Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-04-17

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

Friday, April 17, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Business meeting 'just a one-off'

[02] EU does not want S-300s in Cyprus

[03] Bases to analyse soldiers' behaviour

[04] Markides outburst over Matsakis arrest

[05] Turks hold Greek for 8 hours

[06] Police confirm presence of doomsday cult member

[07] Missing fishing boat located

[08] Market in breather after 3 successive record closes

[09] Keo's losses down amid bright 1998 forecasts

[10] Unions briefed on EU harmonisation

[11] Israeli fighters in FIR again

[12] May Day - it's Peter Andre

[13] £100,000 boost to Limassol charities

[01] Business meeting 'just a one-off'

A MEETING between businessmen from both sides, arranged by US envoy Richard Holbrooke and believed to signal a revival of banned contacts, was just a one-off, according to Rauf Denktash.

The Turkish Cypriot leader also revealed he made it clear that the meeting Holbrooke requested between the heads of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot businessmen's group on April 4 would go no further.

The contacts between leading businessmen established in Brussels last November, at Holbrooke's instigation, were banned By Denktash in December, along with other bi-communal activities, after the EU's Luxembourg decision to open accession negotiations with Cyprus.

Denktash was quoted in yesterday's Turkish Cypriot press as saying that when he explained his position to Holbrooke, the US envoy allegedly replied: "I want to invite two people to a meeting in the buffer zone. Are you going to prevent that?"

Denktash reportedly replied that he would not prevent such a meeting from taking place, and that Holbrooke could invite the Turkish Cypriot businessman Vedat Celik as his guest.

The meeting did not constitute the beginning of contacts among businessmen, Denktash made clear.

"There are two administrations, two peoples, two democracies, two governments and two states in Cyprus," Denktash is quoted as saying. "Until these conditions are accepted nothing can be achieved by dragging these poor people (businessmen) here and there, wasting their time and giving a wrong message to the world... that there is no problem between the two peoples. This is why the people who issue invitations to these meetings think that the contacts are useful."

Holbrooke presented Celik and Greek Cypriot businessman Constantinos Lordos at a Ledra Palace Hotel press conference before he left the island.

He said he was pleased both men were able to be there to "resume the dialogue".

"Both businessmen... are here at my invitation with the approval of both sides continuing the Brussels business dialogue," Holbrooke told Greek and Turkish Cypriot journalists.

"We look forward to continuing that process and reconvening the full 24 members of the group...," he added.

Although the US envoy did not say it was to be a continuous process, he did not make it clear that the meeting was only a one-off, and it was widely reported in the press that Holbrooke had kick-started the banned contacts.

Asked specifically to whom credit should be attributed for the resumption of the contacts, Holbrooke said: "All I can tell you is it happened today and we were told before we got here it would not happen, but it did happen."

"It was done at our request. We had quite an extended dialogue to make this happen today..."

Lordos told the Cyprus Mail yesterday he was surprised at Denktash's statements. He said Celik had announced that the Turkish Cypriot side had agreed to the Brussels group working on a project to preserve religious and cultural heritage on both sides.

"I really don't know what to say about Denktash now," Lordos added.

[02] EU does not want S-300s in Cyprus

THE European Union does not want to see the S-300 missiles deployed in Cyprus, visiting Austrian Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Wolfgang Schussel said yesterday.

"We see the danger that the deployment of the missiles could bring new threats, new tensions to the region," Schussel told a news conference in Nicosia at the end of a two-day visit.

Austria takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU from Britain at the beginning of June.

Schussel had talks with both President Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash yesterday.

He acknowledged Cyprus' right to defend herself, but warned that a solution would not come "through build-up of military capacity but by demilitarising the whole island".

The US, meanwhile, has called on Turkey to "refrain" from threatening a military strike against the surface-to-air S-300 missiles should they be deployed.

"The missile problem cannot be resolved by brandishing threats. We have urged Turkey to address the S-300 issue through diplomatic means and to refrain from threats to take missiles out militarily," State Department Spokesman James Rubin said in Washington.

He was responding to the Turkish Foreign Ministry repeating threats of military action against the ground-to-air missiles on Tuesday.

Rubin also repeated the American position that the missiles should not be deployed. "The S-300 missile deal increases the danger of conflict on the island, and is a serious obstacle to our efforts to reach a settlement of the Cyprus dispute. We continue to urge the government of Cyprus to cancel the deal," he said.

The government is insisting that the missiles will arrive on schedule in the summer.

