Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-11-17
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 17/11/1997 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Police on standby for Athens Polytechnic march
- Holbrooke says meeting of Cypriot businessmen successful
- Tsohatzopoulos: Athens willing to solve regional problems
- Holbrooke rules out military conflict in Aegean
- Protests in Thessaloniki mark pseudo-state's illegal founding
- Laliotis: Athens 2004 won't drain resources from provincess
- KKE condolences regarding death of Georges Marchais
- Int'l conference for public administration in Thessaloniki
- Euro-Mediterranean Conference on radio, TV ends
- Greek First Division soccer results
- Weather
- Foreign exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Police on standby for Athens Polytechnic march
Three-day celebrations marking the November 17, 1973 student uprising at
the Athens Polytechnic against the military junta then ruling Greece began
on Saturday and will climax this afternoon with a customary protest march
through downtown Athens to the US embassy.
More than 3,500 policemen will be on hand to avert any violence during the
march, Public Order Minister George Romeos told the ANA yesterday.
Mr. Romeos said the entire Attica police force was on standby to deal with
any eventuality, and that there had been constant contact between his
ministry and the police force over the weekend.
Mr. Romeos said the entrances to the Polytechnic grounds would be closed
and buildings evacuated, while student groups had undertaken the guarding
of the building. A strong police force has been deployed around the
Polytechnic and in the surrounding areas.
The three days of celebrations have often been marred by pitched street
battles between police and masked youths over past anniversaries, many of
whom are self-styled anarchists.
Polytechnic authorities have recently fortified the school buildings
against possible vandalism by youths who take refuge from police in the
school grounds, an asylum where law enforcement authorities are barred from
entering.
One of the buildings burned down during the anniversary six years ago and
has now been almost completely restored. The mayhem during the anniversary
in 1991 resulted in the wholescale destruction of the school's premises and
facilities.
Police said they were concerned by a proclamation by a group calling itself
"Anarchic Initiative" calling for an "open and dynamic" celebration.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis placed a wreath at the Polytechnic on
Saturday.
"For us, the Polytechnic symbolises that contrary to accepted habits and
practices, we are seeking the way for a Greece having a strong voice and a
more just society," he said.
Education Minister Gerasimos Arsenis was the first to arrive to lay a
wreath, while students shouted slogans against educational reform.
Mr. Arsenis praised the significance and meaning of the Polytechnic's
struggles and, referring to the nearby students, said "we have democracy.
We do not want to hear shouts, but arguments."
Mr. Simitis arrived shortly afterwards.
Holbrooke says meeting of Cypriot businessmen successful
Special US Presidential Emissary for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke on Saturday
described a meeting of businessmen from the two communities in Cyprus as
well as Greece and Turkey successful.
He pointed out that some 50 proposals were submitted by Greek Cypriots and
Turkish Cypriots, which could assist towards a solution to the Cyprus
problem through economic cooperation.
Mr. Holbrooke also expressed satisfaction for his recent meetings in Cyprus
with President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.
Asked whether he is planning a new visit to Cyprus, he said there is no
such plan at the moment, adding however, that plans sometimes change.
According to Greek Cypriot businessman Phanos Epiphaniou, the proposals
made at the conference can be classified into three categories:
Specifically, those which can be applied by businesspeople without
political mediation; those for which political intervention is necessary
for application, and those that can only be applied as a result of
political decisions.
The most important decision concerns the establishment of a bi-communal
forum which will be responsible for the materialisation of decisions on
economic cooperation made by the businesspeople.
Another important development was the agreement for the upgrading of the UN
telephone centre in Nicosia, which helps to maintain contact between Greek
and Turkish Cypriots.
The issues of irrigation and water management were also discussed.
Concerning sports and cultural issues, the exchange of visits between Greek
and Turkish Cypriot athletes was agreed, while the organisation of joint
art exhibitions was also agreed to.
Tsohatzopoulos: Athens willing to solve regional problems
National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos on Saturday voiced Athens'
willingness to find a resolution to the division of Cyprus and other
regional problems, adding however, that Greece was not prepared to agree to
solutions for the sake of others' ves ted interests.
