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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 99-09-16

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.


MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, September 16, 1999

SECTIONS

  • [A] NATIONAL NEWS
  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

  • NEWS HEADLINES

    [A] NATIONAL NEWS

    [01 FUNERAL OF MR. KRANIDIOTIS TO BE HELD IN ATHENS TOMORROW
  • [02] STATE TO CONDUCT INVESTIGATION OVER AIR TRAGEDY
  • [03] ATHENS OBSERVATORY ENCOURAGES CALM OVER AFTERSHOCKS
  • [04] AMBASSADORS SIGN BOOK OF CONDOLENCES AT FOREIGN MINISTRY
  • [05] MPA COLLECTS FUNDS ON ITS INTERNET SITE FOR QUAKE VICTIMS
  • [06] THESSALONIKI WAS LOCALE OF KGB COVERT PLAN, SAYS FORMER SPY
  • [07] STRONG AFTERSHOCK RATTLES ATHENIANS, 3.9 ON RICHTER SCALE
  • [08] TOMORROW THE LAST GOODBYE TO YIANNOS KRANIDIOTIS
  • [09] MEETING ON THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE EARTHQUAKE IN ATHENS
  • [10] FIVE GREEK FOOTBALL TEAMS ARE PLAYING FOR THE UEFA CUP
  • [11] THE PILOT OF THE ILL-FATED FALCON STATES THAT THE PLANE PLUNGE WAS THE RESULT OF AN AUTOMATIC PILOT FAILURE
  • [12] MESSAGE OF COMPASSION TO THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS BY THE NAFPLIO PRISON INMATES
  • [13] 14 CHINESE BUSINESSMENT LOOK FOR BUSINESS PARTNERS FROM NORTHERN GREECE
  • [14] THE EUROPEAN POPULAR PARTY WILL BACK GIORGOS ANASTASOPOULOS FOR THE MEDIATOR POSITION
  • [15] BERNARD KUSCHNER WILL BE IN ATHENS TOMORROW
  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

  • [16] ALBRIGHT: KRANIDIOTIS EMBODIED THE BEST OF GREEK DIPLOMACY
  • [17] THE NEW ARCHBISHOP OF AMERICA TO BE ENTHRONED ON SATURDAY
  • [18] TURKEY'S PRESIDENT OFFERS CONDOLENCES OVER AIR TRAGEDY
  • [19] WORLD LEADERS EXPRESS SORROW OVER DEATH OF KRANIDIOTIS
  • [20] GREECE, TURKEY RESUME THIRD ROUND OF TALKS
  • [21] TURKISH PREMIER INSISTS ON INTRANSIGENT STANCE OVER CYPRUS
  • [22] GREEK AND TURKISH SINGERS IN A CONCERT IN TURKEY FOR THE RELIEF OF THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
  • [23] THE FYROM PARLIAMENT WILL DISCUSS THE AGREEMENT WITH THE GREEK PETROLEUM COMPANY TOMORROW

  • NEWS IN DETAIL

    [A] NATIONAL NEWS

    [01 FUNERAL OF MR. KRANIDIOTIS TO BE HELD IN ATHENS TOMORROW

    The funeral of Greece's alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis will be held in Athens tomorrow afternoon, at public expense.

    Mr. Kranidiotis and five more individuals, including his only son Nicholas, were killed on Tuesday night when their Falcon jet en route to Bucharest encountered severe air turbulence and plunged from 23,000 to 5,000 feet (7,300 to 1,500 meters).

    The other victims are Nikos Assimakopoulos, a police lieutenant; Dimitris Pantazopoulos, a journalist for the state-run ERT network; Nina Assimakopoulou, a journalist for the state-run radio broadcaster (ERA), and flight engineer Michael Papadopoulos. Their funerals will be held today.

    [02] STATE TO CONDUCT INVESTIGATION OVER AIR TRAGEDY

    Greece's Minister of Transportation Tasos Mantelis, has vowed that a thorough investigation will be held over the air tragedy that cost the lives of alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis and five others.

    "The investigation will to go as high as it needs to," Mr. Mantelis stressed. A joint committee of Romanian and Greek aviation experts in examining the causes that led the jet into a free fall. The aircraft's second black box will be forwarded to a German lab for examination.

    In Greece meanwhile, a classified personal document given to the civil aviation director Dionysis Kallofonos, drawn last year, states that the Falcon transporting the Alternate Minister and his entourage had undergone technical malfunctioning last year which had not been repaired in a timely manner and had caused severe problems.

