Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-03-31

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

Tuesday, March 31, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] If only Ankara would leave us alone...

[02] Still a place for Turkey, says Cook

[03] Cypriot held after arms swoop

[04] Banks oppose dud cheques move

[05] Sunday outing turns to tragedy

[06] Failed hijacker locks himself in the loo

[07] Italy having second thoughts about missile sale

[08] Denktash promoting partition, says Talat

[09] Studios enraged by Turkish Titanic piracy

[10] Hunt for missing 77-year-old

[11] Charity walk for the blind

[12] Battle to avoid relegation hots up

[13] Turkey warns EU of `escalation'

[14] Banks save the day on the bourse

[01] If only Ankara would leave us alone...

IF ANKARA left the Greek and Turkish Cypriots alone, a solution to the Cyprus problem could be reached, President Glafcos Clerides said yesterday.

Addressing a group of visiting Greek professors on the occasion of the start of Cyprus' EU accession talks, Clerides said the Greek side was "interested in our Turkish compatriots' future" and did not want them to feel there was "hostility between us".

He also expressed regret over the Turkish Cypriot stance on the EU negotiations, and that of Ankara, but said he expected an "unhindered" accession course for Cyprus. "Any existing problems", he added, were expected to be solved prior to accession.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides said that the EU accession process was not seen as a substitute for the search for a Cyprus solution. He added, however, that it will act as a catalyst in the ongoing search, inducing all sides to work for an early solution.

Cassoulides was speaking at a Brussels meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the 15 member states and those of the 11 applicant countries.

Describing the enlargement process as "challenging", Cassoulides said it should move forward rapidly and remain open to applications from all countries with an EU vocation - including Turkey, providing it met EU criteria.

He called Cyprus' accession "a natural choice", given the island's culture, civilisation, history and its commitment to democracy and freedom.

He added that although the island would undoubtedly gain from EU accession, Cyprus' position, economy and devotion to EU ideals meant that its accession would also be to the good of the EU.

[02] Still a place for Turkey, says Cook

THE current European Union Council president, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, made a special reference to Cyprus during the opening in Brussels yesterday of expansion negotiations with six countries.

Cook said Cyprus' specific pre-accession strategy "will be based in particular on participation in certain targeted projects, as well as on participation in certain community programmes and agencies".

Cook also mentioned Turkey's place in the enlargement process, and said the Luxembourg EU summit "confirmed Turkey's eligibility for accession to the EU and that Turkey would be judged against the same criteria as the other applicant states".

The Foreign Ministers of Ireland and Italy welcomed the start of EU negotiations with Cyprus, while French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told journalists the road for Cyprus would be long.

Vedrine said France's position on the issue is well known - that it would be difficult to accept a divided island into the EU.

Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini expressed the wish that Turkey will participate in a future European Conference of applicant countries. It refused to take part in this month's conference following the Luxembourg decision to open negotiations with Cyprus.

EU External Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek said successful enlargement of the Union is one of the main "political priorities" in the years ahead, and he assured applicant countries that progress towards membership would depend on the applicant's conformity.

Cook earlier told the applicant states that the EU has a task of helping them to prepare for accession and of ensuring that the Union itself is properly prepared.

"We must reform our policies and institutions. All of us, existing and future members, must do our best to make a success of the accession process, " he said.

[03] Cypriot held after arms swoop

A GREEK Cypriot named in a British tabloid exposé on gun running has been arrested in Germany and is waiting extradition to the UK.

A press spokesman at the South East Regional Crime Squad in Britain told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that Christos Ieronymides had been arrested in Frankfurt on March 24 on suspicion of "conspiracy to contravene the Explosives Substances Act and the Firearms Act".

The spokesman said that six people had been arrested, including several Greeks, all believed to be from the same gang.

The arrests were made after British police stopped a shipment of 15,000 submachine guns, 2,000 rocket launchers, grenades and half a ton of Semtex plastic explosive. Part of the consignment was discovered in Montenegro, according to the News of the World which carried out the exposé on Sunday.

The government said yesterday it is "concerned" over the reports which also implicate a senior foreign diplomat on the island, spokesman Christos Stylianides said.

