Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-04-05

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

Sunday, April 5, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Holbrooke revives business talks

[02] Matsakis fury at bases behaviour

[03] Diko meets to examine the lessons of February

[04] Policemen hurt in cabaret raids

[05] Offer your clients a day on the world's fastest yacht

[06] The new sexual revolution

[07] Police clampdown on Easter firecrackers

[01] Holbrooke revives business talks

President Clerides and Richard Holbrooke leave the presidential palace in Nicosiayesterday for Asinou church Photo: Christos Theodorides

US PRESIDENTIAL emissary for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke yesterday succeeded in kick-starting talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot businessmen but failed to make any headway on the stalled political negotiations.

Breaking 24 hours of silence, the UN envoy told journalists from both sides of the divide that President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash had each asked him to return.

He expects to do so around May 1, he said. In the meantime US State Department Co-ordinator Thomas Miller will return to the island.

Holbrooke, who arrived in Cyprus on Friday night, said it was not possible to reach any agreements on the political level during such a short trip. But all outstanding issues had been raised with the two leaders, he said in a press conference at Nicosia's Ledra Palace Hotel.

He described his visit as both "successful and inconclusive".

"We did not bring any papers or peace plans here today," he said. "We have suspended the talks for the time being. There was nothing that could have been accomplished."

Referring to the planned resumption of the businessmen's contacts, Holbrooke said: "It was done today. It was done at our (Washington's) request... we had quite an extended dialogue to make this happen".

The contacts between leading businessmen were established in Brussels last November at Holbrooke's instigation. But Denktash banned them along with other bicommunal activities in December after the EU's Luxembourg decision to open entry negotiations with Cyprus.

Holbrooke said he expects the full 24-member bicommunal businessman's group established in Brussels to resume contacts. "This is very important to me," he said.

The US envoy said he did not broach the subject of the other suspended bicommunal activities with the Turkish Cypriot leader. But ambassador Brill will," he said. "You have to work your way forward wherever you can," he said.

However, he did criticise the visa charges being imposed by the Turkish Cypriot side. "This thing about paying to cross the line troubles me a lot. I talked to Denktash about it," he said. "I think the movement should be free across the line... this is just wrong... it troubles us all."

On the Cyprus-EU negotiations, Holbrooke said the US believes Cyprus should be a member of the EU because it is part of Europe. "The US also believes... the Turkish application to the EU should receive a favourable consideration. Everybody understands that the process for any country seeking entry into the European Union takes time, many years, and that the economy is the key variable... and that the Turkish economic situation would not permit them to move into the EU as soon as, say, Estonia".

Holbrooke said Turkey, like all the applicant countries, presents an individual profile. "So we say... Europe includes Turkey".

He described his contacts with Denktash as "extremely cordial" and taking place on a basis of "high mutual respect". He said Denktash had made his position absolutely clear.

The Turkish Cypriot leader refuses to resume direct talks with President Clerides unless they take place on a 'two-state' basis.

"He didn't yield an inch, nor did I expect him to," Holbrooke said. "He is an extremely tenacious advocate of his position. The Turkish Cypriots could not hope for a better advocate of that position".

The American envoy made it clear, however, that the US has no intention of recognising the breakaway regime in the north and that it opposes any partition of the island.

"We (the US) do not recognise the independent sovereignty of the TRNC. We cannot do that. That is our position. We recognise the Republic of Cyprus and Glafcos Clerides as its president," he said.

"The diplomatic situation is at a difficult stage and the solution to it involves not just the leaders but the people outside - Brussels, Athens, Ankara and Bonn".

Holbrooke leaves Cyprus this morning.

[02] Matsakis fury at bases behaviour

DIKO DEPUTY Marios Matsakis yesterday lodged an official complaint after being arrested and charged by the British bases on Friday for allegedly breaching the peace.

"I have lodged a complaint with the Xylophagou police station. I have been examined by doctors at Larnaca hospital," an angry Matsakis told Cyprus Mail.

Speaking from the Diko conference in Limassol, Matsakis said he had also had a personal meeting with party leader and House President Spyros Kyprianou on the issue. "The matter is now proceeding," Matsakis said.

"This is a sensitive matter, which will have serious consequences with steps taken about the behaviour of the so-called SBA police and the way they treated me."

The former state pathologist and active member of the anti-British bases lobby was arrested on Friday morning by British bases authorities following a scuffle outside a court in Dhekelia.

The bases said Matsakis was well-known for "this sort of irresponsible behaviour".

Matsakis was held and questioned by SBA police for five hours after which he was charged with criminal trespass and causing a breach of the peace.

According to reports on Friday, Matsakis leapt over a barricade after being denied entry to the Dhekelia base where he had gone to observe a court case involving Greek Cypriot farmer Hambis Himonas. The court area had been sealed off to prevent trouble by Himonas' friends and neighbours.

Matsakis became embroiled after he insisted on seeing Himonas, both as a doctor and as a deputy of the House.

Yesterday he questioned the legality of the bases' actions, asking "whether they are a law unto themselves or whether they have any respect for the laws of this country."

Xylophagou resident Himonas was arrested by bases police on Thursday during a disturbance at the Pyla firing range during a tree-clearing operation.

[03] Diko meets to examine the lessons of February

A TWO-DAY Diko conference began yesterday in Limassol, intended to pave the way for the Extraordinary Pancyprian Diko Congress to be held from May 8 to 10.

