Constitutional change planned for
accordance with EU law
By Jacqueline Theodoulou
THE HOUSE Legal Affairs and
European Affairs Committees yesterday met to discuss amendments to Cypriot
Constitution, which aim to alter the non-fundamental chapters of the Constitution
and empower European Law in Cyprus.
Specifically, the Committees began talks over a government bill for the tenth
amendment in Constitution and the law proposal of DISY’s Ionas Nicolaou,
president of the Legal Committee, for the ninth amendment in Constitution.
The bill aims to make possible the extradition and delivery of citizens of the
Republic who have carried out criminal offences in third-world countries, with
which the Cypriot Republic has signed two-part treaties and enforcing the European
arrest warrant.
The bill proposes the addition of a new Constitutional chapter (1A), in which
it states that no Constitutional decree will be considered as a cancellation or
influence on laws, actions or measures that are taken by the Republic, which
are demanded or enforced by the inclusion of Cyprus in the EU.
Additions are also proposed for chapters 169 and 179, according to which
actions issued by an EU body bind the Republic.
An alteration to chapter 140 would give the President of the Republic the right
to refer to the High Court about laws that conflict with European law.
Nicolaou and head of the European Affairs Committee Nicos Kleanthous of DIKO
both expressed their concern over the retroactive power the enforcement of the
European arrest warrant would have on criminal offenders. And both were
skeptical over the delivery of citizens to member-states and their extradition
to third-world countries.
Attorney-general Petros Klerides informed deputies that there are two ways in
which the Constitution can be amended: to make alterations on certain chapters
or to make a general amendment.
“The inflexible Constitution does not allow the alteration of fundamental
chapters and for this reason the second method was chosen, to avoid changing
fundamental chapters,” Klerides said.
Responding to deputies, the Attorney-general said the government bill does not
cover chapter 17 – for the privacy of telecommunication – and explained that
the matter of phone-monitoring does not concern the acquis communautaire, but
other international treaties the Cypriot Republic has signed.
The alterations were discussed at length with the President of the Republic,
Tassos Papadopoulos, said Klerides adding that bodies specialising in civil law
were consulted.
Could this really be a new start?
By Jean Christou
A U.N. spokesman yesterday
stopped short of saying a new Cyprus initiative might be in the works as a
result of President Tassos Paapadopoulos’ meeting with Secretary-general Kofi
Annan on February 28 in Paris.
Speaking to reporters in New York, Annan’s spokesman Stephan Dujarric said both
men would review the situation in Cyprus and discuss ways of moving forward.
“The meeting in Paris should be seen as his continued consultations on the issue
of Cyprus and of moving forward the process of reuniting Cyprus and that’s as
far we can go right now,” he said.
Annan has held off on launching a new Cyprus initiative since the failed
referendum on his reunification plan in 2004. He has repeatedly said he would
not kick off a new round of negotiations until he saw that both sides were
ready and until he felt new talks might lead somewhere.
“The agenda is that they both agreed to meet and the agenda as I’ve stated is
to review the situation in Cyprus and to discuss ways of moving forward the
process of reuniting Cyprus,” Dujarric said.
Commenting on the recent Turkish proposals on the Cyprus issue Annan’s
spokesman added: ''There's a lot of studying being done.''
In Nicosia Undersecretary to the President Christocoulos Pashardis said the
Papadooulos-Annan meeting would be seeking effective ways to prepare the ground
for a new effort.
“The aim of the meeting is to examine and assess effective ways for the
preparation of the ground for the resumption of a new effort on behalf of the
United Nations, so that substantive talks will be held with the aim of having
serious prospects of success,” he said.
“The President is ready not only to listen to Mr Annan but also to submit
certain suggestions towards this direction”.
Pashardis said the meeting in Paris was the result of behind-the-scenes
contacts Papadopoulos has had recently with the UN, and took a swipe at the
President’s detractors by adding that Papadopoulos has not been inactive on the
Cyprus issue as his critics have suggested.
Commenting on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s statements that
Washington was working hard for a resolution in Cyprus and that the objective
was to return to time of the Annan plan, Pashardis said: “Then we should
reiterate that we are pursuing substantive changes and not decorative
amendments to the rejected Annan plan.”