The diplomat is identified elsewhere in the lengthy article as a Greek.

Police spokesman Glafcos Xenos said the report is being taken seriously. "We are investigating the allegations," he said but refused to comment further.

According to the News of the World, an eight-month undercover operation took its reporters from a Greek Cypriot drug dealer in Birmingham to Ieronymides in London and from there to meetings in Greece and Cyprus.

The paper said a meeting took place at Nicosia's Hilton Hotel, with the senior diplomat arriving in a Mercedes with diplomatic number plates.

It quoted the diplomat as saying: "I have the authority to sign End User Certificates on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President. They are both close personal friends... It will look official but it won't be, if you understand what I mean."

The diplomat also allegedly said he had "done this before very successfully" and that "at least two officials get a slice of the cake" worth $350,000 a time.

"The money man turned out to be Christos (Ieronymides)," the paper said.

The initial investigation began when a Greek Cypriot drug dealer in Birmingham boasted about how he knew people in London who could supply weapons.

In London the undercover reporters said they were introduced to Ieronymides who told them he had been living there for ten years. "Back home in Cyprus his unsuspecting family are very influential," the paper said.

Ieronymides allegedly produced his price list for Hungarian-made arms and said he could introduce them to a Bulgarian arms dealer who could supply anything immediately.

He also allegedly said nuclear material from Russia was available on the black market.

Ieronymides told them, they said, that the most important link in the chain was the Greek diplomat based in Cyprus because he could supply the End User Certificate, a vital document in the arms trade which shows the weapons have been ordered by a responsible government.

[04] Banks oppose dud cheques move

A NEW attempt to combat the scourge of bounced cheques faces opposition from banks concerned that the onus of fighting crime will fall exclusively on their shoulders.

Thousands of dud cheques - which some estimates value at as much as £200 million - are said to be circulating. They are issued and accepted as a matter of course, leading to a vicious circle in commercial transactions.

The problem has become so acute that a tougher law was pushed through recently. The Central Bank has been spearheading moves to reach consensus on more action.

But Akel deputy George Lillikas said yesterday part of the responsibility for repeat offenders should be passed to the banks which issue the chequebooks. This would help combat a problem he described as a "time-bomb in the foundations of the economy".

His bill, which came before the House Finance Committee yesterday, would oblige banks to cover a bounced cheque from a client who has committed the offence three times.

He said the aim was to restore the credibility of cheques as a means for commercial transactions.

The bill would establish a central records office at the Central Bank. All banks would have to inform the register within two days of receipt of a bounced cheque. The Central Bank would then inform banks and co-operative credit societies within three days to update their own registers.

All banks and credit societies will be obliged to demand that repeat offenders return their cheque books. They will also be required to check with the central register that new clients are not blacklisted. If they fail to do so, they will be liable for any bounced cheques.

Finance Ministry officials and the attorney-general's office said they needed time to examine the bill, its effects on the banking system, and the legal technicalities.

Banks said they disagreed with the proposal because it placed the brunt of the problem on them. Their spokesman said various measures had been discussed by a special working group chaired by the Central Bank. The group had concluded that the main problem was post-dated cheques. A blacklist of repeat offenders was also discussed with banks backing the measure. But they have not yet done so because of legal problems.

Diko's Tassos Papadopoulos said it was already a criminal offence to issue a cheque without collateral. The bill would turn the state into a debt collector and an intermediary in commercial transactions for businessmen so anxious to sell that they were prepared to accept doubtful post-dated cheques.

Disy's Socratis Hasikos said post-dated cheques were built into the system - and this was wrong. "We must learn to do our transactions properly," he said.

Lillikas, later asked by reporters about banks' opposition, said this was not surprising - bounced cheques pushed clients to ask for higher overdrafts and other services such as factoring. And he said newspaper reports suggest that banks make money by charging clients for cheques which bounce.

The issue remains before the committee, which will await word from the government on the new bill.

[05] Sunday outing turns to tragedy

The accident happened just before 3pm when the saloon car the four were in careered out of control on the Nicosia to Larnaca highway near the Athienou turn-off, police said.

