Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 03-07-09

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

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

CONTENTS

[01] Hotel employees return to work as agreement signed

[02] Greens table bill to force shops to charge for plastic bags

[03] EU cash on offer for small businesses across the divide

[04] Couple charged for bogus charity drive

[05] Government apologises to Turkish Cypriot woman turned back at Larnaca airport

[06] Bases blast ‘scurrilous’ Channel 4 documentary on ‘rampant squaddies’

[07] Ditching the rat race for an offbeat venture?

[08] Britain urges resumption of talks

[09] CyTA warns it could suffer from lack of autonomy in liberalised market

[10] DISY blasts government over ‘phantom drug strategy’

[11] United Cyprus team ready to take on the UN

[12] Bases policeman held on suspicion of selling forged passports to Turkish Cypriots

[01] Hotel employees return to work as agreement signed

A POTENTIAL tourism crisis was averted last night as the Hoteliers Association (PASYXE) signed the renewal of the sector’s collective agreement bringing to an end the uncertainty created by their refusal to do so on Monday.

The agreement was signed at the Labour Ministry at around 7pm following hours of talks with PASYXE. The Association had backed out of signing the agreement at the eleventh hour on Monday, plunging parts of the sector back into strike action.

Twenty PASYXE hotels had signed the agreement with unions earlier yesterday, in addition to the 10 who did so following a strike last Thursday. The agreement involved 45 hotels and 2,000 staff islandwide.

The labour dispute between hoteliers and unions has been ongoing since last year but a verbal agreement was reached at the end of last week and staff returned to their posts until Monday’s setback when PASYXE asked for some clarifications in writing relating to the administration of the employees’ provident fund.

PASYXE did not want rival hotel association STEK included in the agreement because of their concerns over the running of the fund but had been asked by the unions to sign on the understanding that problems that arose at a later date could be dealt with as they came up. When the clarifications failed to materialise PASYXE bailed out until yesterday.

“We were given written clarifications from the Minister of Labour today after a meeting called by him this morning and this gave the opening for signing the new collective agreement later in the afternoon,” PASYXE Director General Zacharias Ioannides told the Cyprus Mail.

“Further concessions were made on the part of the unions with reference to the welfare fund as far as the time span which is given for the hoteliers to pay the outstanding contributions to this fund.”

Ioannides said an extension was given until 2009. “Beyond that we have the new developments further to the clarifications that we asked yesterday from the ministry and were given today to us and that has facilitated the signing of the agreement,” he added.

Speaking after the signing Labour Minister Makis Keravnos expressed the certainty that a continuous and productive dialogue would continue to exist.

SEK union chief Demetris Kittenis thanked the Minister for his mediation efforts and said the crisis had passed. “We can now have permanent industrial peace that will be based on the application of the Industrial Relations Code and working cooperation,” he said.

Ioannides confirmed that all hotel employees had now returned to work. “The industry is back in full force to provide the high standard that our tourists are accustomed to enjoy while holidaying in Cyprus,” he said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[02] Greens table bill to force shops to charge for plastic bags

THE GREEN Party has tabled a bill that if approved by the plenum in October could see consumers paying 10 cents for each plastic bag they use.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, Green deputy George Perdikis said the move aimed to reduce the overuse of plastic bags and protect the environment.

“Consumers in other EU countries have to pay for the plastic bags they use, and that has dramatically reduced the number of bags used, since people don’t want to pay, therefore they fit more stuff into fewer plastic bags,” he said.

Perdikis said Cypriots used a lot of plastic bags and that their disposal was a serious threat to the environment.

“We have already tabled the bill and if it is passed in October it would be very beneficial for the environment,” he said.

“The use of plastic bags has been reduced in countries where consumers are charged for using them and I think this is what is going to happen here too.”

The new law would force supermarkets to allow the consumer to chose between using carrier bags made out of plastic, paper or fabric. Consumers would not be charged for small plastic bags used to carry fruit and vegetables.

Retailers failing to abide by the new law would be fined.

Ireland introduced a ‘green tax’ on plastic bags last year to combat the problem of discarded bags, which littered the countryside, clogged drains and added to the mountains of waste engulfing the country’s landfill sites.

Since then, the number of plastic bags used at supermarkets and convenience stores has dropped by 90 per cent. The money raised by the tax is spent on environmental and waste management projects.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[03] EU cash on offer for small businesses across the divide

GREEK and Turkish Cypriot small and medium-sized enterprises are being invited to apply for EU grants being released through the ‘Partnership for the Future’ programme.

