Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-07-22

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

Wednesday, July 22, 1998

Sir David's 'imaginative ideas'

BRITISH envoy Sir David Hannay's comments on arriving in Cyprus on Monday were the lead story in four of the five dailies.

Haravghi reported that cancelling deployment of the S-300 missiles would be Sir David's chief aim in his talks in Cyprus. It said he would also discuss the possibility of resuming the Cyprus talks and Turkish Cypriot participation in Cyprus's EU accession negotiations.

Simerini said that Sir David had brought some "imaginative ideas" with him in an attempt to lure the Turkish side to talks. Doubting the effectiveness of the intercommunal talks, he had worked out a formula to circumvent them, but did not elaborate.

He believed that for talks to be successful, the positions of the two sides should be unaffected. The main obstacle to talks was the refusal of each side to accept the status of the other. Talks which ignored the positions of the two sides about their respective status could be successful, Sir David reportedly said.

Phileleftheros noted that the British envoy had taken a different line from the EU presidency which supports the creation of a flight exclusion zone over Cyprus. The zone would affect the Treaty of Guarantee of which Britain was a signatory.

Machi described the Turkish celebrations to mark the 24th anniversary of the invasion as "a new air-and-naval invasion". Six Turkish warships docked at Kyrenia port, while 12 fighter jets arrived at Lefkoniko air base.

Seven of the fighters flew in exhibition formations over Kyrenia. Earlier, during the military parade, six army helicopters flew over occupied Nicosia.

Alithia revealed that a technical committee was investigating a scam involving the import of old, used trucks. The law prohibits the import of used cars which are more than four years old.

The trucks had been imported on the pretext that they would be used for spare parts, but the owners changed their chassis numbers and had put them to use. The Road Transport Department has summoned owners to bring their trucks for inspection, the paper said.

Most papers reported that British police investigators had arrived in Cyprus to probe the business dealings of the Bishop of Limassol, Chrysanthos. Simerini said the Bishop cannot be located and no one knows when he will return to Cyprus.

Phileleftheros, meanwhile, said that the Patriarch of Russia also had a complaint against Chrysanthos which he had raised with President Clerides during the latter's recent visit to Moscow.

Patriarch Alexius had sent $700,000 to the Limassol Bishopric for the construction of a Russian church in Cyprus. While a foundation stone had been laid, construction work had yet to begin, the paper said.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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