This week in North Cyprus > 13th-20th November 2006
SOUTH MOPED DEATH: BRITON CHANGES PLEA TO GUILTY
A BRITISH tourist yesterday pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the hit-and-run death of a Greek Cypriot teenager in the South Cyprus coastal resort of Protaras in August.
Julian Harrington,39,from Essex, also admitted causing grievous bodily harm over serious injuries sustained by a second teenager who was riding on the moped repeatedly struck by a hire car.
But fellow defedants Michael Binnington,21,and Luke Atkinson,22 both nephews of Harrington, made no change to their original not guilty plea at the hearing in Larnaca.
“It was our decision after looking at the evidence again and again to change the plea,” said Harrington’s lawyer, George Georgiou.
There were long consultations between Harrington and his girlfriend before the guilty plea was entered, and the 39-year-old father was kissed by his girlfriend as he walked to the dock.
There were tears from the family of the dead youth on hearing Harrington admit his part in the killing.
The guilty plea from the eldest defendant, who was accused of driving the car which repeatedly struck the two teenagers’ moped, came after the court traveled to Protaras on Thursday to examine the scene of the crime.
Harrington, Binnington and Atkinson were taken to the spot where the teenager died.
Both charges admitted by Harrington carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment but lawyers said they expected him to receive a lesser jail term after changing his plea. Legal sources said Harrington could receive “up to 10 years” after changing his plea but might serve “less than seven”.
Prosecutors said they would decide whether to continue against the other two defendants before the trial resumes on Tuesday, but indicated they “most probably” would.
A moped carrying Christos Papiris and Marios Demetriou, both 17, was repeatedly rammed by a hire car in police described as a revenge attack following a fight outside a Protaras disco in which a friend of the Britons was beaten up.
Trouble at the disco was sparked after Harrington’s daughter Jasmine complained of being harassed. The three tourists had arrived in Cyprus the day before and had gone to see an Abba tribute band on their first night out to celebrate.
Funds released for Robb to get on with development
Aga: It’s all go
PRIME Minister Ferdi Soyer and Interior Minister Özkan Murat met customers of the troubled Aga Development Construction in London on Thursday, at the end of a week that saw company founder Gary Robb formally cleared of money laundering allegations.
Aga buyers attending the hour and-a-half-long talks at the TRNC’s London representative office said they had been told there was now “no reason” why work on Aga projects, including the massive Amaranta Valley development at Arapköy, should not begin “tomorrow”.
Attorney-General Akın Sait confirmed to Cyprus Today the money-laundering investigation against Mr Robb had been dropped due to lack of evidence. Mr Sait confirmed that Mr Robb still faced allegations of illegally built properties and presenting forged documents to the military, but these did not present an obstacle to has construction activities.
Buyers also reported ministers as telling the London meeting it was difficult for the TRNC government to reinstate Mr Robb’s citizenship because of pressure for his extradition by Britain, where he is wanted on drugs allegations. However, once work on the homes was completed, his request for return of his citizenship would be considered favorably.
Of £500,000 frozen in Aga accounts until now, £200,000 has been released to Mr Robb to complete some of the firm’s development work. However, the amount represents just a fraction of the total estimated to be required to finish the Amaranta estate – put earlier this year at up to £9 million by a leading TRNC contractor, and by a source close to Mr Robb at between £4,5 and £6 million.
And buyers were told at the meeting that the government was not aware of any Aga money other than the £500,000, and £1.5 million frozen in the UK after a money-laundering probe was instigated there. Mr Robb and his lawyers had been given “all relevant documents” to apply for the telease of the £1.5 million.
Mr Sait commented: “If he can bring money from abroad, he is free to [do so], however, he must indicate a legitimate source for the amount that he brings.”
Meanwhile, £300,000 of the Aga funds in the government pending agreement over Aga’s Hazreti Ömer site at Çatalköy, which had been built on state-owned land, the meeting heard.
The land was to be sold at a “knock-down” price to Mr Robb, Mr Soyer was reported as saying.
In another concession to Mr Robb, the meeting was told that the government had cleared the way for him to bring “cheap labour” from Thailand to work on the Aga sites.
But worker’s leaders yesterday dismissed the suggestion, saying that under TRNC law any Thai laborers would have to be paid the ging rate for the construction sector.
Chairman of the Dev-İş trade unions federation Mehmet Seyis said no matter where workers came from, a minimum wage of 850 YTL had to be paid for a month of eight-hour days. Anyone bringing workers into the country had to demonstrate that there was a need for them, and had to provide them with good accommodation and a safe working environment.
Labour Ministry undersecretary Aziz Gürpınar said no application to bring labour from Thailand had been received from Mr Robb, but if one were made it would be considered because there was a need for foreign construction workers. But he added:”According to the laws of TRNC, no worker can be paid less than the minimum wage.”
Ambitious plans for second 18-hole golf course
AMBITIOUS plans are being drawn up for North Cyprus’s second 18-hole golf course, Cyprus Today can exclusively reveal.
