Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 96-08-28

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CONTENTS

[01] Turkish counter-demonstration ''premeditated'', says UN official

[02] Verdict on Georgiades' assassination to be announced next week

[03] Turkish deputy accuses Ciller of financing "Grey Wolves"

[04] Cyprus Stock Exchange

[05] UN to be asked to assess moves of Turkish warship

1100:CYPPRESS:01

[01] Turkish counter-demonstration ''premeditated'', says UN official

In an article by ''Irish Times'' correspondent in Cyprus Michael Jansen, published yesterday, Schmitz is reported to describe the counter-demonstration as ''premeditated'' and not ''spontaneous'', citing as proof the fact that armed elements were bused to the ceasefire line through a three-km-wide Turkish military exclusion zone.

He also notes the presence of members of the ultra-nationalist Turkish Islamic group ''Grey Wolves'' as well as that of the so-called police of the secessionist Turkish Cypriot regime, unilaterally established in the occupied part of the island.

Explaining that according to the status of the UN-controlled buffer zone the UN has the authority to investigate crimes committed within the area but not to ''pursue a proper legal process'', Schmitz says that investigation is normally submitted to the authorities of the relevant side for prosecution.

''Cyprus police could use the good offices of the UN which could act as a conduit to hand over warrants'' to the Turkish Cypriot side, he said, admitting at the same time that this would be difficult because of evidence that the counter-demonstration was ''premeditated'' and of so-called Turkish Cypriot police involvement.

Meanwhile, in the same article, Jansen cites UN Superintendent Matt Cosgrave describing the involvement of the so-called Turkish Cypriot police as ''most shocking''.

Cosgrave expresses the view that the Turkish counter-demonstrators seemed to be acting according to a plan.

''The plan was'', he says, ''to hit as many (Greek Cypriots) as possible. There was no attempt (by the so-called Turkish Cypriot police) to arrest them.''

He states that ''there should be no problem in identifying them (the suspects to the murders of the two Greek Cypriot youths) from the photographs.''

Tasos Isaac, 24, was savagely beaten to death by Turkish extremists on Sunday, August 11, during a peaceful anti-occupation demonstration, in the UN-controlled buffer zone at Dherynia. More than 40 other people were injured.

Three days later, Turkish troops shot dead Solomos Solomou, 26, during a similar demonstration in the same area. Solomou had tried to lower the Turkish flag. Eleven other people, including two British UN peacekeepers, were wounded from the indiscriminate shooting of the Turkish troops.

Turkish troops have been occupying 37 per cent of Cyprus territory since 1974, in violation of repeated UN resolutions calling for their withdrawal.

CNA MCH/GP/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1115:CYPPRESS:02

[02] Verdict on Georgiades' assassination to be announced next week

Four convicts have named a fellow-inmate Andreas Aristodemou, alias Yiouroukis, as instigator to the shooting, saying that he was paid by the Turkish secret services (MIT) to arrange Georgiades' death.

The Court heard evidence that Aristodemou had planted a bomb under Georgiades' car a couple of months before his assassination and that his brother, Kypros Aristodemou, later found shot dead, was the one who carried out the shooting.

''The Turkish state and MIT control circulation of drugs in Cyprus and there are Greek Cypriots who receive drugs from the Turks and in exchange provide services to MIT interests'', Kanin Yilmaz, a member of the Kurdish Liberation Front, told the Court.

Similar evidence was given by Kurdish activist, Erdal Kili, whom Theophilos had received at Larnaca airport and drove to Nicosia on the day of his assassination in March 20, 1994.

Meanwhile, Lakis Pingouras, member of the Cyprus Committee of Solidarity with Kurdistan, said that evidence he has received so far from members of the Kurdish Liberation Front have convinced him that Georgiades was assassinated by persons who do business with MIT.

He told the Court that Georgiades had received several threatening phone-calls in Turkish as well as threats in Turkish media, where he was described as an ''accomplice of Kurdish terrorists''.

