Cyprus News Agency: News in English (AM), 98-06-28

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] Greek President visits Nicosia Green Line

[02] Greek President received Famagusta broken key

[03] Greek President wishes for Cyprus' re-unification

1020:CYPPRESS:01

[01] Greek President visits Nicosia Green Line

Shortly before departing from Nicosia on the last day of his official visit to Cyprus, Stefanopoulos visited the so-called Green Line dividing the island's capital in two, escorted by Nicosia Mayor Lellos Demetriades.

Asked to describe his feelings, Stefanopoulos said "we share the same feelings that Cypriots have all these years".

He also expressed the hope that the demarcation line will cease to exist and for "peaceful communication in the island".

Greek Foreign Minister, Theodoros Pangalos, and Greek Foreign Under- Secretary, Yiannos Kranidiotis, also visited the Green line along with President Stefanopoulos.

CNA AA/MCH/RG/1998

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1300:CYPPRESS:02

[02] Greek President received Famagusta broken key

"The ghost of Famagusta haunts those who created it", the Greek President said, gazing at Famagusta from Dherynia situated on the demarcation line only metres away from the Turkish-occupied town.

Presenting Stefanopoulos with the broken key, Famagusta Mayor Andreas Pouyiouros said: "we are saddened because the Turkish occupation prevents us from giving you a tour of our town, which is only a couple of steps away".

The Greek President said he was honoured to receive the broken golden key of Famagusta, noting, however, that he was also saddened and angered by the fact that this was forbidden territory.

"It is forbidden as a result of injustice, military violence and occupation", he said, stressing that the occupation regime has no right to prohibit entrance.

Stefanopoulos said more people should visit Dherynia in order to understand how people feel when the see their houses but cannot enter them.

"Perhaps then even those who feel they bear no responsibility (for the Cyprus tragedy) would realise how responsible they are for bearing this injustice", he added.

Gazing at the Turkish-occupied town, described by many as a "ghost town", Stefanopoulos remarked: "Famagusta's ghost haunts those who created it".

The Greek President was also presented with the golden keys of Dherynia and Paralimni.

Speaking at Paralimni, where he also met with the young wife and child of Tassos Isaak, who was brutally murdered by Turkish "Grey Wolves" extremists two summers ago, Stefanopoulos said: "There are more Greeks here than anywhere else".

He also called for "prudence and a continuous struggle for a peaceful solution to the Cyprus problem, so that Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, Latins and Maronites can live peacefully together".

CNA EC/MCH/RG/1998

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1340:CYPPRESS:03

[03] Greek President wishes for Cyprus' re-unification

Receiving the golden key of the southern coastal town of Larnaca, Stefanopoulos said the island is "full of love, expectations and hope" and expressed the wish that Cyprus will soon be "independent and sovereign again".

He said that on his last day in Cyprus he would like to wish for "uncertainty, grief and distress, killings and mourning to cease and for freedom to prevail".

"No one can deny Cyprus its right to become once again united, independent and non-aligned", the Greek President stressed.

On his part, Larnaca Mayor, George Lykourgos, pointed out that President Stefanopoulos leads the struggle for justice, adding that he is "a capable leader of Hellenism".

CNA EC/MCH/RG/1998

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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