    [03] ATHENS OBSERVATORY ENCOURAGES CALM OVER AFTERSHOCKS

    The seismic aftershocks are a normal and expected phenomenon, according to the Athens Observatory, which responded to the rising concerns over a report forwarded to the state claiming to forecast earthquakes. The report, sent to the Mister of Environment, Planning and Public Works Costas Laliotis by the VAN group of seismologists, claims that an earthquake is imminent, although it does not state when or where it is expected to take place.

    [04] AMBASSADORS SIGN BOOK OF CONDOLENCES AT FOREIGN MINISTRY

    All the ambassadors of European Union countries have signed the book of condolences that has been opened at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, opened in memory of the country's alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis who was killed Tuesday night in an air accident.

    The ambassadors of Argentina, Switzerland, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Russia, Canada, Lebanon, India, Japan, Egypt, China, Indonesia and the representatives of FYROM and the Palestinian diplomatic mission have also signed the book.

    [05] MPA COLLECTS FUNDS ON ITS INTERNET SITE FOR QUAKE VICTIMS

    The Macedonian Press Agency's effort to collect funds for Athens' earthquake victims has been met with success, as its home page on its Internet server, created solely for this purpose has been accessed by contributors throughout the world.

    The MPA, wishing to contribute to the offered assistance, established the home page, which can be found at www.mpa.gr, in order to facilitate those who wish to provide economic aid by using their credit cards.

    A bank account has been set up at Egnatia Bank and the collected sum will be sent to the appropriate state authorities who in turn will distribute the funds as needed.

    Those wishing to provide economic relief to the earthquake's victims can contact MPA's site on the Internet and then transfer to the relevant homepage.

    [06] THESSALONIKI WAS LOCALE OF KGB COVERT PLAN, SAYS FORMER SPY

    A war would have erupted between Greece and Turkey had the KGB gone ahead with its plan to detonate a bomb planted at Kemal Ataturk's home in Thessaloniki in April of 1969, thereby leading to NATO's fragmentation in the already- sensitive region of the eastern Mediterranean, according to Vasili Mitrokhin who was working then as chief archivist for the FCD, the foreign-intelligence arm of the KGB.

    In his 700-page book titled "ิhe Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of KGB", the author details the aforementioned scenario in three pages with an admittedly high degree of credibility, as the former spy was responsible for checking and sealing approximately 300,000 KGB files, allowing him unrestricted access to one of the world's most closely guarded archives.

    In April of 1969, a KGB classified document coded the Thessaloniki operation as "Yaytso" (Egg), which inferred the placement of explosives ("bouquet") at Kemal Ataturk's house ("vase").

    The operation would have to seem like the move was made by a Greek from the then-Constantinople, disgruntled over the situation of the Greek minority in Turkey.

    Kemal's house is located on the same terrace as Thessaloniki's Turkish consulate, a two-storey building. According to the book, the "vase" was being guarded round the clock by two Greek policemen.

    The nearby bushes were determined as the best place to hide the "bouquet", a mere one meter away from the "vase".

    Since no one was allowed to access the "vase", it was deemed that the best time to conduct the operation would be at dusk. The explosive device would have been wrapped in a Greek newspaper published in Turkey, although the plan was not to cause great damage to the building.

    The "gardener", the person to place the explosives, would have to hold a passport from a country neutral to Greece, such as the United States, United Kingdom, West Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Canada, etc.) but in no case could the "gardener" be a citizen of Holland, Belgium or Scandinavian countries.

    One day following his arrival in Athens, the "gardener" would rent a car and spend a few days in the Greek capital and its suburbs.

    In turn, he would travel the route Athens-Patras- Epidauros-Corinth-Athens. Upon his arrival there, he would stay in a hotel in order to await for the signal to pick up the "bouquet" from a vacant mailbox. The operation were to take place the next day.

    After having received the "bouquet", the "gardener" would take the train which departed Athens at 11.42 and arrived in Thessaloniki at 19.29. He would travel first class. In Thessaloniki he would not stay in a hotel. Being dusk, the "gardener" would find the right way to move about. He would go to the city's castles region and would place the "flowers" (parts of the explosive mechanism) into the "bouquet". Then he would exit from the northern gate of the castles and would arrive at the rear of the "vase" in about 15-20 minutes.

    The "gardener" could place the "bouquet" in the plants that were located at the railing of the "vase", or opt to throw it in the garden.

    Following the explosion, the "gardener" would walk about 20 meters, ending into St. Demetrius Street, heading towards the stadium until he found a garbage bin where he would bury the purse in which he had carried the "bouquet".