CNA MCH/GP/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1420:CYPPRESS:03

[03] Turkish deputy accuses Ciller of financing ''Grey Wolves''

The information has been disclosed by deputy Secretary General of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Istanbul (Constantinople) deputy, Mehmet Sevigen, who said that Ciller had spent 65 billion Turkish lira (some 800.000 US dollars) in financing ''Grey Wolves'' for their counter-demonstration in Cyprus.

Sevigen wondered why Ciller, while serving as acting Prime Minister on Necmettin Erbakan's absence from Turkey, took control of the Enlightenment Fund from the Prosperity Party Minister and placed it under State Minister Ufuk Soylemez of the True Path Party.

His views are expressed in a motion to the Turkish Grand National Assembly to be answered by the Turkish Prime Minister.

In Nicosia, Government Spokesman Yiannakis Cassoulides said the island's Foreign Ministry would report information about the Grey Wolves' involvement in the recent Turkish atrocities, possibly in the form of an official document in the United Nations.

Turkish extremists savagely beaten to death Tasos Isaac, 24, during a peaceful anti-occupation demonstration in the UN-controlled buffer zone at Dherynia, on August 11. More than 40 other people were injured.

Three days later, the Turkish occupation troops shot dead a second Greek Cypriot youth, Solomos Solomou, 26, while he was demonstrating against the continued occupation of his homeland. Eleven other people, including two British UN peacekeepers, were wounded from the indiscriminate shooting of the Turkish forces.

Turkish troops have been occupying 37 per cent of Cyprus territory since 1974, in violation of repeated UN resolutions calling for their withdrawal.

CNA MCH/GP/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1810:CYPPRESS:06

[04] Cyprus Stock Exchange

CSE All Share Index                    87.55 (+0.56)
Sectural Indices
Banks                                  93.54 (+0.79)
Approved Investment Companies          79.99 (-0.12)
Insurance Companies                    66.65 (+0.23)
Industrial Companies                   87.91 (+0.24)
Tourist Industries                     80.48 (-0.05)
Commercial Companies                   74.53 (+0.40)
Other Companies                        86.35 (+0.56)
Trading Volume                         CYP 588696.366
/pre>
* The difference in brackets represents the percentage
increase (+) or decrease (-) of the index from the previous stock
exchange meeting.
CNA MM/1996
ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY
2130:CYPPRESS:05
[05] UN to be asked to assess moves of Turkish warship
Nicosia, Aug 28 (CNA) -- The government will seek from the UN
details about the moves of a Turkish warship and a patrol boat,
acting suspiciously earlier today off the island's eastern coast,
Foreign Minister Alecos Michaelides said here tonight.
Two Turkish vessels were seen this afternoon acting in a
suspicious manner out at sea for about four hours, apparently
working near buoys on an unspecified, as yet, mission.
''We shall ask the UN to give us their own assessment of the
situation and tell us what they think of the use of the Turkish
navy warship and frogmen for such a long time,'' the Minister
told local TV networks.
The moves of the warship raise many questions, Michaelides
said.
He said the government authorities will look into Turkish
allegations that the warship was apparently changing the iron
chains attached to the buoys.
''This kind of a job does not justify the presence of the
type of warship seen in the area today,'' he added.
Police said in a statement here tonight that at one o'clock
local time (10.00 GMT) a Turkish warship approached a bouy in the
sea off the island's eastern coast, and stayed there for four
hours.
A second vessel, a patrol boat of the so-called Turkish
Cypriot coastguard, arrived in the area at around three o'clock
and left when the warship abandoned the area.
Turks aboard the warship carried out some kind of work near
the buoys but it is not clear exactly what they were doing,
police said.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Turks attempted to
mark the sea line, which forms an extension of the demarcation
line dividing Cyprus since the 1974 Turkish invasion.
The attempts were made by frogmen, working from two rubber
dinghies out at sea opposite a UN inland observation post in the
area.
CNA MM/AP/1996
ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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