Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-10-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] President Pavlopoulos receives visiting Albanian Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta

[02] Greek asylum service rejects four more applications by Turkish soldiers

[01] President Pavlopoulos receives visiting Albanian Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta

The president called on Albania to respect the rights of its ethnic Greek minority and urged a solution for the still outstanding issue of arranging a proper burial for Greek soldiers fallen in battle on Albanian soil during the Greco-Italian war of 1940.

"They must find their graves. It is demanded by history, demanded by international law but chiefly by common humanity," Pavlopoulos pointed out.

Greece had proved its sincere desire for coexistence with Albania, Pavlopoulos noted, during a difficult time for the neighbouring country when many Albanians had needed to come to Greece as legal immigrants, while a sizeable Albanian community still remained in Greece. It had demonstrated respect for the human rights of those coming to Greece from other countries, in the same way that it expected respect for the Greek minority in Albania, in line with international law, he added.

Meta thanked the president for his warm welcome and invited him to visit Albania. "We must be prepared to build exemplary relations with Greece," he said, while asking Greece to support Albania's efforts to join the European Union.

"Our relations must be brotherly, as relations between Greeks and Albanians are today, not just in Albania but also here in Greece. These very close relations that have developed over the past 26 years oblige us to radiate only positive energy, and to approach the problems we have inherited calmly and in a constructive way, in accordance with European standards and values," he said.

[02] Greek asylum service rejects four more applications by Turkish soldiers

Three more applications were rejected earlier this summer, which means seven out of a total of eight applications have been turned down, while one is still being discussed.

"Four negative decisions in the first degree were served this morning as well as two rejections for medical therapy requests," the asylum service told ANA. The decisions were served at the police station located near the Olympic village where the Turkish soldiers are being detained.

The soldiers' lawyer, Stavroula Tomara, told ANA all of her clients will appeal the decisions and criticized the asylum service for not taking into account a request to allow the applications to be examined in another EU member-state, in accordance with the Dublin Regulation III.

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