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/ Earthquake terror in Athens
/
THE ATHENS earthquake was the lead story in all but one of yesterday's
papers, under headlines such as "Horror of 5.9 on the Richter Scale",
"Murderous Richters strike Athens" and "Ruthless earthquake hits Athens".
Alithia, quoting a renowned French
seismologist, said that more quakes, like the one that shook Greece on
Tuesday, "cannot be ruled out" for the region. They would be of the "same
mechanics" as the August earthquake in Turkey said Fabrice Coton. Coton
explained that the quakes in Turkey and Greece were the result of the
movement of earth layers in Europe and Africa.
_Phileleftheros
_ was the only paper to lead with a different story, opting for another
report about the Cyprus problem. It reported that EU officials had warned
that Cyprus could not enter the EU if it did not possess a unitary state.
This would rule out the Turkish side's calls for a confederal settlement.
This had been conveyed by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook to his
Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem.
Greece's deputy foreign minister Yiannos Kranidiotis, who had also
discussed the issue with Cook, described this as an "important
development". Given that the US and Britain considered Cyprus' accession to
the EU as an integral part of a settlement, the EU's warning would work as
a safeguard against a confederation, the paper argued.
_Politis
_ reported a change of approach to the Cyprus peace process. It cited
comments made by American permanent representative to the UN Richard
Holbrooke who had told a Turkish TV station that for the US, the negotiator
was not Rauf Denktash, but Turkey. The Turkish channel interpreted this as
the sidelining of Denktash, who was not impressed with Holbrooke's views.
At the same time, two new elements had changed the picture with regard to
the imminent peace talks, the paper said. It was now clear that the US
favoured the holding of peace talks in October, while there were also
thought about a 'step by step' process that would take into account the
changes in relations between Turkey and the EU.
Machi, in a front-page editorial, said that if
the political will to solve the Cyprus problem and withdraw the occupying
troops did not exist, then the powerful of the world would not only fail to
solve the problem but give new ammunition to the Turkish side to torpedo
the new efforts.
If the powerful countries genuinely wanted a just and honest settlement,
all they had to do was: "impose the solution envisaged by the entirety of
UN resolutions, starting with resolution 3212 which called for the
withdrawal of the Turkish occupying troops".
_Haravghi
_ reported that Archbishop Chrysostomos had been pressurised by "political
and business circles as well as his legal advisor and close relative Aris
Hadjipanayiotou", not to honour his agreement to rent Logos TV station to
Greek TV channel Skai. Instead Logos had been rented for 10 years to Mega
TV.
During a Holy Synod meeting, the Archbishop's handling of the Logos rental
was strongly criticised by the bishops of Kyrenia and Paphos who believed
the station should remained under the control of the Church. Only the
Bishop of Kiti backed the Mega deal.
_Simerini
_ gave prominence to another issue discussed at Tuesday's Holy Synod
meeting -- the appearance of Christian symbols on the walls of a house in
the village of Trachoni. The Synod said that this was not a miracle, as had
been suggested by some, but a case of fraud.
© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999