The overall objective of the grant, according to Giuseppe Belsito, Business Development Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through which the scheme is being administered, is to enhance the competitiveness of these businesses in Cyprus and to support them in expanding their access to profitable international markets.

Any Greek or Turkish Cypriot business with fewer than 250 employees has until September 15 to apply for the grant, which is aimed to improve productivity, open up new markets, and aid in developing human resources.

Belsito told the Cyprus Mail he hoped businesses on both sides of the Green Line would take the opportunity to apply, since the UNDP had allocated half a million euros for the newly created grant.

“We see this money being used most effectively for market strategy, promotion, and of course, for the purchasing of new equipment,” Belsito noted.

It is the UNDP’s aim to help both the Turkish and Greek sides of the island. Each application will be examined thoroughly and financially awarded on its merit and need, regardless of the businesses location, although Belsito remarked that he hoped the money would be granted proportionately to each respective community.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[04] Couple charged for bogus charity drive

A LIMASSOL couple allegedly collecting money under false pretences for a 12 year-old leukaemia victim fell foul of the law yesterday when they mistakenly knocked on the door of the little girl's relatives asking for a donation.

The couple aged 40 and 42, who have not been named, were charged and released, police said. They had been going around the village of Skarinou allegedly collecting money for the child, who is being treated at Makarios hospital, and giving out children's books in exchange for money.

However, they were caught out when they ended up at the home of the child's relatives, who called the police and the couple were arrested. They were in possession of 98 children's books and £53 in cash.

Police said the family had heard as far back as January that someone was going around collecting money on their behalf. They have not ruled out the involvement of further suspects.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[05] Government apologises to Turkish Cypriot woman turned back at Larnaca airport

A TURKISH Cypriot woman arriving at Larnaca airport from Lebanon should not have been refused entry into Cyprus, an Interior Ministry official said yesterday.

“There has been a mistake,” Anny Shakalli, acting Migration Officer at the Ministry, told the Cyprus Mail. “The fact she was refused entry was a mistake.”

According to press reports, Gulsevin Sah and her two children were turned away by authorities at the airport on Saturday, after she produced a Lebanese passport without the necessary visa for Cyprus. Reports said Sah and her children were then held at the airport for 24 hours before being put on a flight back to Lebanon on Sunday.

“According to the police, on appearance at the airport she showed her Lebanese passport but didn’t have the visa, which is why she was refused entry,” Shakalli said. “The way her birthplace (Nicosia) was spelt in the passport was not recognised by the authorities - no one realised she was born in Cyprus.”

She stressed that there were no restrictions on Turkish Cypriots entering Cyprus through legal points of entry in the free areas.

“They are citizens of the Republic and can move freely,” she said. “But there was a misunderstanding regarding the nationality of the lady.

“We apologise to this lady and are trying to rectify the mistake,” she added.

Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides yesterday expressed the government’s regret at the incident.

“The government expresses its sadness for the inconvenience the Turkish Cypriot lady and her family suffered,” he said in a written statement.

“The policy of the government is to enable our Turkish Cypriots co-citizens to enjoy the same rights as any other citizen of the Republic, wherever possible.”

He noted that according to EU harmonization laws, Sah should have been given a visa in Beirut, as visas could not be issued at the airport by law.

“The law was followed to the letter, and unfortunately the Minister of Interior was not informed so he was unable to make a political decision,” he added.

Sah is married to a Lebanese man, and has lived in Lebanon for several years. Her parents live in occupied Lapithos.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[06] Bases blast ‘scurrilous’ Channel 4 documentary on ‘rampant squaddies’

BRITISH bases authorities were furious yesterday after the screening in the UK on Monday night of a Channel 4 documentary portraying squaddies in Cyprus as a bunch of violent drunks of whom locals and tourists live in constant fear.

The UK Ministry of Defence was looking at its options with regard to what action it could take, bases spokesman Rob Need told the Cyprus Mail, describing the documentary - entitled ‘Squaddies on the Rampage’ - as “scurrilous”.

A sizeable portion of the one-hour programme featured anti-bases DIKO deputy Marios Matsakis in what was billed as “a story of havoc and violence, a catalogue of crime that has ultimately strained relations between the UK and Cyprus.”

Centering on events leading up to the abduction and brutal murder of Danish tour guide Louise Jensen in September 1994 by three drunken British soldiers, the programme alleged that at the heart of most of the problems was “the weakness that lies at the heart of the British army - alcohol”.

“Alcohol is British military disease,” it said.

“A drunk soldier is a bad soldier,” said Matsakis, while former squaddies boasted of Cyprus being a “dream posting” and a “paid holiday” with “bar after bar after bar at £1 a pint”.

“We just took it to extremes,” said one ex-soldier. “One pint would turn into ten and then you’d be out all night.”

His superiors didn’t care, he said as long as he could still get up at 6am every day and do his job. He also said that on the Limassol strip squaddies regarded certain bars as their territory and didn’t like locals encroaching. “Like it was our country not yours and we deserve to be here more than you,” he added.

“There is still a colonial philosophy,” said Matsakis, who went on to accuse the Cyprus government of still kow-towing to their “masters” by brushing incidents involving squaddies under the carpet.

Need called the entire programme “unbalanced” - “a platform for one of the main anti-British protagonists… Dr Matsakis.”

“In last five years there has not been a single serious incident involving the British forces,” Need said, adding that Channel 4 had not even bothered to contact them during the making of the documentary.

“We learned of it through a contact who tipped us off that he had been approached for ‘dirt’ on the Bases,” said Need. “It is a thoroughly disreputable and scurrilous programme raking up historical incidents which can only serve to upset people like the Jensen family who suffered such a tragic loss.”

In the case of the Jensen murder, the programme implied it could have been avoided if one of the three killers, Alan Ford, had earlier been grounded, as allegedly promised by the bases after he scarred a British tourist for life in a pub attack a month before.

Kevin Remmer’s needed 27 stitches after Ford rammed a glass into his face. Remmer said he was told by a regiment leader that he would be confined to barracks.

Channel 4 also hauled in a former military psychiatrist, who said alcohol was at the heart of most problems with squaddies. Ford had served in Northern Ireland where he was allegedly drinking a bottle of whisky a day.

Matsakis called for a complete ban on drinking for soldiers but said it would be impossible as drink was practically “institutionalised” in the army. “It’s only a matter of time before we have another Jensen case,” he said.

Gilbert Blades, a solicitor specialising in court martials, said the drinking policy and culture in the army “comes from the top”. “It’s a policy of the MOD to provide bars and places of entertainment,” he said. “The reality is that it is institutionalised. The MOD says things have improved but we suspect they haven’t.”

Need denied that squaddies were nothing but a bunch of violent drunks. “I have just been down at the Fasouri plantation where 17 members of Kings Own Royal Border Regiment have been assisting Cyprus police and SBA police in the hunt for the murder suspect in temperatures and physical conditions which were so extreme that it would not support the theory that there is a drinking culture here because they would have died,” he said.

Need also denied allegations in the programme that the ‘out of bounds’ ban on Ayia Napa, imposed after the Jensen killing, would be lifted this year.

“We review our out of bounds area policy from time to time,” he said. “Our out of bounds areas are designated because of safety and security. There are no plans to lift the out of bounds restrictions that are in place in the centre of Ayia Napa.”

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[07] Ditching the rat race for an offbeat venture?

BRIGHTON-based television company Ricochet South is looking for people to participate in a new series of the successful Channel 4’s documentary series No Going Back.

The programme looks at people bailing out of the rat race in the UK to follow their dream of starting a brand new business venture overseas - and Ricochet South are particularly interested in talking to people relocating to Cyprus.

“We’re doing about six programmes and are really keen to find a story on Cyprus,” Ricochet South Researcher Lisa Winter told the Cyprus Mail.

“We are looking for people who are planning to relocate to Cyprus within the next few months, because we want to follow them from the very beginning, packing up and moving, from scratch. Then we follow them for six months, hopefully finishing filming just after Christmas.”

The company would especially like to hear from a family or couple looking to set up a new business on the island.

“Ideally, it should be something they haven’t done before, where they are not using their existing skills -- small businesses mainly. In the past we had a family who moved out to Tuscany and bought an olive farm, for example, ” Winter said.

Other stories featured in previous programmes include farming olives and grapes in rural Spain, carp fishing holidays in Brittany, safaris in Zambia and art courses in Provence.

And what’s in it for participants?

“It’s an hour of prime time TV on Channel 4, so it’s really good publicity for those participating,” Winter said. “People who have participated in the past have had really good responses and got really good business out of it.”

The series is due to be aired between February and March next year.

