Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 03-07-15

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

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

CONTENTS

[01] Green light for Tassos to respond to Denktash

[02] Ministry admits it cannot enforce threats against gamblers in the north

[03] Boy’s death remains a mystery

[04] Grain Commission awaiting government decision on Turkish Cypriot wheat

[05] Iraqi asylum seekers refuse cash offer to leave bases and go home

[06] Mobile phone offences getting worse, not better

[07] Van der Meer: Annan plan only way forward for Cyprus problem

[08] Serbia to seek Cyprus assistance on telecoms sale kickbacks

[09] Man arrested for double murder in 2000

[01] Green light for Tassos to respond to Denktash

THE NATIONAL Council yesterday authorised President Tassos Papadopoulos to handle the government’s reply to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash’s latest proposals to UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan.

On Friday, Denktash called for the reopening of the Nicosia airport in a fresh attempt to seize the initiative after he was blamed for the collapse of UN efforts to solve the Cyprus problem. The Turkish Cypriot leader asked the UN chief to revive confidence-building measures first proposed a decade ago, including the reopening of Nicosia International Airport under UN control and the partial reopening of the ghost town of Varosha.

Denktash’s offer said the Turkish Cypriots were “ready to give the closed part of Varosha to Greek Cypriots under the control of the UN in return for the opening of the Nicosia International Airport for the common use by both communities”.

Following last night’s two-hour extraordinary session of the National Council, Undersecretary to the President Christodoulos Pashiardis told reporters that political leaders had “thoroughly discussed the contents of the letter”, which Denktash had sent to the Secretary-general and which Annan had then conveyed to Papadopoulos.

“There was a complete convergence of assessments,” said Pashiardis, adding that the Council had “endorsed the President to handle the issue further”.

Pashiardis said Annan would be given a reply soon, while Denktash would receive a response to his proposals through the UN chief. He added a new meeting of the National Council had been set for July 31.

The Greek government said yesterday it was clear that Denktash’s proposal to reopen the airport was a manoeuvre and called on Ankara to restart negotiations in an effort to solve the Cyprus problem.

“These manoeuvres do not convince anybody any more,” said Greek Government Spokesman Christos Protopapas during his daily briefing, adding that Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots should enter negotiations to resolve the Cyprus issue “on the basis of UN resolutions”.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

[02] Ministry admits it cannot enforce threats against gamblers in the north

THE FINANCE Ministry has warned people crossing to the north that they could be prosecuted if they bet or gamble in the occupied areas - but admits it has little chance of enforcing the law.

The Ministry said yesterday that since the government had not issued any betting licences in the north, any Greek Cypriot betting in those shops would be breaking the law. The operation of casinos on the island is also illegal, since gambling is against the law.

The warning comes after reports that Greek Cypriots were attempting to set up betting shops in the north in collaboration with Turkish Cypriots to avoid paying hefty government betting taxes.

But despite the ministry’s intentions to clamp down on illegal gambling, ministry spokesman Michalis Papadopoulos admitted the government would face a near impossible task in pinpointing who was gambling in the north.

“At the moment there is no way to check these people, all we can do is warn them that what they are doing is illegal,” he said.

“If such a case is brought to our attention, the guilty party can rest assure that he would face the consequences.”

But Papadopoulos brushed aside speculation that police at the checkpoints might control the amount of money being taken to the north.

“We could never do something like that because people travelling to the north are travelling in their own country,” he said.

“We are not prepared to do something like that.”

Last week, bookmakers admitted they had seen business fall since the opening of the Green Line in April and expressed their concern that punters were crossing north to avoid paying the government’s betting tax.

A bill before the plenum would scrap the 10 per cent tax on betting and introduce a four per cent tax on earnings. The bill will be one of the first items on the plenum’s agenda after the summer recess.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

[03] Boy’s death remains a mystery

DOCTORS are still unsure what caused an 11-year-old Paphos boy’s sudden death over the weekend.

Evelthondas Theodorides was found lying dead in his bed by his mother on Saturday morning, following a fall in which he’d hit his back the previous night. Although his parents had taken him to Paphos hospital after his accident and he was given the all-clear, they still fear the child’s death may have been related to the fall.

However, an autopsy by state pathologist Eleni Antoniou and forensic pathologist Marios Matsakis on Sunday morning ruled out any connection between the boy’s death and the fall. The two experts also ruled out that his death might have been due to medical negligence or human error.

