News about Greece 16-30/4/95

From: Thanos Tsekouras <thanost@MIT.EDU>

Copyright 1995 The New York Times Company

The New York Times

April 30, 1995, Sunday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section 1; Page 4; Column 1; Foreign Desk

LENGTH: 632 words

HEADLINE: Greeks Help Serbs Get Oil, U.S. Asserts

BYLINE: By RAYMOND BONNER

DATELINE: VIENNA, April 29

BODY:

American intelligence officials have determined that Greek oil companies are

shipping thousands of barrels of fuel to Albania, and that most of it is

smuggled into Yugoslavia in violation of international sanctions.

The volume of smuggling tripled in the first three months, despite promises

by Albania to control it, intelligence reports show. The reports have been the

focus of closed-door meetings this week of the sanctions committee of the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union.

The sanctions were imposed by the United Nations in retaliation for

Yugoslavia's support of the Serbian military in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The American reports say the smuggling is providing Yugoslavia with almost

half of its fuel; the rest comes from oil wells and refineries in northern

Yugoslavia.

The Albanian representative to the European security organization, Zef Mazi,

said on Friday that his Government fully supported the sanctions and was doing

its best to enforce them.

What most concerns the diplomats is that the Serbs in Yugoslavia have

abundant fuel just when a frayed cease-fire in Bosnia is to expire -- "enough

for the tanks to move, the planes to fly, the ships to sail.

The Clinton Administration is now putting together measures to put pressure

on Albania to deal with the problem, the State Department said.

One weapon is economic assistance, one diplomat suggested. Last year Albania

received $16 million in economic aid from the United States.

The Administration could invoke a law enacted last year that provides for a

halt in assistance to countries that are not effectively enforcing the sanctions

against Yugoslavia.

There is nothing illegal about selling fuel to Albania, but European and

American diplomats there and in other Balkan countries say the Greek companies

must know that the fuel is being sent to Yugoslavia. In March Albania imported

9,000 more barrels a day than it needed for domestic consumption, one of the

American intelligence reports said. In January, the excess came to 3,645 barrels

a day.

Greek companies have replaced Italian ones as the principal source of fuel,

the intelligence reports show. But a Greek official, who declined to be

identified, took issue with the reports, saying Italy, not Greece, was the main

culprit.

The American intelligence reports say Greek companies provided 59 percent of

Albania's fuel imports last year and Italy provided 37.

Washington has made repeated overtures to Greece to control the trade. The

response has generally been that there is nothing illegal about selling fuel to

Albania. That has also been the Italian response.

While American and European officials concede this, they note that Greece is

generally sympathetic to the Serbs, who, like the Greeks, are mostly Orthodox

Christians.

Another report on Friday, by the sanctions committee of the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe, indicated that the most blatant violator of

sanctions after Albania is Macedonia. The report says 5,000 trucks crossed from

Macedonia into Yugoslavia in February and March. One truck carried six tons of

parts for a telephone exchange, another a ton of computers.

Earlier this year, Albania introduced a system under which the Albanian

Government is to verify that a shipment is intended for a legitimate user in

Albania before it is allowed to leave Italy or Greece.

Greek and Italian officials say they rely on that system instead of taking

actions against companies.

But the system is not working. In some cases, the sanctions committee's

report showed, Albania is improperly approving shipments. In other cases,

fuel-laden ships and trucks are being allowed to leave ports even when Albanians

have withheld approval, the report said.

GRAPHIC: Map of Greece and Albania.

Copyright 1995 The Sunday Telegraph Limited

Sunday Telegraph

April 30, 1995, Sunday

SECTION: INTERNATIONAL; Pg. 25

LENGTH: 771 words

HEADLINE: Greece 'trains Kurd guerrillas'

BYLINE: By Amberin Zaman in Bodrum

BODY:

