Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-04-04

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] PRO-PALESTINIAN RALLIES ALL OVER GREECE

[02] MINISTER OF MACEDONIA-THRACE IN SCOPJE

[03] GENUINE RING OF KING MINOS WORTH 400,000 EURO

[04] PRESSURES ON ISRAEL FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN DECISIONS

[05] DE-ESCALATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THIRD PARTY INTERVENTION

[06] MARGINAL LOSSES IN THE ASE

[07] STATE OF ALERT FOR POSSIBLE POLLUTION OF AXIOS RIVER

[08] THE METROPOLITE OF ZAKINTHOS PROTESTS FOR THE PALESTINIANS

[09] BULGARIAN LOCAL ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS IN KAVALA

[10] BUSINESS MOVES BY THE CHURCH OF GREECE

[11] OLYMPIC AIRWAYS CONTENDING 94 MILLION EURO

[12] "DOCTORS OF THE WORLD" DENIED ENTRANCE TO ISRAEL

[13] GREEK PROTESTOR IN RAMALLAH WOUNDED

[01] PRO-PALESTINIAN RALLIES ALL OVER GREECE

After the latest events in the Middle East and the siege of Ramallah, protests in support of Palestinians are taking place all over Greece. In Thessaloniki today, at 7pm, by the statue of Eleftherios Venizelos, a support rally for the Palestinians will take place. It is being organized by the Workers'-Employees' Center of Thessaloniki, the Students Association of the AUTh, the Committee for International Peace of Thessaloniki, the Palestinian Community, and the Association of Palestinian University Students of Greece.

A protest rally has been organized for today by Heracleon bodies, in expression of their solidarity to the Palestinian people, in the Lions' Square, at 7pm.

Another solidarity rally in Crete, is the one organized by the Chania Prefecture, at 8:30pm, in the Municipal Market Square.

Another show of protest, with Not another holocaust A state for Palestine, now, has been organized by the Coalition of the Left Youth for this afternoon at 6pm, outside the Israeli Embassy in Athens.

[02] MINISTER OF MACEDONIA-THRACE IN SCOPJE

Minister of Macedonia-Thrace, Giorgos Paschalides, will meet with FYROM Prime Minister Ljupco Georgievski, at 19:30 in Skopje. Mr. Paschalidis will be in Skopje in the framework of a three-day visit to the neighboring country.

Tomorrow, Mr. Paschalidis will have meetings with President Boris Trajkovski, the President of the Parliament, Stojan Antof, Ministers of National Economy, Nikola Gruevski, Local Government, Faik Aslani, Environment, Vladimir Dzabirski and coordinator of the Program Committee for the Prespes Park, Metodija Dimovski. In the afternoon of the same day he will leave for Ochrid.

On Saturday, he will take a tour of Ochrid and will meet with the Mayor. He will then leave for Prespes, he will visit the Monastery of St. Naoum, and immediately following the Monastery, where he will meet the Mayor and will be shown around the Church of St. Dimitrios.

[03] GENUINE RING OF KING MINOS WORTH 400,000 EURO

The ring of King Minos, a find from the 15th century BC, was authenticated by the Central Archeological Council (KAS), while at the same time it was valued at 400,000 euro. Nonetheless, the scientific and historic value of the find is much greater, as Minister of Culture Evaggelos Venizelos stated, pointing out that the ring will be turned in to the Heracleon Museum.

The Minister of Culture also stressed that the citizen who turned the find in to the Archeological service will be rewarded. "I am not in a position to reveal the amount of the reward at present, because I want to evaluate all the facts of the case, taking into consideration the response of the KAS, and it is a great pleasure for me that the object known as the King of Minos, as it is known in the bibliography because there is always an element of myth involved will be turned over to its natural owners, the people of Crete, the people of Heracleon. It will be turned over to the Archeological Museum of Heracleon, which is entering a new period as an autonomous unit of the Ministry of Culture. Thus, this is a development strengthening the prestige of the Heracleon Museum", added Mr. Venizelos.

