Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-02-17

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

Wednesday, February 17, 1999

Parties welcome Clerides call to discussion

YESTERDAY'S papers concentrated mostly on various approaches to solving the Cyprus Problem. Attention was also given to the Attorney-general's decision to hold a senior police officer responsible for a savage Mmad beating of African illegal immigrants being held in Larnaca last October. The papers also gave front-page attention to continuing strike action at two Larnaca hotels.

Phileleftheros said that the political parties saw President Glafcos Clerides' invitation for discussion on important government issues in a positive light. The paper said that although the government did anticipate difficulties during the discussions, it believed that compromises could be found in many areas. It is also hoped that the discussions would open the way to future alliances.

Machi said that the Mmad inspector was responsible for the beatings, "without there being any evidence against him."

The paper said that the inspector, Charalambos Mavros, had been blamed because the immigrants could not identify the policemen that beat them. The special force officers were wearing full riot gear at the time of the beatings with their faces covered by gas masks.

Haravghi said that management's decision to take out court orders in an attempt to thwart strikes at the Golden Bay and Lordos Beach hotels had "boomeranged" against them. The paper said the pickets' right to strike had been reaffirmed after a number of their members appeared in court yesterday for violation of the court orders.

Lordos Holdings, the owner of the two hotels, took out the court orders preventing strikers from blocking and preventing entrance to the hotels on Friday.

Simerini differed in its front page coverage by focusing on the arrest of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. The papers aid that, according to its sources, Ocalan had been arrested by the Kenyan authorities. The paper said the PKK leader had been hiding out in Kenya's Greek Embassy when a message from Athens betrayed him. Simerini said that the source of the message was unknown.

New tabloid Politis, which came into circulation on February 12, lead with a story headlined "He wants it all." The paper was referring to letters sent to UN secretary-general Kofi Annan by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. The paper claimed to have exclusive access the two letters, which apparently focused on attempts to turn Titina Loizidou's request for compensation into a political issue. The European Court of Human Rights last year decided that the Turkish government should pay Loizidou compensation for property lost to the Turkish occupation.

On one of its inside pages, Politis told the story of a corespondent who gave a Greek television channel 'live' eye-witness coverage of the December bombings in Baghdad. The catch was that he was really calling the channel from Paphos...

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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