at the heart of the refugee evictions controversy said yesterday he was angry and hurt at the allegations pointed at him and wanted his dignity restored

Haris Kyriakides, legal adviser of the Turkish Cypriot Property Management Service at the Interior Ministry, has been pilloried by deputies pointing the finger at him for allegedly sending eviction notices to refugees living on Turkish Cypriot property after it had been sold to Greek Cypriot developers.

Kyriakides said yesterday that all transfer applications involving Turkish Cypriot property lay within his department's domain, but insisted that his role was only to suggest and advise.

" I do not have executive power and so am not authorised to make the final decision in property cases. I merely study the files and make suggestions. The final decision lies with the Interior Minister, Christodoulos Christodoulou, and yet I have been presented as a criminal in the public eye."

According to a 1991 law, the Minister of Interior is the guardian of all Turkish Cypriot property in the free areas and examines each individual transfer case separately.

" If we do not allow a sale of property to go through, a Turkish Cypriot owner can take his case to court and be vindicated, or can even bring charges against Cyprus at the European Human Rights Court,"he explained, saying Cyprus could end up facing a case similar to that won against Turkey by Kyrenia refugee Titina Loizidou.

The Ministry therefore examines each case and generally allows sales to go ahead. " Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou administers these properties for the needs of the refugees and for the benefit of the owners.

" The guardianship is in place of the owner and is accountable to the owner and any income of the property goes to the owner,"he said, adding that the law also clearly stated that a refugee had to move out off the property without being compensated if a Turkish Cypriot owner reclaimed it or sold it. He added refugees using Turkish Cypriot properties were aware of the conditions and signed a contract accepting them.

" However, the particular case I'm being accused of in Um Haram Street in Larnaca is all about politics and elections,"he charged.

In fact, he insisted he had nothing to do with this particular case.

" In March, I received a letter from the Larnaca District Administration informing me that Turkish Cypriot property had been sold, and whether or not eviction letters should be sent to the refugees occupying the property.

" I said 'no' and asked that all details of the case be sent to me so I could give the Minister my legal advice."

But he says he never received the case file.

" In spite of this, they sent a letter to the refugees to be evicted and the Minster approved the transfer in June."

A refugee himself, Kyriakides, is hurt that deputies have suggested he is conspiring against fellow refugees and selling off their land.

He is furious that they are kicking up a fuss over legal property transfers, when they should be worrying about the decrepit living conditions of an old refugee woman in that particular area.

" Nothing has been done since June to transfer this woman to a better place, "Kyriakides said.

" They are raising the subject now in December just because we have elections and not because they care about refugees,"he said, saying that if deputies' concern was genuine, he would at their request re-register Turkish Cypriot properties to other, more needy refugees, as " some of them have become millionaires since the invasion and are no longer in need of the land" .

" Let's give it to the needy,"he said " and tell the greedy ones to stop whimpering."

Kyriakides nevertheless felt confident that people knew he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

He added he had written to Christodoulou saying he was considering legal action for defamation. The minister reassured him in writing that there was no truth to any of the allegations against him.

" All I have to say is that in future information should be examined and re- examined before making televised sweeping, fraudulent statements, "Kyriakides said.

" The files are here and speak the truth.

" This has been a defamatory case against me and I call on certain deputies to renounce their parliamentary immunity and to accuse me in public so that I can see them in jail for slander,"he said.

" Everyone, Turkish Cypriot or Greek Cypriot, has the right to deal with his or her property in the way he or she likes and we just have to respect that and fight for it, otherwise we're just shooting ourselves in the foot and can be held accountable as Titina Loizidou held Turkey accountable."

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Life remains life, whatever happens in Europe

LIFERS hoping that EU harmonisation might one day get them out of prison have had their hopes dashed.

Prison Governor Haris Themistocleous said yesterday that although common practice across Europe was to set a limit to a life prison term, there was no compulsion to do so.

Cyprus is the only European country where life in prison means just that.

" In Cyprus, a life sentence means a life sentence. They are in prison until the end of their natural life,"said Themistocleous.

The prison governor told the Cyprus Mailthat most European countries fixed a set number of years as a life sentence -whether it is 10, 15 or 20 years.

" There are only two countries that do not have a set amount of years. There is Cyprus, which has no time limit, and the UK, which has three different life sentences."

The closest to Cyprus' life sentence is the UK sentence for a 'real lifer' - a prisoner sentenced for at least 25 years. Thereafter, it is up to the Home Secretary to decide whether the prisoner should be released.

There are 11 prisoners serving life sentences in Cyprus, with two of them having been in prison for 15 years, the longest term ever served on the island. No lifer has yet died in prison.

" If we look at current trends there is a problem. Six of the lifers were imprisoned in 1999 and one other prisoner was transferred from the UK this year,"said Themistocleous.

All of the prisoners serving life sentences in Cyprus have been convicted of premeditated murder.

Themistocleous said the EU harmonisation process did not provide for any changes to the prison system or penal legislation, which he said were in accordance with the acquis communautaire .