THE tourism war between Turkey and Greece has taken a sinister turn amid

allegations that Athens is allowing Kurdish guerrillas to train on its

territory, before the separatists return to wreak havoc on Aegean beaches. Last

year a woman from Manchester died in a bomb blast at a Turkish resort. The

device was planted in a bin by members of the Marxist guerrilla organisation

fighting to establish an independent "Kurdistan" which would straddle Turkey,

Iraq and Iran. There are now strong indications that resorts on the western

coast of Greece, just a few miles from the nearest Greek islands, have become

key transit points. From there, it is said, Kurdish terrorists have been

travelling to Greece to learn bomb-making skills and then returning to murder

foreign tourists, thus sabotaging the Turkish economy. The most important of the

staging posts is allegedly Bodrum. This will come as some surprise to the tens

of thousands of British holidaymakers expected to descend here over the next

months. The small town is dominated by a magnificent Crusader castle and known

locally as "Bedroom", because of its reputation for sun, sea, sand and holiday

romance. Over glasses of raki, local fishermen relate in confidential tones how

PKK guerrillas are secretly making their way from nearby villages such as

Akyarlar and Karaincir across the narrow gulf of water separating Turkey from

the Greek island of Kos. Usually the Kurds go across at night in small fishing

boats, the men say. Some even swim and one is said to have windsurfed to Greece.

They either return via the same route or fly back from Europe, posing as

gastarbeiter, using fake passports provided by powerful Kurd drug barons. The

Turkish government supports these claims with the testimony of captured PKK

guerrillas, in which they describe travelling secretly to Athens via the Aegean

islands - mainly Kos, Rhodes, Meis, Lesbos or Samos - and then on to a "training

camp" 75 miles outside the Greek capital. Western officials say there is

mounting evidence that Greece is openly encouraging, if not actually

co-operating with, the PKK. American intelligence sources were recently quoted

as saying that they had photographic evidence of a PKK base north of the Greek

city of Salonica. Activity at the Greek base is apparently concentrated on the

making and planting of bombs, booby traps and mines. Camps in Iraq, Iran and the

Bekaa valley in the Lebanon provide training for the PKK volunteers in the

waging of guerrilla warfare. Turkish officials say that with its cheaper prices,

Turkey has the edge in the lucrative Aegean and Mediterranean holiday trade.

What better way then to redress the balance and damage a Turkish economy

dependent for foreign currency on the hordes of tourists from colder climes than

terrorism, they ask? Joanna Griffiths, a Mancunian tourist in her mid-20s, died

after a bomb went off in a rubbish bin in Marmaris last June. More than 20 other

Western tourists were hurt in separate explosions. The PKK claimed responsiblity

for all the attacks and has threatened to repeat them. Some of the evidence the

Turks have unearthed points to Greek complicity rather than active collaboration

with the Kurds. There are photographs of Greek deputies posing with the PKK

leader, Abdullah Ocalan. Speeches made by Greek officials and politicians have

expressed support for the "legitimate struggle of the oppressed people of

Kurdistan". The PKK's so-called political arm, the ERNK, was recently permitted

to establish offices in Athens, despite Turkish objections, and the Greek

government continues to welcome Turkish Kurd asylum-seekers, who are housed in a

refugee camp outside Athens. Unlike Turkey's Western allies such as the United

States and Britain, Greece refuses to describe the PKK as a terrorist

organisation. The Greek ambassador to Ankara, Dimitrios Neziritis, flatly denies

all the accusations. "We have observed with regret that Greece is considered

automatically as a sort of evil spirit moving behind the scenes to undermine

stability and peace in Turkey. This is stupid. If there is anyone who wants

stability here it is us." Athens had investigated all the Turkish authorities'

claims and "found nothing". However, Greek officials have said that while there

is no question of state involvement, some individuals may be helping the rebels.

One commented: "In Greece everything is possible. After all there is a long and

bitter tradition of hostility between us and the Turks. "There may be some

people who have the primitive idea that if my neighbour is in a bad situation

then I'll be in a good situation."

Copyright 1995 Reuters, Limited

Reuters World Service

April 20, 1995, Thursday, BC cycle

LENGTH: 343 words

HEADLINE: Ex- Cypriot president to lecture Turkish Cypriots

DATELINE: NICOSIA, April 20

BODY:

A former Greek Cypriot president of the divided Mediterranean island of

in a conference.

It is unusual for senior Cypriot officials to visit the north since the

island was divided in 1974, following a Turkish invasion sparked by a

short-lived coup in Nicosia engineered by a military junta then ruling Greece.

deliver a lecture at a conference on the economic implications of a solution to

the island's political question.

In 1983, the island's Turkish Cypriot minority declared an independent state

in northern Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey which maintains some 30,000

troops there.

