Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-03-20
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, March 20, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TITLES
[Á] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] POPULATION CENSUS ESTIMATES STAND AT 11,200,000
[02] TOURIST BUS OWNERS CONTINUE INDEFINITE STRIKE
[03] TRANSIT STRIKES CREATE TRANSPORT PROBLEMS
[04] VATICAN FM IN ATHENS TO MEET WITH ARCHBISHOP
[05] EU DECLARES SUPPORT OF FYROM, TO USE DIPLOMACY
[06] MAIN OPPOSITION CHIEF TO VISIT FYROM TOMORROW
[07] NOVELIST DIMITRIS SIATOPOULOS PASSED AWAY
[08] TOURISM FOREIGN EXCHANGE REVENUES UP BY 21%
[09] GREEK PM TO MEET WITH BLAIR AT 10 DOWNING ST.
[10] SAUNDERS WIDOW, OTHER N17 VICTIMS JOIN FORCES
[11] X-FM: FYROM CRISIS STEMS FROM NATO'S DEADLY SIN
[12] JOBLESSNESS RISING IN GREECE, YOUNG HARDEST HIT
[13] JORDAN DETAINS, QUESTIONS, JAILS GREEK REPORTERS
[14] GREEKS SCORE HIGH ON HEALTH, LONGEVITY IN EU
[15] BIG GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[16] KARAMANLIS WILL BE IN SKOPJE TOMORROW
[17] MEETING ON THE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BLACK SEA
[18] THE VATICAN FOREIGN MINISTER IS IN ATHENS
[19] IPEKCI AWARD TO THE AGRICULTURE MINISTERS OF GREECE AND
TURKEY
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[20] KAKLAMANIS APPEALED FOR PEACE IN THE BALKANS
[21] KAKLAMANIS-ANTOV MEETING IN SKOPJE
[22] THE EU OPENS ITS BORDERS FOR THE YUGOSLAV GOODS
[23] NIOTIS: THE GREEK-CANADIAN RELATIONS ARE DEVELOPING
[24] VALUABLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURES HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN
ANCIENT PELLA
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] POPULATION CENSUS ESTIMATES STAND AT 11,200,000
The nationwide population and housing census, conducted on
Sunday, has been deemed a "complete success", according to
officials from the National Economy Ministry's Statistics Office.
While the final result could be released as early as the end
of this week, early estimates assess the country's present
population to be 11,200,000. The last census in Greece was held in
1991 when the country's population was found to be about 10.6
million.
Constituting the state's prime tool for measuring
sociological and demographic trends, the census included Greek
citizens, foreigners, economic immigrants and travelers.
The questions covered everything from the number of persons
per household and marital status to place of residence one year
and five years ago, nationality and education. Foreigners were
asked to state when they arrived in Greece, their country of
origin and the reasons why they reside here. The government
believes it will take 10 months to review the data before
publishing the conclusions.
[02] TOURIST BUS OWNERS CONTINUE INDEFINITE STRIKE
Greece's tour bus drivers are continuing their indefinite
strike declared yesterday in protest to the state's transport
policies, which, they claim, unfairly favor public mass transit
companies over private operators.
The strike, covering 5,200 tourist coaches and buses, is
expected to cause problems for schools, factories and tourist
agencies, which often lease tourist coaches as a means of
transporting students, staff and tourists.
[03] TRANSIT STRIKES CREATE TRANSPORT PROBLEMS
Greece's mass transit sector unions have declared rolling 24-
hour strikes as of today, resulting in a myriad of problems in
public transportation which will come to a halt today.
A 24-hour strike declared by Civil Aviation Unions has reduce
Olympic Airways' scheduled flights to only one for every domestic
and foreign destination.
Also, workers at the Hellenic Railways (OSE) and the Athens
Metro held a four-hour work stoppage from 5.00 to 9.00 am today.
[04] VATICAN FM IN ATHENS TO MEET WITH ARCHBISHOP
Cardinal and Interior Minister of the Vatican Leonardo Sandri
will be in Greece today where he will meet with Archbishop of
Athens and All of Greece Christodoulos.
