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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 98-04-22
BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY
Thessaloniki, April 22, 1998
TITLES
[01] FORMER PRESIDENT KARAMANLIS IS AT “THE POINT OF NO
RETURN”
[02] GREEK PRESIDENT DEPARTS FOR OFFICIAL VISIT TO
HUNGARY
[03] REFERENDUM TO BE HELD IN SERBIA TOMORROW
[04] GREECE’S CHIEF OF STAFF EMBARKS ON VISIT TO CYPRUS
[05] GREECE’S AEK BASKETBALL TEAM TO CLAIM CUP TOMORROW
[06] ATHENS: THERE IS NO DAYTON-TYPE CONFERENCE FOR
CYPRUS
[07] PM HEADS MEETING WITH FINANCE, TRANSPORTATION
MINISTERS
[08] FORENSIC EXPERTS CONTINUE TO EXHUME BODIES IN
SREBRENICA
[09] GREECE WILL STAND BY CYPRUS IN THE FACE OF TURKISH
THREATS
[10] MISSING PRIEST’S DROWNED BODY DISCOVERED IN
HALKIDIKI BAY
[11] US SECRETARY OF DEFENSE COMMENTS ON TALKS IN ATHENS
[12] EU-CYPRUS JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE MEETS
TOMORROW
[13] GREEK AIR FORCE PILOTS EJECT SAFELY BEFORE THEIR JET
CRASHES
[14] HOLOCAUST’S 55TH ANNIVERSARY TO BE COMMEMORATED IN
TOWN
[15] TENSION MOUNTS IN KOSSOVO
NEWS IN DETAIL
[01] FORMER PRESIDENT KARAMANLIS IS AT “THE POINT OF NO
RETURN”
Athens, April 22 (MPA)
In a serious blow to hopes he would regain his health,
former president Konstantinos Karamanlis's condition is
"extremely critical" according to his treating doctors.
Mr. Karamanlis suffered renal failure late on Monday.
The 91-year-old ethnarch was admitted to the Hygeia
Hospital on April 7 with a respiratory infection. He was
placed on breathing support on April 12 after his heart
stopped during a mild heart attack.
[02] GREEK PRESIDENT DEPARTS FOR OFFICIAL VISIT TO
HUNGARY
Athens, April 22 (MPA)
The President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos
embarked on a three-day visit to Hungary today at his
Hungarian counterpart's invitation.
The Greek president will hold private talks with
Hungarian President Arpad Goncz and leadership, while he
will also inaugurate a Greek-Hungarian business
conference. Accompanying Mr. President are the Minister
of Foreign Affairs Theodoros Pangalos, Undersecretary of
National Economy Alexandros Baltas and various
businessmen.
The President Stephanopoulos will also visit the ethnic
Greek village of Beloyiannis and will address the
Hungarian Parliament.
[03] REFERENDUM TO BE HELD IN SERBIA TOMORROW
Belgrade, April 22 (MPA)
The referendum proposed by the Serb President of the
Former Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic, on
whether or not his state should accept foreign
intervention in the matter of Kossovo, is to be held
tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the “Contact Group” for the former Yugoslavia
is to meet in Rome on April 29 in order to review the
situation in Kossovo.
[04] GREECE’S CHIEF OF STAFF EMBARKS ON VISIT TO CYPRUS
Nicosia, April 22 (MPA)
Greece's chief of staff, General Athanasios
Tzoganis, is to embark on a three-day visit to Cyprus
today, this marking the first official visit to the
island by as Greek chief of staff.
In Nicosia, Gen. Tzoganis is to hold talks with the
political and military leadership on the island, and will
discuss the Greek-Cypriot unified defense doctrine.
He is scheduled to meet with Cypriot President Glafkos
Clerides, Archbishop Chrysostomos, House Speaker Spyros
Kyprianou and Defense Minister Yiannakis Omirou.
[05] GREECE’S AEK BASKETBALL TEAM TO CLAIM CUP TOMORROW
Barcelona, April 22 (MPA)
Greece’s AEK basketball team, based in Athens, defeated
yesterday Italy's Benetton Treviso with a score of 69-66
in a close game during the semi-final match held in
Barcelona for the European Champions' League.