    In turn, he would depart via train or plane for Athens and would purchase his ticket ten minutes prior to departure by giving only his last name.

    KGB never went ahead with the aforementioned plan. On May 12, 1969, it dispatched a document, temporarily shelving the plan, with the possibility of re-opening the file at a later time.

    In writing his book, Mitrokhin collaborated with Christopher Andrew who is head of the faculty of history at Cambridge University and one of the world's foremost historians of international intelligence (KGB, For the President's Eyes Only, are among his works).

    [07] STRONG AFTERSHOCK RATTLES ATHENIANS, 3.9 ON RICHTER SCALE

    A strong aftershock measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale rattled Athenians this morning at 11.12.

    The quake's epicenter was located at the same area as the earthquake which devastated Athens on September 7.

    [08] TOMORROW THE LAST GOODBYE TO YIANNOS KRANIDIOTIS

    Two of the air tragedy victims were buried in Athens today. The funeral of journalist Dimitris Pantazopoulos was held in Marousi and airplane mechanic Nikos Papadopoulos' funeral in Paleo Iraklio. The funeral of Greek national radio, ERA, journalist Nina Asimakopoulou will be held in her birthplace the town of Atalanti at 4pm today, while police officer Nikos Asimakopoulos will be buried in Athens' B' Cemetery this afternoon.

    Yiannos Kranidiotis' funeral will be held at Athens A' Cemetery tomorrow. The funeral service will be held at 1pm at the church of St. Dionisios Areaopagitis in Kolonaki, while he will be lay in state at 10am tomorrow morning.

    Meanwhile, Greek national television ERT cameraman Panagiotis Poulos, who is seriously injured is fighting for his life at a Bucharest hospital, while Yiannos Kranidiotis' diplomatic office director Grigoris Papadopoulos has been transferred to an Athens hospital.

    [09] MEETING ON THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE EARTHQUAKE IN ATHENS

    A meeting on the problems caused by the earthquake to factory plants and trade enterprises in the wider region of Athens and the way of the implementation of the measures decided by the government, was held at the ministry of development presided over by minister of development Evangelos Venizelos.

    In statements he made immediately after the meeting, Mr. Venizelos stressed that the measures of the government are aimed at the safety of the people.

    [10] FIVE GREEK FOOTBALL TEAMS ARE PLAYING FOR THE UEFA CUP

    Five Greek football teams are playing for the UEFA Cup and have declared that they are ready to bring a positive result and make the first step toward being qualified to the next phase of the European football event.

    The team of PAOK will play in the former soviet republic of Georgia against Lokomitiv Tblisi, while the football field of Harilaou in Thessaloniki will live unique moments as ARIS will host the Swiss team Servett. AEK will play against Torpento Kiutaisi in the former soviet republic of Georgia and PANATHINAIKOS will play in Slovenia against Gorica, while IONIKOS will host the French team of Nantes.

    [11] THE PILOT OF THE ILL-FATED FALCON STATES THAT THE PLANE PLUNGE WAS THE RESULT OF AN AUTOMATIC PILOT FAILURE

    The Falcon's pilot Yiannis Androulakis attributed the air tragedy, in which Greek deputy foreign minister Yiannos Kranidiotis was killed together with other 5 people, to a failure of the plane's automatic pilot. According to information reported by Athens radio station "Flash", the pilot maintained that the plane had started the landing procedure when it was at 23.000 feet.

    The order given to the automatic pilot was for a descent of 10 degrees when 5 of the passengers moved to the back of the plane, among them Yiannos Kranidiotis to brief the journalists accompanying him in his trip to Bucharest. This resulted to a 1 degree deviation from the set course. In such cases the automatic pilot itself corrects the deviation in order to restore the balance. But instead of correcting the deviation with the addition of 1 degree it gave the wrong order for a 20degree correction to the plane's course.

    The pilots became aware of what happened and tried to disengage the automatic pilot in order to use the manual navigation system However, they found out that there was failure in its operation and the Falcon was on an uncontrolled 30degrees descent with a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, while at the same time it rotated around its axis.

    The pilots managed to disengage the automatic pilot at 3.000 feet and took over the navigation of the plane just seconds before it crushed to the ground.

    This testimony has a special weight in the shadow of the inquiry on the causes of the air tragedy and especially, after the revelation that a year and a half ago a document had been submitted mentioning that the plane had to undergo an urgent technical inspection.

