MPA NEWS IN ENGLISH (11/09/1996)

From: Macedonian Press Agency <mpa@philippos.mpa.gr>

Macedonian Press Agency News in English Directory

MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Thessaloniki, September 11, 1996

NEWS IN ENGLISH

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

TITLES

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[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

NEWS IN DETAIL

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[01] PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS OUTLINED PASOK'S FOREIGN POLICY POSITIONS

Greek Prime Minister, Kostas Simitis, in a press conference today, outlined the basic axes of PASOK's foreign policy aimed at making Greece a factor of peace, friendship and cooperation, while he reiterated the determination to protect the country's sovereign rights, underlining that the strategic goal is to create a strong Greece.

Presenting PASOK's priorities, mr.Simitis referred to political and economic initiatives that need to be undertaken at bilateral and international level, especially in the Balkans and south-eastern Mediterranean and to initiatives that can be undertaken with partners and allies. He also referred to the necessity for Greece to have a strong presence abroad with consistent positions.

Mr.Simitis stressed that in every form of negotiations should be claimed the institutions, guarantees and measures that serve wider interests and at the same time, safeguard or promote the greek interests, while he also stated that firm pressure must be exerted aimed at the creation of an international society that will respect international law and operate based on its principles. Mr.Simitis also added that there is a need for the development of policies at all levels that will strengthen Greece's ability to prevent any foreign designs against it.

PASOK's leader accused New Democracy of being unable to form a strategy and of missing opportunities in the 3 years it was in power while he stated that when it was no longer in government it left behind accomplished facts and the country internationally isolated. Mr.Simitis also stressed that ND's policy toward Turkey will lead to uncontrollable situations.

Mr.Simitis stated that PASOK gradually reversed the situation and put the greek foreign policy on a new course. He referred to the creative greek EU Presidency, the interim accord signed with FYROM, the big improvement in the relations with Albania, the handling of the crisis over Imia and the immediate mobilization of international support and also, to the initiative that led to the meeting of the Presidents of Serbia and Croatia in Athens.

The Prime Minister said that Greece has to face the turkish provocativeness in the Aegean, Cyprus and Thrace and at the same time, meet the challenges presented in the Balkans and South- Eastern Mediterranean.

He said that for the first time, Greece's partners have changed their policy of equal distances toward Greece and Turkey and gradually began adopting the greek positions, proven by the fact that they have supported the greek demand to bring the issue of the Aegean islets before the International Court of Justice in The Hague and also, by their stance toward Turkey in the recent incidents in Cyprus.

Mr.Simitis repeated that the solution of the Cyprus problem is a top priority and that the efforts for a peaceful, fair and lasting solution based on the UN resolutions will continue in close cooperation with the cypriot government, adding that the efforts for Cyprus' accession into the EU, six months after the end of the Inter-Governmental Conference, will also continue.

The Prime Minister stated that for the first time Greece has a complete strategy in the Balkans and in south-eastern Mediterranean aimed at making the country a factor of peace, friendship and cooperation and also a factor of development and prosperity in the wider region.

He announced that he will visit Balkan, central and eastern European and south-eastern Mediterranean countries and also, Russia, while he stated that Greece will support their cooperation with the EU and that regular meetings will be held among the Balkan Ministries of Defence.

Mr.Simitis stated that there will also be cooperation among the responsible agencies aimed at countering illegal immigration, illegal trade and international crime, while assistance will be offered to the Balkan countries aimed at making their cooperation with the Mediterranean states easier.

[02] PRIME MINISTER EXALTS THE STRENGTH AND POWER OF GREEKS LIVING ABROAD

While expounding on the ruling party's foreign policy, Prime Minister and PASOK President Kostas Simitis also exalted the Council of Overseas Hellenism and signified the role the expatriated Greeks are called upon to take in order to promote the nation's interests.

Mr. Simitis pointed out that the threat of Turkish expansionism and the challenge of reforming the European Union, coupled with the opportunities in the Balkans and southeastern Mediterranean necessitate the input of Greeks living all over the world.

When asked if he plans to reinstate the under-Secretary of Overseas Hellenism, Mr. Simitis noted that no such Ministry existed in previous Greek governments and pointed out that at present responsible for such matters is the alternate Foreign Minister George Romeos. As such, the Premier said, he does not see why the current situation should change.

[03] MAIN OPPOSITION LEADER ZAPS BACK AT PREMIER'S CRITICISM AT ZAPPEION

Main opposition leader, New Democracy's Miltiades Evert countered the criticism of Prime Minister Kostas Simitis today and juxtaposed the government's national policies one by one.

"Either he cannot understand our proposals and as such does not conveve the political leaders council, or Mr. Simitis is committed to other countries," Mr. Evert commented, pointing to the Government's handling of the Imia crisis and the FYROM name issue.

