Subject: News I (Greek Press Office BBS in Ottawa). To: macedonia@husc.harvard.edu (macedonia list.) Date: Fri, 9 Jul 93 13:55:19 EDT Bulletin, 09/07/1993 ( ) ------------------------ A.N.A. Athens, 9/7/1993 (ANA): Greece said yesterday the Turkish side's responsibility for the impasse in the United Nations-sponsored Cyprus peace talks had been clearly established and called on Turkey to offer its ``sincere cooperation`` to the UN mediation effort. ``The UN secretary general's latest report to the UN Security council and the Security Council chairman's response, outline the extent of the difficulties encountered during the latest round of intercommunal talks in New York``, foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Papaconstantinou said in a statement. ``These documents also fully attribute the responsibility for the lack of progress on (proposed) confidence-building measures to the Turkish Cypriot side``, he said. In Nicosia, government spokesman yiannakis Cassoulides said the Cyprus government would have preferred an outright condemnation of the Turkish side's position on the stalled peace talks from the Security Council instead of the letter the Council sent to the UN chief. ``Action by the UN Security Council in the Cyprus peace talks have always been the aim and request of the Cyprus government``, Mr. Cassoulides said. UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali, in a formal report submitted earlier this week, blamed Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash for breach of promises and agreements made during the New York talks last May and June. Mr. Boutros Ghali stopped short of suggesting measures be taken against the Turkish Cypriots but warned that if a package of proposed confidence-building measures was not implemented it would deal a serious blow to UN efforts aimed at ending the 19-years division and occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkish troops. ``The Turkish Cypriot side's negative stance, which reached the point of its not responding to the UN secretary general's invitation to New York, reconfirms Turkey's responsibility for the status of the intercommunal talks in general as well as in regard to the confidence-building measures``, Mr. Papaconstantinou said. ``The Greek government fully shares the UN's observations and calls on the Turkish side to cooperate sincerely and proceed with all those actions which will contribute effectively to ending the present impasse in the Cyprus issue``, he added. ANA Nicosia, 9/7/1993 (ANA / CNA): The Cyprus government would prefer a UN Security Council resolution condemning the turkish side's position on the stalled peace talks and the undertaking of measures, instead of the letter they sent to the UN chief, government spokesman Yiannakis Cassoulides said here yesterday. Asked when the government expected to officially ascertain that the efforts of the UN chief on Cyprus had collapsed, he said the government first expected to meet with the UN chief's special representative, according to the reference in his latest report. According to the spokesman, the deadline will be in September when the UN chief will submit his new report on Cyprus to the Security Council. The spokesman said the undertaking of action by the UN Security Council in the stalled Cyprus peace talks thas always been the aim and the request of the Cyprus government. He said ``with this procedure, as it was shaped by the New york peace talks, regarding the confidence-building measures, the Security Council's effectiveness and its determination is tested``. Asked whether the Cyprusgovernment planned to replace President Glafcos Clerides with another negotiator on the Cyprus peace talks since Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Dentash had resigned, the spokesman said the issue now was whether the talks were still alive. Although he acknowledged that the UN chief has not formally informed the cyprus government that the Turkish Cypriot leader had resigned, Mr. Cassoulides said: ``Denktash has officially stated that the Turkish side, at least those who claim they are the Turkish Cypriots' majority, have abandoned the line of the federation``. The spokesman said the Turkish side was therefore abandoning the high-level agreements on which the current talks had been based, and was also ignoring fully all UN resolutions and the secretary general's set of ideas for a Cyprus settlement. ``The question therefore is whether any talks will be held or not. The issue is not who will be the new negotiator``, Mr. Cassoulides remarked. He also announced that President Clerides had reached certain conclusions as to what the next move of the Cyprus government would be, but he would not elaborate. ANA United Nations, 9/7/1993 (ANA - M. Georgiadou): Despite efforts by Turkey to amend a paragraph blaming Mr. Denktash for the failure of the UN-sponsored peace talks in New York, the Security Council completed Wednesday night its letter which Security council Chairman Sir David Hannay will submit to the UN secretary general. In fact, an amendment was made, stressing that an agreement, ``in particular``, on the confidence-building measures concerning the handing over the UN administration of Varosha and the Nicosia International Airport ``will create a more favourable climate for the resumption of the talks, based on the (UN secretary general's) set of ideas``. After the letter is submitted to the Mr. Boutros Ghali, in which the chairman and members of the Security Council express their ``total disappointement`` at Mr. Denktash's negative stance, the UN chief is expected to ask his special representative in Cyprus, Joe Clark, to commence a new round of contacts in Nicosia, Ankara and Athens. ANA Brussels, 9/7/1993 (ANA - P. Pantelis): There is no evidence proving that