Antenna: News in English, 97-01-22

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

News in English, 22/1/1997

TITLES

• Kostas Simitis says Turkey's aggressive foreign policy is a threat to peace.
• A new treatment for heart aneurisms.
• And, the best athletes of 1996.

SIMITIS

Kostas Simitis addressed delegates to a Socialist International conference in Rome.

The Greek leader called on the International to help resolve the Cyprus issue.

Prime minister Kostas Simitis, vice president of the Socialist International, told the 350 delegates from 120 countries that Turkey is embarked on a dangerous policy toward Greece and Cyprus. In the name of regional stability, he urged the socialists to work to find a solution to the Cyprus problem on the basis of United Nations resolutions.

"Turkey is trying to upset the status quo...instead of concentrating on domestic problems, it's embarked on a nationalistic policy toward Greece".

While Greece wants to see Turkey take a more conciliatory turn, Denis Bykal, a member of Turkey's Popular Republican Party at the conference, blamed the tension over Cyprus on the recently-agreed to Joint Defence Doctrine between Greece and Cyprus. But Greece and Cyprus say the problem is Turkey's 22-year-long military occupation of northern Cyprus; an occupation Turkey persists in despite UN calls for it to get out. The joint defence doctrine is a shield against further Turkish aggression.

When it ends on Wednesday, the Socialist International conference will have examined a range of problem areas: the Middle East, the former Yugoslavia, and the crisis in Zaire.

CAVANAUGH

In Brussels, US envoy Carey Cavanaugh expressed the hope that a US-proposed moratorium on military flights over Cyprus will be implemented.

Cavanaugh's optimism comes in the face of the Cypriot president's REJECTION of the moratorium, until it appears that progress is being made in solving the Cyprus problem as a whole.

In Belgium, Carey Cavanaugh met with European Union commissioner Hans van den Broeke, briefing him on the outcome of his trip to Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey last week.

As EU foreign ministers discussed ways of improving EU relations with Turkey - strained because of Turkey's lack of respect for human rights and the rights of its neighbours - Cavanaugh cited a Cypriot decision to buy an anti-aircraft missile system as an obstacle to progress over the Cyprus issue.

The US diplomat repeated his belief that a flight moratorium is the best way to preserve security in the region.

Cyprus insists - and Greece agrees - that as long as Turkey strikes a threatening pose, Cyprus has no choice but to make sure it can defend itself.

Asked about the Turkish aggression that spurs Hellenism into making sure it has an effective deterrent, Cavanaugh avoided the question, saying that all sides have created security problems at different times in the region.

It's a region that Cavanaugh calls the cornerstone for the security of three continents.

Like the US, Greece and Cyprus have a hugh stake in security. In Brussels, Greek alternate foreign minister Georgios Papandreou said the EU and the US need to closely coordinate the necessary efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus problem.

SEAMEN'S STRIKE

The seamen are striking over the government's economic policies. Their decision to extend their strike to Thursday, or Friday at the latest - in a show of solidarity with a nationwide private sector workers' strike - led to even more exasperation.

Germany and Holland have complained to the Greek government about the transport problems the strike has caused.

Shortages of some foodstuffs have appeared on the smaller Aegean islands as a result of the strike. The government intends to do what it can to alleviate any problems that occur there.

ND

Miltiades Evert commented on the government's handling of strikes and protests after a meeting of his party's political council.

Evert said dialogue would be the best way for the government to deal with groups with economic gripes.

Miltiades Evert said that the govenrment has mishandled the seamen's strike, just as it mishandled the farmers' December protests. The farmers brought transport to a near-standstill for several weeks, costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business.

Evert said New Democracy stands by the people in their struggles for a better life, and suggested that the government was to blame for the farmers protests: "If the government had entered into dialogue with the farmers, and shown some signs of goodwill, THEN the farmers would have been to blame for the protests".

Pasok's approach to dealing with discontent, continued Evert, is wrong, and leads nowhere. The government said the farmers' protests did harm to the economic interests of other groups in society. Evert says THAT attitude is unethical: it pits one group in society against another.

