Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-04-03

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

Saturday, April 03, 1999

'Turks plan to station fleet in Kyrenia'

DEVELOPMENTS in the Kosovo crisis continued to dominate the front pages yesterday, but there was also a smattering of other stories of interest.

The Turks are planning to station a permanent fleet in occupied Kyrenia, Machi reported in yet another "exposé" yesterday.

The right-wing paper reported that the military port next to the town's ancient harbour was being deepened to accommodate Turkish naval ships.

The works were being overseen by a Turkish admiral, the paper added. Apart from deepening the port, the Turks were also busy building up harbour walls to provide "hiding places" for Turkish vessels, Machi stated.

Proof that these military activities were going on was that tourists visiting the old Kyrenia port had been banned from taking photographs of the new port area. Two huge cranes had been brought over to carry out the work, the paper stated. Next to the article was a picture of Kyrenia port, with what appeared to be a crane circled in the background.

Haravghi reported that every rule had been bent at Nicosia Central prison to allow two Israelis convicted on spying charges to celebrate the Jewish passover.

The two men were allowed a visit by "relatives" and Israeli embassy officials on Wednesday afternoon. Visits are officially only allowed in the mornings, the left-wing paper noted. It added that the two convicts and their guests had been allowed a private room at the prison for their celebration and had not been watched by any prison guard during the soirée.

The two Israelis' guests were allowed to carry three large packages into the prison, stating these contained foods and personal goods. No checks were carried out on the packages, the paper said.

The party apparently incensed the other inmates.

Alithia reported optimistic statements by former Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides, who said he believed his new party - Adik - could secure up to eight per cent of the vote in the next House elections.

Michaelides told the paper the momentum of the party's first meeting last week coupled with the decline of his former party, Diko, made him very optimistic about his party's prospects.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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