US co-ordinator for Cyprus Thomas Miller is expected on the island on Monday for a round of talks with Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. Miller is expected to pave the way for a visit early next month by US President Bill Clinton's Cyprus envoy, Richard Holbrooke.

Holbrooke has threatened that his next visit will be his last if he finds the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides unwilling to make headway in breaking the current deadlock in settlement talks.

Clerides is to visit Athens next week and will meet Greek Premier Costas Simitis on April 24, in between the visits by Miller and Holbrooke, Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides announced yesterday.

Meanwhile, the new commander of the National Guard, Dimitris Demou, had meetings yesterday with Clerides and Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou.

Demou, who takes over the post officially from fellow Greek Nicolaos Vorvolakos on April 25, pledged to work hard to accomplish his mission.

[03] Bases to analyse soldiers' behaviour

THE Bases authorities plan to analyse the behaviour of British soldiers on the island over the past few years - and could place popular tourist areas out of bounds.

The decision was taken as the bases moved to extend to their own personnel a UN ban on British soldiers visiting Ayia Napa - at least until after the Greek Orthodox Easter this weekend, bases spokesman Captain Jon Brown said yesterday.

The British army's 380-strong First Royal Tank Regiment, currently serving with Unficyp, has been banned from Ayia Napa until further notice after five members were accused of blinding British tourist Jeremy Caprio, 35, in one eye in an allegedly unprovoked attack outside a disco in the town early on Tuesday.

Captain Brown said the bases commander decided late on Wednesday to make Ayia Napa out of bounds to all British service personnel.

There are some 3,000 soldiers serving on the bases.

"We are initiating an analysis of statistics about what has been going on over the past few years to see if there is a pattern or trend of bad behaviour," Captain Brown said.

"As a result we will make a decision on whether there will be a temporary or permanent or a periodic ban."

The analysis will begin next week, he said.

In 1994 visits to Ayia Napa were banned after the arrest of three British soldiers for the killing of Danish tour guide Louise Jensen. They were later found guilty and imprisoned for life.

Last year restrictions were again imposed when a group of off-duty soldiers attacked British tourists. The soldiers were ultimately fined. The latest attack left British tourist Caprio blinded in his right eye and with a broken nose.

Caprio, who is due to return to the UK on Sunday, says the five jumped him outside the disco at around 1.00am.

All five of the soldiers have been confined to barracks pending the outcome of an investigation by a multi-national Unficyp team.

[04] Markides outburst over Matsakis arrest

ORDINARY people end up in trouble because of talk that the British Bases courts cannot put them on trial, Attorney-general Alecos Markides warned yesterday.

"In the end they go to jail and everyone gets in a tangle to see what has gone wrong. The government gets in a tangle, the attorney-general gets in a tangle, all responsible people in this place get in a tangle... because some people want to create an issue out of the bases without having the authority and without having the political right to do so," he said.

Markides' outburst came during a House Foreign Affairs Committee debate over the arrest of Diko deputy Marios Matsakis by Bases police on April 3.

The issue came to the committee in the wake of calls for counter-measures in Cyprus and abroad - including the arrest of the British Bases commander.

Deputies were particularly angered by the bases' refusal to respect the parliamentary immunity of one of their colleagues. Markides clarified that immunity applied to the republic of Cyprus - specified by international agreements to constitute the island of Cyprus minus the two sovereign British bases.

Quizzed repeatedly on this point, he said he could not change what was written in black and white in order to please. Nor was it fair for deputies to make speeches to him "creating the impression of competition on patriotism".

"This is what was signed in 1960, this is what is in front of me. The past few years the attorney-general is being asked to ignore this phrase in an international agreement, to ignore it completely and to issue an opinion so that he will be liked, and we will all be happy," he said.

Under the Treaty of Establishment any differences in interpretation of its clauses must be referred to a court comprising representatives of the governments of Britain, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus and chaired by the president of the International Court of Justice at the Hague, he added. This means going to a court with Turkey on the panel.

Edek deputy Demetris Eliades, who took the issue to the committee, said Matsakis had been subjected to force when he was handcuffed and detained in Dhekelia. This behaviour by the bases was unacceptable and an insult to the legislature because it violated the principle of parliamentary immunity.

"We do not want a new front with the British bases. We have enough fronts. But we demand respect for legality and the authorities of the Cyprus republic," he said.

At first sight, Matsakis' constitutional rights had been violated and the House had a duty to examine the possibility of taking measures against Britain and the British bases for an "illegal act" against a deputy, he added.

