ALITHIA: “Million-pound bank transfer rush” In its lead story, the paper reported on the latest suspicion that Cypriot banks may have aided the Milosevic regime in breaking the embargo by agreeing to move around millions of dollars or German marks. Reportedly, some of this information was given by the Popular Bank’s chief of international operations to Morten Torkildsen, the Hague Court’s prosecutor.
POLITIS: “Denktash’s property lists” The northern breakaway regime has set up a “claims office” for Turkish Cypriots wishing to have their lands and property in the south returned. Apparently the office will undertake all legal and other expenses. Recently Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris published a list of 111 people whose properties were impounded by the government this year. Denktash’s move is seen as an attempt at forcing a resolution of the property exchange issue.
MACHI: “Education system in turmoil” As the new school year gets under way, the underlying problems in the public education system have resurfaced. Infighting among teachers associations and criticism of the Education Minister have been added to day-to-day-problems, such as poor schooling facilities and failure to prepare the year’s curriculum. Meanwhile parents have charged that some school buildings are unsafe.
KYPROS SIMERA: “USA & Turkey trying to cancel Greek wargames” According to the weekly, US diplomacy has been trying to convince Greece and Cyprus to cancel or moderate the upcoming “Nikiforos-Toxotis” wargames. The paper’s sources said US diplomats had asked the Foreign Ministry to at least consider cancelling the landing of Greek fighter planes. President Tassos Papadopoulos and the Greek Foreign Minister will reportedly be meeting to discuss the issue.
HARAVGHI: “Cracking down on corruption” The communist party mouthpiece reported on this week’s revelations by Justice Minister Doros Theodorou that corruption was widespread in the police’s hiring process. At a news conference, Theodorou conceded that cronyism and nepotism were the order of the day. He also cited several examples of blatant cheating in entrance examinations.
PHILELEFTHEROS: “Greek Cypriots filing claims with ‘reparations committee’” Another take on the ‘claims office’ set up in the north, with the paper quoting Anatolia news agency as saying interested Turkish Cypriots began applying later this week. Anatolia also said that a number of Greeks took recourse to the so-called “reparations committee” in the north, but the people’s names were not made public due to pressure from the Cypriot government.
