Greece said yesterday it would lodge a string of official complaints with international organisations over a Turkish parliamentary resolution empowering the government in Ankara to take military action against NATO ally Greece.
"The Turkish move constitutes an official threat and an insult to international law," government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said. He said the government would lodge complaints with the United Nations, NATO, the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The Turkish decision followed Athens' ratification of an international sea treaty allowing Greece to extend its territorial waters in the Aegean from six to 12 nautical miles. Greece has not undertaken the option but argues it can make use of its right at any moment.
"Greece will make use of its sovereign right to extend its territorial waters whenever it deems necessary," Mr. Venizelos said.
Ankara has said that a change of boundaries in the island-dotted Aegean would be a cause for war. It says 12 miles of territorial waters for mainland Greece and its islands close to Turkey would turn the Aegean into a Greek lake and choke Ankara's access to international waters.
Main opposition New Democracy party president Miltiades Evert accused the socialist government of giving a low-key response to what he called a highly provocative Turkish move. "Ankara not only contests Greece's right to extend its territorial waters to twelve miles but states direct threats against our country," Mr. Evert said. He called on the government to summon the Turkish ambassador to lodge a demarche and notify member-states of the EU, NATO and the UN Security Council of Turkey's "gross violation of international accords". Mr. Evert also urged the government to condemn the Turkish move as an act of non-European behaviour.
Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras said the decision to temporarily suspend Greek objections on the funding of NATO headquarters in Izmir at a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Wednesday had been greeted by Ankara's "bravado and idle threats".
In Brussels, Greek Eurodeputy Alekos Alavanos yesterday called on the EU Council of Ministers to demand that Turkey withdraw the resolution and to consider the move "a negative point" in the issue of Turkey's customs union with the EU and to "hold back" on discussing the customs union at the General Affairs Council meeting scheduled for Monday until Turkey withdraws the resolution.
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou last night predicted an escalation of the conflict in Bosnia if NATO persisted in sending a rapid reaction force to the war-torn region. Calling the decision to form an armed force that is supposed to protect UN peacekeepers "a slow slide to a countdown to war in Bosnia" if it is sent, the prime minister pointed out that a victory for NATO in Bosnia would entail 500,000 troops and a commitment of five to ten years.
"Only a political solution can solve the crisis in the region," he stressed after a dinner for EU leaders hosted by French President Jacques Chirac. "The formation of a brigade by NATO is a qualitative change in stance for the West in relation to the Bosnian crisis," he said. "NATO is not the (UN's peacekeeping force of the) Blue Berets. "The (formation of this force) is a small but bad beginning."
NATO decided to form a rapid reaction force, which is expected to be operational by the end of the month, a week ago in response to Bosnian Serbs abducting UN peacekeepers after NATO sent bombers over Bosnian Serb territory. The Bosnian Serbs chained the hostages to strategic targets to deter further air-strikes, prompting an outcry amongst the EU and NATO over the inability of the UN peacekeepers to protect themselves.
A Greek initiative involving Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis and Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias won the release of 111 hostages earlier this week after marathon talks with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Serb President Slobodan Milosevic.
Mr. Papandreou said Britain, despite committing the bulk of troops for the rapid reaction force, agreed with the Greek arguments. French President Jacques Chirac, however, in his first meeting with EU leaders, disagreed, saying that Karadzic had "insulted" the international community when he took hostages and that this demanded a response.
Mr. Papandreou briefed his EU counterparts on the Arsenis-Papoulias visit to Belgrade and Pale during the dinner, as well as on possible new Greek mediatory initiatives for the resolution of the Bosnian crisis. In the morning, the premier briefed French journalists on the course of the Greek economy and foreign policy, stating optimism regarding the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonian issue.
The Supreme Court has taken over responsibility for the prosecution of seven men found with weapons and suspected of launching border raids into neighbouring Albania. The seven, all members of the self-styled Liberation Front of Northern Epirus (MAVI), were arrested in March this year after they were found in the village of Delvinaki with nine assault rifles, later traced to last year's attack on an Albanian border post in which two soldiers were killed. That incident was the catalyst for almost a year of tension between Athens and Tirana when the Albanian authorities arrested five leaders of the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania.
Relations were only normalised early this year, after Tirana released the five and Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias made a fence-mending visit. According to sources, Supreme Court Deputy Public Prosecutor Constantine Volonassis filed a petition for the assumption of the case by the Athens-based Supreme Court on the grounds that it involved serious inter-state consequences.
Mr. Volonassis appears to have suggested that the Supreme Court and the Athens prosecution authorities are the only competent bodies to investigate and try the MAVI case. Charges against the seven have been changed from the misdemeanours of possession of illegal weapons to jeopardising the country's peace and intent to murder.
Main opposition New Democracy party deputy president Ioannis Varvitsiotis criticised National Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis for his moves at Thursday's NATO meeting, stressing that the decisions taken constituted yet another substantive concession to the detriment of Greek interests.
