From: zarros@turing.scs.carleton.ca (Theodoros Sp. Zarros) Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Fri, 26 Nov 1993 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa). Athens, 26/11/1993 (ANA): Greece will invoke the principle of Community solidarity in a meeting Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias will have today with the ambassadors of Greece's EC partners on the issue of the recognition of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The Greek move was prompted in the wake of a front-page report in yesterday's German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, according to which "the 12 European Union states will grant diplomatic recognition to FYROM before Christmas", and a statement by a German Foreign Ministry spokesman that "indeed exploratory contacts are being held at this time on concluding diplomatic relations with this country". Before leaving for Cyprus yesterday, Alternate Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos said "any movement behind Greece's back will initially be a violation of common foreign policy. It is a phenomenon, as I said, which is unethical and condemnable". Commenting on the issue, Political Spring (Pol.A) party leader Antonis Samaras said: "I was stunned to hear of an attempt at hastily recognising Skopje by the European Union". "If this information is accurate, it will be a dangerous process, dealing a direct blow at Community solidarity, increasing tension in the region and worsening the problem. The government should avoid this provocation in every way", Mr. Samaras said. Washington, 26/11/1993 (ANA - D. Dimas): A senior US official said Wednesday that Washington would support any solution found between Athens and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on the issue of the former Yugoslav republic's name. Asked by the press on the forthcoming visit to Europe by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the official said US support for FYROM's accession to the UN under the name FYROM and the sending of technical aid to the country did not constitute official recognition by the US. On the question of the small force of about 300 US soldiers stationed in FYROM, he said "there is no intention of increasing its size". However, according to an ANA dispatch from Bonn, a US armed forces representative in Berlin said the number of US soldiers in FYROM will increase from 300 to 700 by the end of December. Athens, 26/11/1993 (ANA): The government will not comment on the UN secretary general's report on the Cyprus issue --released yesterday-- until it receives an official text, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said yesterday. An ANA dispatch from Nicosia quoted government spokesman Yiannakis Cassoulides as saying that the Cyprus government was equally unwilling to comment on Mr. Boutros Ghali's report to the Security Council at the present time. "Mr. Boutros Ghali's report is under consideration by the Cyprus government. Should the need arise for any comment, it will be made at a later stage", Mr. Cassoulides said. Mr. Boutros Ghali's report to the Security Council pointed out that although a solution to the Cyprus question might inevitably hinge on confidence-building measures, such measures were not aimed at replacing a comprehensive framework of agreement, an ANA dispatch from New York said. He also called for the mandate of UNFICYP, the UN peacekeeping force on the island-republic, which expires on December 15, to be extended through June 15. The report showed Mr. Boutros Ghali's determination to definitely have talks resume after "elections" in the Turkish Cypriot pseudostate, and to have scheduled intensive contacts with the two sides and Turkey, with the aim of implementing confidence-building measures. Diplomatic circles in New York were quoted as saying this was perhaps the reason why Mr. Boutros Ghali had opted to apportion blame to both sides equally, despite the fact that in an earlier briefing to the Security Council, he had charged Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash with being responsible for the collapse of the talks. The secretary general's report also draws attention to the need to convince Turkey to withdraw its occupation forces. It says reduction of Turkish occupation forces to 1982 levels is a first step for withdrawal of non-Cypriot forces, while also calling on the Greek Cypriot side to stop acquiring weapon systems. Athens, 26/11/1993 (ANA): Greece will call for strong intervention by the Community for a solution to the Cyprus issue, according to Alternate Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos. Mr. Pangalos referred to Cyprus in an address at a symposium last night on the third Community Greek presidency. Explaining that the Community presidency is not exercised to facilitate the aims of a specific country, Mr. Pangalos said "our (Greece's) particular aim is to have the Cyprus issue solved and have a strong intervention by the Community for its solution to be achieved". Athens, 26/11/1993 (ANA): Only days after Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias' visit to Tirana, Albanian authorities have resumed provocation of the ethnic Greek minority in northern Epirus. Local police yesterday ordered the ethnic minority school in Gyrokastr closed, and interrogated teachers. The Teachers' Federation meets in Georgoutsates today, while Omonia, the ethnic Greek minority political party, will also convene a council to reconsider the situation, in light of earlier Albanian government assurances that minority schools would no longer be persecuted. Teachers are expected to decide on suspending tuition as a sign of protest. Athens, 26/11/1993 (ANA): Coalition of the Left and Progress Eurodeputy Alekos Alavanos yesterday raised the issue of the protection of Greeks from the Pontos region in Georgia at a session of the European Parliament. Mr. Alavanos called on the body to state what measures it would take to protect the Greeks living in Georgia, which is currently in the throes of ethnic strife, and in what way it would contribute to the improvement of the "unacceptable" living conditions of Pontian Greeks repatriated to the region of Evros. The issue was raised by Mr. Alavanos following reports that a new slaughter of Greeks in Abhazia had taken place. Athens, 26/11/1993 (ANA): Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias leaves for Geneva on Sunday to take part in the meeting of EC foreign ministers which will focus on the Community's proposal for a settlement of the crisis in former Yugoslavia. After the meeting, Mr. Papoulias will fly to Rome to attend a CSCE (Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe) meeting the following day. On Wednesday he will go to Brussels to take part in a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. Athens, 26/11/1993 (ANA): Premier Andreas Papandreou today will have separate meetings with Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem and Patriarch Parthenios of Alexandria at the Maximos Mansion. Yesterday, Mr. Papandreou received the publisher of the Athens afternoon daily Ethnos, Mr. G. Bobolas, and the entrepreneur of Antenna TV network, Mr. M. Kyriakou.