Before the political council meeting started, Constantinos Mitsotakis submitted a written statement, in which he addressed the same issues. The honorary New Democracy leader offered a different view from Evert: he said the government is watching the wave of protests around the nation as if it were a disinterested bystander.

In some cases, said Mitsotakis, the protestors and strikers break the law and violate the rights of other citizens. Fearing the political cost, the prime minister fails to act, added Mitsotakis, and the rule of law is being replaced by the law of the jungle.

EVERT/INTERVIEW

In an interview with the magazine Crash, Evert warns that anyone who tries to buck the congress's decisions, will be out of the party.

No matter who is elected party leader, says Evert, all members are bound to abide by the congress decisions. Anyone who doesn't, effectively removes himself from the party.

Evert says he's already decided whether or not he will run for the leadership, but he's not telling yet - he says announcing his intentions would run contrary to his duties and responsibilities as leader of the main opposition party.

In his interview, Evert says of Constantinos Mitsotakis, his predecessor as party leader: "I respect his opinions, but I disagree with some of them".

The more free-market, conservative attitudes of Mitsotakis, says Evert, could only lead to the party getting smaller.

Evert says he identifies with the political outlook of party founder Constantinos Karamanlis, who placed more of an emphasis on policies that inspire social consensus.

SKANDALIDES

The Crash interview was given at least a week ago, but its appearance NOW, has inevitably renewed discussion of the issues raised by the party secretary.

Just days after his first broadside against people close to the centre of power, Kostas Skandalides's interview appeared in Crash. In it, he says that there are people around the prime minister who quote "worship power".

Under the heading, "Unethical People Around Simitis", he repeats his earlier charge that some of the people who work with the prime minister seek to bypass both Simitis and party and government offices in running the country.

Skandalides says he isn't talking about everyone at the top, but about quote "those who use the love of power and those who use the media for personal and amoral ends".

He goes on to say that the challenge before the government is to lead the charge into the future. "Anyone who attempts to steer us away from that battle", he adds, "might help himself or his own career, but he offers nothing to the party. Sooner or later", he warns, the people guilty of the abuse of power he talks about, "will be revealed".

In Rome with the prime minister, Skandalides showed no desire to pursue the matter Wenesday. The magazine publishers note that the secretary had asked that the controversial passages in his interview be removed. But, they add, Crash had already gone to press when he made the request.

The interview was GIVEN BEFORE the prime minister said he considered the matter closed when it first made the news last week.

But many party members had something to say Tuesday.

Responding to the secretary's interview, deputy interior minister Lambros Papdimas said, "A Pasok secretary shouldn't go to the press with accusations like that, especially without giving any names".

Executive bureau member Manolis Daskalakis said there's some substance to what Skandalides says, and that the matter must be discussed by Pasok.

MP Theodors Katasanevas thinks it should be laid to rest. Skandalides is a respected member of the party, he says, but is in danger of being left behind as the party marches forward.

MEDICAL

The method, which has not been used outside Greece, is much simpler and safer than the traditional surgical method.

That makes it especially well-suited to elderly patients, who can't undergo the traditional operation because they have other illnesses and health problems.

Surgeon Orthodoxos Papazoglou says the new method requires the patient be given only local anesthetic, so he can cooperate with the doctor during the operaton.

The method has been experimented with at the Ippokratio hospital in Thessaloniki over the past few years. Doctors say it costs no more than the normal procedure.

So far, the new method has been used successfully on fourteen patients.

AWARDS

Four gold-medal winners at the Atlanta Olympics were named best male athletes of the year.

They are weight-lifters Pyros Dimas and Kaki Kakishvilli, wind-surfer Nikos Kaklamanakis, and gymnast Yiannis Melissanides.

Dimas said 1997 will be a good year for Greece. "First, we've got the world track and field championships coming up in Athens. Then, in September, I hope to see the International Olympic Committee give Greece the nod for the 2004 summer games', he says.

Kakiashvilli told the reporters he hopes they'll have plenty of Greek success stories to write about this year.

Best female athlete is Olympic high jump silver medalist Niki Bakoyianni.

Panathinaikos was named the best team, for winning the European basketball championship.

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