Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-04-15

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

Saturday, April 15, 2000

CONTENTS

[01] Turkish Cypriots vote, but do Denktash’s opponents have a chance?

[02] Money galore on the stock market

[03] Rumours fly in growing row between Koshis and Angelides

[04] National Council starts hammering out New York strategy

[05] Water: expect tighter cuts but no price rise

[06] United Democrats call for broader consultation on tax package

[07] Footballer electrocuted by faulty machine

[08] Stop smoking, win $10,000 and save your life

[09] Christodoulou presents new Citizens’ Charter for efficient public service

[01] Turkish Cypriots vote, but do Denktash’s opponents have a chance?

TURKISH Cypriots go to the polls today to vote in the sixth ‘presidential’ elections since the invasion of 1974.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash must fight off stiff challenges if he is to go to the third round of settlement talks due in New York next month.

For a place as tiny as the so-called ‘Turkish Republic of North Cyprus’, there are an incredible eight candidates. But only four could be called significant contenders, and only one, ‘Prime Minister’ Dervis Eroglu, poses a serious threat to Denktash's decades-long uninterrupted reign in power.

Mehmet Ali Talat, leader of the Republican Turkish Party, and Mustafa Akinci, leader of the Communal Liberation Party are the other two chief candidates, but their chances of making the probable second round (necessary if no man clocks up more than 50 per cent of the vote today) are slim.

"Talat's a good man. He's a social democrat and he, more than anyone else in the TRNC, has caught the mood of change since Helsinki, but he doesn't command a broad basis of support", said one diplomat.

Akinci commands even less support, though his politics of EU, peace and prosperity are not particularly different from Talat’s.

So the real fight will be between Denktash and Eroglu.

And it’s a sixth term for Denktash that most predict.

But why does an electorate, in free elections, with a consistently high turnout rate (about 85 per cent) favour the same man time and time again?Denktash may have doctored the ‘constitution’ to allow him to stand for more than two terms, but there's no doubt of the immense popularity he enjoys among Turkish Cypriots.

He's Ankara's man, and that counts given that Turkey is the only country in the world to recognise the ‘TRNC’ claim to statehood. And the mainland Turkish media adore him, this year voting him Man of the Year - an award critics dismissed as a weak stunt, coming just weeks before the election in a full blown presentation by President Suleyman Demirel.

But for most Turkish Cypriots the truth is that Denktash deserved it.

Engin Ari, one of Eroglu's party members and campaigners told The Sunday Mail that, "Denktash has sacrificed a lot for us and people are grateful. He was and is a great figure, it’s just that now is the time for change."

The media on both sides of the Green Line have touted the participation of Turkish settlers as the main reason for the 13,191 increase in the now 126,591 strong electorate since 1995 - and say it’s their vote that props up Denktash's ‘democratic dictatorship’.

But Ari also dismisses this. "The settlers have been here a long time. I don't think they vote as a separate group; they are much more like Turkish Cypriots than Turks now."

The real issue at stake is the Cyprus problem, but as both Eroglu and Denktash adopt an equally hard-line policy, the choice is one of capability. And with the New York talks coming so soon after the election, some fear that a fresh player who lacks experience could upset the process."

Denktash is a legend. At every step of the way he has been there: no one can match his track record. The Turkish Cypriots love him for that. He speaks excellent English and it’s his life work to reach a settlement," the western diplomat said.

And Denktash has never failed to exploit that authority. He has proclaimed his re-election as his ‘right’, "because I have defended and never disappointed my people".

Despite the outwardly conservative nature of the Turkish Cypriot electorate, there is a substantial group clamouring for change. They blame Denktash for sacrificing internal politics to faction fighting. The Turkish Cypriot economy still lags behind the boom in the free areas. Denktash opposes any EU talks before a settlement, whereas younger politicians and businessmen are more eager to cash in on Brussels money.

They also criticise him for monopolising the Cyprus negotiations, leaving possible successors in the dark.

