Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-06-20

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 20/06/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Commercial Bank approves sale of Ionian,
• Inquiry called into violence
• Simitis says tension over Greek F-16s'
• Black Sea bank directors focus on spending since '94
• U.S. urges end to tension over Cyprus
• Tsohatzopoulos defends presence of Greek jets
• President to visit Cyprus
• Bomb explodes at right-wing newspaper office
• Weather
• Foreign Exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

The state-owned Commercial Bank of Greece shareholders' general assembly late last night approved the sale of at least 51 per cent of shares for its subsidiary, Ionian Bank, as part of the government's wide-ranging privatisation plan.

The bank's general assembly was held late last night after an Athens court ruling allowing for the assembly to reconvene, following serious incidents which disrupted a previous session earlier in the day.

Finance Undersecretary George Drys and National Economy Undersecretary Christos Pachtas, present at last night's assembly, told reporters afterwards that the government's privatisation programme will unwaveringly be implemented.

Protesting Ionian Bank employees broke up that Commercial Bank shareholders' meeting.

At the morning meeting, several protesting Ionian employees smas-hed chairs, overturned tables and jostled shareholders, forcing them to leave the hall where the meeting was being held at a downtown Athens hotel.

A public prosecutor ordered an urgent preliminary investigation into the violence that disrupted the morning shareholders' meeting, stalling debate and a vote on the sale of Ionian's majority stake through the bourse.

Police are studying TV footage of the rampage to identify perpetrators.

Employees at Ionian Bank have staged a rolling strike since May 11 to protest the privatisation, despite court rulings declaring the strike illegal. Other banks have held one-off stoppages in solidarity. Both banks are listed on the Athens bourse.

Earlier this week, a court rejected a petition by Commercial's management seeking to limit attendance by bank employees at the shareholders meeting in order to forestall any disruption.

Inquiry called into violence

An Athens public prosecutor later ordered an urgent preliminary investigation to be carried out into the circumstances which led to the cancellation of this morning's meeting. Prosecutor George Koliokostas ordered Athens police to establish whether acts of violence and damage to property were committed. Koliokostas also asks that depositions be taken from witnesses present at the meeting, including the chairman and members of the board of directors of Commercial Bank and the police officers on duty in the hall.

Simitis says tension over Greek F-16s'

Prime Minister Costas Simitis said yesterday that the brief presence of four Hellenic Air Force F-16 jets at the Paphos Air Base in Cyprus had nothing to do with the current tension being created by Turkey, since Ankara had been cultivating tension even b efore the visit.

The premier, who was quoted by government spokesman Dimitris Reppas in press statements, was addressing a joint meeting of the inner cabinet and the ruling PASOK party's political secretariat, which he briefed on the results of the European Union summit held in Cardiff earlier in the week.

Mr. Reppas quoted Mr. Simitis as telling the meeting that the Greek aircraft P on a training mission P had been invited by the legitimate Cypriot government, had conducted their flight in a completely peaceful and harmless manner and that "this tension is totally unjustified."

The premier also said that the recent escalation of tension by Turkey had become a usual phenomenon shortly before and after EU summits.

Mr. Simitis told the meeting that Turkey was repeating the mistakes of the past, noting in particular that the present political situation in the neighbouring country was in a transitional phase, in view of the early elections to be held next year.

This fluidity, he said, was tempting Turkish leaders to try and increase their influence.

Four Greek F-16 fighters and a C-130 military transport plane stopped briefly at the Cypriot airbase early this week, carrying senior Greek military officials, as part of plans to evaluate the operational capacity of the base within the framework of the joint Greece-Cyprus defence doctrine.

Turkey in turn sent six F-16 warplanes to the Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus on Thursday.

According to an ANA despatch from Ankara yesterday, the six Turkish warplanes have since departed.

Black Sea bank directors focus on spending since '94

The first two-day meeting of the Black Sea development bank's board of directors opened in Thessaloniki yesterday morning, with the main topic being approval of spending from 1994 to the present P US$400,000 P all covered by the National Bank of Greece.

The debt will be paid back after a majority decision taken during yesterdayYs session, to which however, objections were voiced by directors from the Ukraine and Turkey.

Also discussed was the construction of a building near ThessalonikiYs Macedonia Airport to house the bankYs headquarters, with a relevant request to be submitted with the Greek government.

A draft agreement for the development bankYs operation is expected to be ratified by Parliament in the fall.

U.S. urges end to tension over Cyprus

"The United States have urged Greece and Turkey to limit tension and avoid actions which could be construed by the other side as being provocative," White House spokesman Mike McCurry said late Thursday night. An ANA dispatch from Washington also quoted McCurry as saying that "the two countries can find ways to reduce tension in the Aegean". McCurry was commenting on tension that has arisen after the landing of Greek and Turkish warplanes on Cyprus, the northern third of which has been occupied by Turkish troops for the past 24 years. Four Greek F-16 jetfighters and a C-130 military transport plane stopped briefly at the Cypriot airbase in Paphos early this week, carrying senior Greek military officials, as part of plans to evaluate the operational capacity of the base within the framework of the joint Greece-Cyprus defence doctrine. Turkey in turn sent six F-16 warplanes to the Turkish-occupied northern sector on Thursday.

Tsohatzopoulos defends presence of Greek jets

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said later it would do Turkey no good to use the Cyprus problem, citing Nicosia's planned installation of Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missiles or Greece's support for Cyprus within the two countries' joint defence doctrine, as a resonse to results of the EU summit in Cardiff. Tsohatzopoulos called on the neighbouring country to take advantage of the "room given it" and work towards adopting the conditions prevailing in EU countries in order to upgrade its relations with the Community. Commenting on the visit to Paphos air base earlier this week of Greek jets, Tsohatzopoulos reiterated that it was Nicosia's inalienable right to grant permission for brief visits by military aircraft within the framework of the training policy followed by Greece and Cyprus as part of its joint defence doctrine.

President to visit Cyprus

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos will be made an honorary citizen of the city of Evagora by the Municipality of Famagusta and presented with the "broken gold key" of the Turkish-occupied city of Famagusta. Stephanopoulos will be making the first-ever visit to Cyprus by a Greek President on June 25-28. The ceremony will take place on Sunday, June 28 at the Famagusta Cultural Centre in the town of Deryneia.

Bomb explodes at right-wing newspaper office

A home-made bomb exploded outside the offices of the extreme-right wing newspaper "Stochos" (Target) in downtown Thessaloniki early today, causing damage but no injuries, police said. The make-shift bomb, placed at the entrance of the newspaper's fifth-floor offices on Vassileos Irakliou steet, destroyed the office door. Police said the damage was minimal because only one of the two gas cannisters exploded. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

WEATHER

Temperatures in Athens will range between 19-30C, while in Thessaloniki from 19-27C.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(M.S.)

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