Mr. Varvitsiotis criticised Mr. Arsenis for not succeeding in implementing the 1992 accord on NATO headquarters and for "bowing to pressure" to lift Greek objections for the funding of NATO headquarters in Izmir.
He was referring to Greece's decision to extend a temporary financing arrangement for three months from the end of June on the NATO Land South East headquarters in Izmir in return for Turkey lifting its veto on the Alliance's entire 1995 budget, a deal brokered by NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes.
Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras also objected to the temporary suspension, saying it was a "wrong move" and that the government, with the consent of the main opposition party, was following a policy of continuous concessions.
Foreign Ministry Community Affairs Secretary-General Athanassios Theodorakis briefed ambassadors of European Union member-states in Athens yesterday on the Greek initiative by Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias and National Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis to have hostages held in Bosnia released and Monday's General Affairs Council.
Mr. Theodorakis reiterated that Greece was prepared and ready to contribute again with specific actions towards creating an atmosphere of confidence and finding a solution to the Bosnian issue, because Greece maintained contacts with all parties. The briefing also included the issue of the EU-Cyprus Association Council regarding Greek positions.
Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis met a number of colleagues from western and eastern European countries on the sidelines of the NATO ministerial conference yesterday.
With his Italian and Spanish counterparts, Domenico Corcione and Julian Garcia Vargas, he discussed co-operation, also involving France and Portugal, in joint navy and air exercises for security in the Mediterranean, in the framework of the Western European Union.
He described these meetings as "very positive". Mr. Arsenis also met with the defence ministers of Albania, Safet Zhulali, Bulgaria, Dimitar Pavlov, and Romania, Gheorghe Tinca, saying afterwards that "with these countries we are continuing our defence co-operation in the framework of the Partnership for Peace programme". Mr. Arsenis is scheduled to visit Tirana in a few weeks' time, while Mr. Pavlov is slated to come to Athens soon.
"I also had the opportunity to talk with Russian delegation, which shares the Greek views on Bosnia," Mr. Arsenis told ANA, adding that the Partnership for Peace programme is "flexible and constructive, recognising the need for co-operation at a defence level, contacts at military level, and joint exercises in the distant future".
Montenegro's parliament speaker Svetozar Marovic was due to arrive here yesterday for talks with the Greek government. Mr. Marovic will hold a string of meetings in a bid to prepare the groundwork for commercial co-operation with Greece after the lifting of UN sanctions on rump Yugoslavia. He will also discuss prospects of opening a Greek consulate in Montenegro.
Akis Tsohatzopoulos, secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), yesterday said European unification was a "one-way street" for Greece and the rest of the European peoples.
"PASOK has a global perception of the European prospect," Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said. "This perception differs from the perception of the conservative forces (in Europe)." Mr. Tsohatzopoulos was speaking at the start of a seminar organised by PASOK's parliamentary group on the 1996 intergovernmental conference.
"The bottom line" he said, "lies in achieving cohesion of the European edifice, increasing resources as a condition for further enlargement, empowering the European Parliament as well as the national parliaments, and implementing new policies in the sectors of energy, transport, tourism and information."
Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said the cohesion of the European edifice and the principle of Community solidarity led to a common foreign and defence policy, which will in turn guarantee and secure the external borders of the European Union, including Greece.
Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said progressive socialists in Europe are concerned with such issues as "a Social Europe, employment, development, and solidarity which they regard as the conditions for economic and monetary unification."
All information possessed by the police and the Public Order Ministry is in the hands of the judicial authorities, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said yesterday in response to a claim by former public order minister Stelios Papathemelis that the authorities knew of seven people implicated in terrorist activities in Greece.
Mr. Venizelos added that an investigation was currently underway and refused to comment further. Reacting to a statement by New Democracy party spokesman Vassilis Manginas that it was inconceivable that the government could keep silent on Mr. Papathemelis' claims, Public Order Minister Sifis Valyrakis said terrorism should not become the "focus of petty political conflict".
He added that there was a continuous flow of new information to judicial authorities and that good use was being made of every form of international co-operation available.
Statements by New Democracy party deputies concerning the wedding of ex-king Constantine's son Paul are causing a furore within the party.
Party deputy leader Ioannis Varvitsiotis told a Flash radio station interview yesterday that a statement by deputy for Lakonia Athanasios Davakis, expressing support for the monarchy, raised an issue of ethics. He added that the constitutional order was determined by the referendum of 1974, and that no one was entitled to bring it into question.
Mr. Davakis said that "his expression of preference for the monarchy in no way meant to undermine the present regime, which was constitutionally established and in no way doubted".
Former minister Alexandros Papadongonas said, "all those of us who are going to the wedding of Constantine's son have repeatedly stressed that we respect the constitutional order and the institutions".
