Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-05-15

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

Friday, May 15, 1998

US initiative put on hold

TWO ISSUES dominated yesterday's front pages -- news that the US peace initiative would be will be put on hold until after the EU summit in Cardiff and reports that an Aids carrier had allegedly had unprotected sex with five women.

Phileleftheros reported that the United Nations was concerned about the future of Unficyp. According to the paper, the UN has indications from Turkish diplomats that Ankara will seek a change in the terms of reference of Unficyp when its Cyprus mandate comes up for renewal next month.

The Turkish move is related to Rauf Denktash's demand for recognition. His aim is to gain something on the recognition of the pseudo-state through the resolution for the renewal of Unficyp's mandate. UN resolutions on Unficyp always refer to the Cyprus government, as opposed to the Greek Cypriot community.

Haravghi said that the US had put the cart before the horse in seeking the satisfaction of Turkey's EU demands before any move on Cyprus was made. US attention would now focus on promoting Turkey's EU course ahead of the Cardiff summit in June.

President Clinton would be discussing the Turkey-EU issue when he meets Chancellor Kohl. On Cyprus, the US would restrict its moves to maintaining contact with the two sides as well as with Greece and Turkey.

Agon carried a similar report, saying that the next moves by the US would depend on the Cardiff summit. For this reason, US envoy Richard Holbrooke was not expected back in Cyprus before June, when he is also expected to visit Athens and Ankara.

Alithia reported that US ambassador Kenneth Brill had come to the defence of Holbrooke with regard to the envoy's apportioning of blame over the deadlock in peace efforts. Brill told reports that Holbrooke "was very clear".

"The message was not received clearly here, despite the fact that Holbrooke's language was very clear," Brill was quoted as saying. He noted that some Greek journalists and the international press fully understood that Holbrooke had blamed the Turkish side.

Simerini reported that the "Aids terror cast a shadow over Larnaca" after it was revealed that a male carrier had had unprotected sex with five women, one of whom was a married mother of two.

The man, who is a waiter, was reported to the police by his current girlfriend after he informed her that he was a carrier. Matters were complicated at court when the waiter scratched a photographer who had tried to take his picture.

Machi was outraged that Turkish academic Yalcin Kucuk, who was an officer in the Turkish invasion army in 1974, had been invited to give a lecture at the University of Cyprus.

The paper said that the visit of Kucuk, who had said he had regretted his actions in the invasion during a series of interviews to Antenna TV, was a provocation and predicted that his lecture would constitute a 'distortion of history'.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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