“There are no post-trauma complications,” said Antoniou. “The fact that the child fell the previous day is definitely a coincidence.” However, the cause of the 11-year-old’s death remained a mystery.

Matsakis, who had been hired privately to attend the autopsy by the boy’s family, concurred with his colleague’s findings. “The autopsy shows no evident causes of death. Various samples have been taken, which will undergo toxicology tests… The death was not caused by trauma and the doctors who treated him at Paphos general hospital cannot be blamed,” he said.

Both pathologists took tissue and organ samples from the boy, which are still being analysed in the hope of discovering what led to his death. Experts have not ruled out looking for a possible fatal reaction to medication.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

[04] Grain Commission awaiting government decision on Turkish Cypriot wheat

THE government has yet to decide on whether to allow the purchase of cereals from Turkish Cypriots in the north, the Grain Commission said yesterday.

“We are awaiting the decision of the President,” acting Director of the Cyprus Grain Commisson, Emilianos Emanuel, told the Cyprus Mail. “When he decides, as a semi-governmental organisation, we will act accordingly.”

The comment follows the visit of a group of Turkish Cypriot wheat growers from Louroudjina to the Agriculture Ministry last week to ask the Cypriot government to buy their produce. The visit was the first by Turkish Cypriot farmers to the Ministry since the 1960s.

Agriculture Minister Timis Efthimiou said yesterday his ministry would be informing the Council of Ministers of the government’s final decision regarding Turkish Cypriot wheat tomorrow.

He noted that any decision would be taken in accordance with EU regulations on the matter. He also stressed that the Turkish Cypriot farmers had not threatened to dump their produce in the streets in protest if their request was denied: “nothing like this was brought up.”

He said the discussion with the farmers concerned 2-3,000 tonnes of wheat produced in the areas of occupied Louroudjina, Dhali and Potamia.

Commerce Minister George Lillikas noted that agricultural produce was a “tricky” area, governed by strict EU guidelines.

“If the necessary checks are not taken by EU-approved authorities, and within the law, then the trade in agricultural produce from the north will not be possible, as EU regulations will not be satisfied.”

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

[05] Iraqi asylum seekers refuse cash offer to leave bases and go home

THE IRAQI migrants who have been living at the British bases for the past five years have turned down cash offers to return to their ‘liberated’ country, The Times has reported.

The 40 immigrants all refused $2,500 per family plus $200 for wives and $100 for each child to return to Iraq, saying the country was too unstable.

“For me the problem is not money,” Mahdi, a 41-year-old Shia from Basra, told The Times. “I wouldn’t be able to protect myself or my family if someone came to kill me. There are also problems with electricity, water, health, everything.”

The British army, which has shouldered the responsibility for the immigrants since October 1998, when they were washed ashore on bases land after almost drowning off the coast of Cyprus.

“There have been no takers at all,” Andy Livingstone, the fiscal officer for Britain’s two sovereign bases told the newspaper. “Part of the offer was that we would also fly them back there. Not at the moment, but whenever we felt it was safe to do so. Now that the danger of the regime they fled has gone, one would think they would be happy to go home and be part of rebuilding their country.”

Mahdi said he loved his country, wanted to return one day and was “very happy” that Saddam Hussein had been ousted. “But Saddam has not really gone, ” he said. “It’s looking very dangerous in Iraq. Every day someone dies. And we can’t trust the Americans. Are they going to give the people freedom, or is it just talk?”

The migrants who live on the bases are given housing and supplement their allowances by illegally working in Cyprus. Mahdi, a father of six, told The Times he has not seen his wife and children, who live in Syria, since he arrived in Cyprus five years ago.

His said his plan had been to find work in Europe so that his family could join him and he had paid people smugglers $1,000 to take him to Italy. However, the engine of their boat died and the vessel began taking in water shortly after leaving Lebanon. The Lebanese later crew abandoned the immigrants, who were rescued by the bases.

The immigrants later tried to make a case to be allowed entry to the UK but the government there refused to budge on the issue.

Twenty-one of the immigrants were given refugee status by the British Bases and the rest were given “exceptional leave to remain” at Dhekelia. “I think at the back of their minds they’re still hopeful of getting to the UK,” Livingstone said. “We’ve tried to make it very clear to them that’s not a possibility.”

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

[06] Mobile phone offences getting worse, not better

POLICE are set to extend their campaign against the use of mobile phones by drivers after reporting nearly 2,000 offenders in just 13 days.

