Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-09-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek, Cypriot Presidents attend emblematic even on Republic of Cyprus' 50thy anniversary

[02] Tourism minister in Israel

[03] Anniversary of Istanbul pogrom

[01] Greek, Cypriot Presidents attend emblematic even on Republic of Cyprus' 50thy anniversary

In a brief greeting before the commencement of the performance, Christofias said that the fight was continuing for the completion of Cyprus' independence, and expressed certainty that mutual understanding and tolerance will finally prevail in Cyprus.

"It is time to accomplish the truly great miracle. To develop to such a degree culturally -- both we and our neighbors, of course -- so that at the end of the day there will be mutual tolerance, unity of the people, state and institutions, and Cyprus will be a bridge of peace, friendship and cooperation among the peoples of the region, the European Union, and between the friendly Arab peoples and Israel," Christofias said.

He further thanked all the past and present Greek governments and the people of Greece for their support and solidarity in the Cyprus struggle.

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[02] Tourism minister in Israel

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a recent visit to Greece, noted the need for strengthening Greek-Israeli tourism relations during a meeting with Greek premier George Papandreou.

During his visit to Tel Aviv, Geroulanos will meet with his Israeli counterpart Stas Misezhnikov and tour operators, and will also give a series of press conferences.

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[03] Anniversary of Istanbul pogrom

As it turned out, the orchestrated attack on the centuries-old Greek presence in what is now known as Istanbul -- then the glorious Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire for a millennium -- came a day after a stick of dynamite exploded in the garden of the Turkish consulate of Thessaloniki, a building historically linked with the founder of modern-day Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Several windows of the consulate were broken in what would quickly be uncovered as a staged provocation by Turkey's ruling DP party and its 1950s-era "deep state": the man who placed the stick of dynamite in the courtyard was a Turkish doorman at the consulate, Hasan Mehmetoglu, on orders of a young ethnic Turk college student then studying law at the University of Thessaloniki, Oktay Engin.

The long-planned provocation was timed to coincide with the delicate trilateral talks in London on the fate of Cyprus.

A few broken windows in Thessaloniki led to the ethnic Greek community's "Kristallnacht" in Istanbul 650 kilometres away, as angry mobs of young, mostly working-class, men recruited from the provinces rampaged through the Bosporus metropolis, wrecking everything Greek or Orthodox Christian in their wake, although Armenian and Jewish property were not spared either.

The death toll reached 30, with hundreds injured and thousands of buildings -- shops, residences, cafes, restaurants, factories, clinics, hotels, pharmacies, churches, schools, community centres and even cemeteries -- looted and destroyed.

The Septemvriana pogrom was literally the "beginning of the end" of Hellenism in the ancient metropolis. (ANA-MPA)

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