Bogus passport ring broken up by police
NEWS IN DETAIL
Greece rejects Ankara's claims on joint military exercises
Greece today rejected Turkish claims that the recent Greek and Cypriot
joint military exercises Nikiforos and Toxotis were aggressive and
provocative.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Constantine Bikas said that, on the contrary,
''it is Turkey's behaviour Cyprus for the past 20 years that is provocative
and illegal, and hinders the creation of conditions of stability in the
Mediterranean''.
Bikas was commenting on a statement by Turkish Foreign Ministery spokesman
Sermet Atacanli Wednesday saying Turkey construed the Greece-Cyprus
exercises as ''a military and political escalation threatening peace and
stability in the region''.
The Greek foreign ministry spokesman reiterated that the reconaissance and
interception of the Turkish F-16 jetfighter -- which crashed in the eastern
Aegean near the Greek island of Andros on Tuesday -- had taken place inside
Greek airspace.
Mirage crash
A Greek Airforce Mirage-2000 jetfighter crashed into the sea south of
Andros island today while taking part in a military exercise, Defence
Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said.
The plane's pilot ejected and was awaiting pick-up on a rubber life-
raft.
Initial reports said the incident was due to mechanical failure.
Visiting President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos said Greece is
not calling on its European partners to support one side or the other, but
is calling on its friends to express support for respect and implementation
of rules of international law.
Mr. Stephanopoulos was replying to a Finnish reporter during a press
conference in Helsinki yesterday on whether he requested Finland's
intervention in resolving Greek-Turkish problems.
President Stephanopoulos said Finland's position on the issue of Greek-
Turkish relations has been modified, saying that not much effort was
required for us to agree absolutely.
On his part, Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari several days ago had said
that Greek-Turkish differences can be tackled through dialogue between the
two countries.
Mr. Stephanopoulos said Athens has no problem in discussing issues with
Turkey, but there can be no dialogue at present unless Ankara does not
withdraw its claims on Greek sovereign rights first, and threats of war,
which it hurls against Greece at times. He said that as time goes by,
Greece's position is being better understood. He said he is also pleased
with Finland's positions on the Cyprus issue, since Helsinki supports
Cyprus' accession to the European Union. Finland believes that the process
of Cyprus' accession to the EU will create favourable preconditions for
a solution to the Cyprus issue as well.
Appealing to the United States, President Stephanopoulos urged Washington
to remind FYROM of the commitments, stressing that so far Greece has
fulfilled all its commitments.
In his opening statement, Mr. Stephanopoulos expressed satisfaction over
the results of his talks in Helsinki, saying that differences with Finland
are non-existent, while there is ample ground for the two countries to
improve their relations, primarily in the commercial field.
Strong tremor hits Cyprus
More than 50 people were injured in Cyprus when a powerful tremor hit the
east Mediterranean region at 13.11 GMT yesterday.
Most injuries occurred in the southern coastal town of Limassol when
residents tried to leave buildings.
One man, who was recovering from surgery in the intensive care unit of
Limassol hospital, died in the afternoon, however, doctors have not
established any link between the man's death and the earthquake.
The quake, whose epicentre was 40 kilometres west of the coastal town of
Paphos, measured 6.1 points on the Richter scale, and was also felt as far
as Egypt, where one person also died. It was also felt in Israel, Lebanon,
Syria, the Dodecanese islands and Turkey.
Greece said today it was sending a team of senior seismologists and
engineers to Cyprus to help monitor the situation in the wake of the 6.1
Richter quake which jolted the island yesterday.
Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister Costas Laliotis said
the team of seismologists would establish a network to better monitor the
expected aftershocks and that the engineers would assist in evaluating
damage to buildings.
Hungarian FM in Athens on Monday
Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovac will visit Athens on Monday and is
expected to confirm the excellent level of relations existing between
Greece and Hungary. Mr. Kovac will fly on to Nicosia afterwards.
Apart from bilateral relations, talks Mr. Kovac will have with his Greek
counterpart Theodoros Pangalos, President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos,
Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis
will focus on efforts b eing made by Hungary to join European and Atlantic
institutions.
His visit to Greece is taking place about five months after the one paid to
Athens by Hungarian President Arpad Genc at the end of May, and exactly 40
years after the restoration of diplomatic relations between Greece and
Hungary which had been severed before World War II.
In Nicosia, Mr. Kovac will have talks with Foreign Minister Alecos
Michaelides, President Glafcos Clerides and Parliament President Spyros
Kyprianou, and will visit Hungarian soldiers participating in the Austrian
detachment of the UN peacekeeping force .
