Suicide pact seen in couple’s mystery death
The death of a couple whose bodies were found yesterday at the bottom of a cliff near a vista on the eastern fringes of Athens was being initially treated by police as the result of a suicide pact between frustrated lovers. Yesterday morning, a hiker noticed a car lying upside down on the slopes of Mt Hymettus, near the Koutouki Cave above the town of Paiania, and, upon investigating, found the decomposed body of a woman near the wreck. The hiker called the police, who located the man’s body nearby. The corpses were eventually identified as belonging to Athanassios Laspadakis, 40, and Georgia Steka, 20, who had both been listed as missing since March. Police said the couple «had been lovers who were unable to live together,» and had probably intentionally driven off the cliff. The car, a Volvo, was fitted with number plates belonging to another vehicle. Common sense can neither combine these contradictory pieces of information nor understand how it is possible to have an increase of Turkish military activity and a positive climate in talks over the status of the Aegean Sea both at the same time. At this point, however, public attention is focused mainly on the Cyprus issue, and the question posed is whether developments are being effectively monitored or whether international pressure and initiatives are preparing the ground for an unacceptable solution which will finally be accepted using the lure of the island’s accession to the EU as bait. Political elites in some countries have, no doubt, given the EU an almost metaphysical dimension. Some give the impression that Turkey’s regime has entered a similar state of mind. True as this may be, one cannot shape a national strategy without first seeing some clear signs of change. For the time being, what we have is a clear political crisis with candidates struggling for premiership.