"Greece is ready to assist and to take part in procedures to find a just
resolution of the Cyprus problem, as well as to other problems in the
region, independent of the initiatives of the United States, the United
Nations and Britain," Mr. Tsohatzopoulos told a meeting in Thessaloniki on
Saturday night.
"However, we are not prepared to sacrifice the interests of the Cypriot and
Greek people in the name of any strategic and economic interests, wherever
they may originate from."
Holbrooke rules out military conflict in Aegean
There is no cause for concern that there will be any sort of military
conflict in the Aegean, special US presidential emissary on the Cyprus
issue Richard Holbrooke was quoted by an Athens Sunday newspaper yesterday.
In an interview with "To Vima", Mr. Holbrooke was cited as saying that it
was "ridiculous" for there to be a military conflict in the Aegean.
Mr. Holbrooke, who last week visited Nicosia, Ankara and Brussels as part
of his contacts to promote a resolution to the Cyprus issue, did not go
into details of his meetings, which included ones with Cyprus President
Glafcos Clerides, Turkish Prime Min ister Mesut Yilmaz and Alternate
Foreign Minister George Papandreou and Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos
Kranidiotis.
He denied press reports last week of his purported "tri-zonal" proposal for
Cyprus as "figments of the imagination", adding: "We are trying to create a
policy so as to ensure for Cyprus the best possible course towards
accession to the European Union".
"I am neither optimistic or pessimistic about a Cyprus resolution. I simply
persist and go on a centimetre at a time without being concerned about
whether I will win or lose," he said.
Mr. Holbrooke said that Washington preferred that neither Ankara or Athens
conduct military exercises in the Aegean, but said in reference to recent
incidents that "nothing serious happened."
"There is no crisis situation," he said, adding that Turkish claims that
Greece was supposedly preparing a war against Turkey were "untrue".
Mr. Holbrooke said NATO's Supreme Commander, Gen. Clark, was due in the
region this week to examine the military aspect of the Aegean issue.
In response to what the US reaction would be to a possible Greek-Turkish
clash, Mr. Holbrooke said: "Our job is to not create this possibility.
There will be no shots traded between Greece and Turkey. The two countries
have certain problems, certain disagreements which originate from history,
but we do not have a crisis."
He said that the Cypriot and Bosnian conflicts were "about the same but
under totally different conditions."
Referring to his attendance at a meeting of Greek and Turkish Cypriot
businessmen in Brussels late last week, Mr. Holbrooke said the two sides
had spoken "honestly and openly in a spirit of cooperation in an effort to
surpass the communication problem, and that is very positive."
Protests in Thessaloniki mark pseudo-state's illegal founding
Three-day protest events marking the 14th anniversary of the illegal
proclamation of the Turkish Cypriot pseudo-state in Turkish-occupied
northern Cyprus, and organised by the Cypriot National Students Union of
Thessaloniki ended here on Saturday night with a march to Ankara's
consulate.
A resolution attached to the entrance of the consulate stressed, among
others, that the UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council must
implement resolutions they have issued and concern the withdrawal of
Turkish occupation forces and Turkish main land settlers, the return of
refugees to their homes and the ascertainment of the fate of 1,619 people
listed as missing.
It added that all necessary measures must be taken to safeguard the
territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus and all human rights which
are being blatantly violated by the Turkish occupation forces.
Earlier, a meeting was held in the amphitheatre of the Aristotelion
University's legal faculty. The main speaker at the event was the Cypriot
government spokesman Manolis Christofides.
Laliotis: Athens 2004 won't drain resources from provinces
Assurances that the 2004 Olympiad would not lead to a trans fer of funds to
Athens from the provinces were reiterated by Environment, Public Works and
Town Planning Minister Costas Laliotis, speaking at the "Money Show '97"
conference in Athens on Saturday.
The benefits to Attica, he said, not only from the Olympic Games but from
the "cultural Olympiad" and the environmental protections programme, which
were to begin in 2000, would also benefit other regions of Greece.
