Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-03-10

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 10/03/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Cypriot president in Athens for talks
• Greece supports Balkan line on Kosovo
• U.S. ambassador hopes for dialogue
• Greek loan to Albania signed
• Albanian president continues visit
• Rising crime rate attributed to foreigners
• Stocks end lower on profit-taking
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Greece today expressed hope that Turkey would take the "historic" decisions necessary for peace and stability in the region by making a positive contribution to efforts for a solution of the Cyprus problem.

"Turkey has an important role to play and responsibility for the successful outcome of efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem, the settlement of which will bring Turkey even closer to Europe and surely open up new horizons for Greek-Turkish relations," Simitis said after 90 minutes of talks here with Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides.

Replying to reporters' questions about Greece's veto of European Union funding to Turkey, Simitis said Athens had repeatedly stated its lifting of the veto was dependent on "certain moves" being made by Ankara.

Greece is willing to contribute to Turkey's European orientation, the premier said, but positive steps by Ankara are required.

Talks between the Greek and Cypriot delegations, headed by Simitis and Clerides, focused on developments in the Cyprus problem and negotiations for Cyprus' accession to the EU due to begin on March 31.

Also taking part in the talks were Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis and Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides.

Greece supports Balkan line on Kosovo

The positions contained in the declaration of Balkan countries on the Kosovo crisis are in line with Greece's positions, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said today.

He was referring to a joint declaration on the Kosovo crisis agreed in Sofia yesterday by Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

Reppas underlined however that the crisis in Kosovo was an issue involving the government of Yugoslavia and the Albanian-speaking population of the province.

According to diplomatic sources, the text of the declaration is in favour of granting broad autonomy to Kosovo, inhabited mostly by ethnic Albanians, but within the internationally recognised borders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, since the five nations are opposed to any change of borders in the region.

The five nations reportedly propose in addition that a 1996 educational agreement between then Serb president Slobodan Milosevic and ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova be implemented immediately.

Replying to questions on the possibility of international involvement in the Kosovo crisis, Reppas said that when human rights are being trampled, the international community should respond.

U.S. ambassador hopes for dialogue

US Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns today advocated a peaceful solution to the Kosovo crisis and said he opposed the use of violence.

He told a press conference in Hania, on the island of Crete, that Greece and the US were in constant contact and seeking solutions to defuse the crisis in Serbia's mainly ethnic Albanian-populated Kosovo province.

Burns also said that Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic should "discuss peacefully" before restoring to the use of violence to solve the problems in the region.

Everything would depend on Milosevic's stance, he said.

"It (the Kosovo) is a serious crisis that should be treated seriously," the American envoy said.

Burns side-stepped a question on the United States' "different approach to the massacres of Kurds in Turkey and the Kosovo crisis", by replied that the US "is an ally of both Greece and Turkey" and used "the same set of standards and balances on the two problems".

The U.S., he continued, would continue to be friends with both Greece and Turkey "and we do not see the one country as being above the other".

Burns was on the second day of a two-day visit to Crete, where he visited the U.S. airbase at Souda and toured NATO installatins at Marathi.

Turning to the operational capabilities of the American base at Souda, Burns said the role it played was limited, and denied recent rumours about the possible implication of Greece in the Gulf crisis with the provision of facilities and services through the Souda base.

"Such assistance has never been requested," Burns said.

Greek loan to Albania signed

Greece and Albanian today signed an agreement for a 5 billion drachma loan to Tirana to be used to finance on favourable terms Greek and Albanian companies and joint ventures active in the neighbouring country.

A National Economy Ministry announcement said priority in allocating the loan funds would be given to Greek, Albanian and joint ventures in the neighbouring country which suffered losses as a result of the violence in Spring last year.

The loan is part of Greece's overall financial assistance to Albania totalling 20 billion drachmas.

Two billion drachmas has already been granted as free aid, while an agreement has been signed for a further 3 billion drachmas to support the Albanian economy.

Albanian president continues visit

Albanian President Rexhep Mejdani and Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis had a meeting in Parliament House this morning, after which the Albanian president called for more frequent talks on a parliamentary level in order to promote democratic institutions in a civil society, respect for citizens' rights to education, freedom of religious expression and the right to own property.

He promised that in future the Albanian government and political parties would work together to respect the will of the people.

Kaklamanis said Mejdani's visit was an important factor in building friendship and cooperation between the two countries. He added that respect for human rights, the securing of borders and dialogue between peoples, governments and other organisations were the only way to resolve the region's problems.

Rising crime rate attributed to foreigners

The rising incidence of armed robberies committed by Albanians and Romanians has been the subject of three days of talks by senior Public Order Ministry officials, it was announced today.

Ministry sources say that while in 1987 there were only 292 robberies in the whole of Greece, last year there were 1,215 robberies in Attica alone. Around 70% of these crimes were committed by foreigners, mainly Albanians and Romanians.

It was decided to step up police patrols of the suburbs of Zographou, Aghia Paraskevi, Neo Iraklio, Halandri and Hymettos, where most of the robberies of the past six months were committed.

Another source of concern are the increasing attacks by Albanians on taxi drivers.

Over the last two days, around 1,000 Albanians have been taken in for questioning at several police stations in Attica in connection with several robberies, although all were subsequently released.

The problem has been exacerbated over the past five months, police say, by the fact that sweeps of suspected illegal aliens have not taken place, in order to give illegal residents time to acquire the new residency and work permits.

Most police stations are understaffed, say officials, as 2,500 officers are guarding suspected terrorist targets.

Stocks end lower on profit-taking

Greek equities ended mixed to lower at today's session as early protif- taking partly halted a rally of prices on the Athens Stock Exchange. The general index ended 0.10 percent down to 1,517.54 points despite a 5.11 percent jump in the construction sector.

Other sector indices were mixed. Banks fell 0.88 percent, Insurance eased 0.52 percent, Leasing dropped 0.05 percent, Investment fell 0.30 percent, Industrials were 0.03 percent off, Miscellaneous rose 0.22 percent and Holding increased 0.95 percent.

The parallel market index for small cap companies shot up 2.87 percent reflecting investors' appetite for second-tier issues with greater growth potential.

Trading was moderate with turnover at 17.1 billion drachmas.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 121 to 87 with another 32 issues unchanged.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(M.P.)

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