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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 97-04-08Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCYThessaloniki, April 8, 1997TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] ITALY SAYS OK TO GREEK FORCES IN SOUTHERN ALBANIAAthens, April 8 (MPA)The Italian administrators of the multi-national force to be assigned to Albania have accepted Greece's request to assign its troops in the country's southern section as well.Greece's Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Yiannos Kranidiotis stated that the Greek government has requested that the Greek forces be assigned mostly in the center of Albania, that is the capital, Tirana, so that they are not cut off. "We believe that our presence is the south, even a symbolic one, would help alleviate the situation there since that is where the Greek minority lives," Mr. Kranidiotis said. Moreover, Mr. Kranidiotis added that the multi-national force's task will be to oversee and protect the humanitarian aid missions and the allocation thereof, which is to arrive to Albania mostly through Greece. "The roads and the Greek-Albanian borders are necessary for the passage of the humanitarian aid and any other form of help from Greece and I believe that we have a reason to want to guard these areas," he added. A.F. [02] GREEK FOREIGN UNDERSECRETARY: ALBANIA NEEDS HELP FROM ALL OF EUROPETirana, April 8 (MPA)Greece's Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Yiannos Kranidiotis has stated that Albania needs help from all of the European countries and organizations in order to overcome its current crisis.In an interview given to the BBC, Mr. Kranidiotis characterized the economic and political situation in the neighboring country as "problematic", although he added that the formation of a national reconciliation government is a positive turn, which "enjoys the support of the European and international communities." Mr. Kranidiotis also expressed the hope that this government will proceed to the necessary changes and will form a cabinet that will represent the people. Referring to Albanian Premier Bashkim Fino's recent visit to Athens, as well as the talks with OSCE official Franz Vranitski and Dutch Foreign Minister Hans Van Mierlo, Mr. Kranidiotis said that everyone's belief was that the elections in Albania should be held in June so that the country will be able to overcome the crisis. Meanwhile, Albania's Socialist leader Fatos Nano is currently in Strasburg where he will meet with the leaders of the Socialist Group and leaders from the European Parliament. A.F. [03] GREEK PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MEETS WITH TURKISH COUNTERPARTAthens, April 8 (MPA)The President of Greece's Parliament Apostolos Kaklamanis and his Turkish counterpart Mustafa Kalemli saw eye to eye on the need to improve the relations between their countries, during their meeting in Athens yesterday, held within the framework of the Conference of Parliaments of Mediterranean Region countries.The two officials referred to the Greek-Turkish friendship as it was established by Greece's Eleftherios Venizelos and Turkey's Kemal Ataturk. Msgrs. Kaklamanis and Kalemli stated that Venizelos and Ataturk had removed all thorns that hurt the two peoples. A.F. [04] GREEKS FROM MELBOURNE ESTABLISH POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL IN GJIROCASTERMelbourne, April 8 (MPA)Greeks from Melbourne will conduct a drive to collect money for the establishment of a polytechnic school in Gjirocaster.This initiative was drawn by the Committee of Solidarity for Greeks of Northern Epirus and Australia's Panepirotic Federation. The two organizations pointed out the need to create a school for the technical training of Greeks in Albania and called on the Greek government to support them in their task. A.F. [05] SWEDES PREFER GREECE FOR THEIR SUMMER HOLIDAYStockholm, April 8 (MPA)"Greece is the best country" according to a Swedish daily "Expressen" which conducted a gallop to measure the Swedes preferences for vacation sites.Based on a survey of 1,000 persons over the age of 18, fifteen percent said that Greece is the best country for spending a summer holiday, with Sweden coming in second with 12% and Spain third with 11%. Italy and the United States lagged behind with six percent each, France with four, Norway with three, Cyprus with two and Turkey with just one percent. The newspaper also published an interview of the director of the Northern Europe Department of the Greek Tourism Organization Haralampos Lianeris who stated that there is an extra reason to visit Greece this year: Thessaloniki, Cultural Capital of Europe, 1997. A.F. [06] US IS READY AND WILLING TO HELP IN RESOLVING THE CYPRUS ISSUEWashington, Apirl 8 (MPA)U.S. State Department spokesperson Nicholas Burns expressed his country's readiness in contributing to the process of resolving the Cyprus issue, albeit he did add that nothing "positive" can be achieved if the interested parties in Cyprus, as well as Greece and Turkey, do not display a similar interest.Addressing a group of Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots who are currently in Washington, Mr. Burns said that the US, just like other countries, are exerting efforts to create the right conditions for negotiations that will lead to a solution. When told by a Turkish-Cypriot reporter that the Turkish- Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has declared his readiness for direct negotiations with the President of Cyprus Glafkos Clerides, Mr. Burns responded that the US will be more impressed by actions, adding that Mr. Denktash had many opportunities to meet with Mr. Clerides "but at this stage, we want to see it in action." A.F. 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: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |