A.N.A. Bulletin, 17/04/96

From: "Greek Press & Information Office, Ottawa Canada" <grnewsca@sympatico.ca>

Athens News Agency Directory

ATHENS NEWS AGENCY BULLETIN (863), April 17, 1996

Greek Press & Information Office

Ottawa, Canada

E-Mail Address: grnewsca@sympatico.ca

CONTENTS

[1] US agrees with Athens' efforts to resolve tension in Aegean

US President Bill Clinton has said he agrees with Athens' position for a solution to disputes and differences in the Aegean, in a letter addressed to the leadership of the International Coordinating Committee-Justice for Cyprus last week.

"The Greek government has also urged that all territorial disputes in the Aegean be settled without force or the threat of force. This is a position with which we strongly agree. Together with the European Union, we are currently working with both Greece and Turkey to find a mutually agreeable formula for addressing both the Imia ownership question and the other Aegean issues currently in dispute between these two key NATO allies... I am firmly committed to helping Greece in its efforts to settle peacefully its differences with Turkey," the US president's letter reads.

The White House was responding to a letter by the Justice for Cyprus committee, which voiced its concern over last January's Imia crisis. Mr. Clinton also reiterates the White House's backing for recourse to the International Court of Justice at T he Hague concerning what he calls the "complex" issue of Imia's ownership, due to dispute over interpretation and validity of certain documents.

Finally, the US president refers to an initiative Washington is planning for the Cyprus issue, expressing a hope that the US effort will lead to a peaceful solution.

"We believe a solution to the long-standing Cyprus problem will also help to reduce tensions and pave the way for reconciliation between Greece and Turkey. We are planning an initiative on Cyprus this year that, we hope, will at long last produce a peaceful settlement on the beleaguered island."

[2] Greek culture ministry delegation attends opening of King Priam's treasure exhibition

A Greek culture ministry delegation, headed by Secretary-General George Thomas, arrived here Monday in order to attend the opening of King Priam's Treasure exhibition at the Pushkin Museum yesterday.

Yesterday, Mr. Thomas also met with Russian scholars of Greek, members of the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Literature of Lomonosov University, which the culture ministry has provided with financial assistance and books.

The delegation plans to visit also other museums and the city of Zagorsk before returning to Athens on Friday.

[3] New British ambassador to Athens meets Greek reporters

The new British Ambassador to Athens, Sir Michael John Llewelyn Smith, who is due to assume his duties on April 26, held an informal meeting here with Greek journalists yesterday.

Sir Michael avoided commenting on the British government's policies on matters directly concerning Greece, and said that he will go to Athens with great expectations and with the aim of helping improve bilateral policies and commercial relations.

The new ambassador has studied ancient and modern Greece, and also lived in the country for a short while writing his thesis on the subject of Asia Minor. He was advisor and consul general in the British Embassy in Athens from 1980 to 1983, and speaks Greek.

[4] Yilmaz: Greek conditions 'vague'

Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said yesterday that Greek positions, following Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis' visit to the US, remained "vague", adding that "unless clear political conditions are created in Greece, shaping conditions for dialogue will be difficult." Speaking to the Turkish media while visiting Azerbaijan on comments made after Mr. Simitis' visit to Washington, Mr. Yilmaz reiterated that Ankara could not quit the position by which the extension of Greek territorial waters in the Aegean was a "casus belli."

"If they insist on this condition, the other conditions will be meaningless. Consequently, I cannot see the climate as being suitable for assessing the statements of the Greek side," he added.

However, Turkish media analysts stressed that important factors were contained in the recent Greek positions which could be utilized.

[5] Communist Party expresses doubts over outcome of Simitis US visit

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said yesterday the results of Prime Minister Costas Simitis' visit to the US "can only intensify the concern of the Greek people over what was really agreed in Washington and on the position and role of our country in t he region."

