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Sunday, 22 December 2024
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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 97-09-28Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.Last Update: 21:10 GMT+2SECTIONS
NEWS HEADLINES[A] GREECE[B] BALKANSNEWS IN DETAIL[A] GREECE[01] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW IS IN THESSALONIKIWeb Posted: 21:10 GMT+2Thessaloniki 28 September (MPA)Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos, the political leadership of the country and tens of Greek Metropolites welcomed Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Thessaloniki this morning with honors reserved for heads of states.The head of the Christian Orthodox Church is accompanied by the Patriarchs of Georgia, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria and by a representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All of Russia. Leader of the main opposition party of New Democracy Kostas Karamanlis and government ministers are scheduled to meet with His All Holiness, while the Greek President will give a formal dinner in his honor. A special reception in honor of the Ecumenical Patriarch will be held later in the evening in the Government House. [02] THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH IS ON A FIVE-DAY VISIT TO GREECEWeb Posted: 21:10 GMT+2Thessaloniki 28 September (MPA)Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is on a visit to Thessaloniki, officiated at a liturgy in the church of Agios Dimitrios together with the Patriarchs accompanying him.The head of Orthodoxy referred to the close ties between Thessaloniki and the Fanar, while he made a special reference to the need for the protection of the environment, stressing that the Church supports the good willed people in their good deeds. The Ecumenical Patriarch underlined that the environment needs protection and has to be maintained in a good condition for the sake of the people. He said that the industrial development has contributed to the pollution of the Black Sea and added that the same problem is faced in the Aegean, the Mediterranean and Thermaikos Bay in Thessaloniki. The urgent need to deal with the problem of the environmental pollution was discussed in the conference "Religion, Environment - The Black Sea in danger" which was completed today and was held under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarch. The head of the Christian Orthodox Church also referred to the role of Thessaloniki, the Cultural Capital of Europe for 1997, and to the importance of the Treasures of Mount Athos exhibition. Metropolite of Thessaloniki Panteleimon greeting the Ecumenical Patriarch, after the end of the liturgy, conveyed to His All Holiness the feelings of true love of Archbishop of Greece Seraphim and the Holy Synod. He also underlined that the Patriarchate has suffered a lot, always fighting for the good of the Orthodox Church. At the liturgy in the St. Dimitrios church, the Ecumenical Patriarch officiated with Patriarch of Georgia Elias, Romania's Theoktistos, Serbia's Pavle, Archbishop of Albania Anastasios and Prague's Dorotheos as well as, Metropolite of Thessaloniki Panteleimon and Sofia's Maximos. [03] UNPRECEDENTED TURKISH PROVOCATIONSWeb Posted: 21:10 GMT+2New York 28 September (MPA)Turkey made an unprecedented provocation. Turkish government vice-president Bulent Ecevit, who was the mastermind of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, presented Ankara's claims in the Aegean and expressed the view that those claims must be discussed as a total.Mr.Ecevit raised directly the issue of the distribution of the sea and air space of the Aegean as well as, the issue of the exploitation of the underwater oil deposits. Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos made an appeal to the international community to react to the Turkish threats and characterized them as an attack against the international legal order. In a speech to the members of the Cypriot Federation in the United States late last evening, Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos strongly criticized Turkey's provocative stance pointing out that while he and US Secretary of State ms.Madeleine Albright were trying to find a compromise solution, the Turkish mission in the UN was circulating a letter with Ankara's provocative positions against Greece and Cyprus. In the following week, Athens, Ankara and Nicosia will be visited by assistant US Undersecretary of State, Michael Grossman. [04] PAPANDREOU COMMENTED ON THE REPORT PUBLISHED IN "THE OBSERVER"Web Posted: 21:10 GMT+2Thessaloniki 28 September (MPA)The visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch could contribute to the normalization of the Greek-Turkish relations under the pre-condition that Turkey from its part will make the necessary steps, stated Greek alternate Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou from Thessaloniki after the liturgy that was held in the church of St. Dimitrios.Commenting on the article published in the British newspaper "The Observer", in which a Kurdish PKK member allegedly maintains that Workers' Party of Kurdistan rebels are being trained and supported financially by Greece, mr.Papandreou stated that all those who have evidence proving such allegations of close ties between terrorism and the PKK in Greece should testify and the Greek authorities will open investigations. On the same issue, Political Spring leader Antonis Samaras said that the publication is a Turkish state propaganda, while Greek Parliament vice- president Panagiotis Sgouridis spoke of "fairy-tales". [B] BALKANS[05] VANCE-GLIGOROV MEETING WAS HELD IN THE USWeb Posted: 21:10 GMT+2New York 28 September (MPA)President of FYROM Kiro Gligorov met in the United States with international mediator Cyrus Vance.The meeting focused on the efforts made to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the issue of the name that will be used by FYROM. Mr.Gligorov characterized the meeting as cordial. As it was made known, mr.Gligorov reiterated FYROM's intransigent position that it will not accept a name other than its constitutional one. Meanwhile, the Athens newspaper "To Vima tis Kiriakis" writes today that UN mediator Cyrus Vance has submitted his proposal to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in which it is stressed that the name "Macedonia - Skopje" is suggested as mutually acceptable. [06] A GREEK COLLEGE WILL BE FOUNDED IN TIRANAWeb Posted: 21:10 GMT+2Gjirokastra 28 September (MPA)Albanian Education Minister Etem Ruka announced that a Greek college will open in Tirana in November. The announcement was made to the Greek Embassy charge d'affaires Andreas Papakonstantinou.The college will be financed by a Greek institute in the north-western Greek city of Ioannina. Its students will be 6 to 18 years old and classes will be taught in three languages Albanian, Greek and English. Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at http://www.hri.org/MPA/Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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