''My lecture will be on the European community and Cyprus and I believe it's

very important that I have been invited over. It's the first time that a Greek

Cypriot will give a lecture to Turkish Cypriots,'' Vassiliou told Reuters.

''I know I will be criticised over this decision but I also know that if you

are doing the right thing you are not scared of criticism. After all, the EU

wants the whole of Cyprus to become a member,'' he added.

The Republic of Cyprus, run by Greek Cypriots since 1974, has applied for

full EU membership. On March 6, EU foreign ministers agreed to start accession

negotiations six months after an intergovernmental summit in 1996.

Vassiliou, a strong supporter of EU membership, and about 20 Greek Cypriot

businessmen and journalists were invited over to the north by the Turkish

Cypriot Young Businesmen's Association.

Association chairman Engin Ari told Reuters: ''This is the first such event

of its kind. It has no political strings whatsoever.''

''It is purely a businesslike move and is expected to shed light on the

importance of the problem of economic imbalance between Turkish Cypriots and

Greek Cypriots which will be quite a problem for a permanent and viable

solution.''

Copyright 1995 Xinhua News Agency

The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These

materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The

Xinhua News Agency.

APRIL 20, 1995, THURSDAY

LENGTH: 144 words

HEADLINE: turkey warns greece over report against its diplomats

DATELINE: ankara, april 20; ITEM NO: 0420266

BODY:

turkey has warned its neighbor greece over a greek newspaper report which

described two turkish military attaches in athens as "spies," said foreign

minister erdal inonu today. the ultra-right athens-based stohos published on

tuesday names, pictures and addresses of the military attaches, accusing them of

spying on greece. the paper has targeted other turkish diplomats in athens

before, which led to terrorist attacks against the diplomats. "this is an

alarming action," inonu told reporters. "we have asked greece to take

necessary security precautions for the safety of our personnel." cetin gorgu,

turkish press attache in greece, was killed in an armed attack in athens in

1990. deniz bolukbasi, counselor at the turkish embassy, was seriously wounded

in another attack in 1993. the extremist november 17 group claimed

responsibility for both attacks.

Copyright 1995 Newspaper Publishing PLC

The Independent

April 17, 1995, Monday

SECTION: COMMENT; Page 13

LENGTH: 1096 words

HEADLINE: Ancient art, but what does it mean?; Classical scholars are all of a

twitter over a reinterpretation of the events in the Parthenon frieze If our

sons must die for Athens, why should our daughters not do so as well?

BYLINE: JAMES FENTON

BODY:

An American scholar called Joan Connelly has come up with a theory that

completely overthrows the traditional view of what the Parthenon frieze is

about. Not surprisingly, she has met opposition, and a kind of patronising

indifference, although every classicist with whom I have discussed the matter

has taken the theory seriously and in some cases greeted it with enthusiasm. One

could hardly imagine a more prestigious achievement in classical studies than

a reinterpretation of the frieze. Ms Connelly has yet to publish her theory in

full, but she has lectured on it, and been answered in print, and I believe

modified it a little. Here is a summary of the state of play so far.

One supposes that the Parthenon, which was designed as a whole, would make

sense as a whole, in its sculptural programme. In classical times, the main

attraction was the colossal statue of Athena by Phidias, which is described in

detail by Pausanias in the second century AD but has long since disappeared.

Pausanias also gives the subjects of the east and west pediments (which are so

damaged as to be hard to decipher): the birth of Athena from the head of her

father, Zeus, and the struggle between Athena and Poseidon for the land of

Attica (which is where Athens lies).

The other elements of the decoration of the Parthenon are the metopes (the

square panels) and the frieze. The metopes represent scenes of struggle between

gods and giants, Greeks and centaurs, Greeks and Amazons and Greeks and Trojans

(with scenes from the sack of Troy). Pausanias does not mention either these or

the great continuous frieze itself, and we have no earlier account of either

element.

The frieze was originally 524ft long. Of this, 420ft survives, 60 per cent

of which is in the British Museum. Most of the rest is in Athens, with bits

and bobs in Paris, Rome, Palermo, Vienna and Heidelberg. Apparently the best,

most complete reconstruction in plaster cast is in Basel, but short of going to

Basel you can buy a new book by Ian Jenkins, The Parthenon Frieze (British

Museum Press, pounds 17.99).

