Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 02-02-19

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

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

CONTENTS

[01] Turks must change their stance if there is to be a solution

[02] Canon lawyers were bribed, dissenting bishop claims

[03] Police: cameras will monitor accident blackspots

[04] Hasikos submits Grivas report to the President

[05] Man released after armed rooftop drama

[01] Turks must change their stance if there is to be a solution

Papapetrou said the Greek Cypriot side had already conveyed the message to foreign mediators involved in the Cyprus peace effort. He said the solution to the Cyprus problem couldn't be the result of a middle of the road arrangement between two different things, federation and confederation.

"The effort to solve the problem has a deadline and will fail if the Turkish side insists on its demand for a confederation of two sovereign states on the island," Papapetrou said.

"Our hope is that at the end of the day the Turkish side will revise its positions and adopt views consistent with the parameters of UN Security Council resolutions and the EU acquis communautaire. Then the conditions for a settlement will emerge," he added.

"But I think that such views will lead us nowhere and Turkey is very well aware of that."

Commenting on the Turkish position, outlined last week in Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem's letter to his EU counterparts suggesting that an interim agreement must be reached, Papapetrou said he failed to understand the meaning of such a remark.

"An effort to solve the problem is currently under way. Either we succeed or we fail. There cannot be anything else in between. There may be some deadlines for the implementation of an agreement but I don't see what an interim solution could mean," Papapetrou said.

He said that an agreement in Cyprus could not be a result of bridging the differences between federation and confederation, "which are totally different".

"This message is given out by the Greek Cypriot side in an explicit way," he added.

Leaders of the two sides have been engaged in face-to-face talks since January 16. The first of the 10 rounds planned for this year, ends today.

Papapetrou said that Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash was negotiating within the framework of UN-led direct talks, "and accepts to discuss everything in detail without refusing to discuss issues as he has done in the past."

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[02] Canon lawyers were bribed, dissenting bishop claims

FACTION fighting and allegations of bribery marred the investiture of Kykkos Abbot Nikiforos as bishop yesterday.

Bishops, government ministers, Attorney-general Alecos Markides and other dignitaries gathered in Ayios Ioannis Cathedral in Nicosia for the ceremony yesterday morning, presided over by Archbishop Chrysostomos.

Nikiforos will be formally ordained as Bishop of Kykkos on Sunday, following the 6:3 vote in favour of his appointment last Thursday.

Once a bishop and admitted to the Holy Synod, the Abbot, a possible successor to the Archbishopric, is in a more influential position for securing the election in the future.

Given that all nine bishoprics in the Cyprus Church are already occupied, an extra diocese, Kykkos, was created on his behalf, sanctioned by Greek canon lawyers - experts who interpret Church law.

But three bishops opposed his ordination on the grounds that Nikiforos falls short of four requirements in the Church constitution for becoming a voting member of the Holy Synod.

Although the Holy Synod struck their non-vote from the record, the three bishops - of Limassol, Kyrenia and Morphou - have their own ambitions for the Archbishopric and yesterday criticised the move to waiting TV cameras outside the Cathedral.

Bishop Pavlos of Kyrenia alleged that the assenting bishops and the Greek canon lawyers had been bribed to consent to the ordination.

"We also found our own canon lawyers and they gave us the opposite view. It's just that we don't have the money to pay them, we're refugees," he said.

The Larnaca-born bishop of the occupied diocese has taken up the baton on behalf of its refugees since his own ordination.

Although the Bishop of Morphou also represents a diocese in the occupied areas, the third dissenter, the Bishop of Limassol, does not.

"Everyone has an expert opinion if you can pay for it. I have information that in Greece these people are known and the way the give their expert opinion is also known," Bishop Pavlos alleged.

"But despite our disagreement, our presence alone today shows that we believe in the unity of the Church," he finished.

Nikiforos was born on May 2, 1947 in the village of Kritou Marotou near Paphos, where he enrolled at elementary school before going to Kykkos as a child novice for six years.