    According to the Athens newspaper "TA NEA", a similar incident happened in December of 1998 when prime minister Kostas Simitis was on his way to Vienna together with Yiannos Kranidiotis. The Falcon plunged while preparing for landing but the sadden descent did not last long and all the passengers were saved because the order to fasten their seat- belts had already been given. When the prime minister asked to be informed on what happened he got the response that the weather was bad and there was strong turbulence.

    [12] MESSAGE OF COMPASSION TO THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS BY THE NAFPLIO PRISON INMATES

    The Nafplio prison inmates have send a message of compassion with their move to collect the sum of 84.000 drachmas for the earthquake victims in Athens by offering the little savings they had.

    The prison director has already deposited the money to the account which has opened in the Bank of Greece for the relief of the earthquake victims.

    [13] 14 CHINESE BUSINESSMENT LOOK FOR BUSINESS PARTNERS FROM NORTHERN GREECE

    Fourteen Chinese businessmen will be in Thessaloniki tomorrow to look for business partners from northern Greece in the sectors of exports and constructions.

    According to a statement by Thessaloniki's Commerce and Industry Chamber, the Chinese mission will be made up of businessmen from the Promotion of International Trade Council and by members of the Guangxi Chamber.

    [14] THE EUROPEAN POPULAR PARTY WILL BACK GIORGOS ANASTASOPOULOS FOR THE MEDIATOR POSITION

    The European Popular Party parliamentary group will back Mr. Giorgos Anastasopoulos' bid for the position of the European mediator. The decision was made after a proposal tabled by Greek Euro-deputy Marietta Yiannakou on behalf of the party of New Democracy.

    The new mediator will be elected in October in the plenary session of the European parliament and the candidatures will be submitted by September 24. The mediator's five-year term will start on January 1, 2000 and his/her duty is to facilitate the access of the EU citizens to the European Union institutions.

    [15] BERNARD KUSCHNER WILL BE IN ATHENS TOMORROW

    UN secretary-general special representative in Kosovo Bernard Kuschner will attend the funeral of deputy foreign minister Yiannos Kranidiotis that will be held in Athens tomorrow.

    Mr. Kuschner will be in Athens to attend a special ceremony organized by the Economic University of Athens during which he will be honored.

    Mr. Kuschner, who is known as the founder of the "Doctors Without Borders" international humanitarian organization and France's former health minister, heads the temporary UN administration in Kosovo and has the political responsibility for the reconstruction of the Serb province.

    [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    [16] ALBRIGHT: KRANIDIOTIS EMBODIED THE BEST OF GREEK DIPLOMACY

    US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has conveyed "heartfelt condolences" to her Greek counterpart for the tragic death of Greece's Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis and five other persons, traveling with him to Bucharest.

    Ms. Albright said Mr. Kranidiotis "embodied the best of Greek diplomacy" and added "his dedication to finding a permanent and peaceful solution to the Cyprus question will continue to inspire our own efforts."

    [17] THE NEW ARCHBISHOP OF AMERICA TO BE ENTHRONED ON SATURDAY

    The enthronement ceremony of the new Archbishop of America Demetrios will be held on Saturday, September 18 at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York, and will be officiated by the former Archbishop of North and South America Iakovos.

    Archbishop Demetrios,71, was born at Thessaloniki in 1928. An honors graduate of the University of Athens School of Theology (1946-1950), he also received his Doctorate of Theology from the University of Athens in 1977.

    He traveled to the United States in 1965 and enrolled at Harvard University where he was awarded a Ph.D (with distinction) in 1972.

    In June of 1993 he left the United States where he had spent over 20 years, and returned to Greece to pursue full- time scholarly research and writing and assumed responsibilities at the Archdiocese of Athens.

    For eleven years he served as Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Origins at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA. He also taught at Harvard Divinity School as Visiting Professor of New Testament. He has published extensively, including three major books:

    Authority and Passion (1987), The Transcendent God of Eugnostos (1991), and Christ, the Pre-existing God (1992).

    The newly elected Archbishop was ordained a deacon in 1960 and priest in 1964. He was elected titular Bishop of Vresthenis in 1967 as auxiliary bishop to the Archbishop of Athens with primary responsibility for the programs and theological education of the clergy.

    In 1968, he was elected Metropolitan of Attika and Megaridos, not accepting the election because a military junta was ruling Greece at that time.

    Archbishop Demetrios speaks Coptic, English, French, Greek, German, Hebrew and Latin. His brother, Antonis Trakatellis, a biochemistry professor and former Rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, is currently serving a second term as a Greek member of the European Parliament.

