Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-10-24

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

Saturday, October 24, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Three hurt as detained immigrants riot

[02] Hysteria and paranoia, says High Commission

[03] 'Ready to defend Cyprus'

[04] 'This could end in tragedy'

[05] Bishop's advisor resigns over attack on politicians

[06] Patching up the rift

[07] Rome's missile quandary

[08] Electricity crisis in the north

[09] Students demand campus 'asylum'

[01] Three hurt as detained immigrants riot

TWO illegal immigrants and a policeman were taken to hospital last night after officers used tear gas to dispel a riot at a Larnaca detention centre.

Around 48 immigrants, mainly single black African males, began rioting around 9pm last night after they were told eight of them would be deported today.

According to police, the protesting immigrants set light to the blankets in their holding cells. The fire was quickly extinguished by firemen from outside the cells.

Police said that when the immigrants were asked to move out of the burned cells they resisted and officers were forced to move in with tear gas.

By 11.30pm police said all of the immigrants had been moved into the courtyard of the cell complex, which form part of the former divisional command of Famagusta.

Two of the immigrants and a police officer were taken to Larnaca hospital with respiratory problems as a result of the tear gas. They were treated but did not require admission, state radio said.

The remainder of the detainees were transported in groups to Larnaca Central police station "until we decide what to do with them," an officer at Larnaca said.

Their asylum applications have ben rejected by the UNHCR.

Until late August the Africans had been housed at the Pefkos Hotel in Limassol along with fellow passengers found starving and sick aboard a boat floating off the coast of the island in June.

Of the original 113 passengers from the fated Ridallah, some 50 still remain at the Pefkos while others have already been deported. The deportation of the eight, scheduled for today, will still go ahead, police said.

Saturday, October 24, 1998

[02] Hysteria and paranoia, says High Commission

`British diplomat was on a guided tour - not a spying mission'

THE DETENTION of British officials as suspected spies on Thursday by Cyprus police - if only for 40 minutes - has caused a few red faces in diplomatic circles.

Three men, including the British defence attach�, were intercepted by National Guard reservists who called in the police after they claimed the diplomat's vehicle was in a restricted area.

British High Commissioner David Madden had to face a barrage of questions yesterday after Phileleftheros reported on its front page that the three had been arrested for spying and kept in custody for several hours.

"My defence attach� was driving down a main road west of Nicosia. He was stopped and informed that he was driving in a closed area," said Madden yesterday, after meeting House president Spyros Kyprianou. He added: "They showed their identity cards and were allowed to proceed."

The newspaper reported that the official Land Rover was stopped after it was spotted moving suspiciously near a site of the Nikiforos war games, and that maps were found in the car indicating National Guard installations and possible sites for the S-300 missiles.

Kyprianou gave some credence to the claims: "One cannot say that it was a coincidence for a military attach� to approach an area at a time when a military exercise was going on," he said after his meeting with Madden.

But the High Commission is playing down the "incident" as a misunderstanding and denies any suggestion that its defence attach�, Colonel Crichton Wakelin, was on a covert spying mission.

Madden said: "I think most people on the island have road maps in their car. You will probably find that most foreign diplomats have maps in their car and move around from A to B." High Commission spokesman Piers Cazalet described the press reports as "hysteria and paranoia." He told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the three officials were not arrested but were stopped on the road and allowed to go after a 40-minute chat.

"They were stopped, they told police there was no sign saying the road was closed and they showed them a standard road map which had no military markings. "It was an amicable conversation," said Cazalet.

He said the defence attach� had been showing two men round the island, one of them his new driver at the High Commission, who needed to know his way around. "Very often his driver is off taking messages or other visitors, or this or that, to various places and so he (the defence advisor) was going on a tour showing them various places."

Local press reports also suggested that the government had made representations to the High Commission over the "incident" through Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Alecos Shiambos.

But Cazalet denied there had been any form of protest from the Cyprus government. "He (Shiambos) asked for some clarifications, not an explanation, neither did he complain or make any form of protest," said Cazalet.

Yesterday, Colonel Wakelin was certainly watching the Nikiforos exercises - he was officially invited as an observer at war games being staged in Zygi, near Limassol.

Saturday, October 24, 1998

[03] 'Ready to defend Cyprus'

COMBINED Cypriot and Greek armed forces are ready to defend the island against any military threat, President Glafcos Clerides said yesterday after observing troops taking part in the Nikiforos manoeuvres.

The President also said the Greek Cypriot side would remain calm in the face of Turkish provocations. He was referring to air space violations by Turkish military aircraft since the start of the joint Greek-Cypriot exercises on Tuesday.

"What I have to say is they can provoke us but the fact that we react with complete calmness is the best answer," Clerides said.

"I haven't been informed about today's violations. I imagine they will continue."

Clerides, who observed yesterday's manoeuvres in the presence of Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou, Cypriot and Greek military officials and politicians, expressed his full satisfaction with the exercises.

"I have just congratulated the general and I asked him to give my congratulations to the officers and others participating, and especially the reservists who carried out this excellent exercise," Clerides said.

Some 10,000 Greek Cypriots are taking part in the six-day exercises, 8,000 of whom are reservists.