According to reports, Mr. Sandri is to deliver a letter on behalf
of Pope John Paul II regarding the latter's visit to Greece on May
4 and 5.
[05] EU DECLARES SUPPORT OF FYROM, TO USE DIPLOMACY
Deciding to undertake an immediate initiative for the
political resolution of the crisis, the European Union's member-
states declared their support to the government of FYROM and
condemned the efforts of Albanian extremists to destabilize the
region, during an extraordinary meeting held in Brussels last
night.
Expressing their "deep concern" over the escalation of
violence in FYROM, the EU ministers stressed their close adherence
to the existing borders of the region, as well as to the
"sovereignty and territorial integrity of FYROM, as a one and only
multi-ethnic state".
The meeting featured the participation of FYROM's Foreign
Minister Srgjan Kerim and NATO's secretary Lord Robertson at the
request of Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, to the
Swedish EU presidency.
Mr. Kerim called Greece's contribution toward the de-
escalation of the crisis "invaluable" and stressed the common will
to neutralize the extremists, while he called for the Kosovo-FYROM
borders to be sealed.
In turn, Mr. Papandreou said that "all of us would like to
resolve the problem with diplomatic means, but if this becomes
unattainable, the geographic extension of the KFOR mission or a
new mandate, aiming to disarm the extremist groups, should not be
ruled out." The Greek FM called the present status of the
situation "very sensitive", stating that "it would be a mistake to
pass on the message that we leave open the possibility of a
‘federalization' (of FYROM)" as the extremists are demanding.
[06] MAIN OPPOSITION CHIEF TO VISIT FYROM TOMORROW
The leader of the main opposition party New Democracy Costas
Karamanlis will visit FYROM tomorrow, where he will hold talks
with government leaders, in light of the intensifying crisis.
Mr. Karamanlis is to have successive meetings with FYROM
President Boris Trajkovski, Premier Ljubco Georgievski, and the
leader of the main opposition party Branco Cervenkovski.
[07] NOVELIST DIMITRIS SIATOPOULOS PASSED AWAY
Novelist and critic Dimitris Siatopoulos died of a heart
attack at an Athens hospital on Sunday night. He was 84 years old.
Siatopoulos had written over 40 books in his life and had
been given a number of awards for his work.
He will be buried this afternoon at the First Cemetery in
Athens.
[08] TOURISM FOREIGN EXCHANGE REVENUES UP BY 21%
Greek tourism's foreign exchange revenues increased by 21
percent during the year 2000, amounting to 3,428 billion drachmas
from 2,826 billion in 1999, according to the Bank of Greece.
According to the Hellenic Tourism Organization's secretary-
general, the figures constitute evidence of the dynamism within
the domestic tourist market and reflect a steadily increasing
number of tourist arrivals in the last few years.
According to BoG, increased tourism revenues contributed to
lowering the country's current accounts deficit last year.
[09] GREEK PM TO MEET WITH BLAIR AT 10 DOWNING ST.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis, presently on a four-day visit
to London, is to meet with his British counterpart Tony Blair at
10 Downing St. this evening.
According to the Greek government spokesperson Dimitris
Reppas, Messrs. Simitis and Blair will discuss a series of matters
of bilateral interest, focusing on economic issues and
unemployment.
Commenting a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) program
on terrorism in Greece, Mr. Reppas termed the content of the
broadcast as "fabrication" and "public misinformation".
While admitting that the desired results have not been
attained yet, Mr. Reppas stressed that Greece and Britain enjoy
close cooperation on the issue, noting that terrorism is an
international problem.
The government spokesperson stated that Greece is a safe
country and that its citizens and tourists are safe.
[10] SAUNDERS WIDOW, OTHER N17 VICTIMS JOIN FORCES
The widow of Brigadier Stephen Saunders, the military attaché
shot in Athens last year by the terrorist cell "17 November", has
joined forces with families of others who fell victim to the group
in an effort to intensify pressure exerted on Greek authorities.
According to an article published by London's "The Sunday
Times", Heather Saunders is frustrated by the lack of progress
made in the ongoing investigation over her husband's assassination
in Athens last June. The group plans to announce today its
campaign to alert the Greek, British and American publics to the
"unresolved injustice" of the N17 killings.