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Embargo making defence equipment obsolete

STATE-OF-the-art military equipment bought over four years ago from Britain is becoming redundant because strict embargos forbid Cyprus from importing spare parts for multi-million pound defence systems.

The issue emerged again this week at a closed-doors parliamentary defence committee meeting about the 2002 Defence Budget.

One of the items on the agenda was a £1 million part for a British Aerospace Rovis electronic communication system.

Committee chairman and former Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou reminded MPs that similar systems had quickly become unusable in the past, thanks to the 1997 British embargo.

Deputies are reportedly outraged at the British embargo for making equipment redundant before their time, just because spare parts are unavailable on the pretext that they might cause an escalation of tensions on the island.

Deputies reportedly claimed that British companies submitted tenders without mentioning the embargo in an effort to find out inside information about the National Guard.

According to Politis , Defence Minister Socrates Hasikos said all British tenders would be eliminated automatically in the future.

Since February 1997, the British government has refused to grant export licences for weapons, ammunitions, weapons platforms or ancillary equipment for combat use in Cyprus. The ban includes spare parts.

A Defence Ministry Spokesman yesterday refused to comment on the matter, and strategic studies expert Aristos Aristotelous was in the dark about the specifics of the case.

" I really don't know anything about it [so] I'm not sure if there's such a big problem. If there is, then the Ministry should have talked to British Aerospace. If the President of the parliamentary committee says 'no comment' then I wonder why the Ministry of Defence can't comment. I don't know why they just left it,"he said.

Cyprus has been dogged by similar problems in the past. In 1998, Italy delayed the second dispatch of the Aspide anti-aircraft missile system. Spare parts were sent eventually, but the machinery was not upgraded.

In the same year, the S-300 missiles ordered by the Clerides government from Russia, were diverted to Crete after huge international pressure, fearful that their arrival in Cyprus would lead to an unnecessary arms race on the troubled island.

British and American arms embargos mean that the bulk of National Guard equipment comes from France, Russia, Greece and Yugoslavia.

Nevertheless the British government approves licences for arms exports to Turkey, which last year amounted to £34 million.

Only licensed companies can export goods, and licences for every single piece of equipment, have to be approved by the government, according to stringent criteria and the circumstances of the country at the time.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said yesterday no licences were granted when there was a clear " risk of diversion" , or that arms would be used for " external aggression"or " internal repression" .

But given the situation in the north, it's difficult to be certain that British military equipment does not wind up in occupied northern Cyprus.

" We have an extremely tough and rigorous arms exporting licensing regime. Greece and Turkey have a legitimate right to arms as well as us,"said the Foreign Office.

Committee Chairman Omirou yesterday refused to discuss the details of a 'closed-doors committee'.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] SEC recommends new suspension for GlobalSoft

THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday recommended the suspension of trading in GlobalSoft shares pending an investigation into alleged breaches of stock exchange regulations.

An SEC announcement said it had on Monday examined a report by independent auditors into GlobalSoft's stock market dealings and was recommending suspension due to the findings of the report.

The commission would issue a new announcement on the GlobalSoft issue next week, the announcement said.

The SEC's legal advisers are understood to have coded those parts in the report by auditors Chrysanthou & Christoforou Andersen that could be made public without violating the confidentiality agreement between the company and the auditors.

The SEC has told investors they will be informed on everything they need to know since the aim of the report is to protect investors.

GlobalSoft has been trading under a separate category and on certain conditions regarding share price fluctuation for almost a month since being suspended from trading in early October.

The company was allowed to return to the floor in mid November under certain conditions, which included filing weekly reports on its trading activities.

Earlier yesterday, GlobalSoft announced a series of measures expected to have a short, medium or long-term impact on the operations of the company.

" The company has already given instructions to its external auditors to audit its accounts for 2001 with immediate effect, so that the company could hold an AGM as early as February 2002,"the GlobalSoft statement said.

GlobalSoft shares fell one cent yesterday to 18 cents while the all-share index rose 1.04 per cent to 139.3 points on a volume of £6.6 million.

The FTSE/CYSE blue chips index added 0.76 per cent to 545.6 points.

Only the technology subsector recorded losses, dropping 1.5 per cent compared to gains of 3.2 per cent for fish farm companies.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Nigerian released to stay for court appeal

Monday Felix was arrested by immigration officials within days of filing a complaint at the labour court for allegedly not being paid due wages and bonuses.

Among his claims are unfair termination of his contract and non-payment of all wages and bonus payments for the European Handball Cup.

Erotokritou, who is fighting for Felix to remain in Cyprus until his dispute is heard at the labour court, said yesterday he had filed a habeas corpuscase against the deportation and secured Felix's release.

" He has been given permission to stay another two months in order to hear his case at the court,"Erotokritou said.

The Grammer School said last week that they had terminated Felix's employment after he allegedly continued to refuse to sign a new contract.

The school said that Felix kept coming up with new financial demands and would not sign.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article