On Wednesday, responding to questions at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
during the discussion of the “President’s Budget for Foreign Affairs”, Rice
said that the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus was not included in the 2007
fiscal requests, but if it became necessary to continue the mission, the US
would find a way to meet the obligation.
Asked by Senator Paul Sarbanes why she assumed the mission would be terminated
in 2007, Rice expressed the belief that a lot was changing politically as far
as that obligation was concerned “including Cyprus' incorporation into the
European Union”.
“We are working very hard now to get back to where we were a year ago, which
was at the time of the Annan plan, with which I know there were some
disagreements, to actually resolve this conflict. Should there be need for
continued peacekeeping there, we’ll meet the obligation”, she said.
CYPRUS MAIL 17/02/2006
If my
name was Maria, it would be fine’
By Simon Bahceli
Turkish
Cypriot speaks out over discrimination in government offices
A TURKISH Cypriot resident of Larnaca complained yesterday her three-year
struggle to regain access to the property her family abandoned in 1974 had been
met with consistent stonewalling by the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot properties.
Single mother Halide Ali said yesterday she was considering taking the Cypriot
government to court over continued delays in returning her property in Larnaca.
“I’ve been trying for three years to gain access to my family house, but I’ve
been continually fobbed off by the government,” Ali told the Cyprus Mail
yesterday.
According to Cyprus law, Turkish Cypriots who live permanently in the government-controlled
areas have the right to apply for reinstatement to properties they or their
parents abandoned after the 1974 Turkish invasion led to ethnic partition of
the island.
Ali says she has been living in Larnaca for four years, and has been campaigning
to get back the house her father built for the last three.
Yesterday she accused the government of “treating Turkish Cypriots differently
from Greek Cypriots” in government offices.
“Living in the south is not a problem if you are Turkish Cypriot, except that
in government offices you are treated like a second- or third- class citizen.
“If my name was Maria, it would be fine.”
Ali says she began seeking repossession of her former family home in 2002 after
she discovered it was not being used by a Greek Cypriot refugee.
“Most of the time the house was empty, but on certain days there was a man who
would come and stay there,” Ali says, adding that she had always suspected the
man was a drug addict. Official sources yesterday said the property had been
run as a drinking establishment.
Around a month ago the man using the house died – something which led Ali to
step up efforts to move back to her family home.
Currently she is paying £350 a month for rented accommodation for herself and
her two sons aged 10 and 12. She says she will be seeking reimbursement from
the government for the rent she has been forced to pay, along with single
parent benefits she says she is entitled to but has never received.
Ali concedes that the government did step in and provide her “temporary
accommodation” at one stage, but that she was forced to move out because of the
poor state of the building.
“The roof was so bad that when it rained you wouldn’t be any drier standing
inside than out,” she says.
Ali’s family property is a small house in what is called the ‘Turk Mahallesi’
in Larnaca.
“It’s very small, but with repairs we could live there happily,” She insists.
Yesterday Turkish Cypriot Property Service Director George Theodorou told the
Mail he was aware of Ali’s application for reinstatement to her property, but
denied she had been mistreated in any way by the authorities.
“What she says is not correct. We have already approved Mrs Ali’s application”.
Theodorou said the only reason for the delay was that the deceased man’s
belongings needed to be removed from the house before Ali could move in.
“She is eligible to have the house, but we asked her to give us time to clear
out the dead man’s possessions,” he said, adding that the delay was requested
by the dead man’s family.
Theodorou estimated that Ali would be able to return to her property within 20
to 30 days.
Ali responded to the news by saying, “I hope it’s true, but it’s what they’ve
been telling me for three years”.
Cyprus Mail 17/02/06
AKEL‘s warship bungle
By Jean Christou
A VISIT by a US warship to
Limassol has left a set of embarrassing ironies for coalition partner AKEL,
which sent people out to protest while Cypriot commandos received training on
the ship by American marines with the blessing of the government.