The Foreign Ministry said it had taken up the issue with the High Commission on the day of Matsakis' arrest and asked for legal advice from the attorney-general.

Police have taken statements from Matsakis and two eyewitnesses, and will be submitting a report to the attorney-general. They also have a doctor's report that Matsakis had sustained bruises.

Committee chairman Tassos Papadopoulos said the government should made a strong demarche and demand that, irrespective of any legal issues, the bases respect the parliamentary immunity of deputies. He said the committee would be looking specifically at what action can be taken on the political front at its next meeting.

[05] Turks hold Greek for 8 hours

UN sources said Irinos Macheriotis walked up to Turkish troops at about 8am and told them he was from the Cyprus police. Macheriotis was detained by the troops but was handed over to Unficyp at the Ledra Palace checkpoint at around 4pm, the sources said.

Greek Cypriots straying into the occupied areas are usually held for days and brought up before 'courts' in the north for "violating a military zone".

[06] Police confirm presence of doomsday cult member

CYPRUS police yesterday confirmed the presence on the island of Japanese doomsday cult member Toshiyasu Ouchi.

An official announcement by the police said they are "working closely" on the issue with the attorney-general's office.

Ouchi, 45, was a founding member of the Aum Shinri Kyo 'Supreme Truth' cult, which carried out the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway which killed 12 and poisoned more than three thousand.

He arrived in Cyprus on March 12 on a flight from Russia, and has been staying at a Limassol holiday flat, police said.

Ouchi is also suspected of involvement in the murder of a fellow cult member, 21-year-old Shuji Taguchi, who tried to escape from the sect's commune at the foot of Mount Fuji in 1989.

On April 2 he was placed on the wanted list in Japan and the Japanese authorities, Interpol and Cyprus police began work under a veil of secrecy. Ouchi was placed under close surveillance.

Police spokesman Glafcos Xenos said the Cypriot authorities have been co- operating closely with their Japanese counterparts.

He pointed out however that there is no extradition treaty between Cyprus and Japan.

"For this reason police and the attorney-general's office are trying to find alternative ways of dealing with the matter," Xenos said.

He added that all necessary measures were being taken to ensure Ouchi could not cross into the Turkish-occupied north of the island. "He has also been put on the stop list," Xenos said.

When Ouchi arrived on March 12 from Russia he was given a visa which is due to expire on May 6.

Ouchi led the doomsday cult's activities in Moscow from 1992, but the Russian authorities began to investigate him and it was reported on April 2 that he had left Russia for a third country. On the same day it was announced that he had been placed on Japan's nationwide watch list.

Police would not comment yesterday on his current whereabouts in Cyprus.

Aum Shinri Kyo has around 2,000 followers and 20 branches across Japan. Its leader Shoko Asahara is currently on trial on 17 charges, including murder.

[07] Missing fishing boat located

The vessel was located a few hours later and its single occupant helped to safety, police said.

The stormy weather caused widespread damage, overturning a light plane on the runway at Larnaca airport and damaging cars which were hit by falling roof slates and branches.

A four-door pick-up truck was flattened when the car port under which it was parked fell on it. The owner said his wife had parked it there just five minutes before.

The winds also capsized several boats at Maroni and Zygi.

Inland, several industrial greenhouses were demolished, extensively damaging the plants inside. The ruined contents of just one were valued at £10,000.

Falling branches also damaged windows at the central Larnaca Post Office, and an ancient tree which stood outside the town's old courthouse was uprooted.

No injuries were reported.

[08] Market in breather after 3 successive record closes

SHARES yesterday took a breather from their constant climbing, but managed to finish a spectacular Easter week 2.35 per cent up on last Friday's close.

The official all-share index closed down at 93.24 points, slightly down from Wednesday's close, the last of three successive 1998 record closes.

There will be no trading today because of the Good Friday holiday, and the bourse will reopen on Tuesday after the season's traditional long weekend.

Traders said profit-taking and lack of new funds in the market joined forces yesterday to halt shares from climbing further.

All seven sub-indices closed up yesterday except for those of the lucrative banks and investment sectors, which between them account for more than half of volume and turnover. Overall volume was an average £1.89 million yesterday.

An announcement by Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou on Wednesday that a 1944 law setting a nine per cent ceiling on interest rates would be abolished had no impact on the market, according to traders.

They said only when the draft law is adopted and gone into effect will the market take any notice.

"If then interest rates go down, the market will go up. If they go up, the market will suffer," said Stavros Agrotis, a senior broker with CISCO, the investment and securities arm of the Bank of Cyprus.