"There is a very real concern that after Denktash, the TRNC could stumble. The man is not the country. He has to realise and let others come in. At 76, he's very well, but he's not young any more. He needs to work with others," said Ari.

Indeed, Eroglu's campaign has been all about working together. He's made an attempt to add internal politics to his campaign agenda, along with the Internet and the EU. He talks of appointing councils of legal experts to help with the Cyprus negotiations, and economic experts to assist with EU preparations.

He has made a showy attempt to bring the still traditional Turkish Cypriot campaign methods into the 21st century. His slogan is "modern and courageous statesman" and his campaign has been a low-budget, weak imitation of those US campaigns. He boasts a catchy www.

eroglu2000.

com website. His rallies, less well attended than Denktash's simpler, more rustic affairs, have been a blitz of balloons and fireworks. Furthermore he has worked hard. He claims to have visited 236 villages and addressed 16 rallies.

But just as Turkish-Cypriots don't like change, there are many who are suspicious of the glitz, particularly as Eroglu's qualifications are somewhat dubious.

There has been mud slinging on both sides, but Eroglu has fumbled under Denktash's rhetoric. His English is almost non-existent: not, in theory, a bar to his success at the negotiating table, but in practice it would be awkward, and at the social gatherings so important to diplomacy - embarrassing.

He has backtracked on his commitment to personally front negotiations, by talking about teams and advisors - which seems flimsy in comparison with Denktash's staggering experience.

His reputation also took a dive after his bungled attempt to contain a recent banking crisis.

Change for the sake of change is no reason to elect Eroglu. But what he can do is take Denktash to a second round.

"You know, Denktash is worried. He'll win, but he's worried. Eroglu's put up a strong challenge," said Reuters journalist Gokhan Tezgor.

The fact is that Denktash is not a bar to a Cyprus settlement.

Some have said that things will progress if Denktash goes, but that's perhaps superficial. The reason he's so popular is because he champions precisely what his compatriots so firmly believe in.

Campaigning ceased at 6pm last night; the ballot boxes are open from 10am to 6pm today. First results are expected at 10pm, but clear indications of the outcome are expected earlier.

One source predicted that the first round results would put Talat in the mid to high teens, Eroglu in the low 20s and Denktash at about 48 per cent.

A second round would depend on whom the left supports, given that there is little difference between Denktash and Eroglu on policy. In 1995 Eroglu lost the second round 37.52 per cent to Denktash's 62.48 per cent.

It’s next week that the bitterness will probably set in. The announcement on Thursday that the ‘Mayor’ of Kyrenia, a member of Eroglu’s NUP party, would back Denktash in a second round could well be the first of many.

Saturday, April 15, 2000

[02] Money galore on the stock market

MONEY poured in to the Cyprus stock market yesterday, registering the highest trading volume so far this year as institutional investors continued to take up positions.

The market registered daily gains of 0.3 per cent on its all-share index, though individual sectors like insurance and the service company sectors outperformed the broader sector with gains of 6.72 and 2.08 per cent respectively.

On traded values of £45.6 million, it was the highest that the market has registered for the past five months. The number of deals exceeded 10,000 at 11,071.

The market drew back from a stronger open by 1.7 per cent.

Traders said investors were becoming more savvy at getting in and out of the market in intraday trading, with one pointing to the relative ease with which they could sell stock early in the session, make a profit, then scoop the same paper back up 40 minutes later at a lower premium when it came under profit taking pressure.

However, some brokerages were cautioning yesterday that it was only a matter of time before the system would start creaking again if the number of deals continued to climb.

CSE officials earlier this week said the system could handle up to 15,000 deals a day, but some dealers say that the workload could allow a few errors to slip through, either by brokerages, registries of companies or the bourse itself.

The bourse has already incurred brokers' wrath for trying to impose hefty fines for mistakes in settlement procedures. Some traders are contemplating legal action against the threats.

In individual sectors, the heavyweight banking index retreated 0.6 per cent.