The main opposition New Democracy party's woes appeared to be far from
over yesterday when a leading party member turned down a proposal from ND
president Miltiades Evert to participate in senior party bodies and
characterised Mr. Evert's tenure at the helm of ND as "temporary".
George Souflias, former education minister and the defeated ND candidate in
last week's leadership election, rejected proposals by Mr. Evert that he
remain spokesman for ND deputies and to participate in the party's
Political Council.
Mr. Souflias stressed that there should be a genuine democractic representation
of the ND rank and file at the congress.
Thessaloniki's Chief of Police Kostas Economou told reporters yesterday
that he was awaiting a briefing from Interpol regarding reports in the
Bulgarian press of the existence of a network selling Bulgarian babies in
Greece.
Bulgarian newspapers recently reported police officials in the town of
Burgas saying they had uncovered a network dealing in selling infants from
Bulgaria in Greece.
Mr. Economou added that the Thessaloniki police had dealt with such a case
once before, in September last year, when a young Bulgarian couple and
three Bulgarian women were arrested and charged with acting as middlemen
selling infants from Bulgaria to c ouples in northern Greece.
The Greek telecommunications firm Intracom yesterday sealed a US$3.5
million contract with the US-based Hughes Co. to participate on the
development of a new air-to-sea missile for NATO member-states, the Sea
Sparrow (ESSM).
Under the terms of the contract, Intracom will develop and manufacture the
missile's telemetric guidance system (WCT) and will participate in the
initial stage of the preliminary design of the ESSM, as well as coordinating
other Greek subcontractors wor king on the missile. The development
programme for the missile involves another 10 NATO countries and is
budgeted at $2 billion.
The contract was signed by an Intracom official and the managing consultant
of the German firm RamSys, which is coordinating the European portion of
the programme. The signing was attended by officials of the national
defence ministry, as well as US and German officials.
Italian arrested
An Italian man wanted by Interpol for armed robbery was arrested at the
Promahonas border checkpoint at Serres, northern Greece, today when
officials found him in possession of a stolen passport.
Tarcisio Tenchini, 47, told police that he bought the passport in Modena,
Italy, from a person he does not know.
Interpol says Tenchini is suspected of involvement in an armed robbery in
Naples, Italy, earlier this year and that he and his accomplices are
accused of stealing a large number of passports from Italian tourist
offices.
Gigantic bear fossils found
The fossilised bones of a 100,000-year-old gigantic bear have been found in
a cave in the Loutraki, Pellas region of central Greece, by a team headed
by Kostas Ataktidis, an expert speleologist who has worked both in Greece
and abroad.
Initial paleontological estimates indicate that the cave-dwelling bear
stood up to three metres tall and may have weighed up to three tonnes.
Further work on the cave in which the bones were found and the immediate
region will continue throughout the month by specialists from the culture
minister and the Thessaloniki and Vienna universities.
The 13 caves found in the Loutraki Pellas region will soon compromise
Greece's first 'speleological park', once research work is completed.
The Viennese experts will conduct an applied geographical environmental
study of the region, including the morphology, geology, hydrology and the
vegetation of the area, to form a complete picture of the formation of the
caves and the evolution of the animals which are believed to have lived in
the area since the Ice Age.
Six arrested for bogus passports
Police today broke up an Athens-based ring dealing in the issue and
distribution of fake passports and travel documents.
Two Iraqis and four Bulgarians were arrested after police searched a house
in the Neos Kosmos district, in which they found 20 fake Greek passports,
18 fake drivers licences, two bogus French identity cards and 37 fake Iraqi
documents.
Police said one of those arrested, Iraqi national Fatuk Fatan, was the
mastermind behind the operation. Fatan was arrested in May this year when
found in possession of three fake passports and was due to be tried later
this month. Police said, however, that they had foiled his plans to use one
of the fake passports to flee the country.
Police in charge of the investigation say that more arrests are anticipated.
WEATHER
Partly cloudy with occasional rainfalls in most parts of the country with
temperatures ranging from 15-24C in Athens and 14-19C in Thessaloniki
FOREIGN EXCHANGE (Buying)
U.S. dlr 238.179, Can. dlr.175.703, Australian dlr. 187.885, Pound sterling
372.595, Irish punt 381.722, Cyprus pd 511.416, French franc 46.033, Swiss
franc 189.665 Belgian franc 7.731, German mark 155.600 Finnish mark 52.130,
Dutch guilder 138.706 Danish Kr. 40.656, Swedish Kr. 36.188, Norwegian Kr.
36.559, Austrian Sh. 22.127, Italian lira (100) 15.672 Yen (100) 213.528
Spanish Peseta 1.852, Portuguese Escudo 1.542.
(M.P.)
