Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 03-04-02

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

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

CONTENTS

[01] Gul travels to the north tomorrow

[02] Injured Iraqi baby stops over in Akrotiri on way to UK for burns treatment

[03] Competition Commission launching bank cartel investigation

[04] Clerides in bid to avert party rift

[01] Gul travels to the north tomorrow

Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Dirioz told reporters yesterday that the failure of the UN plan for Cyprus did not mean that efforts to find a solution had stopped. “It has been announced on various occasions that a non-solution is not a solution. Turkey is conducting its own work,” he said.

The UN's latest efforts on Cyprus came to an abrupt halt in The Hague on March 10 when Denktash refused to commit to a referendum on a plan drawn up by UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan. The Greek Cypriot side had given a conditional 'yes'.

Turkey and the Denktash regime are now calling for a meeting between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides along with guarantors Greece, Turkey and Britain to renew efforts for a Cyprus solution.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a television interview last week that Gul had started preparing for such a meeting.

Erdogan criticised the Annan plan, saying that it amounted to Turkey “giving up Cyprus.”

Denktash has said he agrees with Erdogan. “There is not rule that the United Nations must participate in every meeting,” he said. “The Cyprus problem can easily be solved between the five sides if they agree that the Turkish and Greek Cypriots are equal communities. The problem can be easily solved if all sides agree that the establishment of a bizonal structure is essential because of the incidents. An effort will be made to establish a basis. Such a meeting will be useful. An initiative has been made. I hope that it will yield a result.”

The government said on Monday that Denktash was “trying to downgrade the presence of the Republic of Cyprus and upgrade his own regime” and that there was no possibility of solving the Cyprus problem outside UN parameters.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

[02] Injured Iraqi baby stops over in Akrotiri on way to UK for burns treatment

According to agency reports, Mareyam Ailan suffered serious burns in a fire at her home near the southern city of Basra.

At 11pm on Sunday, the infant, accompanied by her parents, flew to Cyprus from Kuwait on board a military plane, Need told the Cyprus Mail.

“They arrived in Akrotiri early on Monday morning. Medical supplies were transferred to the plane and it took off for England about an hour later,” he said. Neither baby Mareyam nor her parents got off the aircraft during the brief stopover, he added.

Asked whether a doctor had seen the child during the stopover in Cyprus, Need said: “There is a full medical team on the aircraft. It's like a casualty department and fully equipped with medical facilities, so there was no requirement for her to see a doctor here.”

The Bases spokesman would not comment on reports that the young family had been joined by injured British soldiers on the second leg of their journey to England.

The plane flew to Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where Mareyam was admitted in intensive care for treatment. Reports said doctors in Iraq had been unable to treat her wounds because her burns were “quite severe”, which was why her parents had approached British soldiers for help on Sunday. So far the infant's condition was stable.

Need said he did not know whether the trio would be flown back to Iraq from the UK once the six-month-old's treatment was completed.

“It's too early to tell. That's just speculation,” he said.

A British Defence Ministry spokesman told reporters the blaze had not been caused by US-led military action against Iraq.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

[03] Competition Commission launching bank cartel investigation

The formal investigation follows rumours which surfaced last week alleging that Laiki Bank, the Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank had colluded on policy and service charges, and acted to regulate competition to the detriment of customers.

The CPC's website yesterday listed among its 'pending investigations' an enquiry into “all Commercial Banking Institutions” for possible infringement of laws relating to undistorted competition in the market.

It is understood that CPC Chairman Christodoulos Tselepos ordered the investigation to break up the cartel after he became convinced the three banks were engaged in fixing rates and other offences. According to reports, raids on two of the named banks were carried out with one of the raids bringing to light enough evidence to suggest that a cartel may have been in operation. It is also alleged that important information relating to a bank cartel was uncovered by an unnamed individual at the CPC previously in records held by the Commercial Banks Association. The information was said to have indicated the existence of the cartel, but was never followed up by the CPC for unknown reasons.

The investigation is the latest in a number of enquiries launched by the CPC in an attempt to crackdown on unlawful cartels.

The CPC joined the International Competition Network - an international body for competition law. The network comprises members from all the national competition authorities across the globe, including the European Union.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

[04] Clerides in bid to avert party rift

Clerides met current chairman Nicos Anastassiades and former foreign minister Yiannakis Cassoulides in an effort to find common ground and avoid further rifts that could emerge in the run up to the May 25 party elections.

The meeting took place at Clerides' home in Nicosia in the presence of the former president's right-hand man, Pantelis Kouros.

According to reports, Clerides pointed out to Cassoulides that he was the only member of the party who had a good chance of winning the next presidential elections.

Clerides stressed that a defeat on May 25 could hurt Cassoulides' potential candidacy in five years' time.

The former president maintained that Cassoulides should not run for party office and concentrate instead on building his profile as the next president, reports said.

In an effort to convince Cassoulides to withdraw his candidacy, Anastassiades, who is keen not to lose the party leadership, suggested he remained party chief for four more years and then withdraw from politics.

He also suggested that Cassoulides should go for one of the three deputy chairman positions and run for election to the European Parliament.

Clerides, however, insisted Cassoulides should stay away from party politics, but agreed it would be a good idea to run for Euro-MP.

Cassoulides countered that he would agree not to run for party leader if he could take on the party's political planning and lead the ballot in the next general elections.

The proposal was rejected by Anastassiades, who thought it would demean his role as chairman.

The two men declined to comment as they left the meeting.

According to reports, a new meeting has been scheduled for today, though it is thought that agreement on the issue is close to impossible.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

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