Droushia Heights, which rose 16 cents to £1.13 on Thursday, came under some profit taking yesterday as it retreated a cent to £1.12 on a volume of 2.6 million shares.

Aiantas investment topped volume ranks with 3.7 million shares changing hands as it raked up a 2.9 point gain to 43.9 cents.

Cassoulides printers, which rose to prominence on the market on Thursday, came back down eight cents to £1.83 as it confirmed market rumours that it was in talks with Options on a possible merger. The matter has been referred to external consultants, the two companies said in separate statements to the CSE.

Options and Cassoulides reached agreement in January for a joint venture to publish magazines and newspapers.

On a weekly basis, the market has shown returns of 4.5 per cent. A higher advance was offset by a cumulative drop of 2.4 per cent on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Average traded values on a daily basis shot up 41 per cent to £35.4 million. Most transactions were absorbed by the other companies sector, followed by banking stocks.

Saturday, April 15, 2000

[03] Rumours fly in growing row between Koshis and Angelides

JUSTICE Minister Nicos Koshis yesterday refused to comment on an ongoing row with Chief of Police Andreas Angelides, which has dealt another blow to the Clerides government.

Reports yesterday suggested Angelides would be called to the Presidential Palace to account for himself after the Government Spokesman said on Thursday that President Clerides would intervene to end the embarrassing developments.

The row centres on whether Koshis informed Angelides of the alleged plot against his life on the weekend of April 1, when the Minister was visiting London.

Scotland Yard pulled out all the stops to protect Koshis, but the biggest trouble started on his return.

Koshis said he had informed Angelides of the plot, but the police chief has said publicly he was told nothing by the Minister.

Speculation was rife yesterday that Angelides, whose appointment was backed by the highest echelons of Disy, had been involved in setting Koshis up for a public fall because of the Minister's doggedness in proceeding with a criminal case involving Disy leader Nicos Anastassiades' twin brother Bambos.

Bambos Anastassiades is currently on trial for his alleged connection to a scam involving the sale of visas to cabaret artistes.

However, well-know anti-corruption crusader, Disy deputy Christos Pourgourides, said yesterday there was no behind-the- scenes conspiracy against Koshis.

At the same time Pourgourides said the row between Koshis and Angelides was "a joke" and urged the two men to put an end to it.

"It's a pointless discussion basically, like a joke, and to continue it will only cause further damage," Pourgourides said.

"For a long time now I have been insisting at every opportunity that as public figures we have to find the strength sometimes to ignore the microphones that are put in front of us and not make any statements. In this case, two public figures, I'm sorry to say, have in the last few days made non-stop statements over this issue with actually having anything to say."

A statement by the European Renewal Party was slightly harsher.

"It seems the government cannot keep its house in order. The European Renewal Party will not take part in the discussion on who was informed and who was not, but because we have bitter experience of various conspiracies in the past, we demand that the government inform people responsibly on threats against Mr Koshis, who stubbornly refuses to clarify the situation."

The statement said that if the underworld was indeed threatening the government it was a wider political issue and not the personal secret of the Minister of Justice.

It added that two people chosen by the President himself as part of his administration were showing the government in a bad light.

"The President seems to be above and beyond what is going on not only in Cyprus but in his own government," the statement said.

Saturday, April 15, 2000

[04] National Council starts hammering out New York strategy

PRESIDENT Clerides yesterday briefed the National Council on his latest contacts in New York and London.

The Council will meet again next month ahead of the third round of UN-led proximity talks due to start in New York on May 23.

Foreign envoys are due on the island before the next round, Britain's special representative Sir David Hannay on May 5 and the UN mediator Alvaro de Soto on May 8.

Speaking after yesterday's four-hour meeting, Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said the National Council, which brings together the island’s main party leaders, had discussed the issue of federation and begun to lay the groundwork for the tactics the government would follow in New York.

"The National Council will continue to pursue a solution based on Security Council resolutions," Papapetrou said.