This book puts together all the visual information from every available

source (including some important 17th-century drawings) so that you can see

exactly how much we know of what the frieze was like, and how much must be left

to conjecture. The answer is that, as far as the general appearance of the

figures is concerned, there is very little left to conjecture. But as to

detail, and as to the significance of any individual figure, there is room for

conjecture everywhere. Ms Connelly's theory depends on a figure known in Mr

Jenkins's schema as E35 being female. Mr Jenkins believes it to be male. On the

evidence he presents, it seems to me at least as likely to be female.

As to the significance of the whole frieze, the traditional view, I learn

from an article by William St Clair in this week's TLS, dates back to 1787. This

is the theory that the frieze depicts the Great Panathenaic festival, which took

place every four years and involved a great procession to the Acropolis where a

newly woven garment, or peplos, was presented to Athena - that is, to Phidias's

statue in the Parthenon.

Mr Jenkins's book subscribes to this theory, but it also sets out the major

objections to it, of which the chief is this: if the frieze depicts the

festival, then it is the only temple frieze in ancient Greece to depict a

non-mythological event. Furthermore, things that we know were characteristic of

the festival are surprisingly absent from the frieze. Most notably, the peplos,

which was huge, was transported to the Acropolis on a ship on wheels, and that

it billowed out like a sail as it went.

But the peplos only features on the Parthenon frieze as resembling a folded

sheet or blanket (or, to my eye, a double duvet cover) that is being handed to

the young boy or girl (the crucial E35). This child stands next to Athena, but

the seated goddess has her back to the scene. If the point of the frieze is to

record the ceremonial presentation of the peplos to Athena, then it seems very

odd that the peplos gets given only to a temple servant, and that Athena has her

back to the scene.

The revolutionary theory says forget about the Panathenaic festival. Think

instead about the mythical war between Athens and Eleusis, in which Eumolpus

(the son of Poseidon) brought a large force of Thracians to assist the

Eleusinians, and laid claim to the throne of Attica in the name of his father.

Erechtheus was the king of Athens at the time. An oracle said that he must

sacrifice his youngest daughter Otionia to Athena. Otionia willingly agreed to

this, whereupon her sisters (who had once vowed that if one of them died

violently, they would all go together) submitted to death. Athens defeats

Eleusis and Attica is saved from Poseidon (reflecting the subject of the west

pediment).

Now the central group of the eastern frieze takes on an enormous

significance, appropriate for the focal point of the frieze. What we see is

Erechtheus giving his youngest daughter, E35, her sacrificial shroud. To his

left his wife, Praxithea, is in conversation with her older daughters,

Protogonia and Pandora (not the one with the box), who come with their own

shrouds balanced on trays above their heads, ready to die together for the

preservation of the city. On either side of this scene, the gods sit watching

the preparations for war.

You can find this story in Robert Graves's Greek Myths, which is based on

three ancient sources. But Ms Connelly was prompted by a text Graves couldn't

have known - a papyrus used as a mummy-wrapper in the Louvre, which turned out

to contain extracts from a lost play by Euripides, his Erechtheus. In this

extract, as quoted by Mr St Clair in the TLS, Praxithea says: "I hate women who,

in preference to the common good, choose for their own children to live." If our

sons must die for Athens, why should our daughters not do so as well?

The Parthenon stands next to the Erechtheum, which housed the tomb of

Erechtheus, and the two buildings, unusually, shared a common altar. The

Parthenon honours Athena, on whom Athens depends for its survival and its hold

over Attica and its subjection of Eleusis. The Parthenon frieze pays homage to

the sacrifice of Otionia and her sisters in securing the common good of Athens.

And you and I could have worked this out with a trip to the British Museum and a

copy of Graves's Greek Myths. Sickening , isn't it, and yet, seen in another

light, also somewhat inspiring.

Copyright 1995 Xinhua News Agency

The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These

materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The

Xinhua News Agency.

