Cyprus News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-02-10

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] Clerides begins official visit to India

[02] Hearing impaired get a helping hand

[03] Cyprus Police Chief visits Britain

[04] Clerides meets India's President and Premier

[05] Turks prevent doctor to visit enclaved people

0940:CYPPRESS:01

[01] Clerides begins official visit to India

New Delhi, Feb 10 (CNA) -- Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides began a six-day state visit to India today, aimed to boost political and economic ties between the two countries.

During his stay President Clerides will hold talks with Indian President Shanker Dayal Sharma, and Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda.

In a statement before welcoming President Clerides, Minister of State for Coal Shrimati Kanti Sigh stressed India wishes for closer relations with Cyprus in all fields.

''We are very much looking forward to this visit and we hope bilateral relations in all fields, political and economic, will be boosted,'' she said.

The Cypriot President is accompanied by Foreign Minister Alecos Michaelides and Government Spokesman Yiannakis Cassoulides.

A bilateral agreement on merchant shipping will be signed by the Foreign Minister and Indian Minister of Surface Transport T.G. Venkataraman.

President Clerides was received at the Indira Ghandi International Airport by Coal Minister Sigh, Indian High Commissioner to Cyprus, Shri Y.M. Tiwari, Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Lalit Mansingh, and Cyprus High Commissioner to India, Stavros Epaminondas.

CNA MCH/MA/GP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1145:CYPPRESS:02

[02] Hearing impaired get a helping hand

Nicosia, Feb 10 (CNA) -- The island's hearing impaired have had their lives made a little easier this month by a new telephone system addressing their communications needs.

The Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA) implemented February 1st, a new telephone-fax system which allows the hearing impaired to send and receive telephone messages.

"We are very pleased with the new system which will greatly aid the needs of the island's hearing-impaired community," School for the Deaf Director, Andreas Lemesios, told CNA.

Hearing impaired persons can contact others by sending a written fax to the Authority at a specific telephone number. An Authority employee then telephones the individual the message is intended for and reads the message. The fax message is also mailed to the receiver.

Those wishing to contact a hearing-impaired person follow the same procedure conducted in reverse.

The service applies also for international calls.

The Authority's Assistant Director for Commercial Services, Eleftherios Koudounas, said the service was something the Authority deemed to be part of its social responsibilities.

"Fees for the service do not even cover its expenses. However, it is something the Authority feels fulfills an obligation to our community," he said.

The service was brought about after the Hearing Impaired Parents' Association asked the Authority to help make it easier for the hearing impaired to communicate.

"We are happy with the sensitivity the Authority has shown on the matter and the speed with which it implemented the service," Lemesios added.

CNA MH/GP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1215:CYPPRESS:03

[03] Cyprus Police Chief visits Britain

A Cyprus Police press release here said Hadjiloizou's visit takes place within the framework of the existing cooperation between the Cypriot and the British police forces.

The purpose of his visit is to examine Bramshill Police Academy's programmes and the possibility of incorporating some of these programmes in the Cyprus Police Academy.

This is part of a general effort to upgrade the Police Academy, the press release added.

Hadjiloizou will also visit various centres of modern policing, where he will discuss the introduction of modern police operation methods, for a better and more effective performance by the police, which has been very successful recently, according to the press release.

CNA AZK/GP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1250:CYPPRESS:04

[04] Clerides meets India's President and Premier

New Delhi, Feb 10 (CNA) -- The peoples of Cyprus and India share common values and have always had "excellent relations", President Glafcos Clerides said, noting that the two governments wish for further cooperation in the fields of commence and industry.

In a short statement to the press during a ceremonial reception held in his honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan Presidential Palace, President Clerides said he is greatly honoured to be in India, "a country with which Cyprus maintains excellent relations."

Cyprus and India, he said, "believe in the same principles and added that the great cooperation" that exists between the two countries in international political fora should also be extended and strengthened in the fields of commerce and industry.

