Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-10-15

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

Friday, October 15, 1999

Greece coming under heavy pressure

SPECULATION about Greece's stance at December's EU summit in Helsinki, at which members will be asked to give Turkey "candidate for membership" status, continued to be given prominence.

Simerini claimed that the US had been putting Greece under increasing pressure, which would be stepped up when President Clinton visits Athens next month. The first objective of the Clinton administration, to give Turkey EU candidate status, was "half-achieved" as the European Commission's report makes this recommendation to the Helsinki summit.

US and EU officials have been "squeezing" Greece so that it does not use its veto to stop Turkey's candidacy, it said. They argue that this would speed up the process of democratisation in Turkey and help improve Greece-Turkey relations. They also believe that closer ties with the EU would also help Cyprus peace efforts, regardless of the result of the latest initiative.

Alithia stuck by it report of the previous day, which claimed that Nicosia was very worried about the Greek government's change of policy on the issue, despite the denials of the Cyprus government spokesman. According to reliable sources, a public confrontation over the issue between the two governments was possible.

It was indicative of the rift that after Wednesday's two- hour meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Greece's foreign minister George Papandreou repeated that his country's "intention is to back Turkey's European course". Yet he underlined that Greece's vote in favour of Turkey's candidate status should not be taken for granted.

Phileleftheros claimed that Rauf Denktash' suggestion for a quadri-partite meeting on Cyprus, involving the prime ministers of Greece and Turkey, President Clerides and himself, was a "manoeuvre" to thwart any diplomatic initiative. In an attempt to dictate the framework within which any peace efforts would work, Denktash had taken the quadri- partite format off the shelf.

On the eve of the visit of the presidential envoy Alfred Moses, Denktash said he favoured proximity talks but that these had been rejected by the Greek side.

Politis gave prominence to the allegations made by Disy's former organisational secretary Andreas Tsangarides about the issuing of forged work permits for foreigners. Tsangarides, whose alleged involvement in the case was being investigated by police, claimed that the issuing of such permits was common practice, and that ministers of interior and ministry permanent secretaries had signed hundreds.

The paper yesterday reported another case regarding the illegal employment of foreign workers, in which Tsangarides was reportedly involved. Meanwhile the Attorney-general criticised the practice of allowing a suspect in a case under investigation to air his views on television.

Machi led with the Limassol bank robbery. It was unable to conceal its amazement at the fact that "two audacious, armed youngsters robbed the Popular Bank branch, situated in the heart of Limassol's commercial centre, during the busiest time of the day". Three men were arrested in connection with the robbery.

Haravghi criticised the decision to postpone elections for the leadership of the Pancyprian Committee for Refugees, which had been scheduled for November 14. All the parties, with the exception of Akel, had supported the postponement on the grounds of technical difficulties. These difficulties could have been overcome, if the parties had been committed to elections, claimed Akel spokesman Nicos Katsourides.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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