Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-05-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM briefed on EU's proposed termination of excessive deficit procedure, state of economy

[02] US House Reps cite Ecumenical Patriarchate crisis

[03] Free admission to museums on Fri.

[01] PM briefed on EU's proposed termination of excessive deficit procedure, state of economy

Alogoskoufis told reporters after the meeting that he also briefed the premier on the next and final step for termination of the EU's excessive deficit procedure (EDP) against Greece, which will be proposed to the Council of euro-zone economy and finance ministers (ECOFIN) in early June.

The ECOFIN council will discuss the Commission's recommendation for lifting the EDP on Greece at its meeting in early June, and "we believe that we will have the final step to terminating the excessive deficit procedure," Alogoskoufis said.

Asked when elections will take place, amid renewed press speculation of early elections in September, Alogoskoufis replied that "we still have much work to do".

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Karamanlis.

[02] US House Reps cite Ecumenical Patriarchate crisis

The letter, sent to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan, addresses the Turkish state's policies that, unless changed, "will terminate this Sacred See wherein much of the Bible was codified and the Creeds created," according to Anthony Limberakis, the head of the Order of St. Andrew, an organisation of America's leading Orthodox Christian faithful.

The letter, signed by 42 of the 50 committee members, states:

"The Ecumenical Patriarchate -- the Sacred See, which has served the world-wide Christian community since its establishment by the Apostle Andrew nearly 2,000 years ago -- will disappear in the foreseeable future, unless Turkey changes its policies. We urge you, in friendship and respect, to do everything possible to preserve the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to end all restrictions on its religious freedom".

The letter follows, by less than a month, the torture and murder in central Turkey of three publishers because they printed copies of the Bible in the predominately Muslim EU hopeful. It also follows, by several months, the murder in Turkey of a Roman Catholic priest while in prayer.

Moreover, it comes on the heels of an accelerated campaign by the Turkish government to confiscate Ecumenical Patriarchal properties. Currently, more than 75 percent of its properties have been taken without compensation, Limberakis said.

" 'A religious tragedy of historic magnitude' was the description of this issue in a US Senate letter to President George W. Bush, signed by 73 Senators late last year. Fewer than five Senate letters to the US President a year receive support from as many Senators as did this Nov. 29, 2006 letter to the President on this issue," he added.

The House Committee letter also noted that, "all Americans and all seekers of peace highly value Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's (Vartholomeos) accomplishments. As you surely know, the US Congress has bestowed on His All Holiness America's highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, and it did so with the largest number of cosponsors on record at that time.

"We are especially concerned about three aspects of Turkish government policy towards its Greek-Orthodox population-- practices which threaten the viability of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in a direct and urgent manner. The first of these is your longstanding unwillingness to recognize the Ecumenical Patriarchate as ecumenical -- that is, trans-national. As you surely know, the entire world outside of Turkey -- Orthodox and non-Orthodox -- recognizes the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul as an Ecumenical Patriarchate. Its Ecumenical nature derives from its history and spiritual stature as well as the faith and perceptions of people around the globe. We would hope that you would view the Ecumenical Patriarchate as part of the rich cultural tapestry of your magnificent, vibrant city.

"Second, we are deeply concerned by your continued involvement in the process of selecting the Patriarch and by your continued insistence that he be a Turkish citizen. These practices clearly reflect your policy of viewing the Patriarchate as a strictly Turkish institution, when in fact it provides spiritual and moral guidance for millions of believers worldwide. Today there are less than 2,500, mainly elderly Greek-Orthodox who hold Turkish citizenship. Accordingly, under present policies, there soon will be virtually no Greek-Orthodox Turkish citizens left to qualify as Patriarch.

The letter concluded:

"Third, your expropriation of lands belonging to the Ecumenical Patriarchate -- as a result of a policy in which the state takes possession of lands not being directly used by the Patriarchate and of lands of those who emigrated or died without heirs -- is very worrisome to us. This policy deprives the Patriarchate of both badly needed funds and cultural patrimony'," Limberakis said.

"The entity charged by the U.S. House of Representatives with oversight of U.S. policy toward Turkey, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the full body of the United States Senate have overwhelmingly expressed themselves on this tragedy. To America and the democratic world (including the European Union) Turkey's claim of 'religious tolerance' has no credibility as long as it maintains its extreme anti-Ecumenical Patriarchate policies," according to Andy Manatos, an officer in the Order of St. Andrew and the coordinator of its Washington activity.

"Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, a highly regarded man of peace throughout the world, is a Turkish citizen whose presence in Turkey greatly benefits that country. The positive publicity that Turkey received during the recent visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the Ecumenical Patriarchate is but one example," Father Alex Karloutsos, of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in New York, added.

Caption: Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos (R) and Pope Benedict XVI bless the faithful from a balcony of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Istanbul district of Phanar after a liturgy in the Patriarchical Church of Aghios (St.) Georgios on Thursday, 30 November 2006. ANA-MPA/ O. PANAGIOTOU

[03] Free admission to museums on Fri.

The message for this year is that "Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, co-operation and peace among peoples".

The Greek section of ICOM has decided that the "honoured" museum for 2007 will be the National Glyptotheque of the National Gallery/Alexandros Soutzos Museum, whose permanent collection was inaugurated on June 27, 2006.

Caption: Visitors at the Archaeological Museum in Athens admire an archaic marble statue of a 'kore' (young woman) Thursday, 29 March 2007. The statue, along with a 4th century B.C. gold funerary wreath from the northern Greek province of Macedonia were put on display at the Athens museum during a handover ceremony marking their return from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. ANA-MPA/S. PANTZARTZI

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