So if you are selling up and moving abroad this summer to start the business of your dreams or you know anyone who is, contact Lisa Winter at Ricochet South on +44 (0) 1273 604 792 or email lisa.winter@ricochetsouth.co.uk

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[08] Britain urges resumption of talks

BRITAIN has called on the two sides in Cyprus to resume negotiations on the Annan Plan as soon as possible, a letter from the Cyprus Desk of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has revealed.

The letter was sent in response to a resolution passed by Barnet Council, which called on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to redouble his efforts towards a solution to the Cyprus problem and apply pressure on the Turkish government.

“The British government wholeheartedly believes that the accession of Cyprus to the EU will bring many benefits to all concerned”, the letter said.

“We fully supported the UN process aimed at achieving a lasting and comprehensive settlement and we believe that the UN plan is just and fair to both Turkish and Greek Cypriots”, the letter said. “We are extremely disappointed that it was not possible to secure a settlement in The Hague on 10 and 11 March.”

“However, we are urging both sides to return to the plan as soon as possible in order to negotiate a settlement based on it.”

The Hague talks collapsed after Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash refused to take the Annan plan to a referendum, which has left the international community racing to find a settlement before Cyprus joins the EU in May 2004.

A group of opposition parties in the north have banded together in an attempt to oust Denktash in the December elections in the north in order that negotiations can take place on the plan, but the Republican Turkish Party, the main opposition party has decided to go it alone. It believes it has enough support to carry off a win on its own.

However, Ali Erel, president of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, said on Monday that all the Turkish Cypriot opposition parties should put forward a joint list in the elections.

Mustafa Akinci, who recently formed the Peace and Democracy Movement to bring the opposition together, said he welcomed Erel’s statements.

Denktash, told an interview with Radio Napa yesterday that he had laughed out loud when he heard reports that he was to be sidelined ‘like Yasser Arafat’ by the international community.

“I laughed, if the democratic decisions of the people are to be sidestepped with illegal pressure or monetary pressure, as we have now, our opponents will be supported and the minority’s voice will be made the majority’s rule. Then of course the world is not worth living in. Why don't they accept the will of the people - which will be shown at the next election,” Denktash said.

Asked if there was any truth in the reports, he added: “Well I see the British government asking Turkey to press me. I see the US government asking Turkey to get rid of me - I see all these things. I don't take them seriously because I am a democratically elected person.”

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[09] CyTA warns it could suffer from lack of autonomy in liberalised market

THE CHAIRMAN of the Telecommunications authority (CyTA) yesterday aimed a broadside at the state for depriving the organisation of the necessary autonomy to operate in an increasingly competitive market, warning further delay could be dangerous.

Presenting CyTA’s annual report, board chairman Stathis Papadakis said the organisation needed autonomy and flexibility to realise its vision, and only the state could provide those tools.

“In this area, I am sorry to say that we are very late and further delay could prove dangerous for the organisation,” Papadakis said.

“We respect the government’s views for the way CyTA operates and I think there is no substantial difference concerning the intention to give the organisation all the potential to function as an autonomous enterprise in the highly competitive environment that is forming,” Papadakis said, adding CyTA was not dogmatic on models the public may still be coming to terms with.

Despite coming to the end of its term this month, the board was yesterday scheduled to meet to come up with suggestions to the government on how to make CyTA more competitive, the chairman said.

Announcing the organisation’s results, Papadakis said CyTA’s surplus for 2002 had been cut to just £6.9 million before tax after the organisation was fined £20 million for exploiting its dominant position in the market, while £40 million were handed to the state as a one-off grant.

Add taxation to all that and CyTA was left with a paltry £1 million, Papadakis said.

The outgoing chairman said that cuts in phone rates had decreased the organisation’s income by £4 million, or two per cent, while total expenditure, excluding the £60 million, had reached £159 million - an increase of £8 million or five per cent.

Income from phone services represent 86 per cent of the organisation’s total income from various services, which was down by £9 million compared to 2001.

Operating costs have increased by three per cent, reaching £141 million compared to £137 in 2001.

The increase was mainly due to the increase in labour costs, Papadakis said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[10] DISY blasts government over ‘phantom drug strategy’

DISY yesterday accused the government of not having a national strategy on drugs, following the health minister’s refusal to submit the state’s draft plan before the House Crime Committee.

Spark flew after Health Minister Dina Akkelidou declined to submit the draft plan before the committee, arguing that it should be first be studied by the an EU pre-accession official due on the island in two months.

DISY deputy Rikkos Erotocritou repeatedly asked the minister to table the draft immediately and disputed its existence, saying the much-trumpeted plan “is a ghost”.