    [18] TURKEY'S PRESIDENT OFFERS CONDOLENCES OVER AIR TRAGEDY

    Turkish President Suleyman Demirel has forwarded his condolences to his Greek counterpart Kostis Stephanopoulos, over the tragic loss of alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis who was killed Tuesday night in an air accident along with five others.

    President Demirel stated that Mr. Kranidiotis offered valuable services to Greece, adding that Turkey "shares the sorrow of the Greek people owing to the loss of a noted diplomat and political man."

    Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem also called his Greek counterpart George Papandreou and expressed his condolences over the loss.

    [19] WORLD LEADERS EXPRESS SORROW OVER DEATH OF KRANIDIOTIS

    Upon the confirmation of the news that Greece's alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis was killed in an air accident on Tuesday night, foreign ministers around the world expressed their sorrow and offered their condolences to Greece.

    British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he was saddened by the news.

    German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sent his condolences to the victims' families through his telegram to his Greek counterpart George Papandreou.

    The government of Israel also expressed its condolences, as Israeli FM David Levy sent Mr. Papandreou a telegram.

    In Athens, US ambassador Nicholas Burns issued a statement offering his condolences to the Greek people . Mr. Burns termed the death a "huge loss for Greece." Speaking at a press conference organized by the Hellenic-American Business Council the US envoy also stressed that Mr. Kranidiotis was courageous supporter of the national interests of Greece and Cyprus.

    In Vienna, the president of the Austrian federal parliament Heinz Fischer expressed his profound grief and condolences.

    In Sofia, Bulgarian FM Nadejda Michailova also forwarded as telegram of condolences, wherein she attributes the progress made in Greek-Bulgarian relations to Mr. Kranidiotis' efforts.

    The Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zivadin Jovanovic expressed his profound sorrow in a telegram to Mr. Papandreou.

    Cyprus has declared a three-day mourning period with flags flying at half mast to mourn Kranidiotis' death.

    [20] GREECE, TURKEY RESUME THIRD ROUND OF TALKS

    Greek and Turkish diplomatic delegations resumed their third round of talks in Ankara yesterday, on a senior foreign ministry officials' level, with the discussion focusing on cultural and multilateral cooperation.

    The Greek delegation is expected to discuss issues regarding personal security.

    [21] TURKISH PREMIER INSISTS ON INTRANSIGENT STANCE OVER CYPRUS

    Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has reiterated his intransigent stance over the Cyprus issue, by stating that Ankara will make no concession on this matter, despite warming Greek-Turkish relations following the earthquakes in both countries.

    Speaking to the Associated Press, Mr. Ecevit said that the issue of Cyprus is completely separate from Greek- Turkish relations and made groundless allegations of fears by Turkish- Cypriots of a "so-called genocide", similar to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.

    [22] GREEK AND TURKISH SINGERS IN A CONCERT IN TURKEY FOR THE RELIEF OF THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

    A big concert under the title "Earthquake-Peace-Aid for the Earthquake victims" will be held in Turkey on September 22 with the participation of Greek and Turkish popular singers. In the concert participate singers Antonis Remos, Angelos Dionisiou and Natasa Theodoridou from Greece and Netzo, Azda Pekkan, Nukhet Duru, Kenan Dogulu, Fedon, Burzu Gunes, Tsiguli from Turkey as well as the music groups Mogolar and Destan also from Turkey.

    According to the Turkish newspaper "Hurriyet", the Greek singers will arrive in Turkey on September 21 and the money collected will be donated to the earthquake victims by Turkish singer Netzo, chairman of the POPSAV company which organized the concert.

    [23] THE FYROM PARLIAMENT WILL DISCUSS THE AGREEMENT WITH THE GREEK PETROLEUM COMPANY TOMORROW

    Tomorrow's session of FYROM's parliament is expected to be crucial as the deputies will be called to ratify again the bilateral agreement with Greece for the buyout of 54% of the shares of the FYROM oil refinery OKTA by the Greek Petroleum company and the construction of the Skopje- Thessaloniki oil pipe line.

    This important agreement that makes Greece the number 1 country regarding its investments in FYROM had been ratified by the parliament last July but FYROM president Kiro Gligorov had refused to sign the presidential decree to put the agreement in effect.

    President Gligorov, whose term in office ends in a few weeks, refused to sign the decree alleging that the agreement will be damaging for the country because, according to his point of view, it will lead to a state monopoly in the supply of petroleum in which one partner is a state-owned company as in the case of the Greek Petroleum Company and the other one is not. Also, in an interview with the BBC last August, he had stated that if the Greek Petroleum Company gets the majority of OKTA's shares it could sell them without its consent to the Yugoslav state oil company "Yugopetrol".


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