The course is being designed to United States Golf Association (USGA) standards and will include four par-threes, four parfives and 10 par- fours.
Each hole will have five different teeing off points to cater for golfers of varying ability.
A 350-metre driving range is to be circled by three training holes of three, four and five pars.
Architect Bob Sandow said land between Akdeniz and Güzelyurt had been earmarked for the course, but now problems had emerged about its proximity to an army base. Financiers,a s yet unnamed, are currently holding crunch discussions on whether to secure another spot for the course, he added. Mr Sandow,85, who is also working on four other golf course projects around the world, said he wanted this design to be his “swan song” having created 150 golf courses in locations such as America, the Gambia,Tunisia and the Seychelles.
He said:”We are all set to go ahead with the project but, unfortunately, the location is now in contention because of problems the army.”
“It will also be the type of course allowing for at least five different links of golf course to be played at one time, according to the player’s standard.”
“The first and 10th tees, and ninth and 18th greens will be adjacent to the clubhouse.”
The course will be floodlit so golfers can play at night according to the plans.
Kervansaray to get 1,2 million YTL makeover
THE Kervansaray area of Karaoğlanoğlu is to receive a 1,2 million YTL makeover including new sewerage, drainage and telephone systems, street lights and pavements
Improvement will also be made to the supply of drinking water under a plan announced this week by Girne Municipality.
Work on the project, which is being funded by Turkey, will start soon and take 150 days to complete following an agreement signed by the municipality and Adil Construction.
Mayor of Girne Sümer Aygın said: “Thisa project will be the first significant investment to be made in Karaoğlanoğlu.”
He said reconstruction of the area around Kervansaray beach was of great importance.
“We aim to create a contemporary,European look for the Kervansaray area.”
“We’ll never surrender our rights”
TURKISH Cypriots have nothing to prove to the Greek Cypriots or to Europe,and will “never surrender” their rights in Cyprus, President Mehmet Ali Talat said this week in an address to mark the 23ﻨ anniversary of the formation of the TRNC.
By establishing their republic, on November 15,1983, Turkish Cypriots had shown the world their “wish to become a people governing itself, and not a local extension of another authority from the outside”, he said in a message to mark celebrations.
And in a rebuke to the European Union, he reminded crowds at Wednesday’s parade in Lefkoşa that the Greek Cypriots had ordered the genocide of Turkish Cypriots in 1963. “How can the EU accept such an administration knowing it wanted to execute Turkish Cypriots? What message is it giving out to the rest of the rest of the world by opening its arms out to the Greek Cypriots while approaching the Turkish Cypriots with discrimination, cultural racism and religious hastility which recall the mentality of the Crusaders and Nazis?”
Mr Talat stressed that Turkish Cypriots would not accept any discrimininatory treatment from either the EU or the Greek Cypriots.
He said there was no obligation on Turkish Cypriots to try to prove to the Greek Cypriots that they were their partners in the sovereignty of Cyprus.
“Similarly, Turkish Cypriots do not feel obliged to prove to the European Union that they are a European people.......”
“We are a European people who have governed ourselves for 450 years, and who consider Cyprus their homeland, at least as much as island’s other communities...... Turkish Cypriots get their right to self-governance from their own history.”
Mr Talat said the Greek Cypriots has disproved- by rejecting the Annan plan at referendum in 2004- their own claim that Turkish Cypriots were the “stumbling block” in the way of a Cyprus solution.
Now, said Mr Talat, the Greek Cypriot administration was challenging the entire international community by blocking efforts aimed at ending the isolation of North Cyprus, and was trying to alter the parameters for a settlement that had been agreed for more than 50 years. They had even been “impudent” enough to announce at the UN General Assembly their Cypriots as a solution to the Cyprus issue.
“I’m declaring openly here: for everyone to hear, and Mr Papadopoulos himself, that the Turkish Cypriots people has no intention whatsoever to surrender its legitimate rights,” said the President.
Military march past the centerpiece of TRNC’s Republic Day celebrations
CELEBRATIONS to mark Republic Day started with a radio address by President Mehmet Ali Talat on Tuesday, followed by a range of sporting, social and ceremonial activities across the country on Wednesday.
The formal centerpiece was a parade and military march past in Lefkoşa, attended by a delegation from Turkey including Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, presidential undersecretary Kemal Nehrozoğlu, Turkish parliamentary representatives Sadullah Ergin of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Ali Topuz from the main opposition Rrpublican People’s Party and Ömer Abuşahoğlu of the Motherland Party. General Orhan Yöney represented the Turkish armed forces, along with a 35- member group of veterans from the 1974 military operation in Cyprus.
Some 50 visitors from 22 countries were brought in to witness the celebrations, which also featured a display by the Turkish Airforce Turkish Stars aerobatic team, a visit to Girne by Turkish warships, concerts and firework shows.
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