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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 99-08-02
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, August 2, 1999
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] THE UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE TEST RESULTS HAVE BEEN
ANNOUNCED
[02] STEPHANOPOULOS: THE GREEK PEOPLE HAVE A PEACE-LOVING
SPIRIT
[03] EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE GREEK
POLICY ON THE MINORITIES
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[04] A US AIRLINE HAS ANNOUNCED LOSSES BECAUSE OF THE CRISIS
IN KOSSOVO
[05] ROBERTSON: NATO IS THE FOUNDING STONE FOR SECURITY IN
EUROPE
[06] GILMAN: SHOW INTEREST IN THE GREEK CYPRIOTS TOO
[07] A COMPARISON BETWEEN KURDS AND KOSOVARS
[08] THE KLA HAS TAKEN OVER THE POWER IN KOSSOVO
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] THE UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE TEST RESULTS HAVE BEEN
ANNOUNCED
Based on the grade lists that were made public by
ministry of education general secretary Angelos
Zisimopoulos, 54-73% of the high school students who took
part in the university entrance exams failed in physics,
while 45.02%-58.42% failed in history. The grade lists are
expected to be posted in every school across the country by
tomorrow morning.
According to Mr. Zisimopoulos, the candidates did
better compared to last year in the compulsory subjects. The
minimum grade necessary in order for a student to be
admitted in a higher education institution will be announced
in early September, while the education ministry leadership
stated that for the time being it can not speculate how low
the minimum grade will be. Those interested can find the
grade lists in the ministry of education site on the
Internet.
[02] STEPHANOPOULOS: THE GREEK PEOPLE HAVE A PEACE-LOVING
SPIRIT
President of Greece Kostis Stephanopoulos underlined
the peace-loving spirit of the Greek people in the formal
opening of the annual conference of the NATO member-states
reserve army officers that is being held in Athens.
The more one knows what war is all about the more he or
she wants peace, stated Mr. Stephanopoulos, who praised the
virtues of the military. Fifty years ago, Greece had
experienced war in its hardest form and lost 400.000 people,
both members of the army and civilians, stressed the
president of the Hellenic Republic and underlined the need
to defend the ideals of freedom, democracy and peace.
[03] EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE GREEK
POLICY ON THE MINORITIES
The Muslim minority in Thrace has begun steadily to
become part of the economic and social activities in the
region, stated to MPA minister of Macedonia-Thrace Yianns
Magriotis. The government minister stated that the minority
participates in all the institutional procedures and its
fabricated ghetto-like presence gradually disappears.
The fabricated obstacles can not be maintained no
matter who wants to raise them and the propaganda mechanisms
of other countries are not as effective as they were in the
past, stated Mr. Magriotis, who added that equality before
the law is the basic principle of Greece's policy.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[04] A US AIRLINE HAS ANNOUNCED LOSSES BECAUSE OF THE CRISIS
IN KOSSOVO
The US airline "Tower Air" announced revenue losses of
1% in the second trimester of the current year.
According to the airline officials, its revenue
suffered losses because the war in Kossovo has caused the
cancellation of many flights to Athens.
[05] ROBERTSON: NATO IS THE FOUNDING STONE FOR SECURITY IN
EUROPE
British secretary of defense George Robertson, who is a
candidate for the position of the NATO secretary-general,
stated that the North Atlantic Alliance is and will continue
to be the founding stone for security in Europe.
Robertson's candidature is examined in Brussels today
by the ambassadors of the alliance and according to his
statements, the members of the alliance are being called to
face a new challenge and reinforce NATO's European wing.
[06] GILMAN: SHOW INTEREST IN THE GREEK CYPRIOTS TOO
The US newspaper Washington Times published an article
by Republican US House Representative Benjamin Gilman on the
attention that should be given to the deadlock in the Cyprus
issue.
On the occasion of the likely repatriation of 1.5
million Kossovo refugees, based on the Technical Military
Agreement and the UN Security Council resolution 1244, Mr.
Gilman stressed that similar cases of refugees, such as that
of the 200.000 Greek Cypriots who are not allowed to return
to their homes in northern Cyprus for the past 25 years,
should receive positive treatment.
Mr. Gilman also reminded in his article that the
partition of Cyprus has been characterized as a "Gordian
knot" by Mr. Halbrooke and is responsible for the high level
of tension and instability between Greece and Turkey, while
it has affected the US interests in the Middle East.
[07] A COMPARISON BETWEEN KURDS AND KOSOVARS
The US newspaper "Newsday" published an article by Mark
Simon on the different ways in which the West dealt with the
situation in Kossovo and south-eastern Turkey.
According to the article, as opposed to the ethnic
Albanians in Kossovo, the Kurds in Turkey did not received
the questionable benefits of a NATO military intervention.
The article writer mentions that the Kurds, who are fighting
for a degree of autonomy, have found themselves against the
Turkish army, which is the second largest in NATO and the
worst as far as human rights are concerned and wonders why
the West has turned a blind eye to the Kurds.
The article writer believes that the reasons for the
double standard are the fact that Turkey is a member of NATO
and because the easing of the tensions in south-eastern
Europe is regarded as essential for the continent's
stability and prosperity.
[08] THE KLA HAS TAKEN OVER THE POWER IN KOSSOVO
A report from the regional capital of Kossovo,
Pristina, published by the US newspaper "The New York
Times", underlines that the Kossovo Liberation Army, KLA,
due to the absence of a strong international police presence
in Kossovo, has now the total political control of the
region by establishing a network of ministries, appointing
local councils, taking over businesses and apartments and
collecting taxes.
In spite of the fact that the peace agreement provides
for an administration appointed by the United Nations, while
the ethnic Albanian rebels have no legal substance, the KLA
does not discuss anymore the transfer of power to the UN but
it wants cooperation with the international organization on
an equal basis.
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