[04] PRESSURES ON ISRAEL FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN DECISIONS

The need for pressures to be exerted on Israel in order to comply with the UN Security Council decisions for the return of peace to the Middle East, was underlined by Prime Minister Kostas Simitis in statements he made after the meeting he had with his Dane counterpart Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Athens.

Specifically, Mr. Simitis pointed out that the UN Security Council called on Israel to withdraw its forces from the Palestinian territories and the same call was issued by the EU as well, adding that the EU has decided to send representatives to the region to exert pressures toward this direction.

The Greek Prime Minister stated that based on the latest EU decision in the Barcelona Summit meeting, Chairman Arafat is recognized as the representative of the Palestinian community and for this reason he should be free to move and make decisions.

From his side, the Dane Prime Minister called on Israel to withdraw its forces from the Palestinian territories, stressing that Yasser Arafat should do the best he can to combat terrorism. Mr. Rasmussen stated that the only solution is to safeguard a state of Israel with guaranteed and secure borders and create an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with secure borders.

Referring to Cyprus' EU accession, the Dane Prime Minister stated that Denmark backs the view that Cyprus must become an EU member and stressed that the solution of the Cyprus problem is not a precondition for Cyprus' accession. He also called on the two sides to work for the solution of the political problem.

On the likelihood to open EU accession negotiations with Turkey, Mr. Simitis stated that in the talks he had with his Dane counterpart a reference was made to the issue and stressed that such negotiations should start when the preconditions set by the EU on Turkey's candidature are met.

The meeting of the Prime Ministers of Greece and Denmark was also dominated by the developments in the European Union and the Danish EU Presidency in the second half of 2002. The two Prime Ministers discussed bilateral cooperation on issues concerning the EU accession negotiations, the rejection of the Euro by certain European Union countries and environmental problems, in view of the Greek EU Presidency in the first half of 2003.

[05] DE-ESCALATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THIRD PARTY INTERVENTION

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou pointed out the need for immediate medical and pharmaceutical assistance to Israel. He stated that the Greek Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, is ready to send 20 million drachmas worth of medical and pharmaceutical assistance as soon as the conditions in the region allow it.

Mr. Papandreou announced that Greece is ready to protest against the deportation of Greek Doctors of the World and added that he has already spoken to his Israeli counterpart and the Israeli ambassador.

Mr. Papandreou briefed the Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defense this morning on the developments in the Middle East and the Greek initiatives for the de-escalation of the crisis. He pointed out that only with the intervention of a third party and through a political solution, not with the use of force, can the tension in the region de-escalate.

On Greece's position, he stressed that Athens is against violence and terrorism and faces the crisis in the Middle East with realism because there are no easy and magical solutions. He stated that his latest tour of the Middle East and his visit to Cairo led him to the conclusion that the Arab world is very concerned with the developments in the wider region.

Mr. Papandreou said that the Arabs speculate that the situation can take uncontrolled dimensions if there is no immediate intervention by the international community which they accused of inactivity. He also characterized as very significant the fact that the Arab world calls for the immediate involvement of the US within the framework of the efforts to reach a political solution based on the UN decisions and proposals.

[06] MARGINAL LOSSES IN THE ASE

Marginal losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.04% at 2.200,41 points, while the volume of transactions was small at 62.5 million Euro.

Of the stocks trading today, 133 recorded gains and 170 had losses, while the value of 73 stocks remained unchanged.

[07] STATE OF ALERT FOR POSSIBLE POLLUTION OF AXIOS RIVER

The responsible agencies in Greece are in a state of alert after the warnings issued by environment protection organizations according to which, 70 tons of waste material has leaked from the sun oil production plant in the region of Tito Veles in FYROM.

The above were stated by Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Giorgos Paschalidis underlining that the whole issue is watched closely. Mr. Paschalidis will be in Skopje today for meetings with the FYROM president, the Prime Minister and government ministers among them, the Minister of Environment.

