Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 97-10-13
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 13/10/1997 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Reppas says Turkey's provocations have no impact on Greek policy
- Ankara's infringements a waste of time, says Tsohatzopoulos
- Kranidiotis says Greek-Cypriots rendered hostage to Turkish
- intentions
- Court examines temporary seizure of Dimitra Lianis's book
- Stephanopoulos pleased with Albanian talks
- Premier assures SME owners of changes to increase free competition
- Papantoniou on taxable income for SMEs
- GSEE reiterates demand for 35-hour work week, pension levels
- Conference on education reforms ends on optimistic note
- Weather
- Foreign exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Reppas says Turkey's provocations have no impact on Greek policy
Turkey's attitude will not change Greece's policy, government spokesman
Dimitris Reppas said today, adding that "no one can deny our country's
right to safeguard its rights or Cyprus' right to defend itself".
He said the Cypriot national guard exercise "Nikiforos" and Greek
aeronautical exercise "Toxotis" were being conducted "within the framework
of legitimate proceedings and are of a defensive nature". Consequently, he
added, "it is not rational that Turkey should be disturbed by them".
Ankara's stance, Mr. Reppas continued, was making its relations with Greece
and its course towards the international community more difficult.
Mr. Reppas said the increased activity of Turkish military planes in the
region where the concurrent Greek and Cypriot manoeuvres were taking place
was "expected", adding that the intensity of this activity (of Athens FIR
infringements and Greek and Cyprus airspace violations by Turkish fighter
planes) had eased up today in comparison with Sunday.
The spokesman said the exercise would continue and be completed according
to plan. Prompted by the latest violations, he said the international
community should realise that such phenomena in the southeastern Aegean
created problems for international law and order.
Mr. Reppas said Greek-Turkish rapprochement would be meaningful only on the
basis of rules and, in that sense, if Turkey conformed, a meeting between
the Greek and Turkish premiers on the sidelines of the Balkan summit on
Crete could serve as an opportunity for a new rapprochement.
He said the meeting was not taking place at the initiative of either
premier, noting that such meetings were usual on the sidelines of
conferences. He said there would be no agenda, but simply an exchange of
views and each side would put forwards its issues.
Ten pairs of Turkish F-16 and F-4 fighter planes infringed Athens Flight
Information Region (FIR) regulations this morning south-southeast of the
island of Rhodes and were all intercepted by Hellenic Air Force jets,
National Defence Ministry sources said.
On Sunday, 60 Turkish fighters infringed the Athens FIR in the same area
and violated Greek and Cyprus airspace.
In the meantime, a Cyprus national guard exercise code-named "Nikiforos" --
in which Greek units are also participating -- and a Greek airforce
manoeuvre code-named "Toxotis", being carried out concurrently in the sea
region between Crete and Cyprus, continued on schedule today.
National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos is due in Cyprus later in the
day to observe the final phases of the manoeuvres.
Ankara's infringements a waste of time, says Tsohatzopoulos
Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said today that Turkey was "wasting
its time" in infringing Athens' FIR and in calling into doubt Greece's
sovereign rights.
"We won't give a single inch," the minister told the press on the sidelines
of the multinational military exercise "Dynamic Mix" which ends today near
Thessaloniki.
"Turkey is wasting its energy and putting the lives of its pilots in
unnecessary danger," he added, advising Turkey to realise that its interest
lay in "strengthening domestic stability and its relations with the
European Union by developing good neighbourly relations and recognising the
principles and values that all UN member states are obliged to accept in
practice".
He said the Greek military exercise "Toxotis" and the Cypriot exercise
"Nikiforos", currently under way concurrently in the southeastern Aegean,
confirmed the two countries' joint defence doctrine.
"No one can distract us from successfully carrying out these exercises,
even if, as every year, our neighbours find opportunities therein to try
and upgrade the experience and training of their pilots," he said,
adding:
"We are rising to the challenge of expanding our air force's capabilities
and we have the necessary support so that if, during these intensive
exercises an accident happens, we can be on the spot immediately, as we
have been in the past, and as our neighbours will remember."
Kranidiotis says Greek-Cypriots rendered hostage to Turkish intentions
Turkey's 40,000 troops, 300 tanks and air superiority in the Turkish-
occupied north of Cyprus have rendered 700,000 Greek Cypriots hostages of
the Turkish intentions, Foreign Undersecretary Yannos Kranidiotis said in a
newspaper interview.
In the interview, published in today's issue of "To Ethnos" daily,
Kranidiotis said "Turkey's air superiority in Cyprus has rendered the
almost 700,000 Greeks of Cyprus hostage to the Turkish intentions".
He also noted that there were also 40,000 Turkish troops and 300 tanks, "in
aggression order" in the Turkish-occupied north of the island.
Mr. Kranidiotis explained that the Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft
missiles ordered by the Cyprus government were scheduled to be deployed on
the island after the summer of 1998, thus leaving "ample time for the
achievement on an agreement for the demilitarisation of Cyprus, even
gradually".
The Nicosia government signed a multi-million dollar deal in Moscow in
early January for the purchase of several S-300 intermediate range surface-
to-air missiles to bolster its defence against air attack.
Mr. Kranidiotis charged that the Turkish side, "having lost the initiative",
had retaliated by toughening its stance and threatening a strike against
Cyprus in the event the advanced missile defence system was deployed.
Ankara has also threatened the partial annexation of the occupied north of
Cyprus with Turkey in the event of Cyprus' accession to the European
Union.
