From: tzarros@ccs.carleton.ca (Theodore Zarros) Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Wed, 19 Oct 1994 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa). Athens News Agency Bulletin, October 19, 1994 --------------------------------------------- * Anastasios appeals to CSCE's Van der Stoel over church rights in Albania * Vartholomeos arrives on Patmos on first leg of tour * Thwarted voters get second chance at polls today * Second round * Inquiry blames Interior Ministry * Kranidiotis in Paris for talks with Juppe, Lamassoure * Ethnic Greek lawyer receives suspended sentence in Istanbul * Papantoniou: Greece to support China on GATT issues Anastasios appeals to CSCE's Van der Stoel over church rights in Albania ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tirana, 19/10/1994 (ANA): Archbishop Anastasios of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania yesterday handed a memorandum to Max Van der Stoel, Minorities Commissioner of the Conference on the Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), denouncing a paragraph of the country's proposed constitution on freedom of religious minorities saying it "causes great disturbance to the church." According to the fourth paragraph of article 7 of the proposed constitution, the head of any religious community in Albania should be an Albanian citizen, born in Albania, and have resided there for the past 20 years. "The subject which has arisen from the fourth paragraph of article 7 of the Draft Constitution is not just a detail which applies to one person, to one Church or to one religious minority," Anastasios told Mr. Van der Stoel. "In the final analysis the matter deals with the basic meaning of religious freedom and its application in a country which is emerging from an era of communist dictatorship and wishes to be truly democratic, based on western models," he added. "We believe that true freedom of a religious minority in a country means basic independence in its internal affairs from every kind of interference emanating from the members of other religious communities which have the majority in legislative and governmental bodies as well as in the news media," Archbishop Anastasios concluded. In the memorandum, also sent to Albanian President Sali Berisha, Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi and President of the Parliament Pjeter Arbnori, the Orthodox Church of Albania noted that the specific article of the Albanian draft constitution would lead the church to "fresh unjustified hardships." "Albania's Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the oldest and largest church in Albania, which had been fully dissolved after half a century of hard persecution, and which over the last three years has been going through a reviving phase, unfortunately fell into disgrace again, (this time) in a period of democracy, and instead of being helped (in its revival phase) it is led anew to an unjustified disfavour," the memorandum said. It said the content of the specific article clashed with its title -- "Secular Character of the Albanian State" -- as well as its first and second paragraphs stressing that "church, in the Albanian Republic, is separated from the state," and that "the state secures the freedom of religious communities to choose their leadership according to their objective potential and needs." "The freedom to chose its leadership, based on its own criteria and spiritual interests, is the basic right of every religious community... therefore, the imposition of alien criteria in the choice of leadership to the Orthodox Church, by a secular state in which members of another religion form the majority, is a restriction of freedom," the memorandum said. Noting that "especially in the period after the church's 50-year long persecution (by the state), when every breeding ground of church leadership has been fully destroyed," the memorandum said that such impositions "put additional constraints on traditional religious communities beginning their revival process from scratch whereas it supports smaller religious communities that only recently have been established in Albania." There are about 70 independent Protestant groups and other religious communities in Albania. The memorandum said it was apparent that article 7 was aimed exclusively at Albania's Autocephalous Orthodox Church "which faces special difficulties and circumstances." "Instead of supporting the autocephalous (status of the Albanian Orthodox Church) the provision is threatening to leave the Church "acephalous" (leaderless)...," the memorandum said, "in view of the fact that the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church, unanimously recognised by all Orthodox Churches in the world, cannot be unfrocked or disordained by state law." The provision, the memorandum said, "not only creates a great disturbance to the Church today, but will certainly trouble it in the future." "It is tragic that the Draft Constitution of the Albanian Republic on the issue of religious freedom appears to be less modern and democratic than it was in the period of (former Albanian King Ahmet) Zogou and the prime period of the Communist party," the memorandum said. The memorandum accused the fourth paragraph of article 7 of "depriving, in this critical era, the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania, from a competent leader... undermining religious freedom in the long term, and causing upheavals and partition in the Orthodox Church of Albania, opening a great wound which will disturb the Orthodox Church -- and not only it -- for many years to come ." Article 7 of Albania's draft constitution prompted stern reaction by the Greek government which last week briefed European governments and delegates of all religions on the issue. Greek