Claiming the Euroleague Championship Cup tomorrow, AEK
will play against Italy’s Kinder Bologna, which earlier
defeated Belgrade's Partizan.
[06] ATHENS: THERE IS NO DAYTON-TYPE CONFERENCE FOR
CYPRUS
Athens, April 22 (MPA)
The Greek government spokesperson Dimitris Reppas denied
the persistent rumors that a Dayton-type conference is in
the works for Cyprus.
Addressing reporters yesterday, Mr. Reppas stated that
“there is no such issue.”
He did stress that the Greek government will not adopt a
negative stance on the interest expressed recently over
Cyprus by various sides.
Moreover, Mr. Reppas added that any resolution of the
Cyprus problem had to be modeled after United Nations
resolutions and summit agreements reached between the
late Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios and the
leader of the Turkish-Cypriots, Rauf Denktash.
[07] PM HEADS MEETING WITH FINANCE, TRANSPORTATION
MINISTERS
Athens, April 22 (MPA)
Prime Minister Kostas Simitis is to chair a meeting
with the Minister of finance and National Economy Yiannos
Papantoniou and the Minister of Transportation and
Communications Tasos Mantelis in order to discuss the
current situation of the state’s economy.
Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) has forwarded to the
Greek government a 12-page questionnaire concerning the
privatization course of the state-owned companies, work
relations and the overall insurance system.
[08] FORENSIC EXPERTS CONTINUE TO EXHUME BODIES IN
SREBRENICA
Srebrenica, April 22 (MPA)
A team of fifty forensic experts working for the United
Nations has found human remains and clothing during
new exhumations conducted around the former Muslim
enclave Srebrenica, site of the Bosnian war's worst
massacres.
"So far we have found 1,500 shell cases,
fragments of human bones and some clothes" said a UN
spokesman at the site.
The operation in eastern Bosnia is expected to provide
''significant evidence' ' a UN statement said. The
investigators are working for the
prosecuting office of the war crimes tribunal in The
Hague, which is prosecuting people, charged with genocide
and war crimes committed during the Bosnian conflict.
[09] GREECE WILL STAND BY CYPRUS IN THE FACE OF TURKISH
THREATS
Athens, April 22 (MPA)
Greece’s Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos has
reiterated that Greece will stand by Cyprus in the face
of Turkish threats and the island’s continued occupation
by Turkish forces.
Following talks with the US Secretary of Defense William
Cohen, who made a four-hour stop in Athens yesterday, Mr.
Tsochatzopoulos stated that "Greece, as a guarantor
power, is concerned about the security of Cyprus and will
stand by it as long as there is a threat, whether from
Turkish occupation troops on the island or from the
refusal of Turkey to contribute to the ending of the
military occupation and to an acceptable resolution of
the Cypriot problem. "
Moreover, referring to the deployment of Russian-
made S-300 missiles in Cyprus, Mr. Tsochatzopoulos
stated that this matter was solely the concern of the
Cypriot government, which was the only authority able to
decide on the issue.
"It is an inalienable right of each country - and
particularly a small country - to use all its means for
its defense and we can not accept that through this
limited defense system Turkey is being threatened," he
said.
[10] MISSING PRIEST’S DROWNED BODY DISCOVERED IN
HALKIDIKI BAY
Thessaloniki, April 22 (MPA)
The drowned body of a Greek priest, 42-year-old
Panayiotis Spagos, was discovered off the Halkidiki
peninsula this morning, two days after the vessel
carrying him, another Greek and three Canadian nationals
capsized during a sudden storm.
According to a statement issued by the Merchant Marine
Ministry, the search for the Canadians - identified as
Roger Richer, 49, his brother Gerald, 39, and Alvin
Guesnel, 44, - continues.
The Canadians, employed by TVX Hellas, the subsidiary of
the Canadian gold mining company which received a mining
concession in the area, along with the priest and
Alkiviades Kefalas went fishing Monday evening in a
small boat, the Samiopoula.
Kefalas , who managed to swim to shore, told police that
he saw the four others swimming next to him after the
boat overturned near Marmari, Halkidiki. He swam for
several hours before being rescued by a trawler as he
approached the coast, but the four other men had
disappeared.
Coast guard vessels, a Hellenic Air Force plane,
helicopters and fishing vessels mounted a search of the
area on Tuesday.
