Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-05-10

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 10/05/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Turkey is 'deluded' in its PKK allegations
• WEU consolidating its own military infrastructure
• WEU in contact with Cyprus on membership bid
• Greece to equip Albanian border guards
• Moscow will honour missiles contract with Cyprus, envoy says
• Stolen ancient artefacts recovered
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Turkey is "deluded" if it continues to believe that Greece supports the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), Greece's Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Saturday.

Tsohatzopoulos was responding to comments on Saturday by his Turkish counterpart Ismail Sezguin that he would bring up the issue of Greece's alleged support for the PKK when he visits Rhodes for the Western European Union's summit of defence and foreign ministers, beginning on Monday.

Greece currently holds the rotating WEU presidency.

Tsohatzopoulos told reporters that he was unaware of Sezguin's comments but "my colleague is deluded if he believes that something like that is the case."

If the issue is brought up, Tsohatzopoulos said, "the appropriate responses will be extended".

Greece on Friday rejected US State Department criticism concerning Athens' alleged support for the PKK as "unjustified" and welcomed a statement that its position was acknowledged "albeit belatedly".

US State Department spokesman Lee McClenny said earlier in the week that Washington was "seeking the Greek government's views" on whether or not a PKK office was being established in Greece.

The government rejected the insinuations and on Thursday, State Department spokesman Jim Foley expressed Washington's satisfaction over Greece's stance on the issue.

"The Greek foreign ministry briefed our embassy in Athens that there never was, there is not, nor will there ever exist a PKK office in Greece... we welcome this commitment, which is in line with Greece's international commitments for countering terrorism," Foley said.

Tsohatzopoulos said that Greece had been proved to be a force for peace, security, stability and cooperation in the region, while, Turkey has repeatedly shown itself to be "proceeding with destabilising behaviour on a number of issues".

This behaviour, Tsohatzopoulos added, complicated the European Union's efforts for better relations with Ankara.

Tsohatzopoulos said he had not ruled out a meeting with his Turkish counterpart during the WEU meeting and that if such a meeting was held, he would attempt to demonstrate to Sezguin how mistaken his position was.

WEU consolidating its own military infrastructure

After the Amsterdam Council, the Western European Union was gradually consolidating its own military infrastructure, creating its own staff and attempting to better utiltise its resources, evolving into a more effective instrument to ensure peace and stability in Europe than in the past, national defence minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Saturday.

Today, he added, there was a tripartite relationship between the European Union, the WEU and NATO.

"The WEU will gradually, on the basis of that defined by the Amsterdam treaty, become the defence arm of the European Union while at the same time it constitutes the European pillar of the North Atlantic Alliance," he said.

He said that how European defence structures would evolve would be influenced by the development of relations between the European and Americans within NATO and what was significant was whether the Europeans had considered whether they could undertake a greater responsibility in the issue of their defence.

He added that the issue of Kosovo, "a hotbed of crisis which concerns us all", would definitely be on the agenda of the meeting of WEU defence and foreign ministers that begins Monday in Rhodes.

Meanwhile, foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos said today the Greek presidency of the Western European Union (WEU) would propose to its WEU parters a discussion on the Kosovo crisis during the Rhodes meeting.

Pangalos told reporters after he arrived on Rhodes with alternate foreign minister George Papandreou that there were "certain thoughts on the WEU playing some role" in defusing the situation, focusing on the parametres "that could lead to the problem spreading, such as weapons trafficking and the unchecked activity of armed bands".

"We will have to see what the intentions of our other colleagues are and, chiefly, what the general disposition is towards giving the WEU a role comparable to that (played) in Albania, for example," Pangalos said.

WEU in contact with Cyprus on membership bid

The Western European Union has already begun contacts with the Republic of Cyprus ahead of the island's future accession to the European Union, Greek Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said on Saturday.

Tsohatzopoulos was speaking to reporters after a meeting of the European Socialist Party ministers and members on the island of Rhodes for Monday's WEU defence and foreign minister summit.

Asked whether Cyprus had a place in the new defence structure being formed in Europe, Tsohatzopoulos said that the Cypriot defence minister had also taken part in Saturday's meeting and that he had briefed the European socialists on the latest developments on the Cyprus issue.

Tsohatzopoulos noted that WEU secretary-general Jose Cutilheiro had recently visited Nicosia, as part of WEU procedures also being undertaken with other candidate EU countries.

Cyprus recently officially applied to be made an associate member of the WEU.

Greece to equip Albanian border guards

A small criminal element is "poisoning" the good relations between Greece and Albania, Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano and Greece's Public Order Minister George Romeos agreed on Saturday, following their meeting in Thessaloniki.

Romeos and Nano, who was in Thessaloniki to speak at a meeting of northern Greek businessmen, discussed how to combat criminal activity by the Albanian underworld in Greece.

"There must be joint activity to deal with criminal activity on the Greek- Albanian borders," said a statement by the two men issued after the meeting.

Romeos said that Greece would help the Albanian side with technical support and with expert advice to aid in the restructuring of the Korce and Gjirkaster police forces to combat criminal activity near the border.

Greece will also provide Albanian border police with patrol cars and bulletproof vests.

Moscow will honour missiles contract with Cyprus, envoy says

Russia has no plans to sell S-300 missiles to Athens and will honour the terms of its contract to supply the missiles to Cyprus, the Russian ambassador to Cyprus told the ANA in an exclusive interview.

"Our contract is specific and foresees the provision of the defence system to Cyprus. No changes have been discussed and consequently there will be none. There is no such issue," Giorgi Muratof told the ANA in Nicosia.

Muratof said the Russian Federation welcomed efforts to break the stalemate in the Cyprus issue, such as the recent effort by U.S. representative Richard Holbrooke to get both sides talking again, but said more coordination was needed.

"The only thing I want to underline is that the more we coordinate our efforts and cooperate with the U.S., the more results we will see, compared to someone acting on their own," he said.

Finding a resolution to the Cyprus problem, he added, needed careful handling and intensive talks between the members of the UN Security Council but ruled out any concessions to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash that his regime be recognised.

"We realise the realities, we recognise that Mr. Denktasha is the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community. But nobody is about to recognise the division of Cyprus or the existence of the so-called Turkish Cypriot state because that would be in complete opposition with the decisions of the (UN) Security Council. In today's world, it is not possible to recognise a state created with the use of foreign troops. It would overturn and destroy the international order of things," he said.

Stolen ancient artefacts recovered

Police said on Saturday they had found two priceless artefacts stolen from a regional museum in 1992 lying on the beach.

The two items - a 4th century B.C. marble sculpture and a 3rd century B.C. bust of a male - were stolen from the Tegea Arcadia museum in August 1992.

Police said they were found on the popular Schinas beach, near Marathon in Attica, and were continuing their investigations.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(L.G.)

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