Mr. Evert also referred to the necessity of an inter-Balkan cooperation and proposed that a permanent Under-secretary of Foreign Affairs be appointed. When asked if his party will challenge the inerim agreement regarding FYROM, Mr. Evert stated that this agreement has been ratified and as such Greece cannot refute international accords.

[04] POLITICAL SPRING: PREMIER'S PROPOSALS ON NATIONAL ISSUES ARE VACUOUS

Minor opposition party leader, Political Spring's Antonis Samaras, stated today that a Premier who leaves huge gaps when speaking about national issues and is unable to offer the Greek people a clear national policy, is a Premier unable to defend the country's interests.

Mr. Samaras criticised Prime Minister and PASOK leader Kostas Simitis for giving "blurred answers" regarding the FYROM name issue, the Greek-Turkish dialogue and the "foreign designs on Cyprus." He challenged Mr. Simitis to take a clear stand on these positions before the September 22 elections.

[05] COMMUNIST PARTY SECRETARY-GENERAL PRESENTS EDUCATION-SECTOR PROPOSALS

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary-General Aleka Paparega presented her party's ideology on education today, during a press conference in Athens.

Ms. Paparega criticised Education Minister George Papandreou and said he is a "demagogue", given his recent decision to increase the number of applicants who enter the universities.

Moreover, Ms. Paparega attributed today's chaotic situation noted at the country's secondary education system to both the ruling government and the main opposition, New Democracy.

[06] THE NEW DEMOCRACY SPOKESMAN COMMENTED ON THE PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE

New Democracy spokesman, Prokopis Pavlopoulos described the Prime Minister's press conference on foreign policy as a "monument of ambiguity" characterized by conflicting positions, while he accused PASOK's leader of being ignorant of basic issues concerning the greek foreign policy.

[07] NEW DEMOCRACY'S PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

New Democracy leader, Miltiadis Evert met today with mayor of Athens, Dimitris Avramopoulos and pledged to give to the municipality the 40 billion drachmas promised in the past by the late Andreas Papandreou.

This afternoon mr.Evert will speak in an open-air political rally in the city of Arta.

Meanwhile, the local New Democracy party officials in Thessaloniki continue the preparations for the welcoming of the party's leader, who is expected to arrive in the city on Saturday afternoon.

Later, in the evening of the same day, he will speak in a gathering of production sectors' representatives and on Sunday morning he will visit the offices of Thessaloniki's International Trade Fair and will be briefed on its course by its President and Board of Directors.

[08] COALITION OF THE LEFT LEADER EXPRESSED OPTIMISM THAT HIS PARTY WILL BE REPRESENTED IN PARLIAMENT

Coalition of the Left party leader, Nikos Konstantopoulos, in a press conference in the city of Chania in the island of Crete, expressed optimism that his party will be represented in Parliament.

Mr.Konstantopoulos strongly criticized PASOK and New Democracy accusing them of creating a pre-election climate of polarization aimed at vote looting and also at weakening the smaller parties. He also referred to the local problems Crete is facing and called the greek people to vote for his party.

[09] GREECE TO PROCEED TO INITIATIVES IN THE BALKANS, PREMIER TO VISIT CYPRUS

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis unveiled today his government's plans to undertake economic and diplomatic initiatives in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, starting with a series of visits to Balkan countries, as well as throughout the central and eastern Europe, southeastern Mediterranean and Russia.

Mr. Simitis also stated that he plans to respond to invitations issued by his counterparts from Bulgaria, Romania as well as from Mr. Milutinovic and Mr. Tudjman. Also, he stated that he will formally visit Cyprus on October 1.

[10] PANGALOS: CLUES ON GREEK-CYPRIOT'S MURDER EXCEED LIMITS OF IMAGINATION

Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos exclaimed that the recently-surfaced reports on the murder of Greek-Cypriot Solomos Solomou, according to which the agriculture "Minister" of the Turkish-Cypriot pseudostate was directly involved in the crime, "exceed the boundaries of our imagination."

Mr. Pangalos stated that the Greek Government has already denounced the occupied territory's Denktash regime and its various paramilitary groups as being the perpetrators of the violent incidents that took place last month in Deryneia, which were a carefully orchestrated effort to show that the two communities cannot co-exist peacefully.

On the same note, Mr. Pangalos refuted recent reports according to which Greece provides military camps to train Kurdish soldiers. According to Mr. Pangalos, Greece merely provides refuge to needy Kurds.

Moreover, he added that the Greek Government is in constant contact with the Cypriot government and has briefed all of its European allies on the latest developments in order to raise concerns regarding Turkey's "European character and nature."

