Cyprus News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-02-03

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] European football teams invade Ayia Napa to train in winter

[02] UN focuses on overall Cyprus settlement

[03] Archeological Discoveries at Tamassos

0840:CYPPRESS:01

[01] European football teams invade Ayia Napa to train in winter

Ayia Napa, Feb 3 (CNA) -- A blustery cool wind sweeps over a churned football pitch as 20 or so tall, uniform-clad football players take turns testing the goalkeeper with blistering shots and forcing him to make sprawling saves, while an austere-looking coach barks stern instructions at them.

The team is Dutch First Division Club, Groningen, and it is among more than 200 other top European football clubs like Norway's Rosenborg and Hungary's Ferencvaros, which chose Ayia Napa as their winter training ground this year.

''It's perfect for training here. It's not too cold and not too warm,'' says FC Groningen's team therapist. ''You can do everything here. The hotels offer training rooms and provide us with everything we need.''

It is no surprise that the island's mild winter climate would attract Europeans seeking even a brief reprieve from harsh northern winters. But it is only in recent years that football teams have discovered Ayia Napa as an ideal location to train in preparation for the spring start to their season.

''It's all part of our effort to expand our tourist season and to improve the quality of the facilities we offer here,'' says Ayia Napa Mayor, Barbara Pericleous, ''and sports activities are one way of doing that.''

This southeastern coastal tourist resort now offers eight football pitches for hire by football teams for specific lengths of time. Over 200 teams are currently booked for February and March, but many more are in the process of booking.

''Four years ago, we only had four pitches accommodating 150 teams. Two years later, we added two more and last year another two, just to keep up with the great demand,'' says Ayia Napa town Cultural Coordinator, Ellada Charalambous.

She adds most teams are repeat visitors to the town and credits Ayia Napa's value as a training site as the reason for this.

''We are very cheap - 20 Cyprus pounds per hour, plus eight per cent value added tax. Compared with other places, we are a lot more attractive to the football teams,'' Charalambous notes.

The area's hotels pitch in with special concessions to the teams, Charalambous says, since ''during the winter months prices at hotels are much cheaper''.

This year, the town reduced its rent fees by half for the months of November, December and January. Consequently, a bookings mini-boom deluged Charalambous' office.

''We are in close contact with the teams' management, so word gets around pretty quick,'' she says.

This year, Ayia Napa will host the Scandinavian Masters, a football tournament of 12 first-division Scandinavian teams including Norway's Rosenborg and Gotenborg.

The tournament will run between February 21 and the March 1 and the semi-final and final games will be simulcast live to Europe.

The main organiser of the tournament is George Koumas, owner of Koumas Travel Agency, which specializes in sport tourism. He says Ayia Napa has left ''excellent impressions'' on visiting football teams, so much so that Ayia Napa now ranks among the top winter training sites.

''Our main competition in attracting football teams was Spain and Portugal and now we have surpassed them in the quality of our facilities,'' Koumas boasts.

''If you get a good name about organising these kind of things, then this will benefit tourism here all year round,'' he adds.

Ayia Napa is definitely in the midst of a promotion blitz, and when you attract the likes of CSKA Moscow to town, it speaks volumes about the quality of what the town-turned football training mecca has to offer. All that remains is that word about Ayia Napa spreads farther and wider.

CNA MH/GP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1240:CYPPRESS:02

[02] UN focuses on overall Cyprus settlement

In statements today after his second meeting with Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Cyprus, Han Sung Joo, said ''the next step would be to decide whether another trip is called for before recommending to the Secretary-General about the next step''.

He said he hoped ''this, will be inviting the leaders of the two communities to discuss the Cyprus problem''.

Han noted that if President Clerides and Rauf Denktash are invited to meet for a direct meeting, ''then it would be a direct meeting and not proximity talks but to the extent it is necessary proximity talks will be conducted, before a direct meeting takes place''.

Commenting on his morning breakfast meeting with Clerides, the UN envoy said the President gave him an account of his meeting with UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan, in Davos on Saturday.

''We went into some discussion of substantive issues'', adding that he feels good about the discussion they had.

Han will have a third and final meeting with Clerides again on Wednesday before leaving on Thursday.

Asked whether the UN has anything to do with reports about the British and Americans preparing ideas which will reportedly be presented in April for a Cyprus settlement, Han replied, ''I am not sure about this proposal they are talking about, or the date'', noting that he found out about this only through the media.

However, he stressed that ''whatever they do, is in close coordination with us (the UN) and will be supportive of our efforts''.

To a question if he has submitted any new proposals, Han replied ''we are exploring all kinds of avenues and ideas, so again it is not a comprehensive proposal written in one or two pages but we are getting into all kinds of issues''.

Han said the UN was making all efforts and that he was hopeful. ''Confidence is the word to use. I am neither optimistic, nor pessimistic''.

The South Korean former Foreign Minister, said ''it is in the interests of both communities in Cyprus to come to terms with each other, to have a settlement.

''We are here to be helpful, we cannot impose anything that the two communities would not want. We would do anything we can to help, if it takes persuading the parties, we will do that, but the most important thing is for the communities themselves to recognise the importance and the need to find a settlement'', he said.

To a question how he can justify optimism bearing in mind the declaration between Rauf Denktash and Suleiman Demirel, Han said ''all these responses and expressions should be taken in the context of the setting. I do not think that in itself would be a sufficient cause for despair.''

Asked if he has discussed any suggestions about the military situation, Han said this is a fact that has been going on and all the more reason why a solution is necessary.

At the same time, he reminded that the immediate military and security issues are being pursued in the context of UNFICYP auspices here, through the military dialogue between the National Guard and the Turkish occupation troops.

However, he said ''at the moment I am concentrating more on an overall settlement of the Cyprus issue''.

Turkish troops have been occupying 37 per cent of Cyprus territory since 1974, in violation of repeated UN resolutions calling for their withdrawal.

CNA EC/GP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

[03] Archeological Discoveries at Tamassos

Shockwaves rippled throughout the archeological community here, when members of the Republic's Archeological Department stumbled upon six limestone statues in excellent condition, four lions and two sphinxes, one metre below the surface, while doing routine maintenance on two royal tombs on the site.

The statues date from the Cypriot-Archaic period, around the 6th century B.C., on a site archeologists know little about.

Archeological Department Director, Demos Christou, said during that period, Cyprus was under Egyptian control and may have been influenced by Egyptian art forms.

He noted however, that it is certain the statues were the work of Cypriot sculptors.

Excavations have begun today in earnest to discover exactly why these statues were found in Tamassos.

One theory stipulates the statues guarded nearby tombs. Another theory states the statues were placed at the entrance of the ancient city, while a third supports they were placed at the threshold of a large building.

The Tamassos tombs were discovered late last century by German archeologist, Ohnefasch-Richter.

Excavations conducted between 1970-1980 yielded the two royal tombs, near which the statues were found.

Scholars are uncertain of the origins of the kingdom of Tamassos, but it is known it's economy depended by in large on the mining of copper.

The ancient kingdom was also a centre of worship of the deity Aphrodite, who's temple ruins predominate the site.

CNA MH/GP/1997

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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