GREECE: The Greek aircraft Zeus landed in Paphos, Cyprus, yesterday, carrying the Olympic torch on the 33rd day of its round-the-world relay.
Before it leaves for Crete tonight, the torch - carried by 145 bearers, including one Turkish Cypriot - will have journeyed through the republic in the south, but it will not cross into the north, occupied by the Turkish army in 1974.
The mainland Greek organising committee of the Athens Olympics, Athoc, decided a day before the flame's arrival here that it would not appear at ceremonies prepared by the Turkish Cypriot municipality of Nicosia. The under-secretary of the Turkish Cypriot Ministry of Sport, Mr Ali Volkan, responded by accusing Athoc of "racism".
Athoc retorted that it had suggested the visit and outlined a programme but that the Turkish Cypriots did not respond until two days before the flame's arrival, and then demanded a programme similar to that in the south. Athoc cancelled the crossing on the grounds that no time had been allocated for a run through the north, a move which has generated ill feeling on both sides.
In Paphos, the torch was brought to the town centre where the mayor, Mr Phidias Sarkias, said the flame symbolised the universal Olympic ideals: the brotherhood of mankind, freedom and equality.
The torch was taken past the ancient temple of Aphrodite, the Roman ampitheatre at Curium, and the Crusader castle at Kolossi, until it reached the Venetian walls of the capital where thousands turned out to welcome it and attend a concert.