APRIL 16, 1995, SUNDAY

LENGTH: 253 words

HEADLINE: new method to clean ancient metal objects used in greece

DATELINE: athens, april 16; ITEM NO: 0416007

BODY:

a new method for cleaning and preserving ancient metal objects is being used

for the first time in greece at the democritus atomic research center in athens.

scientists are using the plasma method to clean the ancient metal objects, of

which the time needed to do so is 50 to 100 times less than conventional

techniques. museums throughout greece are full of ancient tools, weapons and

utensils made of iron, silver or lead which often have to wait for five to ten

years before they can be restored. the greek research center's institute for

the science of materials, in collaboration with the institute of microelectronic

and nuclear technology, has developed a cylindrical device using plasma to

completely clean numbers of metal objects in just 48 hours. in physics, plasma

is fully ionized gas of low density containing approximately equal numbers of

positive and negative ions. it is electrically conductive and affected by

magnetic fields. plasma physics is especially important in research efforts to

produce a controlled thermonuclear reaction. the relevant program which began

last year also involves researching the possibility of using the plasma method

to preserve ceramics, marble and icons. the method was first researched at the

institute of inorganic chemistry of zurich university and later at munich's

technical university. it is being used to clean metal objects at the museum of

zurich and in several german museums, while research is currently under way in

france, norway and japan.

Copyright 1995 The New York Times Company

The New York Times

April 24, 1995, Monday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A; Page 4; Column 3; Foreign Desk

LENGTH: 933 words

HEADLINE: Pendeli Journal;

From Greek Church, a Louder Nationalist Voice

BYLINE: By MARLISE SIMONS

DATELINE: PENDELI, Greece

BODY:

There could be no doubt about the passions of Father Timotheos.

Outside the medieval monastery, the sun was bouncing off the walls and

polishing the domes, but the priest's face lit up only when he had reached the

depths of the vaults.

"These are the secret classrooms," said the tall, bearded archimandrite, or

superior. He was showing the tiny, arched alcoves where the monks used to run a

hidden Greek school. Next, with evident pride, he opened up the old hiding place

for gunpowder and weapons.

"I still have two guns," he confided and launched into tales of a heroic past

in which Orthodox Christian monks defended their sites and kept the Greek

language and religion alive during nearly 400 years of Turkish occupation,

ending in the 19th century.

"And please accept my book," he continued, handing over a copy of "Eternal

Greece of Mine." It carried the subtitle, "The Position and Brilliance of Greece

in World History."

Father Timotheos practices his zealous nationalism at the Pendeli monastery

on the mountains overlooking Athens. But he is far from alone. With the

convulsion in the Balkans, the Greek Orthodox Church has found new opportunities

to reclaim its long-held position of guide of the nation and guardian of its

traditions.

As Greece finds itself with warring or unstable neighbors, aggravating its

customary sense of insecurity, the church's voice has become more prominent on

foreign policy issues. While the Primate of the Greek Church, Serafim, is

considered a moderate, many clergymen have helped to cultivate the nationalist

wave of the last two years.

On radio, television and in newspapers, priests and bishops have regularly

attacked the "injustices" committed by neighboring Macedonia, which has

infuriated Greece by using a name and symbols that Greeks contend belong only to

them.

Likewise, priests have loudly condemned neighboring Albania, joining the

Government in charging that Albania oppresses its Greek Orthodox minority. In

the northern city of Florina, the Bishop even started a radio station to beam

messages of support to Greek-Albanians across the border. He was forced to close

the station recently after strong pressure from Albania, local press reports

said.

"The church has taken advantage of nationalist passions to promote itself,"

said George Tsakiris, who writes about church affairs in the Athens newspaper

Eleftherotypia. "In the last 15 years, the church lost a lot of power to

politicians, especially to the anti-clerical left."

In the days leading up to Orthodox Christian Easter -- celebrated this year

on April 23 and 24 -- priests and bishops have reached out to fellow Orthodox

Christians in nearby Serbia. While much of Europe treats Serbia as a pariah and

the aggressor against Bosnia, Greece regards Orthodox Christian Serbia as a

longtime friend and ally.

"We consider the Serbs our brothers," Father Timotheos said in a tone that

left no room for debate. "We are in solidarity with them."

At the office of the Patriarch, Ioannis Hajifotis, the spokesman, said, "We

are sending food and medicine to the Serbs, but we also sent aid to Sarajevo for

other groups."

The reaction of the flock has been mixed. Some Greeks say they expected

nothing less than a strong stance from a church that helped form the national

identity and is still an intrinsic part of it. Others argue that the church role

in politics belongs to the past and should stay there.

All the same, the clergy's activism has not filled empty church services.