"I am feeling very frustrated," Ms. Saunders is quoted as
saying, adding that "I thought nine months since Stephen's murder
there would be something, a little shred of evidence or hope that
his killers would be caught.
"The failure to get anything concrete is unreal. I am more
adamant now about speaking out. He was an innocent man who was
murdered and I want his killers to be caught and punished.
"I believe keeping it in the public eye does work, and myself
and the others are ready to keep on banging on doors and asking a
lot of questions for as long as it is necessary."
Ms. Saunders has joined forces with Nikos Peratikos, whose
brother, Costis, a shipping magnate, was the last Greek to be
killed by N17; Christina Welch, whose husband, Richard, a CIA
station chief, was murdered; and Patricia Nordeen, the widow of
Commander Bill Nordeen of the US navy.
"The aim is at a very human level to remind people that our
relatives have been murdered and nothing is being done to stop
this happening again," Mr. Peratikos stated.
[11] X-FM: FYROM CRISIS STEMS FROM NATO'S DEADLY SIN
The situation is FYROM is the result of NATO's "deadly sin",
i.e. its policy in Kosovo where it encouraged the Albanians'
secessionist tendencies, according to Greece's former Foreign
Minister Theodoros Pangalos.
Mr. Pangalos also stated that the international community has
to appreciate the fact that Greece's point of view was correct all
along and it had tried to promote it through every means.
[12] JOBLESSNESS RISING IN GREECE, YOUNG HARDEST HIT
Greece's unemployment rate has been steadily increasing in
recent years, with the plight of joblessness especially felt among
those who are under the age of 25 and women.
According to official data provided by the European
commission's statistics agency Eurostat, 55 percent of Greece's
unemployed between the ages of 25 and 64 belong to the long-term
category, i.e. have been jobless for over six successive months.
The situation takes a turn for the worse for those under the
age of 25, 23% of whom are "long-term" unemployed, against 9.4
percent in Europe and faring better only to Italy (25.4%).
In terms of Greece's employment rate, only 55.6% of the
registered workforce had a job in 1999, of whom 40.3% were women.
JORDAN DETAINS, QUESTIONS, JAILS GREEK REPORTERS
Jordanian authorities reportedly detained, jailed and
interrogated at length two Greek reporters last week in Amman,
where they had traveled in order to interview prisoner Nadim
Rizmaoui, a local man who is to testify in defense of Abraham
Lesperoglou, a suspected leftist terrorist in Greece.
According to the claims made by the two journalists, Ioanna
Sotirchou and Nikos Yiannopoulos, they were interviewing Rizmaoui
inside a car last Thursday when they were surrounded by armed men
in civilian clothing who handcuffed them and led them blindfolded
to a building housing Jordan's Intelligence Service.
According to Ms. Sotirchou and her colleague, both of whom
work for the Athens daily "Eleftherotypia", they were denied phone
access to notify the Greek embassy or the paper in Athens and were
interrogated at length over their ties to Lesperoglou.
After spending the night in jail, the two Greek reporters
were again subject to relentless questioning and were openly
accused of having ties with the Greek terrorist organization "17
November". They were released after being held for 20 hours and
were escorted to the airport by Jordanian police.
According to Mr. Yiannopoulos, a member of Greece's "Network
of Political and Civil Rights", the fact that the Jordanian
authorities were privy to a wealth of information on the two
reporters' personal lives and political activities, merely
indicates the existence of a global surveillance network.
Greek government spokesperson Dimitris Reppas claimed
ignorance as to how the Jordanian authorities gathered background
information on the Greek journalists, denying that Athens the
supplied Amman with relevant reports.
"The Jordanian authorities had some background on one of the
two (reporters)," Mr Reppas stated, adding that "he, as a
journalist covers that area and often travels there. As to how
this information was collected, it really concerns the authorities
of that country."
[14] GREEKS SCORE HIGH ON HEALTH, LONGEVITY IN EU
Greeks are among Europe's longest-living and healthiest
peoples, according to results of a study conducted by the European
Commission.