[11] US SECRETARY OF DEFENSE COMMENTS ON TALKS IN ATHENS
Athens, April 22 (MPA)
The United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen,
who was received by his Greek counterpart Akis
Tsochatzopoulos in Athens yesterday,
discussed NATO's structural changes and reiterated his
country’s support for confidence-building measures in the
Aegean.
Mr. Cohen said he did not ask for Greece's help in
preventing the deployment of the Russian-made S-300
missiles in Cyprus, but did state that such a move would
be a mistake.
The American official stressed that ways must be found to
bring the island’s two communities into a dialogue.
Regarding Greek-Turkish relations, Mr. Cohen said it was
"a shame" that Greece and Turkey were not exploiting the
chances open to them, such as proposals by the NATO
secretary-general on a moratorium.
He stated that the Clinton Administration is willing to
help both countries turn from an atmosphere of suspicion
to a climate of trust, calling on an end to the use of
threats of force, open diplomatic channels to resolve
differences and adding that the essence of the issue was
that there should be negotiations.
Messrs. Cohen and Tsochatzopoulos discussed the Greek
military's multi-million dollar armaments procurement
program as well as the creation of a multinational force
in the Balkans, to which, Mr. Cohen stated his country
would provide its help.
Mr. Cohen added that Athens and Washington have a common
target of creating conditions of stability, peace and
cooperation in the wider region extending from the
eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Black
Sea.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos said that "on the basis of this
common strategy, we discussed ways of contributing
towards the tackling of problems which are created by
destabilizing attitudes, by events and countries in the
region.”
In turn, Mr. Cohen stressed that Greece and the US have a
long relationship in the Defense sector as NATO members
and cooperation between them has strengthened security
for each country.
Mr. Cohen pointed out that the effort is being focused
now on the creation of conditions of peace in the
Balkans, since following developments in Bosnia-
Herzegovina and Kossovo, it acquires a particular
importance for Europe in general.
"In this effort, Greece can play a leading role for
stability in the region," he said.
Mr. Cohen also officially invited Mr. Tsochatzopoulos to
visit Washington for a continuation of their talks.
[12] EU-CYPRUS JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE MEETS
TOMORROW
Nicosia, April 22 (MPA)
The Joint Parliamentary Committee of the European
Union -Cyprus is to convene tomorrow in Nicosia.
The two-day session will address the island’s accession
bid as well as its relations with the EU. The Presidium
of the EU will be represented by the British High
commissioner in Cyprus David Madden.
[13] GREEK AIR FORCE PILOTS EJECT SAFELY BEFORE THEIR JET
CRASHES
Thessaloniki, April 22 (MPA)
Two Air Force pilots ejected safely yesterday when their
F-5b jet crashed near Chrysoupouli, in northern Greece,
during a low-flying training mission.
The plane reportedly suffered engine failure when a flock
of birds were sucked into one engine.
Airmen Panayiotis Geordiadis and Panayiotis Grinias
escaped unharmed.
[14] HOLOCAUST’S 55TH ANNIVERSARY TO BE COMMEMORATED IN
TOWN
Thessaloniki, April 22 (MPA)
Thessaloniki’s Jewish Community is to pay a tribute
to the city’s 50,000 Jews who perished in the Nazi
concentration camps fifty-five years ago during the
Holocaust, this Sunday, April 26, at the Monastirioton
Synagogue.
Thessaloniki was a major Sephardic metropolis since the
very early 16th century, boasting a more than 50,000-
strong community prior to Nazi occupation. During WWII,
most of city's Jews were transported to concentration
camps in Germany and Poland where they perished.
Greek Jews suffered the greatest mortality rate at the
hands of Nazi forces and their satellites (96 per cent)
among all occupied Europe to the stand of the allies,
particularly Britain and to a lesser extent the United
States.
[15] TENSION MOUNTS IN KOSSOVO
Belgrade, April 22 (MPA)
Thousands of armed Albanians have moved into the
western region of Kossovo, in an operation reportedly
organized by the Liberating Army, according to Belgrade’s
daily “Dnevnik”.
According to the article, the Liberating Army has
armed its forces and is said to be getting ready to seize
the towns of Decani and Jakovica.
Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available
on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at
http://www.hri.org/MPA/
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