Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-04-09

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

April 9 , 2000

CONTENTS

[01] Two suspected of stealing sarcophagus

[02] 'Sure, we'll live with the Turkish Cypriots. But don't expect us to marry them. .. '

[03] UFOs: is the truth really out there?

[04] Special meeting on problems of repats

[05] Man accused of molesting girl, 12

[06] Disy on how to stamp out corruption

[07] Lab technicians to stage work-to-rule

[08] Clerides to meet Blair tomorrow

[09] Klerides in Diko deal on VAT

[01] Two suspected of stealing sarcophagus

A government archaeologist yesterday said the confiscated stone coffin was of the Hellenistic period (325-30 BC) and was a "unique" find for the Paphos area.

Police say the sarcophagus-carrying van was stopped because it had been spotted "moving suspiciously". The vehicle was found to have fake number plates and its driver, from Peyia village, was arrested on suspicion of tomb looting. Another man, from nearby Kathikas village, was later arrested in connection with the same case.

The stone sarcophagus is decorated with carvings of dolphins and bulls at its two ends and carvings of Hellenistic style columns along its sides.

The two suspected sarcophagus thieves were yesterday brought up before Paphos District Court and remanded for three days.

April 9 , 2000

[02] 'Sure, we'll live with the Turkish Cypriots. But don't expect us to marry them.

'

By Jean Christou

GREEK Cypriots are willing to live with Turkish Cypriots but only at a distance, a new poll has revealed.

According to the poll, not only are 54 per cent of Greek Cypriots opposed to a bicommunal bizonal federation, but a massive three quarters of those questioned said they would not accept a member of their family marrying a Turkish Cypriot.

Only one in five said they would not mind such a marriage, with 6.3 per cent saying they didn't know.

Nearly 75 per cent said the Greek Cypriot side must not accept a solution which doesn't guarantee the return of refugees to their homes, and only one in five is optimistic about the future of Cyprus, compared to two in five three years ago.

The Amer poll, published in Politisnewspaper yesterday, was carried out from March 20-26 and involved 809 people islandwide.

Predictably, more than 80 per cent said that in the event of a federal solution, they would not live in a Turkish Cypriot canton. Only 13.6 per cent said they would, and 5.7 said they didn't know.

Although in general Greek Cypriots do not appear to favour any kind of personal involvement with their Turkish Cypriot counterparts, the majority have no objection to living and working alongside them.

Almost 70 per cent said they would work in the same place as a Turkish Cypriot, 55 per cent were willing to live in a mixed village, and nearly 60 per cent said they would have no objections to their kids attending the same school as Turkish Cypriots. However in each of the three categories between 30 and 40 per cent were against these options.

The majority also favour bicommunal meetings at the Ledra Palace and exchange visits between both sides.

The number of Greek Cypriots opposing a federation -- 54 per cent -- has risen since last October's 48 per cent, but the number in favour has also risen to 30 per cent (from 27 per cent last October).

The rise in the number against can be put down to negative comments made primarily by the Bishop of Kyrenia early this year. These were compounded by further comments made by New Horizons party leader Nicos Koutsou in recent weeks that the government should wake up and see that the majority of Cypriots do not want a federation.

But the poll shows that the trend has always been one of opposition to federation in varying degrees, except in 1993 when 42 per cent favoured federation and 40 per cent opposed it.

In the recent poll some 30 per cent agreed with the position expressed by the Bishop of Kyrenia but said he should not have intervened, while 27 per cent believed he had a right to intervene. However almost 25 per cent of those asked disagreed with his position and said he should not have spoken out.

In a statement issued yesterday in response to the poll, New Horizons said the opposition of the silent majority to federation is well-established "and only those who do not want to see will not accept it".

April 9 , 2000

[03] UFOs: is the truth really out there?

U.

F.

O. ENTHUSIASTS and X-Filesfans are in for a double treat this week with separate lectures on extraterrestrial life being held in both Nicosia and Limassol.

The first lecture is by well-known Greek Cypriot UFOlogist Andreas Achillides and will take place at the Higher Technical Institute in Nicosia.

Achillides will focus on the Roswell incident, the now famous tale of a US government's alleged cover-up of a spaceship find in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.

Video footage was released in the 1990s purporting to be pictures of an alien being examined by doctors. This will also be shown at the lecture, Achillides said. He said he will be presenting the results of his study into the tape.

Thursday's lecture on UFOs will take place at Intercollege's Limassol campus and is organised by the college's Mystery Club, whose members have invited Canadian parapsychologist John Knowles to speak.

Knowles, whose first UFO lecture in Cyprus this is, will also speak about the American government's continued reluctance to come clean on UFO issues.

"First of all I will give a rundown of historical events with particular attention to the debunking efforts of the authorities (US) who have tried to keep a lid on all sorts of evidence which exists on UFOs," Knowles told _The Sunday Mail.

_Knowles has personal experience of close encounters of the first kind, having had two sightings in Rome in 1954 and another two 40 years later in Cyprus.

He said the American government is isolated in its attitude towards revealing the truth and that other countries, such as France, are more open about their findings.