While 98 percent of Greeks declare themselves to be Orthodox Christians, the

majority treat the church as a place for social rituals and go there mainly for

baptisms, weddings and funerals.

Despite low church attendance, though, a different kind of spiritual interest

appears to be growing. Mr. Hajifotis said that in recent years, vocations to the

monastic life have started to pick up again, after a long decline. Educated

young men are leaving the cities and looking for the contemplative life again,

he said, above all in the isolated northern monasteries of Mount Athos. He said

precise figures were not available.

On another level, there is a broader curiosity, or perhaps nostalgia, for the

monasteries. At the Parousia bookstore in Athens, which specializes in

ecclesiastical subjects, sales of books on monasticism are up. A biography of

Father Paisios, an abbott of Mount Athos who died last year, has become his

store's best-seller. "It's young people who buy these books," said George

Tsakalos, Parousia's owner.

A kind of monastery tourism has sprung up all over the country. Father

Timotheos said that a decade ago, perhaps 100 people would stop each weekend at

Pendeli to talk to the monks or to attend a service. "Now we have weekends of

some 10,000 people," he said.

He sees this not as a spiritual revival but as a renewed interest in history.

"Of course people now have better cars and buses," he said, laughing. "What we

need is a better inner life."

At rest in a red velvet chair in the official reception room, Father

Timotheos turned his attention again to a favorite topic, eternal Greece. He

recalled the recent discussions in the European Union about reducing the number

of official languages by dropping tongues like Danish, Dutch and Greek that are

spoken by fewer people. He and other priests denounced this as an outrage.

"Greek is the mother of European languages," he said. "More than 10 percent

of their words are rooted in Greek." And, addressing far-off opponents, he

added, "Let them remember that even the word Europe is Greek."

GRAPHIC: Photo: In the days leading up to Orthodox Easter, celebrated yesterday

and today, the Greek Orthodox Church has reached out to Orthodox Christians in

Serbia. A priest baptized a baby at an Athens church. (Alain Kazinierakis)

Copyright 1995 Xinhua News Agency

The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These

materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The

Xinhua News Agency.

APRIL 19, 1995, WEDNESDAY

LENGTH: 199 words

HEADLINE: fear of aids cuts abortions in greece

DATELINE: athens, april 19; ITEM NO: 0419220

BODY:

fear of aids and the increased use of condoms have apparently led to a 50

percent drop in the number of abortions in greece. a report by the greek family

planning organization, which was released here today, said that women had

apparently restricted the use of abortion as a method of birth control. "fear

of the disease led many to understand the need for prophylactics," the report

said. according to the report, the total number of abortions nation-wide had

fallen to 150,000 in 1993, which is said was a 50 percent drop. it did not

provide the year for which the comparison was made but indicated it was over a

10-year period. independent figures from the early 1980s show that there were

more than 250,000 abortions a year in the country. the report also found that

condoms were chosen by 50 percent of women as their primary method of birth

control in 1994, as compared to 36 percent in 1984. the report said most of the

women who chose prophylactics as a method of birth control and for protection

from the aids virus were over the age of 23. "prophylactics have not become as

widespread among younger people," it added without providing figures on women in

that age group.

Copyright 1995 Xinhua News Agency

The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These

materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The

Xinhua News Agency.

APRIL 21, 1995, FRIDAY

LENGTH: 176 words

HEADLINE: d t 1300 bc- greece -tribe eaed042107hke -- greece to assist

alexandrian tribe in pakistan

DATELINE: athens, april 21; ITEM NO: 0421242

BODY:

two greek teachers unions have decided to set up a cultural center in the

hindu kush in northern pakistan to help preserve the way of life of a tribe

believed to be descendants of the army of alexander the great. the 5,000

members of the kalash tribe inhabit an area once part of the ancient greek

kingdom of bactria, founded by alexander's invading army. the tribe's language

reportedly has greek roots and is fairly easily understood by greeks, while

their dances are very similar to traditional dances of macedonia and thrace.

their attire has macedonian elements. despite harsh living conditions, the

tribe, which worships the twelve olympian gods, insists on remaining in the

region. a group of greek teachers recently visited the area and the tribe asked

them for help in preserving their customs and manners. two greek teachers

unions responded to the request by deciding to set up a cultural center there.

the center is expected to open in august to provide the tribe with language and

dance lessons and organize lectures and exhibitions.