The present-day PASOK government "is giving everything to the Americans for our country to constitute a vehicle of American policy in the Balkans and in our wider region," a KKE announcement said. Statements by the Americans confirmed that "the status of limited national sovereignty in the Aegean is being consolidated officially" and that Washington is observing equal distances between Greece and Turkey, it added.

"There should be no illusions on the Americans' role in the region. Submission to their appetites is leading mathematically to the violation of our territorial integrity and to serious dangers for stability and peace in the region," it said.

[6] Tsohatzopoulos to attend conference on local Gov't

Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos left for Copenhagen yesterday afternoon, where he is to participate in an international conference on European local government.

[7] Executive Bureau to discuss possible changes to party charter this week

PASOK's Executive Bureau is to discuss changes to the ruling party's charter which will be proposed to the party's July congress, at a meeting on Thursday.

The Thursday meeting will be followed by a meeting of the Executive Bureau with the participation of Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who will brief the members on his recent contacts in the United States and on the latest developments in national issues.

PASOK's Central Committee Secretary Costas Skandalidis and Justice Minister Evangelos Venizelos spoke of matters concerning changes to the party's charter in two separate interviews published in yesterday's Ethnos and Ta Nea newspapers respectively.

Both men appeared to support the concept of "dual leadership" (one person as a party leader and another as prime minister), while Mr. Skandalidis suggested six conditions in a proposed agreement between PASOK members.

Among the conditions Mr. Skandalidis suggested are: elections to be held at the end of the current four-year term with Costas Simitis as the candidate for the premiership; for no-one to consider themselves the exclusive party representative; lists of deputy candidates to be decided on by the party through preliminary elections and to be ratified by the Central Committee; and for any Vice-President to be elected by an open convention attended by 6,000 representatives.

Mr. Skandalidis said that if his conditions are unanimously accepted, "the prime minister has no reason to be a candidate for the party leadership at this stage."

In his interview with the 'Ta Nea' newspaper, Justice Minister Evangelos Venizelos said that the PASOK congress must answer the question of who will be the leader of the party vying for the people's mandate.

Mr. Venizelos did not rule out dual leadership, although he set the condition of political positions having been clarified in order to ensure unity and political reliability.

Speaking before his departure for Copenhagen yesterday, Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said it is logical for proposals to be submitted during the party congress in order to contribute to PASOK's unified course.

Mr. Tsohatzopoulos stressed the need for unity within the party and the need for progressive policies which will deal with current problems. The minister said he did not know who would be the candidates for the party's vice-presidency.

Replying to a question on negotiations for the name of FYROM, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said that the government will continue the negotiations without feeling pressured, and without any views being imposed upon it. He added that the government hopes there will be an acceptable solution to the name issue.

[8] 35 die on roads over Easter break

The death toll from traffic accidents during the Easter holiday exodus rose to 35 yesterday.

Police reported 403 injuries, 60 serious, from the 275 traffic accidents recorded throughout the country between Thursday and yesterday morning.

[9] Blast rips through Supreme Court prosecutor's home

A powerful explosion ripped through an apartment belonging to Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Avraam Stathopoulos in the Zographou Athens district shortly before 8:30 last night. According to the police, there were no injuries, but the bomb, believed to have been activated by a timing device, destroyed almost the entire floor on which the apartment was situated. Mr. Stathopoulos was not in the apartment at the time of the explosion.

[10] Niarchos, last of the great shipping magnates, dies at 86

Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos - considered one of the richest men on earth, with a fortune estimated in excess of four billion dollars - died on Monday in Switzerland at the age of 86, following a long illness.

Descended from a poor farming family from a village near Sparti, Niarchos followed in his father's footsteps and emigrated to America at the age of 20, where he gradually built up his shipping empire under the Panamanian flag.

He married five times: his third wife Evgenia Livanos bore him four children while his fourth wife Charlotte Ford, the daughter of the automobile magnate Henry Ford, bore him a daughter. Evgenia Livanos, to whom he returned in 1967 after his two-year interlude with Charlotte Ford, was found dead under suspicious circumstances on his private island of Spetsopoula in May 1970.