According to witnesses, the car veered all over the road, hitting the central reservation twice before overturning a number of times. Nineteen- year-old Chen-jin, who had been sitting on the back seat, was thrown from the car and killed instantly.

Driver Yao-ke and other passengers Houan-lo and Sun-ho were trapped in the vehicle and had to be cut free by firemen. All three were seriously injured and were yesterday recovering in Larnaca hospital.

Also on Sunday, 21-year-old Andreas Tsoukka died in Nicosia general hospital of injuries he suffered in a traffic accident last Tuesday. Tsoukka, from Dherynia in the Famagusta district, was knocked off his motorbike by a car as he turned on to a main road off a sidetrack in his village.

[06] Failed hijacker locks himself in the loo

The unemployed man, a 20-year-old Turk named as Mehmet Erturk, was wielding a grenade-shaped cigarette lighter when he demanded shortly after take-off that the plane be diverted to Bonn in Germany.

NTV television reported that he locked himself in a toilet after the crew prevented him from reaching the cockpit.

Erturk was arrested when the Turkish Airlines Boeing 727 landed at Ankara's Esenboga Airport at around 1.30pm.

"The crew did not take him seriously and told him the plane had to have a fuel stop," a police officer in Ankara said.

"He told us he tried to get control of the plane in order to go to Germany to find a job there because he could not find a job in Cyprus."

The breakaway regime in the north has to route all its flights through Turkey.

[07] Italy having second thoughts about missile sale

A SECOND missile controversy seems to be brewing in Cyprus, this time concerning not Russian-made S-300s, but Italian-made Aspide 330s.

Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides admitted yesterday the

Italian government was having second thoughts about completing a National Guard order for Aspide 330 ground-to-ground missiles.

Stylianides said Italian Ambassador Francesco Bascone had conveyed his government's misgivings during meetings with Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou on Saturday and President Clerides yesterday morning.

"The answer has been given that there is serious concern at high levels in Italy about the completion of the order," the spokesman said at his daily press briefing.

"Despite this, the Cyprus government is acting with completion of the order as its aim, but at the moment it calls for discretion concerning the issue, " he said.

He declined to comment further.

Turning to the issue of the Russian S-300 missiles, Stylianides dismissed as groundless reports that the missiles would be delivered to Greece and not Cyprus.

Papers in mainland Greece reported over the weekend that the missiles would go to Greece as a compromise solution aimed at appeasing the US.

The US has made plain its opposition to the deployment of the missiles, due in the summer, saying that their arrival would heighten tensions on the island. Turkey has threatened a military strike against the S-300s if they are deployed.

The government has insisted throughout that the S-300 deal would only be cancelled if there was "significant" progress towards demilitarisation or a settlement to the Cyprus problem.

[08] Denktash promoting partition, says Talat

According to reports in the Turkish Cypriot press, Mehmet Ali Talat, leader of the Republican Turkish party (RTP), attacked Denktash for turning down the government's invitation for Turkish Cypriots to participate in EU accession talks, which kicked-off in Brussels yesterday.

Talat also slammed Denktash for his refusal to return to settlement negotiations unless his breakaway state is recognised by the UN. Denktash was also taken to task for establishing an 'association council' with Ankara aimed at integrating the occupied areas with Turkey.

Talat said Denktash's tactics would bring about the permanent division of Cyprus and isolate the Turkish Cypriot community.

[09] Studios enraged by Turkish Titanic piracy

THE TV showing of the hit film Titanic in the occupied areas was a "blatant disregard of copyright law", and action will be taken, lawyer Achilleas Demetriades told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

The film, which has broken box office records worldwide, was broadcast illegally by Tempo TV in the north last Friday. Demetriades, who represents the film's owners Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox, said he had been in contact with the studios, who were enraged by the action, and he was now considering what action to take, given the island's political situation.

"This amounts to theft," he said, "and in any normal situation, would constitute a criminal offence."

However he added that "given that the area is controlled by the Turkish army, it is impossible to enforce Cyprus copyright law".

Action on a political level has not been ruled out.