[11] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN COMMENTED ON THE "WASHINGTON TIMES" ARTICLE WHICH ACCUSES GREECE OF BACKING THE KURDISH PKK

Greek caretaker Minister of Press, Dimitris Konstas stated that it is "a Washington Times tradition to publish information allegedly comming from secret services", commenting on an article published by "Washington Times" according to which CIA sources maintain that the greek government is backing the Kurdish Workers' party, PKK.

Mr.Konstas reiterated that the greek Embassy had categorically denied the information and pointed out that the spokesman of the US State Department also referred to the greek Embassy denial by saying that it is a respectable piece of evidence comming from a country which is a US ally.

[12] RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS WILL START ARRIVING IN GREECE VIA BULGARIA ON SEPTEMBER 16

The pipe-line carrying russian natural gas to Greece via Bulgaria will be in operation on September 16, according to greek representatives who participated in the Balkan Conference on Natural Gas held in Sofia.

Also, according to the economic newspaper "Pari", a protocol has already been signed by the greek Natural Gas State Company, the russian "Gazprom" and the bulgarian companies "Topenergy" and "Bulgargaz".

Based on the newspaper report, the first quantities of russian natural gas will be symbolic and gradually will be increased.

[13] PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGNS CONTINUE, POLITICAL LEADERS CANVASS THE COUNTRY

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will speak on the nation's foreign policy this afternoon in Athens, prior to traveling to Crete where he will address an open rally this evening.

Main opposition leader, New Democracy's Miltiades Evert, visited the Fthiotida village yesterday, wherein he said that Greece's rural area has been placed on the back burner and stated that all political leaders have a duty to help inject life into the country's isolated regions and in coaxing Greeks into returning to the smaller cities.

Minor opposition party leader, Political Spring's Antonis Samaras will visit Thessaloniki tomorrow and on Friday will give a press conference at the city's "Macedonia Palace" hotel.

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary-General Aleka Paparega will present her party's proposals on education during a press conference and President of the Coalition of the Left and Progress Party (Synaspismos) Nikos Konstantopoulos continued his tour in Crete.

The President of the Democratic Social Movement, Dimitris Tsovolas, has a speaking engagement in the city of Patras tonight.

[14] 2 IRANIAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS KILLED ON EVROS MINEFIELD, 2 OTHERS INJURED

Two Iranians were killed by a mine explosion when they tried to illegally enter the Greek border in Evros shortly after midnight last night and, accidentally, entered a minefield near Orestiada.

Twenty-nine year-old Tsavit Jabar Pour Subehi and 24-year-old Said Abdulrazah were killed when they stepped on mines, while two other Iranians who were with them, Afhin Hanur, 26 and Behruz Rashidi Kiwi, 31, are currently being treated at the Didimoticho hospital.

The two injured men, Hanur and Kiwi, were rescued at 5 a.m after lengthy efforts by Greek military mine-sweepers. The matter is currently being investigated by the Orestiada Police.

[15] MAIN OPPOSITION LEADER TO VISIT THESSALONKI ON SATURDAY

Greece's main opposition party leader, New Democracy's Miltiades Evert, will stop by Thessaloniki on Saturday and the party's local chapters have embarked on feverish preparations for his welcome.

Mr. Evert will arrive at Thessaloniki's Macedonia airport on Saturday evening at 6 and at 8:30 will attend a dinner at the city's "Ioannis Vellidis Conference Center" where he will address northern Greece's representatives of the production and business sectors.

On Sunday morning, Mr. Evert will visit the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair (ITF) offices and will meet with ITF's president and governing board who will brief him on the organization's progress. In turn, the N.D. leader will visit the Fair's stands of Cyprus, the European Union and the United States, as well as exhibits of other countries and organizations. Thereafter, he will attend the session of the Panhellenic Conference of Industrialists and at 1:30 pm. will give a press conference at the city's "Macedonia Palace" hotel.

Mr. Evert will return to Athens on Sunday evening.

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

[16] AGHIA SOFIA WON'T BE TURNED INTO A MOSQUE, UNESCO ASSURES

Turkey has issued a formal assurance through its UNESCO representative that the Byzantine church -and symbol of Christianity- will not be turned into a Muslim mosque.

Following a meeting held between the director of UNESCO's Center of World Heritage Bernd von Droste and the Turkish permanent representative to the international organization, the above-mentioned announcement was forwarded to Greek Minister of Culture Stavros Benos.

Minister Benos had alerted UNESCO's general director Federico Mayor last month when Turkey had publicised its intent to transform the church into a mosque.

Mr. von Droste kept Mr. Benos abreast of UNESCO's efforts to avert such change and had stated that such event is highly unlikely given the fact the Aghia Sophia is registered with UNESCO's World Heritage lists.

