Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-03-20

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Friday, March 20, 1998

Missing reports `not serious'

THE CLAIMS that 14 people, missing since 1974, were alive and well somewhere in Israel, continued to receive wide coverage but some papers viewed the affair with great scepticism.

Simerini was not one of them, as it praised sister company Sigma TV for being the first to break the news that the 14 were currently in Israel. This information had been conveyed by Michel Kyprianou, the Cypriot expatriate who had made the original claims, to acting president Spyros Kyprianou.

According to Sigma, the paper reported, Michel Kyprianou had received his information from a "high-ranking clergyman of the Jerusalem Patriarchate". The intelligence service which had also passed on information to the expatriate was the Mossad.

Machi led with a similar report, but gave more prominence to the foreign minister's assertion that the revelations were "not serious". According to the paper, the Cyprus intelligence service, Kyp, had been instructed to investigate the allegations; it would be helped by Greece's Kyp.

It was not known whether President Clerides had raised the issue of the 14 missing, during Wednesday's meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Agon said that Spyros Kyprianou had received additional information about the 14 missing from the Cypriot expat, which justified a full investigation. Reliable sources told the paper that even the new information was deemed unsatisfactory.

Alithia reported that Attorney-general Alecos Markides had given instructions to the deputy Chief of Police to investigate the whole matter. A police investigator will travel to Canada to question Michel Kyprianou, who was the source of the allegations.

If there is a case, those responsible for the allegations would be prosecuted under article 50 of the criminal code, regarding the publication of false information, which carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment.

Phileleftheros reported that the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Cyprus, Diego Cordovez, would be seeking clarifications from Rauf Denktash, regarding the type of recognition he is seeking to return to negotiations.

According to the paper Denktash did not want recognition of his state, but `acknowledgement'. A source close to Cordovez said the UN envoy was unable to tell the difference between the two.

Haravghi, quoting the general secretary of Peo trade unions federation, said that the wage freeze sought by the Employers' Federation would be strongly opposed. Negotiations for the renewal of the collective agreement in several sectors were already deadlocked because of the employers' insistence on imposing a wage freeze, the paper said.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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