Cyprus News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-03-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] President Clerides attends enthronement of new Patriarch

[02] Court remands owner of dog which killed a five-year-old

[03] National Council to decide next steps, says Kyprianou

[04] Court remands two Turks and a T/C for espionage

1355:CYPPRESS:01

[01] President Clerides attends enthronement of new Patriarch

Departing this morning for Cairo, where he will attend today's enthronement ceremony of the new Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and Africa, Greek Cypriot Petros VII, President Clerides said it is too early to comment on steps to be taken towards a solution.

The President said "intensive talks on Cyprus are not yet underway therefore it would be premature to make any comments either on the talks or on what the Greek Cypriot side will do".

He noted that at the current phase of the problem "no prospects of common ground to resume face-to-face talks are in sight."

Education Minister Claire Angelidou, left-wing AKEL party leader, Demetris Christofias, who is a relative of the new Patriarch, and Socialist EDEK party leader Vasos Lyssarides are attending the enthronement ceremony.

Greece's President Costis Stephanopoulos and deputy Foreign Minister George Papandreou are to attend as well.

President Clerides returns to Cyprus tomorrow.

The new Alexandria Orthodox Patriarch, Petros Papapetrou, was born in 1949 at the village of Sichari, 15 km north of Nicosia, occupied by Turkish troops since 1974 when they invaded and occupied 37 per cent of the island's territory.

CNA TA/AP/EC/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1400:CYPPRESS:02

[02] Court remands owner of dog which killed a five-year-old

Costas Georgiou Constantinou faces charges of causing death by negligence.

The incident occurred yesterday afternoon while Charalambos Xeni Charalambous was playing in his garden at the Livadia refugee housing estate, near the southern coastal town of Larnaca.

The boy was attacked by Constantinou's Alsatian, which repeatedly bit him on the neck. His grandmother was also bitten while attempting to rescue the little boy.

A post-mortem showed that Charalambos died of profuse bleeding.

The Court heard that Constantinou was repeatedly warned by the boy's grandfather that his dog was a threat to public safety. According to the investigative officer, the dog, which was shot by the police after the incident, had attacked three more persons in the past. Police said the dog was shot for public safety.

Constantinou bought the dog four months ago. He alleged that the dog managed to escape from the fenced area he was kept.

The unprecedented incident has shocked the island. The little boy's father was at a football match at the time of the incident and the mother was out as well.

Charalambos will be buried this afternoon.

CNA EC/AP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1505:CYPPRESS:03

[03] National Council to decide next steps, says Kyprianou

Speaking to the press after a memorial service for EOKA 1955-59 liberation armed struggle against British colonialism, hero Michalakis Savva, Kyprianou said it was premature to say whether the current procedure undermines the positions of the Greek Cypriot side.

He said if there is satisfactory progress when proximity talks begin, then the next steps will be decided at the National Council, the island's top advisory body on the Cyprus question.

It was announced last week that the UN is expected to start intensive proximity talks, between the Cyprus government and the Turkish Cypriots, aiming to create common ground to allow a face-to-face on Cyprus meeting between President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

President Clerides and Rauf Denktash had two meetings in Nicosia, in October 1994, which reached a deadlock due to the Turkish side's insistence on separate sovereignty. The two men have not met since.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37 per cent of the island's territory.

CNA EC/AP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1540:CYPPRESS:04

[04] Court remands two Turks and a T/C for espionage

All three suspects, arrested yesterday, live in the southwestern coastal town of Limassol. Police found in their possession military documents, highlighted maps of National Guard camps, video tapes containing military information as well as newspaper clippings on National Guard's armament programmes.

The suspects are 45 year-old Nedjip Sarichichekli, a Turkish national married to a Turkish Cypriot, Mustafa Omer Konor, 37, also a Turkish national married to a Greek Cypriot and Dijan Nejip, 37, a Turkish Cypriot, living with a Greek Cypriot.

All three had sought refuge to the free areas of the Republic. The evidence was discovered following a search at the suspects' homes.

Sarichichekli fled to the government-controlled free areas in 1982 and the other two one year later.

Police had kept a watch on Sarichichekli the last couple of months during which he frequently met the other two suspects, the Court heard.

According to Cyprus radio, in a statement, Sarichichekli admitted committing espionage during the last 18 months for 2.500 Cyprus pounds, (around five thousand US dollars). The suspect named Turks in the occupied areas who recruited him. He said he used to meet them at the mixed village of Pyla where he would hand them over the documents, receive his payment and then he was given further instructions.

He also admitted planting a bomb at the offices of the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Limassol on February 10, 1996. The bomb, however, had not exploded.

Police found in his possession documents and video tapes of military installations in the Vassiliko southern area and the new Limassol port, as well as a video camera.

Another video camera was also found in Konor's possession, which was confiscated by the police.

Meanwhile, two 17-year-old Turks were arrested yesterday while wandering around the capital's northeastern suburb Kaimakli, adjacent to the Turkish-occupied part of the capital. The two are in police custody and being questioned.

Mehmet Mustafa and Mehmet Aksuy told the police they illegally entered the island from the occupied northern port of Kyrenia to visit their friends in the Turkish-occupied areas, when they strayed into the government-controlled free areas.

CNA AP/EC/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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