Antenna News in English 130696

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From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.gr

News in English, of 13/06/1996

TITLES

• Greece's foreign minister says Turkey has no place at the European table.
• The big tax brother is nigh.
• And, science helping young couples have kids.

TURKEY NEW INCIDENT

In January, Turkey claimed the Greek rocks of Imia, and staged a military landing on one of them.

Then, Turkish leaders said there are "grey areas" in the Aegean, of questionable sovereignty.

Then a Turkish military officer questioned Greek sovereignty over the inhabited island of Gavdos, near Crete.

The latest outrage comes from a story in the Turkish paper Zum Hurriyet. It reports that Turkish admiral Salim Dervisoglou said that sovereignty over a number of islands in the Aegean is open to discussion, referring by name to Imia and Gavdos.

And Turkish foreign minister Emre Gionensai says Turkey wants to clarify, in cooperation with Greece, the unclear points in international agreements regarding the status quo in the Aegean. Gionensai says Turkey would accept third party mediation in such a process.

Athens has heard it all before. Evert since the Imia crisis in January, Turkey has been trying to drag Greece to the negotiating table to bargain away its internationally-recognised rights.

Greece has refused the offer, calling on Turkey to start respecting international law, and quit using bullying tactics to get its way.

The European Union has collectively told Turkey to mend its ways, but Germany is putting pressure on Greece to lift its veto over EU funding of Turkey.

Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos was upset after meeting with German counterpart Klaus Kinkel, because Kinkel attempted to strike a neutral pose toward Greece and Turkey.

Pangalos said during the joint press conference after their meeting, "Taking a position of keeping an equal distance isn't effective - it doesn't confront the problem", Turkish behaviour.

Replying to that, Kinkel said "The EU must act on the problem. We try to keep the balance, to regulate things so the tension can be relieved, but it's not always easy.

"The EU", rejoined Pangalos, "cannot be an observer when there are differences between a member state, in this case Greece, and a country with associate EU status, in this case Turkey".

Turkey's Aegean games are now almost a daily occurrence. On Tuesday, a Turkish patrol boat shadowed a civilian Greek craft well within Greek waters.

There are fears that Turkey's manoeuvres will end in a shooting episode, that could lead to war. That's not a view the United States shares. State department spokesman Nicholas Burns says the US does not feel a shooting episode is imminent.

Greece has made clear it will defend itself, by beefing up its military and through diplomatic channels.

Four new speedboats are being deployed in the eastern Aegean to patrol Greek waters.

Prime minister Kostas Simtis said Tuesday that Greece claims nothing, but will give nothing away either, and will do whatever is necessary to defend its rights.

TURKEY / FLORENCE

The Greek foreign minister says a European Union invitation to the Turkish prime minister, to a banquet on the sidelines of the upcoming EU summit, should never have been sent.

Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos believes it is wrong of the European Union to give Turkey any succour while it continues to turn up its nose at the rights of Greece, an EU member.

And he is angry because Italy, currently holding the rotating EU presidency, has invited the Turkish prime minister to a banquet that will be held in the margins of the EU summit in Florence later this month.

"Such an invitation has no precedent in EU annals", says Pangalos, adding that the political instaiblity in Turkey, and Turkey's rude behaviour toward Greece make it inconceivable. Pangalos's advice to Italy for issuing the invitation is to take care that its presidency, which ends in Florence, doesn't have an inglorious end.

Pangalos believes that Greece must take care that its diplomatic campaign to upset Turkey's Aegean schemes is strong, especially when Turkey seeks to achieve an international presence - as it is doing by getting invited to attend the Florence Turkish foreign minister Emre Gionensai has tried to sidestep the backlash in Greece and Nato over Turkey's attempt to question Greek rights over Gavdos. Gkionensai says the issue is merely a "technical" matter.

But Pangalos says that's not true: the technical issue does not mean the political issue doesn't exist. The technical matters Turkey keeps bringing up have a political content.

And Greece is determined to make sure that Turkey's reward for its hostility is international political heat.

PASOK

After meeting, the bureau issued a statement urging party members to agree now to accept the decisions of the congress.

That statement is a message to party heavy weights who lose the vice presidential contest: don't rock the boat.

TAXES

A new computer programme will give the tax man an all-seeing electronic eye.

It's called "Order", and finance minister Alekos Papadopoulos thinks the new programme will bring just that to the tax world.

Andreas Makripides, the tax officers' president, says every tax office in the country will have access to the taxpayers' financial profiles contained in the new, centralised database system.

That will give the tax authorities enhanced ability to cross-check tax claims, and make them quicker at getting the fines out. In a word, he says, the tax office will be better

People waiting for money back will be too.

Selling the system on the public, Papadopoulos said improving the country's tax system is imperative if Greece is to climb out of its economic rut.

STERILITY

Iannis Bonitis, president of the Greek Fertility Society, says, "One in five couples can't have kids after a year of marriage. In half the cases, the woman's the problem, in the other half, it's the man".

The answers come from genetics. Fertilisation outside the body, and, more importantly, injection of spern into the ovary, says Bonitis.

Couples are turning increasingly to science, and the results are encouraging.

"With the use of in vitro fertilisation and spern injection", says Bonitis, "the success rate is between 25 and 30 per cent - per attempt".

The new and improved fertilisation methods are bringing results even in cases where the cause of sterility remains a mystery.

© ANT1-Radio 1996

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