Asked about the recent furore over who did and who didn’t want a federal solution, Papapetrou said: "Since this question has been asked, the National Council also discussed the recent noises made about the issue of a federation and I'm authorised by all members of the National Council to say that they will continue to pursue a federal solution based on the high- level agreements of 1977 and 1979 and within the framework of UN resolutions."

A row erupted recently when New Horizons, a party not represented on the National Council, said the majority of Cypriots did not want a federation. This was later borne out by a poll in a local newspaper.

The government has admitted that a federation is not its ideal choice for a solution, but believes it's the best Cyprus can hope for.

The Turkish Cypriots are seeking a confederation of two ‘states’, although their breakaway regime is not recognised internationally.

Papapetrou also commented yesterday on the visit this week by US presidential envoy for Cyprus Alfred Moses to Ankara, where he met Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem.

According to Turkish Cypriot press reports, Cem told a Turkish TV channel that there had been a development regarding the Cyprus issue, but that it was a "cautious development".

However, he also said that recent developments did not mean that everything would be solved, and that such hopes could lead to disappointment.

Cem said he told Moses that the "sovereign character" of the two sides on the island must be acknowledged and that believing that results could be obtained without these conditions would be misleading.

Papapetrou said the National Council did not base its decisions on information coming from such unconfirmed reports.

"Our side has not been fully informed yet about the contacts of foreign envoys in Turkey, " he said.

Saturday, April 15, 2000

[05] Water: expect tighter cuts but no price rise

CITY water boards expect to tighten rationing this summer, but do not plan any rate rises, since parliamentary approval would be needed for that - and the House of Representatives has been sitting on rate-hike requests ever since 1992.

This was the verdict from Nicosia and Larnaca water boards following the Water Development Department (WDD) announcement this week of government water allocations to cities this summer.

Limassol's water board was unavailable for comment, and Paphos, with two- thirds of the island's reservoir water behind its dams, faces few, if any, summer water problems.

But Limassol is sure to face cutbacks this summer, as it got only a 38 per cent state water allocation this summer, down from 40.1 per cent last year. Nicosia's share rose to 46.6 per cent (from 44.6 per cent last year), while Larnaca got the remaining 15.4 per cent, close to its 15.3 per cent of 1999.

The new urban allocations were required not only to account for population differences, but because the drought cut this year's rains to a mere 61 per cent of normal for the meteorological year, which began on October 1.

This has left state reservoirs 85 per cent empty - holding a mere 42 million cubic metres of water, down from 68 million cubic metres last April.

The state Water Development Department is not raising the cost of water to urban water boards, chief engineer Nicos Tsiourtis said yesterday.

The Nicosia Water Board is following suit. But if it wanted to raise rates it couldn’t without House approval, General Manager Charalambos Palantzis said. And, given the House's track record, he put the chance of that at near zero.

But he said the board would probably cut the hours per day that water flows to homes and businesses in the capital - from the current 10 hours three days a week, to about eight hours on those three days.

Nicosia last sought permission to raise rates (by 17 per cent) in 1992, and is still awaiting an answer, Palantzis said.

And he shuddered at the thought of resubmitting a new request reflecting current conditions, as that would mean starting the process all over again - with no more chance of success than back in 1992.

Even if the House approved the old request, it would merely address conditions that were relevant eight years ago, Palantzis said. "Actually, I do not expect there is going to be any approval," he added.

Besides, he said, with the water shortage biting so hard, the Nicosia Board would find it hard to seek a steeper rise.

For any higher rise, he said, the board would wait until 2001, "when we expect the (water) problems to be completely solved," as the Larnaca desalination plant is due on-line.

"When the new desalination unit provides the people of Nicosia with 24-hour service, "we shall revise the tariffs according to the actual real cost of the water," he said.

Larnaca Water Board Chairman, District Officer Kypros Mattheou, and his technical manager Aristides Adamou both echoed Palantzis, noting they too had been waiting since 1992 for the House to approve a water rate rise.

"It's not a rational (rate) revision," Mattheou said, since it is "based on the 1992 situation." Nonetheless, he chuckled, it is a "pending request... still before the House of Representatives."