"Our cultural relations have been strong all along. Our cooperation in political international fora is very good", the Cyprus President said, adding that "we are now trying to strengthen our relations in commerce and industry."

During the ceremonial reception held in his honour, President Clerides was greeted by President of India Dayal Sharma and Indian Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Also present at the ceremony were Indian Environment and Coal Ministers, Jai Narayan Nishad and Kanti Singh as well as the High Commissioner of India to Cyprus Y.M. Tiwari and Cyprus High Commissioner to India Stavros Epaminondas.

Following the presentation for arms and the National Anthems of the two countries, President Clerides inspected the Guard of Honour accompanied by the Head of Presidential Guard of Honour and the Indian Security Officer attached to the President.

President Clerides accompanied by Foreign Minister Alecos Michaelides and Government Spokesman Yiannakis Cassoulides, also visited the Rajghat (Mahatma Gandhi Crematorium), where he laid a wreath and signed the visitors' Book.

The officials observed a one minute's silence. The Secretary of the Rajghat Samadhi Committee presented Clerides with a set of books on Mahatma Gandhi, while the Cyprus President planted a sapling in the lawns of the Rajghat.

President Clerides had also a meeting with Indian Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda at Hyderabad House, where the Indian Prime Minister meets distinguished guests.

The talks lasted about 30 minutes. No statements were made after the meeting.

Afterwards, the Indian Prime Minister hosted a luncheon in honour of President Clerides and the members of the Cyprus delegation. CNA/MCH/GP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1345:CYPPRESS:05

[05] Turks prevent doctor to visit enclaved people

Nicosia, Feb 10 (CNA) -- Elderly people living in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus have the right to proper health care. Violating this right is "inhumane and unacceptable", the Representative of the Cyprus Maronites in the House of Representatives Antonis Hadjirousos, told CNA today.

Hadjirousos said the government's humanitarian services are trying to establish the facts surrounding an incident on Saturday, when five self- styled policemen of the illegal regime in the occupied areas forced a Maronite doctor and a nurse to leave as they were examining elderly patients.

On his part, the Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs Takis Christopoulos said he will be meeting Hadjirousos, the doctor and the nurse as well as other people who may provide information in order ''to establish what has happened.''

He noted doctor Joseph Moutiris has been examining some of the 170 elderly Maronites in the Turkish-occupied village of Kormakitis, in the island's northwestern part, for more than a year without any problem.

"The doctor has been going there for so long without any problems", Christopoulos told CNA, and added that once the facts are established he will "act accordingly" and contact the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus.

On Saturday, doctor Joseph Moutiris, who works at the Limassol General Hospital, and nurse Katina Vassiliou, had examined about 15 Maronite patients at the rural hospital in occupied Kormakitis, before being asked to leave, despite the fact there were more people waiting to be examined.

Hadjirousos said the doctor has been voluntarily examining Maronite patients in the occupied areas every other Saturday, after an agreement between the Maronite Representative and the Republic's Health Ministry.

He stressed this is a ''humanitarian issue'' and noted the Turkish occupation regime is trying to give it a political dimension, in a bid to achieve recognition of the pseudostate in Cyprus' occupied areas, recognised only by Turkey.

"The Maronites in Kormakitis, with an average age of 65, need medical attention. This is a purely humanitarian issue and such incidents are totally unacceptable," Hadjirousos said.

The Maronite Representative dismissed claims by the occupation regime that their own doctors could offer the enclaved medical care.

"There is a female doctor, who visits people in the area, but she speaks no Greek, and the elderly cannot communicate with her," Hadjirousos said.

Asked if UNFICYP's humanitarian office could act to ensure the basic human right to medical care, Hadjirousos said "it seems the UN force finds it difficult to act in such cases."

He said he will see Foreign Ministry officials about the issue and added it will be brought before the House on Wednesday.

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

CNA MA/GP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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