In those meetings, Mr. Paschalidis will raise the issue of the Axios River pollution in FYROM as such incidents take place frequently. He will propose an inter-border cooperation and a joint anti-pollution policy for Axios River, while he will also raise the issue of Lake Doiran which is divided between Greece and FYROM.

[08] THE METROPOLITE OF ZAKINTHOS PROTESTS FOR THE PALESTINIANS

Metropolite Chrisostomos of Zakinthos protested strongly against the incidents in Palestine and at the same time, rejected the invitation to attend the formal event organized for the celebration of the 54th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel.

In his letter to the Israeli ambassador, he rejects the invitation refusing to agree with the logic of the Israeli Prime Minister and the extermination methods used on the Palestinian people.

[09] BULGARIAN LOCAL ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS IN KAVALA

Macedonia-Thrace regional authority head Aris Papadopoulos meets in Kavala today with Bulgarian regions general secretaries.

In the meeting, Mr. Papadopoulos will brief his counterparts on the Balkan Committee activities, its goals and the need for the participation of Bulgarian regions.

Meanwhile, it was made known that the Balkan Committee Political Office will meet tomorrow.

[10] BUSINESS MOVES BY THE CHURCH OF GREECE

The Church of Greece announced the creation of a limited liability company for the management of the money it will receive from the EU's 3rd Community Framework of Support. Also, it was announced that companies will be created for the management of parking spaces, the promotion of publishing activities and the establishment of an insurance company.

The Church's moves are placed within the framework of the efforts to manage and exploit its property based on business criteria.

[11] OLYMPIC AIRWAYS CONTENDING 94 MILLION EURO

Minister of Transports and Communications, Christos Verelis, is expected to ask for 93,910,491 euro to be paid Olympic Airways by the Minister of Economy and Finances, Nikos Christodoulakis, during a meeting taking place today.

This amount mainly originates from debts of the public sector to the national airliner, while, as mentioned in press publications, deputy Minister of Finances Giorgos Floridis agreed to pay a further amount of 20,542,920 euro to OA last week. If these debts are paid, then Olympic Airways will be able to take a deep breath and look to the future with more optimism.

[12] "DOCTORS OF THE WORLD" DENIED ENTRANCE TO ISRAEL

The delegation of the Doctors of the World, which had left late last night for Jerusalem, and which Israeli authorities denied entrance to the country, returned to Athens this afternoon.

As the responsible party for N. Greece, surgeon Eleftheria Parthenopoulou, stated to the MPA, that as soon as the airplane of the Greek mission landed, the authorities took the passports away from the Greeks and forced them to remain in the airport for hours, before boarding a different airplane, in order to return to Greece.

In a communication I had with the Head of the mission Theofilos Rozenberg, I was informed of the incident and I must admit that this is unprecedented and dictatorial behavior, stressed Mrs. Parthenopoulou, according to whom, along with the Doctors of the World were a group if Italian MPs and a group of activists, who were dealt with violently by the security forces at the airport.

We will lodge a complaint about the incident, as we were stopped from doing our work and helping people, added Mr. Parthenopoulou.

It should be noted that two weeks ago, Doctors of the World faced the same problem, when they wanted to send medical supplies, and were not allowed to.

[13] GREEK PROTESTOR IN RAMALLAH WOUNDED

A Greek participating in the large protest for peace, that started at Jerusalem and moved towards Ramallah, was slightly injured from the firing of a tear gas canister. His name is Loucas Kavaklis, representative of the Teaching Federation.

As Mr. Kavaklis stated to NET state television that Israeli soldiers attacked protestors with nightsticks and firing plastic bullets, while using teargas. One of the canisters fired hit him on the head, and he was then transferred to the hospital for stitches.

At the hospital I saw a man hit by a bullet, and hit by a bayonet, and from what I learned they used chemicals, he added.

Dozens of slightly wounded protestors were transferred to Jerusalem hospitals, most of them suffering from breathing difficulties, but many with marks from being beaten by Palestinian soldiers.

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