Greece's permanent representative at the United Nations Christos Zaharakis was expected to meet with the UN Secretary-General's special mediator for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Cyrus Vance, late last night Greek time, reliable sources said. It was not known whether US presidential mediator Matthew Nimetz would attend.
The same sources, nevertheless, expressed the view that it was unlikely there would be any developments in the near future regarding the resumption of direct talks between Greece and FYROM, adding that last night's meeting was part of Mr. Vance's regular contacts with the two sides.
Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali is to arrive on a four-day visit to Athens on July 9, during which he will receive an award from the Onassis Foundation and will have substantial contacts with top Greek government officials then. He is also expected to meet President Kostis Stephanopoulos and New Democracy party leader Miltiades Evert.
Foreign Under-Secretary for Greeks Abroad Grigoris Niotis yesterday described as very interesting and constructive his meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
He said the UN chief assured him that pressure by special mediator in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) issue, Cyrus Vance, on FYROM President Kiro Gligorov, aiming at an exit from the current stalemate, would continue.
Regarding the Cyprus problem, he said Dr Boutros-Ghali accepted that 20 years was too long for the continuation of the impasse, and that the international organisation should intensify its efforts at mediation.
Mr. Niotis also referred to a scheme of co-operation between Greek Radio Television and the Cyprus Broadcasting Foundation for a satellite programme that will be transmitted to the United States and Canada at first, and to Australia later.
Greek Eurodeputy Mihalis Papayiannakis lodged an official query with the European Union Council yesterday regarding the new effort by Turkish authorities to confiscate historic buildings housing ethnic Greek minority schools on the island of Imvros.
Mr. Papayiannakis accused Turkey of violating the treaty of Lausanne and a number of other international conventions on human rights. He called on the Council to reprimand Turkey on the grounds that it constantly neglects its obligations under international legal agreements and guarantee the just right to education of the Greek minority in Imvros.
A spokesperson for the European Commission yesterday announced the adoption of the MEDA programme for Mediterranean countries, which aims to replace the bilateral agreements between them and the European Union. MEDA will be for the Mediterranean what the PHARE and TACIS programmes are for the countries of central and eastern Europe. It will also include the countries of the Maghreb, of the Near and Middle East, Turkey, Malta, and Cyprus. The programme was proposed in the framework of efforts for the implementation of a Euro-Mediterranean alliance.
The Commission decided to fund MEDA, in the form of a grant, with the sum of 5,150 million Ecu for the 1995-1999 period. European Union leaders are to debate the distribution of funds between the different programmes during the Cannes summit, June 26 and 27.
Airforce General Staff Chief Athanassios Tzoganis will attend the session of Western European Union chiefs in Paris June 12-16.
The Communist Party of Greece's historical archives - painstakingly saved from damage last year when the KKE's buildings were flooded - have been stored on microfiche with equipment worth 40 million drachmas donated by the Greek Parliament.
At a special event yesterday, President of Parliament Apostolos Kaklamanis presented the equipment and files to KKE Secretary-General Aleka Papariga who thanked Mr. Kaklamanis for his support in saving the archives and Parliament staff who spent hours photographing the records.
"The KKE, whether we like it or not, was one of the major players in our modern history and has contributed to the progress and development of our country," Mr. Kaklamanis said.
The KKE's archives, dating back to the foundation of the KKE in 1918 and comprising 30,000 pages of rare documents considered crucial to a thorough historical account of modern Greece, were badly damaged in flash floods which hit the greater Athens region late last year. They were successfully restored with the help of Greek and foreign experts at a cost of 1.2 billion drachmas, raised through a fund-raising campaign and donations from various groups.
One hundred children between the ages of nine and 15 from former Soviet republics will holiday in the city of Serres, northern Greece, this summer under the auspices of the Local Union of Municipalities and Societies (TEDK), the municipality, the Church and local residents. The children will begin their holidays on June 25.
Transport and Communications Minister Thanassis Tsouras requested that Greek lorries be allowed to drive freely through Hungarian territory without having to pay dues in his meeting with his Hungarian counterpart at the European transport ministers session in Vienna yesterday. On the Hungarian side, Mr. Tsouras' support was sought for Hungary's development programme on combined road and rail transport.
"The taking of unilateral restrictive measures concerning road transport should be avoided, while a policy of incentives should be applied to induce transit drivers to use combined transport," Mr. Tsouras said. Mr. Tsouras also met with European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock.
By decision of Alternate National Economy Minister George Romaios, municipality and community projects and roadwork projects worth 121.3 billion drachmas will be included in funding by the Public Investment Programme.
More specifically, local administration organisations' projects included in local administration special development programmes worth about 45 billion drachmas will be funded with 7.653 billion drachmas, constituting 15 per cent participation in these programmes.
Seventy-five per cent of the projects will be funded by the European Union, while 10 per cent constitutes the share of local administration organisations. The projects are expected to be completed soon.
By another decision, roadwork projects worth 1.315 trillion drachmas will be funded with 113.65 billion drachmas.