In turn, a UNESCO official met with its permanent representative in Turkey who also gave the assurance that no such formal decision has been issued by the Turkish government and that Ankara has no intent to turn over the church-monument to the Muslim faith.

[17] SOCIALIST INTER'NAL CONGRESS MARKED BY GREEK-TURKISH CONFLICT ON CYPRUS

A Greek-Turkish conflict over the Cyprus problem marked today's session of the Socialist International Congress, held in New York.

Greek Euro-parliamentarian Yiannos Kranidiotis and the President of Cyprus' EDEK party Vassos Lyssarides, denounced the continued occupation of Cyprus and asked the Socialist International to intervene in order to restore the human rights of the Cypriot people.

In his address, Turkish representative Erdal Inonou provocatively claimed that "the Turkish occupying regime's stay in Cyprus has brought peace and calm on the island for the past 22 years" to which Mr. Kranidiotis immediately responded "one can find peace and calm at a cemetery and you are doing whatever you can in order to turn Cyprus into a cemetery."

[18] THE CYPRIOT PRESIDENT WILL SENT A REPLY LETTER TO THE TURKISH- CYPRIOT LEADER WITHIN THE DAY

Cypriot President, Glafkos Kliridis is expected to sent a reply letter to turkish-cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash possibly within the day. In the letter he will refer on issues raised by Denktash in the press conference he gave yesterday to foreign correspondents.

The above were stated by cypriot government spokesman, Yiannakis Kasoulidis who avoided to give more details on the content of the letter.

[19] FIVE TURKISH-CYPRIOT "OFFICERS" INVOLVED IN KILLING OF GREEK- CYPRIOT

Five "officers" of the Turkish-Cypriot self-proclaimed government are involved in last month's killing of Greek-Cypriot Solomos Solomou in Deryneia, according to recent reports.

Meanwhile, a warrant for the arrest of Turkish-Cypriot Agriculture "Minister" Kenan Akin has been issued. Akin was recognized yesterday as one of the men who killed Solomou when video footage showed him firing on the unarmed Greek-Cypriot from the balcony of the Turkish guardhouse.

The regime's commanding officer, Erdal Emanet, is also shown to be armed with an automatic rifle and firing against Solomou and then onto the crowd. Greek-Cypriot authorities have also discovered three other rank officers who are considered to be co- perpetrators in the murder.

Cypriot government spokesperson Yiannakis Kasoulides stated today that Cyprus will resort to international organizations for the Turkish-Cypriot officials' punishment.

[20] TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER TO PLACE SECURITY ZONES ON TURKISH- IRAQI BORDER

In spite of Iraq's opposition and the international community's negative reactions, Turkey's Foreign Minister and ex- Premier Tansu Ciller appears determined to establish 10-20 km "security zones" within northern Iraq, in order to avert, as she stated, the entering of Kurdish separatists into Turkey.

However, Iraq reiterated its opposition to such plan yesterday when an Iraqi delegation, headed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's advisor Hamed Yusef Humani, met with Ciller in Ankara.

Following the talks, the Turkish Foreign Minister stated that "we emphasized to the Iraqi officials that we are determined to establish a security zone at the Turkish-Iraqi border" and added that Turkey's initiative only aims at protecting the borders.

Although Turkey's plans have been approved by Washington on a temporary basis, as long as they are temporary, the announcement of such security zones at the border has been met with intense reaction from the international community and the Arab states which fear that such sectioning will further complicate this already sensitive region.

[21] UN SECRETARY-GENERAL SPECIAL ENVOY TO MEET WITH CLERIDES AND DENKTASH

The United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy Han Sung Ju is in Nicosia today with one mission in mind and that is to de- escalate the tension between the divided island's two communities.

The UN Special Envoy will hold separate meetings with the President of the Republic of Cyprus Glafkos Clerides and the Turk- Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

As Mr. Han Sung Ju stated, his basic aim is to aid in reducing the tension by achieving a joint or separate stetement between the two sides. Moreover, he will discuss the UN proposal for direct talks between Mr. Clerides and Mr. Denktash.

[22] SOCIALIST INTER'NAL CONGRESS MARKED BY GREEK-TURKISH CONFLICT ON CYPRUS

A Greek-Turkish conflict over the Cyprus problem marked yesterday's session of the Socialist International Congress held in New York.

Greek Euro-parliamentarian Yiannos Kranidiotis and the President of Cyprus' EDEK party Vassos Lyssarides, denounced the continued occupation of Cyprus and asked the Socialist International to intervene in order to restore the human rights of the Cypriot people.

In his address, Turkish representative Erdal Inonou provocatively claimed that "the Turkish occupying regime's stay in Cyprus has brought peace and calm on the island for the past 22 years."

The Congress will close today with a ratification of a resolution which will include the Cypriot problem. Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis is expected to be elected as one of the organization's vice-presidents.

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