"It's an exercise that makes all of us proud because we see a modern national guard, well armed, well trained and ready to defend the land of the Cyprus Republic," Clerides said.

Asked about the combining for the first time of the Greek exercises Toxotis with the National Guard's Nikiforos, Clerides said: "I think it's something we always had in mind, that at some stage this would happen, and I'm happy this was recognised by the leadership, both in Cyprus and in Greece that they should be combined into one exercise."

The Greek air force and navy yesterday took part in the fourth day of manoeuvres using live ammunition.

Yesterday's exercises took place on the island's south coast on the beaches of Zygi, with landings and strikes at mock enemy targets on land and sea.

A military spokesman said yesterday's exercise was very successful.

During the manoeuvres, two Greek Corsair A-7 planes and two F-16s bombed targets from the air while warships - participating for the first time - hit surface targets on the water.

A huge search and rescue exercise off the coast of Paphos also took place yesterday evening as part of the manoeuvres.

Saturday, October 24, 1998

[04] 'This could end in tragedy'

The leader of the Socialist Party in the European Parliament also told London Greek Radio (LGR), it was "a great pity" that the world's focus was on Cyprus' purchase of Russian S-300 missiles "instead of the (Turkish) invasion and occupation of Cyprus."

"My fear with (Turkish) overflying and things of this sort is that you have very young men, often very excitable, in high-technology airplanes, and sooner or later there is going to be a tragedy of awful proportions," Green told LGR.

"The international community has an obligation to stop that, and they know about it, they monitor it very clearly. And it is my view they should be stopping it," Green said.

Asked why the international community was passive over Cyprus, Green replied: "It is a result of superpower priorities in the area. They don't care, and they don't wish to exercise that sort of pressure on Turkey, which they fear as an important geo-strategic country."

"This is one of the ways in which international politics is actually not fair, not just. It is quite disgusting," Green said.

The collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union saw the United States emerge as the world's only superpower. Green's remarks clearly referred to US policy towards Turkey, which was geo-strategically important to Washington during the Cold War, and remains so, as a member of Nato in the troubled Middle East.

Green backed the right of a country "to defend itself" and said the pressure exerted on Cyprus about increasing tension by deploying the S-300 missiles "should be matched by pressure on Turkey" to cease its warplanes' provocative flights over Cyprus.

Such overflights "do increase tension," she said, and must stop if there is to be "any equilibrium in reducing tension" between Turkey and Cyprus.

Cyprus ordered the S-300 missiles early last year to boost the island's air defences. Turkey has a huge air force of powerful US-made jet fighters and helicopters. Cyprus has no jet fighters at all, and only a few helicopters and propeller planes.

The United States and Britain have opposed any deployment of the S-300 missiles as destabilising the already tense region.

The Republic has said the missiles will be deployed unless there is substantial progress towards a Cyprus solution, or steps are taken by both sides to totally demilitarise the island. The deployment has been postponed to a date yet uncertain.

Saturday, October 24, 1998

[05] Bishop's advisor resigns over attack on politicians

THE BISHOP of Limassol's financial advisor resigned yesterday. Alkis Mavronichis took the decision after Bishop Chrysanthos publicly distanced himself from comments he had made calling for the resignation of several political figures.

On Wednesday, the Bishop was asked by reporters whether politicians might be implicated in of his allegedly fraudulent dealings. He replied that he did not know, but that, if they were, it was up to them to say so.

Mavronichis, however, went further, making allegations against named politicians and calling for their resignations.

His decision to resign was made public on an afternoon magazine programme on CyBC television. He added that his statements had been in reply to the politicians calling for Chrysanthos' resignation.

Attorney-general Alecos Markides has called for an investigation into Mavronichis' comments to establish whether they might constitute a breach of the law on presenting false news and causing unrest, or of the libel laws.

The request for an investigation was echoed by Disy leader Nicos Anastassiades, one of the politicians implicated by Mavronichis.

Speaking on state radio yesterday, Markides said a similar investigation would not be made into Chrysanthos' comments, as "he was not as clear" in his statements.

But Markides was also critical of the media, accusing them of stirring up a fuss over the issue, which he believed had arisen simply because there was no other news.

Markides added that police investigators probing multi-million pound fraud allegation stacked up against Chrysanthos had completed their enquiries in Greece and would begin work in the UK on November 1.

He also noted that permission to investigate had been acquired from a third, unnamed, country, although written approval had not yet been received.

He said the Synod's internal report on Chrysanthos could not yet be published as it was being used in police investigations.

The Church report - widely leaked - has outlined 15 possible breaches of ecclesiastical law committed by the bishop.

Markides said any delays in the investigation were not deliberate, and that he "would not accept any deliberate delays".

More of Chrysanthos' associates were questioned yesterday by the special committee of three bishops appointed by the Holy Synod to investigate the allegations against Chrysanthos.

Christos Kitromilitis, the Limassol Bishopric's lawyer was the first to be questioned. He met for two hours with the investigative trio of Bishops Pavlos of Kyrenia, Neophytos of Morphou and Chrysostomos of Kition.