He stressed that projects such as the Spata airport, the natural gas
network and the unification of Athens' archaeological sites should not be
linked with the Games, as they had been scheduled to go ahead irrespective
of Athens' candidacy. The differenc e now was that "a definite time limit
for their completion" had been set, he added. Technical Chamber of Greece
president Costas Liaskos also downplayed the effect of the Games on
construction in Athens, saying that the Olympic Village amounted to only 1
per cent of annual construction activity in Attica.
Eurobank managing director Nikos Nanopoulos stressed the importance of
cooperation between banks, the state and construction companies in
completing Olympic projects, including cooperative efforts and mergers,
such as in the manner of the Stavros-Elefsi na tollway project, where 12
companies are cooperating.
KKE condolences regarding death of Georges Marchais
The leadership of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) expressed its
profound sorrow yesterday over the death of long-time French communist
leader Georges Marchais.
Marchais, the head of the party for 22 years, died yesterday in a Paris
hospital at the age of 77. He had retired in 1994 after a series of heart
problems.
KKE Secretary General Aleka Papariga, currently on a visit to the United
States and Canada, addressed a telegram to French Communist Party Secretary
Robert Hue, stressing that the death of Georges Marchais leaves a great
vacuum in the labour and communi st movement of not only France and Europe,
but of the entire world.
She also underlined the contribution of Marchais towards the development of
solidarity between the communists and progressives in France.
Int'l conference for public administration in Thessaloniki
Ministers, diplomats and public administration officials from some 20
eastern and central European countries and the former Soviet Union will
begin meeting in Thessaloniki today on the role of public administration.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis will be the keynote speaker tonight at the
official dinner for the conference, entitled "Public Administration in
Transition: Reinforcing its Role, Professionalism and Ethical Bases".
The regional conference is being organised by Greece's interior, public
administration and decentralisation ministry and the United Nations'
development agency, UNDESA.
The European Commission, European Investment Bank, World Bank UN and OECD
are all represented at the conference.
Euro-Mediterranean Conference on radio, TV ends
The first Euro-Mediterranean Conference on radio and television media came
to a close in Thessaloniki on Saturday night.
It was attended by representatives from 27 nations in the region.
Addressing the conference in the afternoon, Culture Minister Evangelos
Venizelos confirmed the political will of the government in promoting
cooperation between Mediterranean peoples in the audiovisual sector.
One issue examined was the possibility of creating a Euro-Mediterranean
television station, a previous proposal considered utopian for the time
being due to the huge costs involved, amounting to Ecu120 million.
As an alternative, the possibility is being examined of creating a common
Euro-Mediterranean radio station, which translates into a smaller cost, and
will possibly constitute the first step in Euro-Mediter-ranean audiovisual
cooperation.
Greek First Division soccer results
PAOK-Panathinaikos 2-1 Apollon-AEK Athens 3-4
Olympiakos-Heraklis 5-2 Pyrgos - Xanthi 4-3
Panionios - OFI Crete 3-0 Panahaiki - Athinaikos 4-1
Veria - Ethnikos 3-0 Kavala - Kalamata 5-1
Proodeftiki-Ionikos postponed Standings-points:
AEK Athens 25, Panathinaikos, Ionikos, Olympiakos 24
Apollon, Heraklis 17 PAOK 16, Xanthi 14
Panahaiki, Panionios 13 Pyrgos 12, OFI Crete 11
WEATHER
Cloudiness and light rain is forecast for most parts of Greece today. Winds
mild north to northwesterly. Temperatures in the north will range from 2-10
degrees Celsius and from 6-19C in the islands. Athens will be overcast and
rainy with temperatures from 9-16C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures
between 4-10C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Friday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 270.003
Pound sterling 456.915 Cyprus pd 531.315
French franc 46.517 Swiss franc 192.423
German mark 155.789 Italian lira (100) 15.921
Yen (100) 214.728 Canadian dlr. 191.853
Australian dlr. 187.290 Irish Punt 406.918
Belgian franc 7.554 Finnish mark 51.792
Dutch guilder 138.205 Danish kr. 40.936
Swedish kr. 35.795 Norwegian kr. 38.142
Austrian sch. 22.130 Spanish peseta 1.848
Port. Escudo 1.528
(C.E.)
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