Specifically, Greece has the highest average life expectancy
free of disabilities - 63 years for men and 65 for women -, with
the Portuguese, German and Dutch suffering the most from various
ailments at those ages.
In terms of longevity, Greeks rank second among the EU,
topped only by the Swedes, with an average life expectancy of 76
years for men and 81 for women.
[15] BIG GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
Big gains were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today.
The general index rose to 1.16% at 3.108,39 points, while the
volume of transactions was small at 165.4 million Euro or 56.41
billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 290 recorded gains and 50 had
losses, while the value of 32 stocks remained stable.
[16] KARAMANLIS WILL BE IN SKOPJE TOMORROW
Right wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader
Kostas Karamanlis will visit Skopje tomorrow for meetings with
FYROM president Boris Trajkovski, prime minister Ljupco
Georgievski and main opposition party leader Branko Cervenkovski
to discuss the dramatic developments in the country.
Mr. Karamanlis will return to Greece tomorrow afternoon and
he will speak in the New Democracy conference that will be held in
the northwestern city of Kozani on the border problems and the
safety of the citizens.
[17] MEETING ON THE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BLACK SEA
Investment opportunities in the Black Sea zone and the
procedures followed in undertaking projects in the wider region
will be at the center of the one-day meeting organized by the
Black Sea Trade and Development Bank to take place in Thessaloniki
tomorrow.
The meeting will be attended by Black Sea bankers,
businessmen and investment advisers as well as senior executives
of the Black Sea Bank and other credit organizations such as, EBRO
and World Bank.
The opening speech will be made by Black Sea Bank president
Ersoi Volkan.
[18] THE VATICAN FOREIGN MINISTER IS IN ATHENS
Vatican's foreign minister Cardinal Leonardo Sandri is in
Athens today.
He will meet with Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens to
deliver a letter by Pope John-Paul B' concerning his imminent
visit to Greece. According to information, the Pope will be in
Greece on May 4.
Protest demonstrations against the Pope's visit have been
scheduled to take place during that time.
The Athens Archdiocese in a letter addressed to every
metropolis in the country has clarified that the Greek president
invited the Pope to visit Greece without the Church's previous
agreement and points out that if the Church of Greece had
responded negatively to the Pope's visit to Greece it would have
been the target of attacks launched by all those who want to trap
it.
[19] IPEKCI AWARD TO THE AGRICULTURE MINISTERS OF GREECE AND
TURKEY
Agriculture ministers of Greece and Turkey Giorgos Anomeritis
and Yussef Giokapl, businessmen Panagiotis Koutsikos and Sarik
Tara, Association of Athens Daily Newspaper Journalists president
Nikos Kiaos and the deans of the Athens and Istanbul Universities
Konstantinos Dimopoulos and Kemal Alemdaroglu are on the list with
those who are honored with the special 2000-2001 Abdi Ipekci award
of Peace and Friendship.
Also, the special Ipekci Award will be received by Asaf
Guneri, supporter of the Greek-Turkish rapprochement since the
establishment of the award.
The Ipekci Communication Award will be received by mayors of
Mugli and Chalkida Osman Gurun and Charalambos Maniatis, mayors of
Tekirntag and Sapes, Osman Tabak and Dinos Charitopoulos, the
Greek-Turkish Forum of Cooperation, singer Faedon, the grand-
daughter of Ismet Inonu, Gulsun Bilgehan, the directors of the
"Voice of America" (Greek and Turkish departments) Giorgos Bitsis
and Tatzlan Suerdem, basketball player Ibrahim Kutluai and sports
news writer Manolis Mavromatis.
Also, there will be literature, folklore, student and music
awards as well as a newly established award for documentary film
making.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[20] KAKLAMANIS APPEALED FOR PEACE IN THE BALKANS
Greece's strong concern regarding the escalation of the
tension in FYROM and the wider region was expressed by Greek
parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis speaking in the Skopje
conference of parliament presidents from southeastern Europe.
Mr. Kaklamanis issued an appeal to all sides to display the
necessary self-restraint and avoid putting peace in the Balkans in
danger, adding that the multi-sided and open cooperation is the
only obvious one-way street that must be followed. He also
referred to the Stability Pact and the Good Neighborly Relations
Charter which are a stable and constructive basis for the
development and consolidation of cooperation.