Adamou acknowledged that "severe cuts" were likely be announced for the town in a few days.

Larnaca, like Nicosia, now gets water three days a week, 8-10 hours a day, Adamou said. "If there is any cut, we will be obliged to pump two times a week. This would mean longer hours per time" – though not enough to compensate for the cutbacks, he added.

Saturday, April 15, 2000

[06] United Democrats call for broader consultation on tax package

THE UNITED Democrats have accused the Finance Minister of pandering to opposition Diko in his attempts to gain acceptance of his planned hike in VAT.

Finance Minister Takis Klerides said on Thursday that the government proposed to return around £47.2 million in tax breaks from the £62 million it expected to reap from a two per cent rise in VAT, from eight to 10 per cent.

The government insists it must gradually increase VAT to come into line with EU norms of 15 per cent.

Opposition Akel accuses the government of hiding behind the EU to introduce policies it says are harmful to the people. The left-wing party is demanding £60 million worth of tax breaks in return for the rise in VAT.

The government, which does not command a majority in parliament, needs Diko support to get the package through.

However, George Christofides, the vice-president of the United Democrats, the junior partner in the governing coalition, yesterday said the proposals should have been put forward differently.

Speaking to the CyBC, Christofides said the government's proposals seemed to be centred around those put forward by Diko.

He said a second round of consultations on the compensatory measures should now take place between Klerides and all the political parties.

"There ended up being two standards somehow, without the Finance Minister necessarily wanting this... It is not just important for something to be passed, there must be an impression of consensus."

Christofides said that Klerides, perhaps without intending to, had given the impression that only Diko was concerned about the less well off, while all the political parties were.

Peo, the Akel affiliated trade union, was much harsher in its criticism.

In an announcement yesterday, it said the package was extremely confusing.

The union said the government was obliged by law to modify taxation every four years, based on the course of inflation.

"The government has delayed this obligation," harming workers’ financial interests, the union said.

Peo said tax breaks implemented in 1996 had been rendered now meaningless by inflation, while the current taxation system was especially unfair for pensioners, refugees, workers supporting students and workers with mortgages.

The union said changes in taxation should not be taking place only to counter the rise in VAT.

Peo said the less well off had already been hammered by taxes in recent months, "a rise in cigarette taxes, a rise in consumer taxes on petrol and diesel, a rise in tax for all-terrain vehicles, a rise in tax for spirits, etc."

The union said these rises and taxes on Stock Exchange transactions were bringing the government tens of millions of pounds, "without (the government) giving anything back."

Klerides said on Thursday the tax-free income threshold would be raised from £5,000 to £6,000 and income tax scales would be modified.

He said the minimum pension would be raised by 10 per cent and that inheritance tax would be abolished along with the CyBC levy.

Saturday, April 15, 2000

[07] Footballer electrocuted by faulty machine

A 24-YEAR-old football player was electrocuted during a physiotherapy session after touching a faulty machine, a post mortem revealed yesterday.

Andreas Nicos Ioachim from Frenaros was undergoing therapy for an old leg injury on a special machine on Thursday night when he was electrocuted.

It had initially been thought that the machine being used on him at the physiotherapy clinic had caused his death, but yesterday it emerged it was a second machine that was at fault.

"I carried out an autopsy on the body and his death was caused by electrocution," said state pathologist Sophoclis Sophocleous.

Ioachim played football for Enosis Neon Paralimni. Previously he had played for Elpida Xylophagou, with whom he sustained his leg injury two years ago.

Asked by journalists about the therapy machine, Sophocleous said: "It seems that there was a machine next to him which had a problem and he probably touched this and was electrocuted."

Ioachim's death occurred at around 6.45pm on Thursday, six minutes into his therapy at a Frenaros clinic.

All efforts to revive him failed, and Ioachim was pronounced dead on arrival at Paralimni hospital.

According to reports from Larnaca, the clinic’s owner went into shock and was taken to a private clinic in Paralimni where he was kept in overnight for observation.