"The problem for the American government is they have no control over these events and there is nothing they can do about them," he said.

He said that in July 1952 UFOs buzzed the White House in Washington, D.

C.

, and had even been tracked on radar but there was nothing the US government could do about it.

Knowles also mentioned the thousands of testimonies relating to abductions and other phenomena such as cattle mutilation in the western US states and in Canada.

"There have been tens of thousands of reports of various organs being extracted in procedures that are better than surgery," he said.

At the lecture Knowles will also go through an analysis of a video tape taken from a space shuttle in 1991 which reportedly shows a genuine UFO.

Achillides said the last reported UFO sighting in Cyprus was in 1996; after an investigation, however, it turned out to be an IFO (Identified Flying Object) he said.

April 9 , 2000

[04] Special meeting on problems of repats

REPATRIATED Cypriots are being asked to attend a special meeting in Nicosia tomorrow to highlight their problems and help work out ways of solving them.

Monday=s gathering has been organised by the Association for Expatriate and Repatriate Cypriots of the UK, and is open to Cypriots returning from any country, not just Britain.

Association president Kikis Christofides told The Sunday Mail that the meeting had been prompted by "a lot of changes due to the efforts of presidential commissioner Manolis Christofides. There have been a lot of discussions, a lot of meetings and a lot of results."

The post of presidential commissioner was created in response to long- standing demands by repatriates, at the start of President Glafcos Clerides' second term.

Operating out of the Presidential Palace, th commissioner is responsible for issues concerning repatriates, overseas Cypriots and minority groups in Cyprus.

But in spite of the commissioner's work with repatriate associations, Kikis Christofides said problems often arose when changes applied to certain repatriates and not to others. "They'd contact the government about specific assistance and then find out they were not eligible for one reason or another," he said.

He said that the Association phone was continuously ringing with queries and that repatriates were encouraged to attend the meeting in order to have their questions answered more fully, "It=s better to talk face-to-face."

He said that a lot of people living in various parts of the island had shown an interest in attending the meeting.

The Association also plans to use the opportunity to set up committees in towns other than Nicosia. "Then suggestions could be put down on paper and used to help us find the best possible solutions and improve the Association."

The meeting will be at 6pm at the Aretousa tavern by the Latsia fly-over on the Limassol to Nicosia highway.

For more information contact the Association on 02-313896 / 7.

April 9 , 2000

[05] Man accused of molesting girl, 12

The arrest came after a complaint from the girl's mother who said the alleged paedophile was a family friend. The suspect is expected to appear in court today.

April 9 , 2000

[06] Disy on how to stamp out corruption

He said the state had to stop being active in sectors "which should naturally belong to the private sector".

"The problem of corruption could be largely restricted by a drastic reduction of the bureaucratic authorities and business activities of the public sector," Anastassiades said in an address to a Nicosia anti- graft seminar organised by his party.

President Clerides, in a speech read by Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides, said fighting corruption was the responsibility of the state but it could not succeed unless the public did its bit.

The main opposition party Akel issued a statement attacking the seminar and suggesting that Disy members were in no position to preach honesty.

"The organisation of this forum by the Disy leadership is a provocation, given that under their government corruption has reached unprecedented levels," Akel charged.

Opinion polls suggest the public sees public servants -- under any government -- as largely corrupt.

The latest corruption scandal to make headlines has been the indictment of the former Chief of Immigration, Christodoulos Nicolaides, on charges of accepting bribes to &gt;fix= residence and work permits for cabaret artistes.

Nicos Anastassiades= twin brother Bambos is currently on trial in Limassol, charged with selling forged &gt;pink slips= for artistes.

April 9 , 2000

[07] Lab technicians to stage work-to-rule

According to an announcement by the civil servants= union Pasydy, the hospital laboratory technicians will only break their overtime ban to provide blood bank supplies for emergency cases.

"For all other cases.

.. the necessary arrangements will have to be made with the private sector in good time," the Pasydy announcement said.

The union statement noted that a similar work-to-rule had been planned for last December but was called off after promises of swift restructuring. Those promises proved hollow, Pasydy said.

April 9 , 2000

[08] Clerides to meet Blair tomorrow

In addition to issues relating to the next round of proximity talks in New York on May 23, Clerides is expected to discuss the status of the British bases in the event of the island's accession to the EU.

The government said it is looking into aspects of the status of the two sovereign bases vis à vis Cyprus= EU entry.

Clerides arrived in London from New York where he attended the opening of the &gt;Cesnola= permanent exhibition of Cypriote art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 2000

April 9 , 2000

[09] Klerides in Diko deal on VAT

The support of Diko's nine deputies would guarantee the bill's passage through the House of Representatives plenum on Thursday.

Diko had demanded that a number of tax-relief measures be implemented to counterbalance the VAT hike. These measures include abolition of the inheritance tax and levy for state broadcaster CyBC, as well as raising the tax-free threshold from the current ,5,000 to ,6,000.

Klerides said yesterday he had informed Diko that he accepted their conditions.

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