On the role of the state parliaments, he pointed out that it
can be important in the effort aimed at making relations among the
states in the region stronger.
Later this afternoon, Mr. Kaklamanis will meet with FYROM
president Boris Trajkovski and prime minister Ljupco Georgievski
and then he will return to Athens.
[21] KAKLAMANIS-ANTOV MEETING IN SKOPJE
Greek parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis met in Skopje
this morning with his FYROM counterpart Stojan Antov.
Mr. Antov expressed satisfaction for the Greek participation
in the 2nd conference of parliament presidents from southeastern
Europe, saying that Greece is not just a good neighbor but the
only EU country in the region.
In the meeting that was held before the opening of the
conference the two parliament presidents exchanged views on the
situation in the northern borders of FYROM and the further
strengthening of cooperation between the two parliaments.
Commenting on the situation in FYROM, Mr. Kaklamanis
expressed the hope that tension will de-escalate soon, adding that
the efforts made by the FYROM leadership toward this direction
have Greece's support. Mr. Kaklamanis also stated that
safeguarding FYROM's territorial integrity and sovereignty is
decisive for stability in the region.
[22] THE EU OPENS ITS BORDERS FOR THE YUGOSLAV GOODS
Yugoslavia's permanent mission representative in Brussels
Dragan Zupanjevac announced that starting on April 1, 95% of the
Yugoslav goods will be exported to the European Union countries.
It should be noted that the European Commission had approved
the abolition of customs tariffs for the majority of the Yugoslav
goods on November 23, 2000 but the 15 EU member-states
representatives, responsible for customs, did not accept the
existence of two customs authorities in Yugoslavia namely, the
federal customs agency and the Montenegro customs agency.
After marathon consultations of the EU, Belgrade and
Podgorica a golden mean was found. Namely, the Montenegro goods
will be exported accompanied by Montenegro customs documents, the
Serb products will be accompanied by certificates of the federal
customs agency, while the Serb products that will be exported
through the Montenegro territory will be accompanied by
certificates from both customs agencies.
[23] NIOTIS: THE GREEK-CANADIAN RELATIONS ARE DEVELOPING
Greek undersecretary of foreign affairs Grigoris Niotis in a
press conference he gave in Toronto to the Greek-Canadian mass
media characterized the Greek-Canadian relations as multifaceted
and developing.
He stressed that bilateral relations are very close and
referring to the meeting he had in Ottawa with the Canadian
foreign minister, stated that they discussed bilateral issues as
well as issues of international interest.
Referring to the ten-minute meeting he had with Canadian
prime minister Jean Chretien he underlined that it is a proof of
the prestige enjoyed by the country and the Greek-Canadian
community.
Mr. Niotis also referred to the developing bilateral
cooperation in the military sector, educational programs and
peacekeeping missions as well as in the armaments sector which
will be the main topic of discussion in the meeting of the Greek
and the Canadian defense ministers in Athens on April 9.
He said that consultations will be made to avoid double
taxation, while he added that even though Canada is the second
largest foreign investor in Greece there is still room for the
further development of bilateral economic relations, adding that
Canada and Greece can form joint ventures in the Balkans and the
wider Black Sea region.
[24] VALUABLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURES HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN
ANCIENT PELLA
The London Times published an extensive report with
photographs of ancient sculptures and a map that characterizes
Greek Macedonia as the ancient Macedonia.
The report, under the headline "The big palace of Alexander
has been discovered" signed by Dalya Alberge, concerns the
excavations in Pella, the birthplace of Alexander the Great,
during which thousands of valuable ancient artifacts and
constructions have been discovered. According to the journalist,
this fact squashes the supporters of a theory based on which, the
ancient Macedons were not as developed as the rest of the Greeks.
Many of those findings will be displayed in Oxford next
weekend within the framework of a three-day conference under the
title "Excavations of Classical Treasures: Recent archaeological
discoveries in Greece". The conference is organized by Oxford's
Somerville College and 25 archaeologists, academicians and
specialists have been invited to present their work.
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