Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 96-08-17 (UPDATE)

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CONTENTS

[01] Greek PM visits bereaved families

[02] Greek-Americans welcome US stand

[03] National Council to meet again Tuesday

[04] Clerides, Simitis arrive at Paralimni

[05] Church presents views to Greek Premier

[06] Simitis, Clerides pay respects to bereaved families

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[01] Greek PM visits bereaved families

Simitis' motorcade, comprising 15 vehicles, will head for Paralimni town, on the east, where both murdered persons, Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomou, were buried, before moving to Larnaca, some 40 kilometres away for departure.

Isaac was savagely beaten to death by Turkish and Turkish extremists on Sunday while demonstrating in the UN buffer zone with other Greek Cypriots.

Solomou was killed by five bullets, fired by Turkish troops, when trying to pull down the Turkish flag from its pole, again in the buffer zone.

Simitis will be accompanied by President Glafcos Clerides who flies to Athens in the Premier's aircraft.

Before leaving the Presidential Palace, where he just concluded a lengthy meeting with the island's political leadership, he will have a meeting with the Primate of the Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos.

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[02] Greek-Americans welcome US stand

State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns said in a statement that the United States expresses its ''deep concern'' over the recent violence on Cyprus and ''our shock and sadness at the unjustified killing of two Greek Cypriot civilians and the injuring of several other persons, including two UN peacekeepers.''

President of AHEPA, Dr. Spiro Makris, noted that AHEPA is pleased with the new statement on the killings, ''and its unequivocal blame on the Turkish side.''

Makris added that AHEPA intends to press for stronger action ''against the criminals responsible for the increasing Turkish threats against Greece and Cyprus.''

AHEPA also welcomed Burns' statement that, ''the tragic events of the past few days underscore once again the urgent need to reach a comprehensive settlement on Cyprus.''

AHEPA Public Affairs Director, George Savidis, added the association's satisfaction with the State Department's statement, ''indicating our government does not intend to let these Turkish actions be an impediment'' to a solution in Cyprus.

Friday's US statement also said the use of force ''was disproportionate to the threat posed by the demonstrators,'' on both the Sunday beating death of Anastasios Isaac and the Wednesday shooting of Solomos Spyrou Solomou.

Isaac was beaten to death by Turkish Cypriot ''policemen'' and members of a Turkish extremist group known as the ''Grey Wolves'', while demonstrating in the buffer zone separating the Turkish occupied territory and the free areas of Cyprus.

Solomou was shot by Turkish occupation troops while attempting to tear down a Turkish flag from a Turkish guard post on the UN buffer zone.

Meanwhile, Macris and Savidis, and other community representatives, are set to meet with US Assistant Secretary of State John Kornblum, in Washington on Monday, to discuss the latest developments in Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37 per cent of its territory.

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[03] National Council to meet again Tuesday

He made this announcement at the end of tonight's extraordinary meeting of the top advisory body to President Glafcos Clerides on the handling of the Cyprus problem, which met in the presence of Greece's Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

Asked if the Council decided today on whether President Glafcos Clerides intends to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, as requested by the occupation leader, Cassoulides replied that this and a number of other issues will be discussed on Tuesday.

President Clerides is expected to go to Athens with Simitis tonight after first visiting the parents of the two young men killed by Turks during peaceful demonstrations in the UN-controlled buffer zone earlier this week.

The President will visit Salonica and then Samothraki island and will return on Monday.

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[04] Clerides, Simitis arrive at Paralimni

About 350 people, who had waited patiently for hours outside the Presidential Palace, in Nicosia, where the two leaders held talks, applauded as their motorcade passed by. The presidential car carried the Cypriot and Greek flags on either side.

Greek Cypriots, holding flags and pickets, formed two rows on each side of the road holding Cypriot and Greek flags, patiently waiting for the two leaders to go by.

The people called on Simitis to continue working for a settlement in Cyprus and expressed their feelings of support for the Greek leader with jubilant cries.

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[05] Church presents views to Greek Premier

Simitis is paying a one-day working visit to the island following the recent events in the buffer zone at the eastern coast of the island, which resulted in the brutal killing by Turks of two Greek Cypriot demonstrators. Their killings were condemned worldwide.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Simitis at the Presidential Palace, Archbishop Chrysostomos said he had presented the views of the Church.

He said he used most of his time with the Premier to stress which points should be carefully followed to enable Greek Hellenism to survive.

In a statement before his meeting with Simitis, Archbishop Chrysostomos said ''now is the time for the political leadership of Greece and Cyprus, united, to set a firm strategy and follow it until the end.''

Referring to the two Greek Cypriots killed by the Turks, the Primate of the Church said ''they have given the mobility required for Hellenism to realise that it is time to become more active''.

The Archbishop said a viable solution to the Cyprus problem should be ''the restoration of human rights for both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots''.

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[06] Simitis, Clerides pay respects to bereaved families

The two leaders first expressed their condolences to Isaac's family. He was savagely beaten to death by Turkish and Turkish Cypriot extremists, including so-called police officers, on Sunday.

The two leaders were greeted by Paralimni mayor Nicos Vlittis and local people, who welcomed the two leaders with continuous rounds of applause.

The Greek PM offered his condolences to Isaac's family, clad in black, and his widow who is expecting.

Simitis, accompanied by his Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and his entourage, expressed sadness and pain for Isaac's loss, a young man who wanted to show the injustice Cyprus is suffering as a result of the Turkish occupation.

''Your sacrifice will not go in vain,'' Simitis said in his brief remarks in reply to a welcoming address by the mayor of this eastern town.

He also said the National Council, which met earlier today in Simitis' presence, dealt with the barbaric murders of the two young men and adopted a plan of action to inform world public opinion and international fora and expose Turkish criminal acts, seeking at the same time its condemnation.

Vlittis expressed the hope that the sacrifices were not in vain and that it would be exploited in an appropriate manner to expose Turkish barbarity and the injustice the continuing occupation imposes on Cyprus.

Later the Greek PM visited the family of Solomou, shot dead by Turkish troops while trying to pull down the Turkish flag from its pole on Wednesday during a demonstration protesting Isaac's murder on Sunday.

Turning to Solomou's father, Simitis said ''I am not crying, I am proud of your son"

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