Michalis Hadjiroussos, a senior official with the government's Electrical and Mechanical Services, said yesterday that from initial investigations they had established that the electrical fault lay with the second machine, which had been within reach of Ioachim and which he had touched with his hand.

"We discovered unfortunately that a machine near the unlucky athlete, which was wired incorrectly and probably broken, caused the accident," Hadjiroussos said.

He said the investigation would nevertheless continue.

"This phenomenon (faulty wiring) is very common, not only at gyms but at amusement parks and everywhere," Hadjiroussos said. "Machines are being put together by amateur electricians, causing fatal accidents to the unlucky people who use them.

People have to know that electricity is dangerous and kills."

He said that only certified electricians should be allowed to wire machines.

"It's not a matter of (government) control," he added. "It's a matter of owners being responsible."

Saturday, April 15, 2000

[09] Stop smoking, win $10,000 and save your life

IT’S HARD to tackle smoking in Cyprus because penalties imposed for lighting up in no smoking areas are always very low, Health Minister Frixos Savvides said yesterdayThe penalty for smoking or for failure to display no-smoking signs in places like taxis, hospitals and other public places is up to £500 pounds, but the amount imposed for breaking the law is always much smaller, the minister said.

Savvides was speaking at a news conference about the ‘Winning by giving-up smoking’ competition.

"There is an urgent need for people to cut down on smoking because smokers affect non-smokers' health even when they are really careful not to. For instance, when someone has smoked in an elevator when he was on his own, the smoke will remain in it for hours, so everyone who enters later will inhale nicotine," Savvides said.

According to research published by the Ministry of Health a year ago, 23 per cent of the Cypriot adult population are smokers.

"The 2000 International Competition ‘Winning by giving up smoking’ is the biggest international effort to tackle smoking," the minister said.

It is estimated that one hundred countries, including Cyprus, will take part in the competition, drawing in half a million to a million smokers from all over the world. Finland's Institute Of Public Health is co-ordinating the competition.

Competitors in Cyprus must fill in a form from the Ministry of Health and will then try to abstain from smoking from May 2 to May 29. Urine and breath tests will then identify those who have managed not to smoke a single cigarette for the set period. Out of those people, a random group will be picked out by drawing lots.

First out of the hat in Cyprus will receive £500, the second will get £300 and the third £200. The winner also goes into an international draw, with $10,000 to be won.

And if that’s not enough of an incentive, "it is estimated that half of current smokers will die because of smoking if they do not give it up at some point, and the other half will lose at least 20 years of their lives," the minister said.

Four million people die every year because of smoking and it is estimated that in 25 years the death toll will rise to ten million a year, he added.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 2000

Saturday, April 15, 2000

[09] Christodoulou presents new Citizens’ Charter for efficient public service

Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou presented the charter yesterday at a news conference.

Christodoulou said the Citizens’ Charter aimed at modernising the public services, establishing a proper complaints procedure and making everything clear, simple and transparent.

The Council of Ministers had decided to draw up the carter to improve the relations between the state and the citizen, he added.

The charter commits the public services to inform the public about the mechanisms and the procedures followed in all services, to fix mistakes quickly and effectively, to give citizens advise, to answer all letters in time and clearly. And under no circumstance can a fixed appointment between a member of the public and a public official be delayed by any more than 10 minutes.

The charter's booklet on the town-planning department sets out, among other things, the laws by which a development can go ahead and the procedures that must be followed, as well as the time required for a procedure to be completed.

A list of useful addresses, contacts and phone-numbers are also included in the booklet for town- planning services.

A similar booklet is also available for the lands and survey department services, aiming at speeding up the notoriously complicated and bureaucratic procedures of the department's services. It gives the public a chance to find out where to turn and which path to follow to fill out applications, transfer a property, and the like.

The Immigration Department's booklet contains information on procedures for issuing a passport, gaining citizenship, immigration licensing and others.

Christodoulou insisted the charter's provisions would be followed to the letter and that the citizen was the state’s number one priority.

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