Diko general secretary Stathis Kittis said yesterday the conference had been called by the party's central committee; 500 Diko officials from both national and local levels would be attending.

Kittis said the two-day discussion would examine February's presidential election results, motions would be tabled on the party's ideological base, and proposals heard for Diko to become a new social-democratic party.

The centre-right Democratic party joined forces with Communist Akel in supporting independent candidate George Iacovou in the presidential race. Disy-backed Glafcos Clerides eventually beat Iacovou to the post in the second round.

Asked whether it was likely Diko would take recently-expelled rebel Alexis Galanos and supporters back into the party fold, Kittis replied Diko and the rebels were now forging separate paths.

Galanos and other senior Diko members were expelled after the elections for opposing the party leadership's decision to back Iacovou, Galanos having defiantly launched his own candidacy in the first round of the polls.

Playing down Galanos' plans to form a separate party, Kittis said "it is Mr. Galanos' right to follow his own course".

Meanwhile Galanos yesterday described the two-day conference as "a parody" which had "not the slightest authority" to take decisions or discuss issues of ideology and the party's prospective socio-political change.

He is expected to announce the creation of his new Democratic Renewal party on Wednesday.

[04] Policemen hurt in cabaret raids

Stylianos Konnaris, 24, and Alexis Charalambides, 24, were arrested and held for questioning after allegedly assaulting the three officers at a Larnaca night-club at 3.30am yesterday.

The officers received first aid treatment from Larnaca general hospital.

In a separate incident, police raided a cabaret owned by Venizelos Andronicou, 47, on Stratigou Timagia avenue in Larnaca, at around 2.10 am yesterday.

Andronicou was arrested after allegedly making provocative remarks about Justice Minister Nicos Koshis.

[05] Offer your clients a day on the world's fastest yacht

THE WORLD'S fastest yacht, owned by international security company Group 4 is moored in Larnaca marina, taking guests of various paying companies for daily short cruises to Protaras.

Cyprus Group 4 representative John Argyrou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that a good part of the income raised by the cruises would be given to the Institute of Neurology and Genetics (ING).

So far, the Group 4 yacht, which arrived in Cyprus on April 3, has had cruise-bookings from BP, Eurosure, MacDonald's and the Yiorki Hotel for their guests, raising �8,000 for the ING, tax-free.

The target for the Group 4 team is to raise �12,000 for the Institute.

The 65-foot, 42-tonne yacht is manned by a four-member crew and has room for 10 guests.

Places are available for half and full-day cruises costing �1,500 and �3, 000 respectively and this covers on-board lunch and drinks as well as promotional clothing for guests during day-sails.

Before leaving for Malta next Saturday, the Group 4 crew will be hosting President Clerides and nine others for an outing as guests of BP.

"The idea is to create team-spirit, professionalism and amusement," said Pavlos Metaxas, speaking on behalf of the project's advertising campaign.

But according to UK skipper Paul Bennet who captains the Group 4 yacht, the cruises include far more than a mere sense of wellbeing; anyone up for the ride is set for a unique sailing experience.

"The yacht itself won the last BT Global Challenge in July 1997 and passed (unscathed) through four hurricanes," he said.

Bennet, who had actually skippered a competing boat in the race, pointed out the Group 4 yacht had also sailed three times round the world, holding the record for the greatest sailboat cruising speed at 22 knots.

[06] The new sexual revolution

AFTER missing out on the sexual revolution of the 'sixties, Cyprus seems to be making up for lost time, as the local market for sex services has become increasingly prominent in recent months.

Adverts for sex phonelines appear nightly on television, and similar print ads share newspaper space with those for sex toys and massage parlours.

Sociopsychologist Antonis Raftis attributes it to the rapid change in Cypriot society.

Sexlines and other related enterprises are common in other developed countries, Raftis told the Cyprus Mail, but are "new fruit" for Cypriots.

Moreover, he says, Cyprus is a small society, and sexlines offer the user sexual satisfaction without the emotional involvement.

The lines are, according to Raftis, a way for the person to open up arousal without being exposed, as they can "hide behind the telephone or computer screen."

He adds that other reasons for the services' popularity are boredom and curiosity -- the services allow for the relief of that curiosity without involving actual physical cheating on one's partner.

An intrinsic part of a modern, developing society, perhaps, but the actual content of the adverts has caused concern in several circles.

Panicos Igoumenou, owner of Chryses Efkairies, the weekly small ads paper that includes the 'Gnorimies' section, where many such sex ads appear, says his hands are tied over the adverts, particularly those for massage parlours -- which in many cases offer far more than just massages, as the number of police raids on such establishments testifies.

The law, he says, requires anyone wishing to place such an ad to produce a beauty school diploma as proof that the establishment is genuine. These diplomas are, however, easily available in Greece for some �30.

Once the diploma is produced, the paper is unable to turn the adverts down. Besides being illegal, this would also mean that genuine massage parlour ads would be turned away, says Igoumenou.

He adds, however, that after some of the paper's readers complained about the content of the 'Gnorimies' section, the publication had been reformatted so that it was now a separate pull-out part of the paper making it easier to throw away before children could get to it.

A source at the Attorney-general's office confirmed that the law on the adverts was ambiguous, as it was based on the old British Obscene Publications Act, which has several loopholes that could be exploited by anyone wishing to place such ads.

[07] Police clampdown on Easter firecrackers

A police announcement said the clampdown would run until Easter Monday, April 20, in order to cut down on the number of injuries caused by firecrackers every year.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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