Titanic, which sets a fictional love story against the factual sinking of the luxury liner, is still playing to packed cinemas on both sides of the green line. At last week's Academy Awards ceremony it won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

[10] Hunt for missing 77-year-old

Panayiotis Ashiotis has been missing from his home at Ayios Theodoros in Larnaca since Friday. Police said they had followed up clues and continued the search near Kophinou. A police helicopter was called in, but no trace has yet been found of Ashiotis.

The elderly refugee is reported to have a history of leaving his house, stopping taxis and cars and asking them to drive him to Lyssi. He was in the past taken to police stations.

[11] Charity walk for the blind

All proceeds go towards supporting blind people on the island.

The events have been organised by the Lions Club and the Association for the Welfare of the Blind.

The walk begins at 4pm, starting from the Hilton Hotel, and will be led by President Glafcos Clerides. The fair will be held at the Blind School, where the walk ends, and will open as the walk finishes. It will also be open on Sunday.

[12] Battle to avoid relegation hots up

WHILE the league title races has become predictably monotonous, with the favourites, Anorthosis and Omonia, winning every week, the battle to avoid relegation has opened up.

Even eighth-placed Ael, on 23 points, are not safe from the drop as they are only four points above the third relegation place. Given that towards the end of the season all the relegation-threatened clubs start to win consistently, anything can happen.

At the weekend, struggler, Salamina, Anagennisis and Evagoras all won. Second from bottom Alki, lost to Evagoras and are now six points adrift of a survival place. Still, salvation is in their own hands as they play Anagennisis and Salamina in the next two weeks.

Alki dominated their away game to Evagoras on Saturday, but still managed to lose 1-0 to a 79th minute goal by Knezevic who had earlier missed a penalty. This was Evagoras' third successive win, which kept them in 10th place.

Salamina scored their first victory for four and a half months, defeating a demoralised Aek 3-1 in Larnaca. Salamina's new coach, Mike Urogalo, their third this season, has changed his side's fortunes. He has avoided defeat in his two games in charge, also ending a nine game losing run.

Michic (two) and Porfyriou were Salamina's scorers with Gerogiou scoring for Aek, whose performance was pitiful as they suffered their fourth successive defeat.

Aek, whose board resigned en masse last week, will be without a coach as well after Sunday's game at Anorthosis. Greek coach, Makis Katsavakis, announced that he would be leaving the club after Sunday's game.

Bottom club Ashia, who do not even have a mathematical chance of avoiding relegation, slumped to their 17th defeat of the season at Dherynia where they lost 4-1 to Anagennisis.

Serbo Nicolic scored all four goals for the home side, who, after the 10-1 rout by Omonia, are undefeated, taking 10 points from their last four games.

Apop, in 9th place, two points above the third relegation place, shared the points against Ethnikos in Achna after a 1-1 draw; both goals were scored in the last 10 minutes.

Lambrou put Ethnikos in front, and Apop, who had been reduced to 10 men after the sending off of Sophocleous for dissent, equalised three minutes from time through a powerful drive by Pavlos Savva.

In Limassol, third-placed Apollonas returned to their winning ways, to keep their slim title chances alive. They defeated Apoel 3-1 despite falling behind to a first minute goal by Christofi.

Second-half goals by Tsolakis, Iosiphides and Kais earned the points for Apollonas, who could have won by a much bigger margin but for the heroics of Apoel keeper Petrides.

German striker, Rainer Rauffman scored yet another hat-trick for Omonia in the 5-1 defeat of Ael to take his tally for the season to 34. His compatriot Hoffman and Kaiaphas got the other goals.

Ael, who were completely outplayed as their lack of experience was exposed, got a consolation goal through Neophytou.

Paralimni, without four first-choice players, tasted their first defeat of the season at champions Anorthosis, going down 4-1.

Anorthosis scored two in each half, through Chararalambous, Okkas, Michailovic and Andreou, with Kolanis, replying for Paralimni.

[13] Turkey warns EU of `escalation'

"The treatment by the EU of the Greek Cypriot administration as the representative of the whole of Cyprus constitutes the first step towards escalation in the eastern Mediterranean, which can be very dangerous," Cem told a news conference in the occupied part of Cyprus.