Police spokesman Demitris Demitriou said the number of offenders had increased from the time the campaign had started and expressed concern over the public’s indifference to the dangers of talking on a mobile while driving.

“When we launched he campaign we were reporting an average of 150 offenders a day,” he said.

“But in the past week things have gone from bad to worse and we have reached the point of having to report around 250 offenders a day.”

Demitriou said the police was considering seeking the addition of penalty points as punishment for the offence on top of the current £50 fine.

According to a police bulletin issued yesterday, 1,869 offenders were fined in the period July 1 until Sunday, with 668 cases in the Nicosia district, 418 in Limassol, 299 offenders in Larnaca, 289 in Paphos, 195 in Famagusta and eight in the Morphou district.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

[07] Van der Meer: Annan plan only way forward for Cyprus problem

THE HEAD of the European Commission Delegation to Cyprus, Adrian Van der Meer, said yesterday that the only way forward to find a reasonable settlement of the Cyprus question is the Annan Plan, which Van der Meer believes truly addresses the core issues of the problem. However, he told reporters after meeting Interior Minister Andreas Christou that the EU welcomed any confidence building measures, noting it was up to the parties to decide.

Asked how he viewed proposals by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash for the reopening of the Nicosia Airport, Van der Meer said he had “taken note of the proposals”, pointing out that the EU line was “similar to the one of the UK, which is that it is up to the parties to see what they will like to do.”

He emphasised that for the EU “the position is very, very clear, there can be only one way forward, and that is the Annan Plan because that tackles all the comprehensive elements towards the settlement and all the core issues.

“Any confidence building measures are welcome, but it is up to the parties to decide what to do and not to do,” he said.

Regarding the trading of Turkish Cypriot goods on the island, Van der Meer said the EU “is very much in favour of intra trade on the island”, adding that “we are working on practical solutions together with the government”.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

[08] Serbia to seek Cyprus assistance on telecoms sale kickbacks

JUSTICE Minister Doros Theodorou stressed yesterday that he had no knowledge of a request from the Serbian government for Cyprus’ help in an inquiry into a 1997 sale of state assets under former President Slobodan Milosevic.

The Serbian Government’s website posted press releases last Thursday and Friday calling on six countries -- including Cyprus -- to help Serbia’s judiciary “investigate abuses in the 1997 sale of government mobile company Telekom Srbija to Telecom Italia,” which allegedly involved millions of dollars in kickbacks.

“No I don’t know anything about this,” Theodorou told the Cyprus Mail. “I haven’t been sent a letter requesting help. If I receive one, then of course I will look into the case.”

A press release on the Serbian government website (www.serbia.sr.giv.yu/news) dated July 10, states that Justice Minister Vladan Batic “has called on the justice ministers of Italy, Greece, Germany, Cyprus, the Netherlands, and Great Britain” to help in the inquiry.

A press release on the website dated July 11 states that “countries that have been sent official requests to help Serbia’s judiciary in the investigation process are expected to make statements.” It also reports that statements from Italy suggest the fraud could amount to about 48 million deutschemarks.

Batic was quoted last Saturday as saying the sale was “the biggest scam and financial machination in Serbia in the 20th century.”

News agency reports said Milosevic and his associates may have had secret bank accounts and offshore companies in the six countries.

Fifty-one per cent of Telecom Srbija was sold to Telecom Italia for $497 million during Milosevic’s presidency.

In 2001, the Italian Parliament began an investigation into the sale after the Italian newspaper La Reppublica alleged the deal had involved an Italian entrepreneur asking for millions of dollars in kickbacks.

Last year, Telecom Italia pulled out of the deal and Serbian authorities bought back the stakes in Telecom Srbija for $220 million.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

[09] Man arrested for double murder in 2000

A 25-YEAR-man was yesterday remanded in custody for two days in connection with a double murder that took place in December 2000.

Andros Savvas Emiliou, 29, and Christos Tziakouris, 27, died in a hail of bullets as they were leaving a building in the Ayios Omologites suburb of Nicosia in the early hours of December 27, 2000.

Emiliou, who had served four years in prison for murdering his uncle, died instantly in the attack, while Tziakouris, who had been arrested on several occasions on suspicion of placing bombs, was left outside Nicosia general hospital, where he died shortly after.

Tziakouris was also on bail awaiting trial as an alleged accomplice in the murder of special constable Photis Petrakides.

The 25-year-old suspect was arrested on Sunday. He was taken to Nicosia District Court for a remand hearing yesterday.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

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