"These threats are illegal and will not succeed," Kranidiotis said.
Court examines temporary seizure of Dimitra Lianis's book
An Athens court was today examining a petition to stop the circulation of
the book written by the widow of Andreas Papandreou, after a photographer
filed suit against the author and publishing house for breach of copyright.
Nicholas Apostolopoulos, a photo-reporter, claims that he gave Dimitra
Liani-Papandreou an album of his photos as a gift. Mr. Apostolopoulos
claims she then used 20 of his photos in her recently-released book "10
years and 54 days" without his permission and without acknowledging that
the photos were his work.
Mr. Apostolopoulos claims he sent publishers "Nea Synora" a writ claiming
10 million drachmas in compensation for use of the photos.
The hearing was set for October 27 but the president of the court was
examining whether to satisfy the photographer's claim for a temporary
seizure of the book before the hearing.
Stephanopoulos pleased with Albanian talks
President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos expressed satisfaction over
Greek-Albanian relations on Saturday, saying they were constantly improving
even further.
While in Strasbourg to attend a Council of Europe summit, Mr. Stephanopoulos
said he had met with Albanian President Rexhep Mejdani, whom he invited for
a reciprocal meeting to Greece in May 1998.
The Greek president said they discussed safeguarding the borders, in order
to combat crime from drug smuggling.
Mr. Mejdani and the accompanying Albanian foreign minister seemed to be
receptive to the idea of ethnic Greek schools being founded throughout
Albania, not just in places termed "minority areas", Mr. Stephanopoulos
said.
The Albanian officials also expressed pleasure and interest in the official
visit to Albania of Prime Minister Costas Simitis, scheduled to arrive this
week.
Premier assures SME owners of changes to increase free competition
Prime Minister Costas Simitis yesterday addressed a PASOK meeting of small
and medium-size business owners from throughout Greece on the government's
policy in their sector, citing a wide array of changes. Mr. Simitis
expressed his satisfaction with go vernment achievements in the economy,
referring to decreases in the public sector deficit and inflation, as well
as increase in the growth rate above the European Union average.
The premier stressed that these goals were achieved "without being
accompanied by a spread of social distress -because we did not want to just
improve certain indices, certain figures, we wanted to improve the lives of
citizens, the lives of all of us."
Mr. Simitis also said that for the government, the survival and dynamic
growth of the average SME means strength in its ability to deal with
competition. He said that this would be achieved by increasing the size of
enterprises, improving product quality, business administration and access
to international markets.
Finally, the premier indicated that the government has nearly completed the
legislative framework for free competition that will rid the market of
restrictive practises, which he noted undermine competitiveness.
Papantoniou on taxable income for SMEs
The present system of determining taxable income for SMEs and merchants is
coming to an end, as tax offices become computerised, allowing the
government to be able to better examine individual cases and obliterate
present injustices, National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos
Papantoniou said in his speech.
The minister said the inflexibility of the labour market was the greatest
infrastructural problem in the sector, and explained that this would be
remedied by future regulations on working hours and in the movement of the
labour force.
Working people should not obstruct these changes by adhering to outdated
habits, he said, adding that the social cost would be dealt with by
discussion and distribution over a larger number of people.
Development Minister Vasso Papandreou called for faster reduction in
interest rates for funding of SMEs because the cost of money is greater for
them than for large businesses.
She said that mutual guarantees companies would soon be set up along with
credit cooperatives to help fund SMEs and obstacles raised for the present
anti-incentive rules in mergers in the sector.
GSEE reiterates demand for 35-hour work week, pension levels
General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE) President Christos
Polyzogopoulos spoke in favour of a 35-hour work week and of maintaining
the current pension levels as well as the system of retirement after 35
years of employment - or the attainment of 10,500 social security
stamps.
He noted that GSEE has submitted proposals to the government with regard to
fighting unemployment. Addressing a gathering in Kavala, Mr. Polyzogopoulos
stressed that the trade union movement cannot operate on the basis of
factional interests.With regard to taxation, he stressed that taxation
scales should be adjusted to the cost-of-living index, something that had
not been done for five years. He also called for increasing the amount of
non-taxable income to the level of the income of an unskilled worker. The
GSEE leader also expressed the concern that the present social security
system, currently under debate, would break down within 10 years if
the proper measures were not taken.
Conference on education reforms ends on optimistic note
A two-day conference called by ruling PASOK to inform the public of
education reforms concluded on Saturday on an optimistic note on the part
of the government.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who attended the conference, said that the
meeting proved PASOK's concern about discussing major issues.
"We want to have everyone's opinion, and based on these views, to realise
plans to apply our policy," Mr. Simitis said.
WEATHER
Light to strong northern winds with sporadic rains and rainstorms are
forecast for northern, central and western Greece today. Increased
cloudiness in Athens with spells of sunshine and temperatures from 17-27C.
Thessaloniki partly cloudy with possible rain and temperatures from 22-
26C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Friday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 274.125
Pound sterling 445.141 Cyprus pd 530.404
French franc 46.853 Swiss franc 188.922
German mark 157.421 Italian lira (100) 15.959
Yen (100) 228.163 Canadian dlr. 199.400
Australian dlr. 201.344 Irish Punt 403.805
Belgian franc 7.628 Finnish mark 52.450
Dutch guilder 139.759 Danish kr. 41.338
Swedish kr. 36.361 Norwegian kr. 39.182
Austrian sch. 22.369 Spanish peseta 1.867
Port. Escudo 1.549
(M.S.)
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