Greece has been violating the UN-imposed embargo against Serbia and Montenegro, the European commission said yesterday. The Commission spokesman was replying to press questions concerning claims made by Danish MP and vice-president Conference on Security and Cooperation (CSCE) parliamentary assembly Ritt Bjerregaard. Ms Bjerregaard accused Greece of ``blatant violation`` of the embargo. The spokesman said that Greece and other neighbouring countries of rump Yugoslavia had been accused of embargo violations but that, after an investigation and consultations, no evidence had been found to sustain the charges. ANA United Nations, 9/7/1993 (ANA - M. Georgiadou): Cyrus Vance, former co-chairman of the Geneva conference on former Yugoslavia and US Secretary of State in the Carter administration, has accepted a invitation by UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali to act as mediator in differences remaining between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece, he secretary general's spokesman Joe Sills announced yesterday. ``In accordance with Security Council Resolution 845 (1993) regarding the settlement of the remaining differences between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece and which calls upon the secretary general to continue his efforts for a speedy solution, the secretary general has asked Mr. Cyrus Vance to be the mediator between the parties and Mr. Vance has accepted. Mr. Vance will undertake this mission immediately``, Mr. Sills said. ANA Istanbul, 9/7/1993 (ANA - A. Kourkoulas): The Ecumenical patriarchate yesterday sent a message of solidarity to the leader of Albania's Autocephalus church Primate Anastasios. The message appeals ``to all sides`` for ``pacification`` and ``conciliation``. An announcement by the chief secretariat of the Ecumenical patriarchate's Holy Synod expresses ``justified praise`` for Archbishop Anastasios on ``great steps towards reorganisation achieved by the Orthodox Albanian Church``, stressing that ``the brilliant personality of Archbishop Anastasios adorns and inspires`` the Church. ``The international recognition and solidarity in this excellent ecclesiastical leader's peaceful and beneficial work for all the Albanian people had also been duly appreciated by his Excellency the Precident of the Republic of Albania Mr. Sali Berisha from the very start``, the Ecumenical patriarchate's announcement said. It noted that on July 4 last year the Albanian president had told patriarchal representatives that ``there is no objection or restriction to the inauguration of Archbishop Anastasios as the regular Primate of the Orthodox Albanian Church``. ``We recall this official statement by President Berisha, who has every reason to honour the holy conciliatory struggle which the indefatigable Archbishop Anastasios is carrying out in the midst of so many difficulties and with meagremeans``, the announcement concluded. The Ecumenical Patriarchate's holy Synod elected Archbishop Anastasios on June 24, 1992 which, in accordance with ecclesiastical canons, has assumed the trusteeship of Albania's Autocephalus Church, which had been dissolved by the communist regime. Anastasios Yiannoulatos was appointed Patriarchal Exarch in albania in January 1991 and succeeded in dissolving the suspicion with which the Albanian authorities treated the Orthodox church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate and giving a considerable impetus to the difficult task of reorganising the church. ANA Athens, 9/7/1993 (ANA): Greece's Agriculture Undersecretary Andreas karagounis met with his Bulgarian counterpart Christov Roumen in Didimotico Wednesday to discuss the need for wider cooperation to produce positive results for farmers in both countries and contribute to the consolidation of peace in the Balkans. The meeting included a mutual briefing on contagious diseases and discussing proposals on the better development and strengthening of relations. It was attended by Evros prefect Athineos Florinis, the general directors of corresponding veterinary services Theodore Alexandrov and Alexandros Georgiadis and other officials. The two agriculture undersecretaries stressed the need to consolidate friendship between the two countries and cooperate in the effort agains tcontagious disease. Matters concerning the transport of goods through Bulgaria to Europe, the irrigation with the waters of the Strymonas and Ardas rivers and the exchange of farm products were discussed and the possibility of creating joint Greek-Bulgarian businesses was also examined. The Bulgarian side responded promptly to these issues and the Bulgarian agriculture minister will visit the Minister of Macedonia and Thrace Panayiotis Hatzinikolaou today. Meanwhile, in a meeting held at the Evros Prefecture, Mr. Florinis briefed Mr. karagounis on development work being done in the prefecture and on the sector of the agriculture ministry's projects in Evros. Mr. Karagounis stressed the government's strong interest in the border region and said the agriculture ministry will give increased credits for modernising agriculture in the Evros prefecture. ANA Athens, 9/7/1993 (ANA): Ten illegal immigrants from Pakistan have been arrested on the island of Samos, police said yesterday. They said the illegal migrants had been turned over to the local port authority for deportation back to Turkey, from where they had entered Greece. Meanwhile, a Chios court has sentenced Turkish national Ali Kizilkaya to four months in prison and a fine of 300,000 dr. for attempting to smuggle two illegal immigrants from Iran into Greece. Kizikaya was arrested on Monday. The illegal migrants will be deported after serving a 10-month prison sentence handed down by the court. Chios police said the court had also ippounded Kizilkaya's fishing boat.