To add insult to injury, AKEL Minister – Haris Thrasou – is the man who
oversees who can come and go through the port. And if this isn’t enough,
Limassol Akelite Mayor Demetris Kontides found himself in an awkward position
after accepting a plaque from the US embassy just hours before the protest.
The US warship Donald Cook, which is deployed in the region, arrived in
Limassol on Monday and leaves today after picking up supplies and carrying out
a clean-up on a Limassol beach earlier yesterday.
AKEL mouthpiece Haravghi yesterday ran an article where the party and its youth
wing EDON called on people to turn on en masse to demonstrate against the
“imperialist” Americans.
The demonstration was organised by the Peace Council but all of AKEL’s party
organs were urged to take part in sending the message that Cyprus territory
cannot be used for the “imperialist agendas” against the Middle East.
They were also urged to denounce the “new world order” that imposes its will on
the leaders of the world “and sacrifices populations for their own callous
interests”
AKEL said it wanted to make clear that Cyprus does not want to be involved in
any way in the warlike plans of the US and their allies. It called on all
Cypriots to protest against the use of Cyprus in any way by the US and NATO,
which promote despicable policies in Iraq and against the Palestinian people.
With such strong words, it was not surprising that Mayor Kontides was left
reeling after accepting the plaque from the US embassy.
An official at the embassy said it was customary to give a plaque to the Mayor
“to thank him for the town harbouring the ship”.
However Kontides told the Cyprus Mail last night he had no idea he was to
receive a plaque from the Americans while his own party was urging a protest
against their presence in Limassol.
“I went there. I didn’t know it was a military ship. I didn’t know they would
give me a plaque. I passed from there to see what was going on and they gave me
a plaque,” he said.
“It was my mistake anyway.”
Asked if he was going to give it back given that his party was opposed to the
ship’s visit, Kontides said: “I don’t know. No one told me it was an army ship.
I made a mistake.”
During the demonstration that began around 4.30pm, members of AKEL, EDON,
left-wing union PEO and the party’s women’s organisation POGO joined members of
the Peace Council at the port to protest. Around 300 people showed up some
carrying banners saying: “USA Go Home” along with anti-Bush posters.
Peace Council chairman Aris Georgiou said they were there to oppose the use of
Cyprus by the US and NATO and their aggressive war policies and illegal
agendas.
“We have fought for, and want Cyprus to be a bridge of peace not a bridgehead
of war,” he said. “It is the interventions of imperialism that are behind the
problems and bloodshed in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon and Cyprus.
Limassol AKEL representative Nicos Petrou read out a statement by the World
Council of Peace and also expressed his strong opposition to the presence of
the Donald Cook.
“This is an act of military imposition in the region of the Eastern
Mediterranean and the Middle East,” he said.
A senior officer from the ship said he would not like to comment on the
protest.
“We are just demonstrating our abilities to your navy and marine police and at
the same time we are learning their practices and the like and we think we can
learn something from the Cypriot navy as well as they can learn something from
us,” he said.
The ship
USS Donald Cook is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer in the US Navy. The ship,
which is 154 metres long was commissioned in 1998, according to the ship’s
website.
In June 2000 it departed on its maiden deployment to the Mediterranean and the
Gulf as part of the USS George Washington Battle Group. It is named after
Donald Cook, a Vietnam War Prisoner of War who died in captivity. The Cook also
fired the first Tomahawk missile during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
The Donald Cook carried 23 officers, 24 chief petty officers and 291 enlisted
personnel.
It is now part of the USS Harry S. Truman Battle Group. Donald Cook is
currently on a regularly scheduled six-month deployment in the region,
conducting missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Donald Cook is the 25th of 35 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers currently
authorised by Congress. Aegis destroyers are equipped to conduct a variety of
missions, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and
power projection, in support of the national military strategy.
The ship operates with aircraft carriers and battle groups in high-threat
environments and provides essential escort capabilities to Navy and Marine
Corps amphibious forces, combat logistics ships and convoys.
These multi-missioned ships are equipped with the Navy's modern Aegis combat
weapons system, which combines space-age communication, radar and weapons
technologies in a single platform for unlimited flexibility while operating
"Forward...From the Sea."
CYPRUS MAIL 17/02/2006