Antenna: News in English (AM), 97-07-09

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

News in English, 08907/97

TITLES

• Greek prime minister Kostis Simitis and Turkish president Suleiman Demirel announce the signing of a non attack agreement
• The 16 NATO allies invite Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic to join the Alliance
• Pioneering cardio-surgeon Randas Batista performs his technique on heart patients in Athens

NATO-SIMITIS/DEMIREL

During the summit and after their meeting, Greek Prime Minister Kostis Simitis and Turkish president Suleiman Demirel announced a signing of a "non-attack agreement".

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis agreed to meet with Turkish President Suleiman Demirel at the initiative of US deputy secretary of state John Cornbloom. Cornbloom's insistence came after two meetings with Greek deputy foreign minister Yiannos KranidiOtis and his Turkish counterpart Onour Oi- mEn.

Simitis and Demirel in signing the non-attack agreement, agreed on the following; to avoid any use of violence, to respect international treaties, and TO RESPECT THE LEGAL RIGHTS EACH COUNTRY HAS IN THE AEGEAN.

Referring to the non-attack agreement, Simitis said, "The two countries will undertake efforts to promote bilateral relations which will be based on the following;

Mutual peace, security and continuous development of good neighbourship. To respect the sovereignty of each country To respect international law and international treaties

To respect the legal and vital interests of each country in the Aegean, their security and national sovereignty

To avoid any unilateral acts, this stems from the basis of mutual respect and the desire to deter any conflict due to misunderstandings.

And that any differences between the two countries will be settled by peaceful means on the basis of mutual consent and without the use or the threat of use of violence.

Turkey raised some objections over how these conditions were formulated and asked for a clear reference to the 12 miles issue.

Simitis responded saying that "any matters that are not mentioned in this agreement, are not settled by it", clarifying that the agreement doesn't include any reference to "the 12 miles issue, the continental shelf matter or Turkey's EU funding protocol".

"The 12 miles issue is not a purely Greek issue, anyway", said Simitis, adding, "It's an international issue and Greece will exercise its rights whenever it sees fit to do so.

The agreement was announced after Secretary of State Madeline Albright met with Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos and his counterpart Ismail Gem of Turkey.

NATO

The US and a majority of its European Allies remained deeply split over US insistence on limiting the enlargement. After a three-hour meeting, with the Alliance's foreign ministers working on the document the historical decision was made.

The 16 NATO allies were poised to expand their reach into Eastern Europe, but the US and France squabbled over how many former Soviet bloc countries should be admitted.

France pressed the US and other allies to agree to a wider enlargement and greater European influence in the alliance. French President Jacque Chirac argued that NATO's fate depends on adding Romania and Slovenia, and on giving the Europeans more say in the US led alliance.

Italy and 7 other European allies backing France cited the need to establish democracies and market economies and to inject stability to the edge of the Black Sea and Balkan regions.

Greek premier Kostas Simitis proposed that besides Romania and Slovenia, Bulgaria should also be included as well in the enlargement. Saying that any stability problems occurring in Europe will originate from the Balkans.

President Clinton insisted that at this point in time, the enlargement should only include Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Adding that in the near future the door will be open to other Eastern European countries.

After three hours, the decision to include Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic was made, with their official entry taking place in 1999 and negotiations starting now.

With the three eastern European countries being decided, the issue currently at hand is how fast and how far to extend NATO's reach into Eastern Europe. The United States and France had sought a compromise, possibly to promise future admission to Romania and Slovenia. It was unclear how or whether the United States and France had bridged the dispute.

During the summit, President Clinton also referred to problems surrounding the new military structure of the North-Atlantic Alliance. He expressed the hope that commmand posts in the south-eastern Mediterranean be resolved quickly. It was understood that he was indirectly referring to problems between Greece and Turkey.

Final decisions on the new NATO military structure are scheduled to be resolved by NATO's foreign ministers in December.

CYPRUS

On Tuesday, Cli-rEE-des met with US special envoy for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke.

Holbrooke met with Denktash early Monday, saying that the meeting wasn't on negotiations.

The US is expected to largely intervene on the Cyprus issue after presidential elections are held in 1998.

The key factor to be considered is the entry of Cyprus into the EU. Richard Holbrooke said, "The US strongly supports Cyprus's entry into the EU."

Clirides will meet with Turkish-Cypriot leader Raouf Denktash on Wednesday to discuss the Cyprus issue.

ALBANIA

Residents who live in Northern Greece, especially near the border are scared and worried and are asking for special protection by the police.

Two Albanians were driving their car with no lights on a country road connecting Ka-sto-riA and A-mEEn-deo on Tuesday. After refusing an order by two Greek police officers to pull over. They open fired on the police car, seriously wounding one of the officers.