He married Evgenia's sister, Tina, the ex-wife of his great rival Aristotle Onassis, in 1971: she, too, was found dead, of an overdose of barbiturates, four years later.

Niarchos leaves behind a fleet that is one third of what it amounted to in the 1970s, when it numbered 80 ships, totaling 3.7 million tons.

His deteriorating health and iron grip on his shipping empire permitted very few serious investments in recent years: the only recent such investment was the purchase of the 290,000 ton 'Ocean Guardian' from Amoco in 1993, for 88 million dollars.

His funeral is expected to take place in Switzerland.

[11] British documentary supports return of Elgin Marbles to Greece

British television's Channel 4 was due to air a one-hour documentary on the Elgin Marbles last night.

The documentary, which argues in favor of the return of the Marbles to Greece, is produced and presented by William Stewart, who also presents a daily game show on Channel Four, in which he said he purposely includes questions on the subject.

The program presented the history of the friezes' removal from the Parthenon, the manner in which they were obtained by the British Museum and the public conflict over Lord Elgin's decision to transport them to England.

The producer argues in favor of returning the Marbles to Athens in 2001, on the 200th anniversary of their theft, under the condition that the new Acropolis Museum is constructed, that Greece covers the cost of their transportation and that it allows copies to be kept in the British Museum.

The documentary includes an interview with President of the Greek Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos, who explains the importance of the Marbles to the Greek nation.

Shadow National Heritage Secretary Mark Fisher also spoke on the documentary, suggesting discussions with the Greek government, while National Heritage Secretary Lord Inglewood repeated the British government's view that the Marbles should remain in England.

Mr. Stewart said that the British Museum refused to discuss the matter with him.

[12] Railways workers demand added security in wake of Thessaloniki bomb blast

Greek Railways Organization (OSE) workers are considering industrial action in northern Greece to demand additional security measures at the central Thessaloniki railway station.

Federation of Railway Workers of Northern Greece President Savvas Petridis told the Athens News Agency (ANA) the board would hold a special meeting today to discuss recent developments in the wake of an explosion in a wagon coming from Bulgaria on Sunday afternoon.

Mr. Petridis said that at the meeting the presidium would propose an open rally at Thessaloniki railway station on April 19.

He said railway workers in northern Greece would demand a series of measures, the most important of which would be the fencing off of the railway station, the creation of observation towers, increased lighting, enlarged surveillance groups and the removal of disused wagons.

Police are continuing their investigations to locate and arrest the perpetrators of Sunday's bomb attack but, according to press reports, no substantive results have been achieved so far.

[13] Development ministry tries to keep a lid on rising fuel prices, meets with petrol station owners, firms

Development Under-secretary Michalis Chrysohoidis yesterday held successive meetings with representatives of petrol station owners and fuel trading companies on the problems in the market resulting from continually rising international prices for fuel.

Petrol station owners said the higher prices charged by refineries - three drachmas per liter of gasoline - would also mean higher prices for the consumer.

On Thursday, the development ministry imposed ceilings on retail prices throughout the country, except Athens and Thessaloniki where competition is considered to be at a satisfactory level.

A New Democracy party statement said last night that the government appeared determined to proceed to a new price rise for fuels on the pretext of the change in the international price of oil and the parity of the drachma.

A rise in the price of gasoline "concealed additional taxation of seven drachmas at a time when petroleum trading companies increased their profits year by year," the statement said.

[14] Foreign exchange from shipping up, ministry says

Foreign exchange revenues from shipping reached $2.19 billion in the period January-December 1995, marking an 11.9 per cent increase over the corresponding period in 1994, the merchant marine ministry announced yesterday.

Shipping revenues in the month of December stood at $202 million, marking a 0.2 per cent decrease from $202.4 million in December 1994.

End of English language section.