Turkey, left out of the EU expansion process, accuses the Union of taking sides in the Cyprus dispute and has threatened to partially integrate a Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in retaliation for the Greek Cypriot talks in Brussels.

"We once again call upon the EU to evaluate its future steps very carefully before it is too late and before the Greek Cypriot administration paves the way towards another war in the island," said Cem.

Cem, on a one-day trip to co-ordinate policy towards the EU with Turkish Cypriot officials, gave a joint news conference with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

Cem later flew to Ankara with senior Turkish Cypriot `cabinet ministers' to begin integration talks with Turkey today.

"Any provocation or aggression directed against you, is also directed towards us and any provocation or aggression against us is also directed towards you. Let this to be known to all, whether friends or foes, and let them watch their steps," Cem said.

Cyprus is a perennial irritant between Nato allies Turkey and Greece, which almost went to war in 1996 over territorial rights in the Aegean Sea. Jets from the two countries staged mock dogfights in a tense standoff last year.

Turkey has hardened its stance on Cyprus since the EU decided at a summit in Luxembourg last December to leave it out of the Union's expansion. The EU cited Turkey's rights record, Kurdish conflict and disputes with Greece for its exclusion.

Turkish Cypriot leader Denktash said EU policies were not helping Cyprus reunification efforts.

"Whatever you have done has led to division, not unification ... Carry on, the end is complete division," Denktash said.

Turkey, with the second largest armed forces in Nato, has said it would destroy Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missiles due to be deployed by Greek Cyprus and has threatened a recently completed southern airbase due to be used by Greece.

"Without the European Union's encouragement, the S-300s would not be brought so easily, nor would attack-orientated airbases be opened," Cem said.

Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots were absent from the official start of the EU enlargement meeting in Brussels.

But British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the EU had confirmed "Turkey's eligibility for accession to the EU and that Turkey would be judged against the same criteria as the others".

Today, negotiations are due to open with the six candidate countries closest to membership -- the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus.

Greece has blocked hundreds of millions of dollars in EU aid due to Turkey since 1996 under a potentially lucrative trade pact.

[14] Banks save the day on the bourse

AN UNUSUALLY steep rise in the value of the Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank shares helped push up the official all-share index by 0.85 per cent yesterday to close at 89.16 points, marginally off the 1998 high of 89.27.

Bank of Cyprus shares rose by nine cents, possibly their biggest one-day gain since the official market began operating two years ago, to end trade at £3.55, thus closing in on the rival Popular Bank, which rose by 4.5 cents to £3.69 apiece.

Trade in the two stocks accounted for nearly 25 per cent of yesterday's volume -- £1.87 million -- on a turnover of nearly 130,000 shares.

The sub-index of the lucrative banking sector rose by 1.79 per cent. The only other sub-index to end higher -- 0.50 per cent -- yesterday was that of investment companies, which saw exceptionally heavy trade in the stock of Cytrustees Investment Company Ltd.

Cytrustees, run by the Bank of Cyprus' securities firm CISCO, closed five cents higher at £1.47 with 7.4 per cent of total volume.

Brokers said the steep rise in Bank of Cyprus shares might have been the result of a popular market notion that the stock was trading four or five cents below its perceived value. They, however, said they expected some sort of a "correction" in its value in today's trade.

Another heavily traded share yesterday was that of the national carrier Cyprus Airways. It rose by two cents to close at £0.515 with nearly 250,000 stocks changing hands, accounting for 6.4 per cent of total volume.

Cyprus Airways is 82 per cent owned by the government. Its 1987 results are expected to show losses and market rumours speak of an imminent rights issue which will reduce the government's stake.

The company is said to be under-capitalised and a rights issue would now make perfect sense since the stock has only recently crossed its nominal value of £0.50 apiece after languishing below for some time. Upbeat 1998 tourism prospects together with the limited availability of the share have whipped up appetite for Cyprus Airways in recent weeks although the company is viewed by some brokers as a high-risk investment because of the fiercely competitive environment in which it operates.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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