He graduated from the Kykkos Lyceum in Nicosia in 1969 before studying at the faculty of law at the University of Salonica and the divinity school of Athens University between 1970 and 1978.

On September 8, 1979 Archbishop Chrysostomos appointed him Archimandrite.

From then until 1983 he was secretary of the Holy Synod and on January 14 1984 he was formally invested as Abbot of Kykkos.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[03] Police: cameras will monitor accident blackspots

POLICE hope the introduction of traffic cameras will cut road deaths by 20 per cent in the next five years

The chief of traffic police, Andreas Papas, said yesterday the cameras would be placed at traffic lights and on motorways, in an effort to decrease the number of fatal and serious accidents on the island's roads.

"These cameras have been used abroad for at least 50 years," said Papas, "and it is time that Cyprus followed their lead." He hoped that, as a result, the number of road deaths would decrease by 20 per cent within five years.

At present, the project will have around 140 cameras, distributed over 400 posts all over the island.

"The cameras will be placed at specific traffic lights and on motorways following warning signs," he said, explaining that statistical reports highlighting the most dangerous and frequent accident areas would be used in implementing the plan.

"We know where the most serious accidents take place and how often. It is at these traffic lights and on these roads that the cameras will be placed."

Although 140 cameras could obviously not cover all 400 points at the same time, Papas said this would not affect the plan, since motorists would not know which posts were manned by cameras at any given time and so would be more careful in their driving.

Papas cited a fatal road accident at a set of traffic lights in Paphos a few weeks ago, where the driver involved had jumped a red light.

"No accidents should take place at traffic lights, yet they do," he said. "Why? Because people think that at 2am they can get away with going through red lights - and before they know it, they're involved in an atrocious accident."

Papas said that if the public were aware that traffic lights were being manned 24 hour a day, motorists would think twice about violating driving laws.

"They will be photographed by the camera if they cross over the white line while the lights are red," he said, adding offenders would have no way of disputing the fact since the photograph would be evidence enough.

The government will start buying the cameras soon, he said, but could not say from where since they were still waiting for offers to come through.

But he did say that they would start putting them into place this year, and that the entire implementation process would take part in stages over the next three years.

Papas said the entire project would cost £12-13 million.

"When you compare that sum to the number of human lives it will save," he said, "it's not a lot of money."

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[04] Hasikos submits Grivas report to the President

Hasikos handed over the report at the Presidential Palace yesterday morning but declined to make any comment to the press. He said that the President would study it and act as he saw fit.

Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said the investigation was thorough, but could not say whether Clerides intended to make public the contents. The issue will be discussed at the House Defence Committee on Thursday.

Papapetrou said Clerides needed to see the report because the country was going through a fragile period and that the issue needed to be handled with care. The investigation was launched by the Defence Ministry in response to allegations by the left-wing opposition party AKEL, which claimed that National Guard recruits at a Larnaca training camp had been ordered to shout pro-Grivas slogans.

Grivas led the EOKA struggle for union with Greece against British colonial rule between 1955 and 1959. After independence he became commander of the National Guard and led its forces during the inter-communal strife but left the island in 1967. He returned secretly in 1971 and launched a terror campaign against President Makarios through the EOKA B organisation, which gained notoriety for murdering communists.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[05] Man released after armed rooftop drama

The 37-year-old - who had financial and domestic problems - dragged his 12- year-old son onto the roof of an apartment building in Palouriotissa at 11pm on Sunday. He was armed with a double-barrelled shotgun and threatened to kill himself and his son.

TV cameras arrived at the scene before the police and the man began to beg his wife, who had left home three days earlier, to come home. He also pleaded with the authorities to recognise his situation and help him support his family.

Police, members of the Fire Department and an ambulance from the Nicosia General Hospital, as well as members of the Social Welfare Department attended the scene and the man gave up his gun to a CID officer after four hours of negotiations.

He was taken to the Paphos Gate police station where he gave a statement about his situation. His wife also arrived at the station to give a statement.

Police charged the man in writing for carrying a loaded weapon and later released him.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

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