government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos in statements said that both the issue of the election and office of the head of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania concerned exclusively the Church. Vartholomeos arrives on Patmos on first leg of tour --------------------------------------------------- Athens, 19/10/1994 (ANA): Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos of Constantinople began his tour of the Dodecannese yesterday with an announcement that a summit of all Orthodox leaders would take place on the Aegean island of Patmos next year to mark the 1,900 anniversary of St. John's the Divine's vision of the Apocalypse, chronicled in the Book of Revelations in the Bible. The spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians made the announcement upon his arrival on Patmos on the first leg of an official 10-day visit to the Dodecannese islands. In a message to the Patriarch, President Constantine Karamanlis said that Vartholomeos' presence in Greece "contributes to the preservation of the faith and Orthodoxy". St. John is thought to have fled to Patmos in 95 AD during a persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Domitian. He begins the Book of Revelations by identifying Patmos and saying he heard "a great voice, as a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." The island is one of the most revered sites among Orthodox Christians and has been officially named a Holy Island by the Greek Parliament. The Ecumenical Patriarch, the "first among equals" among the five Eastern Orthodox leaders, was given a state welcome on arrival. He was met by Education and Religious Affairs Minister George Papandreou on behalf of the government, main opposition New Democracy leader Miltiades Evert, the Greek Orthodox Church leadership and other high-ranking officials. Vartholomeos was due to visit the island's 12th century monastery, which is renowned for a library which includes hand-copied pages from a 5th-century Gospel of Saint Mark. He is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou on the island of Kos on Friday, after which the Consular Corps will honour the prelate at a special ceremony hosted by Honourary Italian Consul for the Dodecannese Dr. Giorgio Marcou. Vartholomeos is scheduled to visit ecclesiastical institutions on some of the 12-island grouping in the Aegean known as the Dodecannese. His itinerary after Patmos includes the islands of Leros, Kalymnos, Kos, Symi, Kastellorizo, Rhodes, Karpathos and Kassos. The 54-year-old prelate will be presented with an honorary doctorate at the Environmental College of the Aegean University on Mytilini on October 27, the day before his departure. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople at Phanar dates from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire. Ethnic Greeks in Turkey, a flourishing community of an estimated 200,000 before World War II, now number less than 5,000. Thwarted voters get second chance at polls today ------------------------------------------------ Athens, 19/10/1994 (ANA): Fifteen to twenty thousand voters are to exercise their voting rights at 47 polling stations in the Athens and Nikaia area today, after their failure to do so in the first round of municipal and prefectural elections on Sunday, due to the absence of judicial officials. A relevant legislative decree was published in the Government Gazette yesterday and restrictions on the circulation of private cars in the centre of Athens have been lifted for the convenience of voters. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Costas Skandalides reiterated yesterday his intention to re-submit his resignation, if the Justice Ministry inquiry into problems in voting procedures on Sunday, in any way attributed responsibility to his ministry. The minister apologised to the citizens who were inconvenienced, and pointed out that "the malfunctioning of the state was one of the basic elements in the (relatively high rate of) abstention of voters". "We admit a general political responsibility," he said, adding that the Interior Ministry had completed all necessary procedures in time. Second round ------------ Athens, 19/10/1994 (ANA): Interest, meanwhile, has focused on the run-offs for municipal elections, especially in Athens and Piraeus, with the battle now being fought on winning the crucial support of small party voters. The central electoral committee of the Coalition of the Left and Progress is due to confer this afternoon to determine the party's stand, following PASOK-supported candidate for Athens Theodoros Pangalos' invitation to collaborate. According to statements by top Coalition officials, the party is leaning towards acceptance of the invitation, considering the encouraging results wherever there was collaboration from the first round. The Pangalos ticket gathered 32.6 per cent of the votes on Sunday, compared to 43.91 per cent by New Democracy-supported Dimitris Avramopoulos, 11.17 per cent by the Coalition's Maria Damanaki, 6.14 per cent by Communist party candidate Leon Avdis, and 3.88 per cent by Political Spring party candidate Andreas Lentakis. Mr. Pangalos, who appears confident that he can win the second round, despite the more than 11 per cent lead by Mr. Avramopoulos, met with Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou yesterday and submitted proposals concerning a re-organisation of the Athens municipal authority's finances and financial support for the relocation of refuse dumping grounds and various polluting industries from the Athens basin. The prime minister provided the assurance that he would soon instruct ministers to look into these matters. Communist Party Secretary General Aleka Papariga yesterday justified her party's call to supporters to vote blank or invalid on the grounds that it did not want to be part of "the two-party game or opportunist alliances and collaborations". The Political Spring party has recommended its supporters vote according to conscience. Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos yesterday predicted PASOK would retain its lead over New Democracy, illustrated in the June Euroelections results, and said the government was satisfied by the results of the first round. He added that the result s showed increased support for the larger parties, despite a cultivated climate for change in the political system and disaffection with politics, which he described as "dangerous". Mr. Venizelos also said the issue of Justice Minister George Kouvelakis' resignation, which was not accepted by the prime minister, was over. Inquiry blames Interior Ministry -------------------------------- Athens, 19/10/1994 (ANA): A Justice Ministry inquiry into Sunday's absence of judicial officials at polling stations attributes responsibility for the event to the Interior Ministry's delayed dispatch of polling station lists to the Athens First Instance court for the appointment of judicial officials. Kranidiotis in Paris for talks with Juppe, Lamassoure ----------------------------------------------------- Paris, 19/10/1994 (ANA/Y. Zitouniatis): Foreign Under-Secretary Yiannos Kranidiotis arrived in Paris yesterday as part of his tour of European capitals to brief officials on Greece's national issues in view of the upcoming European Union summit conference in Essen. Today, Mr. Kranidiotis will meet with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and European Affairs Minister Alain Lamassoure to discuss European affairs, Greece's relations with its neighbours, and regional issues of mutual interest. Mr. Kranidiotis is expected to raise the issue of Cyprus' accession to the European Union, especially with the intention of stepping up procedures within the context of a binding time plan. Asked by reporters yesterday whether Mr. Kranidiotis' visit to France was in any way linked to the so-called Franco-German proposal for an EU troika countries meeting to discuss EU-Turkish relations, Greek-Skopje relations and Greek-Albanian relations, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Richard Duque said: "This meeting does not take place specifically within the troika framework, since Mr. Kranidiotis' visit here is part of a tour of European capitals. "But it will give the opportunity to Mr. Juppe and Mr. Kranidiotis to raise the issue of the Franco-German initiative which is held in the troika context." Ethnic Greek lawyer receives suspended sentence in Istanbul ----------------------------------------------------------- Istanbul, 19/10/1994 (ANA/A. Kourkoulas) Ethnic Greek lawyer Elpida Frangopoulou, who has fought a long battle to salvage Greek properties in Turkey from seizure by the Turkish state, yesterday received a two-month suspended sentence and a TL100,000 (about GDR1,000) fine by a Turkish court, on charges of insulting a public servant. The trial was attended by four Greek members of parliament and three representatives of the Athens Bar Association. Ms Frangopoulou, who is to appeal against the sentence, is also planning to visit Brussels from November 28 to December 2 for contacts with European Union officials, aimed at expediting consideration of her report on the issue of Greek properties by competent Committees of the European Parliament. Her report has already been referred to the External Affairs and Security Committee, as well as to the Joint EP-Turkey Committee. Papantoniou: Greece to support China on GATT issues --------------------------------------------------- Athens, 19/10/1994 (ANA): National Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou said yesterday that Greece would support China on GATT issues, following an hour of talks with visiting Chinese Vice-President Zhu Rongji. Mr. Papantoniou forecast that in 20 to 25 years China would be the strongest country in the world economically and commercially. A large Greek delegation, including businessmen, will visit China next year with the aim of strengthening commercial relations between the two countries, Mr. Papantoniou said. Earlier yesterday, Zhu Rongji had talks with Parliament Vice-President Panayiotis Kritikos on the role which the Greek and Chinese parliaments can play in the further development of relations between the two countries. The Chinese official expressed his country's gratitude to the Greek government for Athens' support of Beijing in international fora. Speaking later at a lunch given in his honour by the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Zhu Rongji said that China placed great importance on the continuous and steady development of relations of friendship and co-operation with Greece, based on the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. The lunch was attended by National Economy Under-Secretary Ioannis Anthopoulos, who is responsible for Greece's international economic relations, and about 50 Greek businessmen. Zhu Rongji said that the investment climate in China would soon further improve and called on Greek businessmen to take advantage of investment opportunities in his country. China, he said, was willing to broaden its co-operation with Greece in the economic and commercial sectors, both through efforts of the two governments as well as by Greek and Chinese businessmen. Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Yiannis Papathanasiou said that Greek businessmen were following with great interest the efforts of the Chinese government to introduce sweeping economic reforms. Mr. Papathanasiou expressed the hope that Zhu Rongji's visit would contribute to the strengthening of economic co-operation between Greece and China and create the prerequisites necessary for joint business activity.