Akkelidou said the plan would be before the committee in October, but Erotocritou insisted the plan was not top secret and that the committee wanted to have a say in it.

The DISY deputy accused the minister of not even knowing her department’s “inexistent” strategy.

Akkelidou said there was a strategy, but it would be better to submit the plan after the EU official had made his suggestions.

AKEL deputy Kikis Yiangou said the national strategy for fighting drugs was one of the President’s pre-election commitments and wondered, “why should the plan be submitted before the committee now and run the danger of being undermined?”

Erotocritou, however, said the committee wanted to follow the progress of the plan; if it were not submitted, it meant the strategy was inexistent.

Speaking after the meeting, Akkelidou said the government had nothing to hide because it was proud of what it had accomplished.

“There is a strategy, it is complete compared to the strategies of other countries; it is very good and we believe it will be very effective,” Akkelidou said.

Erotocritou countered that yesterday’s meeting proved that the “much- trumpeted national drug strategy, which was supposedly pending at the office of the President of the Republic for final approval was inexistent”.

He added that the minister was trying to convince “that the king wore flashy clothes but in reality he remained naked; there is no national strategy”.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[11] United Cyprus team ready to take on the UN

CYPRUS will today be briefly reunited, as a team of Greek and Turkish Cypriot youths represent the island in a football exhibition match against diplomats and UN Soldiers this afternoon.

The match is organised as part of a series of bi-communal activities promoted by the Italian Embassy in Nicosia and the Delegation of the European Commission to Cyprus.

Yesterday morning, the talent scout from Italian football giants Lazio, Felipe Pulici, and Alessandro Toti, a member of the Rome club’s youth training staff, were busy selecting the team that would represent the island in tonight’s game.

Speaking to journalists, Pulici said he did not wish to comment on the political problem the two communities were facing, but said he was delighted to be given the opportunity to put a team together consisting of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

“It’s great that football can unite the two communities and have them working together to achieve a goal,” he said.

And for the first time in 29 years, Greek and Turkish Cypriot children poured onto the field at the UNPA in Nicosia for a kick-about under the watchful eye of the Italians.

Turkish Cypriot Jamal Ince, 20, said he was delighted to be able to train together with Greek Cypriots, and was over the moon at being given the opportunity to show his skills before the Italian scout.

“I am very excited and especially because I am being watched by the Lazio people,” he said.

“I had a little argument with them yesterday because they wanted me to play in goal, when I told them I wanted to play forward, but today hopefully I will be given the opportunity to show my skills.

“This is the first time Greek and Turkish Cypriots will play together in the same team, it’s a special feeling and I hope we will be given the opportunity to do it more often,” Ince added.

He was optimistic that Cyprus would demolish the diplomats in tonight’s game.

“Well, they’re old,” Ince said.

“So I don’t think they will have the stamina to keep up with us.”

Greek Cypriot Andreas Chlorides said he couldn’t wait to get into the pitch.

“I am very happy to be given the opportunity to play together with the Turkish Cypriots, I’m sure it will be loads of fun,” he said.

The game starts at 5.30pm at the UNPA at Nicosia airport. Tickets cost £1 (£1.4 million Turkish Cypriot lira). All proceeds will fund medical research projects on the island.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

[12] Bases policeman held on suspicion of selling forged passports to Turkish Cypriots

A TURKISH Cypriot British Bases policeman, his father and a Greek Cypriot are being held in police custody on suspicion of issuing fake Cyprus passports to Turkish Cypriots and settlers, police confirmed yesterday.

The three face charges of forgery and circulation of false documents. A Turkish Cypriot woman is also wanted in connection with the case.

The men were arrested soon after the police launched an investigation following the arrest of two Turkish Cypriot men by Luton police in the UK. The men had attempted to land in the UK but they were arrested when the police discovered their passports were forged.

The two men were sent back to Cyprus, where they allegedly confessed they had bought the passports from the suspects.

The two men were yesterday brought before a Larnaca court for a remand hearing.

The police argued they had linked the SBA policeman with a travel agency in Larnaca and after a search at the Greek Cypriot suspect’s house in Kiti, they found an agenda containing names of Turkish Cypriots, as well as telephone numbers and a file containing Greek and Turkish Cypriot birth certificates.

The Turkish Cypriot men told the police they were sent the passports by their parents from the UK and received them from a woman from Kyrenia.

The suspects were remanded in custody for eight days by the Larnaca court yesterdy.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

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