The Albanians were arrested with one of them confessing to the incident. At the time of the arrest, police officers found one kalashnikof rifle, a pistol and 10 kilos of hashish in their possession.

Both officers were transferred to a Thessaloniki hospital, the one in critical condition.

In an isolated incident, a group of Albanians shot a Greek farmer in the neck, robbing him in the Di- po-ta-miA region near near Kastoria.

KARAMANLIS

After meeting with Karamanlis, Petros said, "I spoke with him about the difficulties facing the Patriarchate due to the lack of help. I informed him about general claims we expressed to the Greek government and the Greek Orthodox Church.

He also added that the two men talked about th Patriarchate's future and the role it would play in the region.

WOMEN

With the slogan, "Women propose, women claim", such issues of labor, pensions and state insurance matters and their relationship to women were discussed.

In his speech, Economy minister Yiannos Pa-pan-to-nEEou said "When we are talking about a market of labour, about development, about workforce, we refer to female workers, who comprise half of the work force, if not more".

Miltiades Papa-ioAnnou added, "The social security system holds a tremendous amount of importance for women, we want to see more working women and maternity rights protected".

A high member of the secretary general of the secretariat for Equality, expressed her concern for the female voice by stating, "We want to equally participate in social dialogue.

The meeting also dealt with such issues as unemployment and part-time work.

FIRE

The forest of Sake-Sou sustained extensive damage, while the Thessaloniki suburb of Pan- Orama reported over one thousand acres burned.

Government officials went to Thessaloniki on Tuesday to examine damages and discussed them with the Greek parliament committee on crisis handling.

Both the government spokesman and the agriculture minister reassured Greeks that forest of Sake-Sou will be reforested, no building will take place.

Firemen are STILL fighting forest fires burning in the regions of Olym-pEEa and An-drEE-tse-na, in the E-lEEa county of the Peloponese. The region was declared in a state of emergency since Monday.

MEDICAL

Randas Batista is in Athens this week and has successfully operated on three Greek patients suffering from cardiac insufficiency.

With his heart ...lighter by 2 kilos, 55-year-old Periklis AlbAnis left the intensive care unit only two days after being operated on by internationally renowned cardio-surgeon Randas Batista. "I'm feeling perfectly well", he says.

The other two patients who underwent operations by Batista for cardiac insufficiency were reported to be in stable condition and are expected to stay only one day in the Intensive Care Unit before returning to their hospital rooms.

Batista has pioneered a new method which can salvage a patients own heart when the final phase of cardiac insufficiency would send patients searching for donor organs.

The technique consists of removing inflamed parts of the heart, usually the biggest part of the left cavity of the heart, thereby making it easier for the heart to work by relieving excess pressure.

The Batista method enables the patient to move almost immediately after the operation. On the contrary, a tranplant operation forces the patient to stay in the Intensive Care Unit for at least ten days.

One day after the operation, when Batista visited his three patients, the Brazilian doctor requested that any respiratory tubes be removed. He also asked that the patients be shaved, dressed, seated on a chair and to try to drink tea on their own, if possible. "Psychology is a highly important factor for patients suffering from heart diseases", said Batista.

In an exclusive interview with Antenna, Batista recounted a experience from early in his career in brazil before the cardiologist gained international recognition for his pioneering technique.

"The (medical) society called me to get my license away. They put me into jail. - You were in jail, how long ? - Yeah, for a few days, (then) they realised I was doing something well, the patient survived and then they let me free. If the patient had died then, probably I would still be in jail, you see".

In his 14- year-long career, the Brazilian cardiologist has recorded 60 per cent survival rates in the two years following the procedure. Batista explained that hospital conditions in Brazil are not the ideal ones and is more optomistic about survival rates in countries with better post operative care.

According to Cleveland cardio-surgery clinic in the US, where the Batista method has been implemented for a year now, 97 per cent of the patients survive during the first six months after the procedure.

In addition, traditional cardiac transplants have a 10% risk of rejection by the host body. This risk is not present in the Batista procedure as no foreign tissues are imported into the body.

SPORTS

The executory contract with the NBA giant will be finalized after completing medical tests today. It also provides for a right of renewal for an additional year at the greens option.

Ratja formerly played center for the Celtics.

SPORTS/SAILING

Olympic windsurfing gold medalist Nikos Ka-kla-ma-nA-kis will officiate the start of the competition.

At a tuesday press conference for this weekends rally, Ka-kla-ma-nAkis said "We all love this sea, the Aegean sea unites us all".

This years event is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the reunion of the Dodecanese islands with Greece after their return from Italy in 1947.

© ANT1 Radio 1997

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