Speaking to state CyBC radio, Central Bank Governor Afxentis Afxentiou sought to allay borrowers' fears of higher interest rates, saying that a "well-founded" prediction would see them go down rather than up when the law takes effect.

The government plans to submit to the House by June a draft law on the liberalisation of interest rates.

Afxentiou, reassuring borrowers, said the Central Bank would intervene in support of borrowers who might be hurt by a possible rise in interest rates, but he did not say what form that intervention would take.

[09] Keo's losses down amid bright 1998 forecasts

KEO, the Limassol-based drinks conglomerate, yesterday announced after-tax losses in 1997 of £622,000, an improvement on the previous year's losses of £898,000.

Traders, however, said the group's preliminary 1997 results were impressive given that Keo chose to write off in 1997 the entire £1.2 million cost of restructuring, including more than 80 redundancies.

They said Keo was expected to return to the black in 1998, with one trader saying a profit in the region of £1.5 million in 1998 would be a realistic forecast.

Nearly 30,000 Keo shares changed hands in yesterday's trade and the stock closed slightly up at £1.38-£1.40 apiece.

A group statement said pre-tax profits reached £848,000 last year, up from £343,000 in 1996.

"After deduction of the cost of reorganisation, which amounted to £1.2 million and which the company decided to write off fully during 1997, the Group registered a pre-tax loss of £365,000 for 1997," said the statement.

"In general, 1997 can be characterised as a turning point for Keo," it said. "The benefits of the substantial changes and the progress made in implementing the productivity and cost reduction plan of the Group are expected to bear fruit in 1998."

A five per cent dividend and a bonus issue of one share for every 20 would be proposed to the company's annual general meeting, the statement added.

Keo, whose products include beer, wines, spirits and mineral water, has been involved in an ambitious programme to modernise its machinery and to further improve the quality of its products. The cost of these innovations, together with the effects of an increasingly competitive drinks market on the island and abroad, have contributed to its recent losses.

[10] Unions briefed on EU harmonisation

Representatives of Sek, Peo, Deok and the farmers' unions Pek and Eka were briefed by Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou on the economic changes that must be made.

Christodoulou said similar briefings would be held every two months or whenever exceptional developments occurred.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Keve) and Employers' and Industrialists' Federation (Oev) presidents, Vassilis Rologis and Andreas Pittas, also attended the meeting.

[11] Israeli fighters in FIR again

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Nicosia said the report could not be confirmed because of today's Passover feast in Israel.

CNA quoted "reliable sources" as saying the squadron's flight had nothing to do with Cyprus, the Paphos air-base or the planned deployment of ground- to-air S-300 missiles.

Last week, Machi newspaper reported that six Israeli F-16s violated the Nicosia FIR to spy on the Paphos air-base site in a search for "signs" the missiles were being deployed.

Israel's ambassador in Nicosia, Shemi Tzur, reportedly apologised for the air violation the day after the Machi report.

[12] May Day - it's Peter Andre

LONDON-CYPRIOT singing sensation Peter Andre is to give a concert at Nicosia's Eleftheria Arena on Friday, May 1.

Andre, who real name is Peter James Andrea, was born in Harrow to Cypriot parents, but moved to Australia at the age of 14.

He had a string of hit singles there, supporting Madonna and Bobby Brown on tour, but first came to international prominence in 1994 when his single Mysterious Girl became a summer hit. The song reached the number two spot in the charts, and the follow-up single Flava went to number one.

Since then, Andre, as famous for his physique as for his music, has recorded five albums, and is currently trying to crack the elusive US market.

For the May 1 concert, Andre's 16-strong group of backing performers will also be flying in. Tickets, priced at £8 and £10, are on sale throughout the island at Funfair in Nicosia, the Acappella Music Store in Larnaca, Paphos' Calypso Music Centre, Planet Sound &amp; Vision in Ayia Napa, and Limassol's Brent Cross.

The concert is sponsored by the Cinema Cafe, Brent Cross, Le Meridien and Avis.

[13] £100,000 boost to Limassol charities

The Limassol Co-operative Bank said it would honour a decision taken at its last general meeting, bestowing £100,000 on charities and philanthropic groups in the town.

It said that as the largest co-operative credit institution in Cyprus, it aimed to return some of Limassol's appreciation towards it by making donations to underprivileged individuals.

The money will be presented at a special ceremony on April 27 at Limassol's Pattichion theatre at 8.30pm.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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