Kitromilitis gave the panel a written statement from Chrysanthos distancing himself from Mavronichis' controversial comments.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the lawyer questioned wether the three Bishops could simultaneously act as both investigators and judges for the Holy Synod.

Saturday, October 24, 1998

[06] Patching up the rift

Syllouris had sparked the wrath of the Disy leader for going public on corruption allegations in semi-government organisations. Anastassiades said the claims were "groundless".

The meeting came after Anastassiades on Thursday suggested Syllouris might want to look for a new party if he persisted with his allegations.

But after yesterday's meeting at Disy party HQ in Nicosia, the language was of reconciliation and not confrontation.

"We agreed that the party should be informed first before going public with scandal allegations," Anastassiades said afterwards.

He also described the discussion as "friendly and productive", and said that Syllouris had handed over some information for him to examine.

Earlier this week, the deputy had said he would not submit his information to his party boss. But he would not say yesterday whether Anastassiades had received the "drawer full" of allegations in his possession.

"We talked about specific cases, and he promised he would do all he could to look into it," Syllouris said.

Saturday, October 24, 1998

[07] Rome's missile quandary

THE GOVERNMENT'S efforts to secure Aspide medium-range missiles from Italy look destined to fail if it goes ahead with the Russian S-300 deal.

Informed sources have told the Cyprus Mail that the Italian authorities have blocked the export contract for the Aspide missiles because Cyprus is seen as an area of high tension.

Under Italian law, military hardware cannot be exported to war zones or areas of tension.

It is understood the Italian government is unwilling to grant an export license if the evidence suggests that the S-300s will be deployed on the island, thus further raising tensions and possibly sparking a Turkish attack.

But the Aspides are needed specifically to protect the very S-300 system that is causing Rome so much concern.

The Cyprus Mail has learnt that the Italian government sees a link between growing tension on the island and the arrival of the longer-range Russian missiles, and is therefore reluctant to take any action that might exacerbate the problem.

Although the Defence Ministry is looking for alternative medium-range missile systems - such as Russian SA-15s - its contract with the Italian arms manufacturers does not expire until the end of the year.

In effect, this means that the Italian government can exercise a wait-and- see approach before deciding whether the deal should be ruled invalid or not.

The National Guard already has a stock of Aspide missiles and the new batch is believed to be part of an air-defence umbrella to protect the S-300s from attack.

Although the Italians are dragging their feet, the army would prefer the Aspides, as they would better integrate with existing hardware, and - crucially - would cost half the $120 million needed to purchase the SA-15s.

Italy and France are the only two EU countries that readily supply arms to Cyprus, but the shift in climate has given the Italians cold feet.

Earlier this week, Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou said there was still a problem with securing the Aspide deal, but announced the French authorities were prepared to sell Cyprus an unlimited range of military hardware.

Saturday, October 24, 1998

[08] Electricity crisis in the north

The papers said tourist facilities throughout Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus had switched off their electricity for one hour on Thursday to protest against a recent rise in electricity rates, and a decision to peg prices to the US dollar.

The papers cited warnings by 'deputy prime minister' Serdar Denktash that northern Cyprus would run out of electricity at the end of October because fuel-oil stocks were running out, and the Vakiflar Bank was refusing the regime a letter of credit to buy more.

Mass-circulation daily Kibris said Denktash, son of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, had cautioned that the power blackouts that began yesterday would continue in order to stretch the fuel-oil stocks for another four to five days.

In any case, Denktash said, it would take 20 days for new fuel oil stocks to reach the occupied north, even if the bank had issued a letter of credit yesterday, according to Kibris.

The younger Denktash's statements drew sharp condemnation from both 'prime minister' Dervis Eroglu and the chairman of Vakiflar Bank's board of directors, Tuncer Arifoglu.

Eroglu said Denktash should not have made the fuel oil issue public, as in Eroglu's view the Turkish Cypriot leader's son did not have his facts straight.

Eroglu further blasted Denktash for letting the side down, as one "partner" governing coalition should not hang out the dirty laundry of another.

Arifoglu accused Serdar Denktash and the 'electricity board', Kib-Tek, of ineptitude for the entire affair. The bank board chairman said Kib-Tek and the relevant 'ministry' had told the bank on October 12 that they could pay their fuel oil debts, yet only two days later came asking for a letter of credit to buy fuel oil.

Saturday, October 24, 1998

[09] Students demand campus 'asylum'

The controversy arose after a student was fined for going up a one way street on the University of Cyprus campus.

"Is it a church or something?" was the reaction of a police spokesman yesterday when asked about the case.

But Student Union president George Taliadoros had other ideas: "All overseas university bodies have asylum on campus, but because we're a new university, the police and other people haven't realised this," he told the Cyprus Mail.

The Union position is that as the road was on University land, the University Administration should be responsible for administering any punishment.

The Student Union, Taliadoros said yesterday, sent a letter to the police complaining of the action a week ago, "but the only answered we've received has been more police patrols".

He said the incident had come to his attention 10 days ago and had taken place three weeks earlier.

Further action will be discussed at the next Student Union meeting on Wednesday.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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