Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 01-07-16

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece committed to organize the best Games possible, Simitis says

[02] Press and Media minister calls for a strong PASOK with a strong Simitis

[03] Leading PASOK official says party to sink or swim at congress

[04] Most PASOK members want a change of tack, minister says

[05] Minister contrasts opinion polls with election results

[06] Patriarch calls for peace between Balkan Christians, Moslems

[07] France honors Greece for role in WWII Normandy landing

[08] Greek found murdered in Istanbul

[09] Noted journalist dies

[10] Errors of the past should not be repeated, President Clerides says on occasion of Coup anniversary

[01] Greece committed to organize the best Games possible, Simitis says

MOSCOW, 16/07/2001 (ANA)

Simitis arrived in Moscow on Sunday afternoon for a three-day visit, at the invitation of Russian Olympic Committee Chairman Vitali Smirnov, to attend the IOC's assembly, which elected Beijing to host the 2008 Olympic Games, while on Tuesday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to the assembly Simitis voiced his support for the points made by IOC Coordination Committee Jacques Rogge and Athens 2004 Olympic Games Organizing Committee (ATHOC) President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki during their addresses to the assembly regarding the Athens Games.

"As the prime minister of Greece, I would like to concur with what they said, and to express to you the full and complete commitment of our government toward the success of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games," he said.

"The progress we made is the result of the total commitment and the excellent cooperation between the Greek government and the IOC and the progress made has the full support of the Greek people," he said.

Simitis spoke of the interministerial committee that was set up under his chairmanship to oversee the progress of the Games in Athens and alluded to the 1.5 trillion drachmas budgeted for the infrastructure projects and the preparations of the Games.

He also spoke of the actions of the government, which included cooperation pacts with 37 countries to guarantee the security of the Games and the necessary legislation, which will "allow us to speed up preparation for the Games".

The object of this effort, Simitis added, is to organize the most unique Games possible and on a "human scale. This is our commitment to the Greek people ... and to you, the members of the IOC and we thank you for the support, which you afford us".

"We believe that the Games in Athens, which will be safe and successful, will leave behind an legacy unsurpassed for many generations and for the International Olympic Movement, as well as for the Greek people," Simitis said.

He stressed that Greece would continue to its constructive cooperation with the IOC in the same friendly spirit with the new president as it did with outgoing President Samaranch.

"The Olympic spirit has a central space in Greek heritage and the Athens 2004 Games is the key to Greece's future. As the Games are returning to their birthplace, we will strengthen the Olympic spirit and modern Greece will showcase all that is noble in the Olympic movement today. Some 2,500 years ago the history of the Olympic spirit began in Ancient Olympia. In 2004 we will once again make history," Simitis said.

During his address, Simitis congratulated the people of Beijing for winning the bid to organize the 2008 Games and called outgoing IOC President Samaranch a friend of Greece to always be remembered.

On his part, Samaranch said that the ATHOC report on the Athens 2004 Games and the address on the subject by Rogge showed that preparations "are moving forward very well and are on the right track".

"ATHOC with its president Gianna Angelopoulos are doing an excellent job and we are very happy by our cooperation with your government," Samaranch said, responding to Simitis.

"The Games were always a mix of sports and culture, but in Greece they have a third dimension, that of history, the Olympic history, which belongs to your country. I am sure that in 2004 you will present fantastic Games to the world," he added.

During his presence in the IOC assembly, Simitis was flanked by Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos.

Simitis told Greek reporters afterwards that his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin would include bilateral relations and possible cooperation toward stability in the Balkans.

Simitis also said that he would have a meeting with the new IOC president whom he intends to invite to Greece.

Athens 2004 Olympics preparations going well, organizer says: The Athens organizers of the 2004 Olympics have made good progress in preparations for the event, rectifying earlier shortcomings, the committee's president, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Moscow on Sunday.

"Our team assumed its task a year ago, and our progress so far has been successful. Whatever had gone off course is now on the right track. We are overcoming the delays of the past ... We are gaining ground continually and nearing our target," Daskalaki said.

Laying emphasis on sound results from the Athens committee's marketing and licensing drive, she also pointed out that the sites for 34 Olympics venues had been decided, with construction launched for six of the projects, along with that of the Olympic Village.

In addition, the organizers had received 20,000 applications for volunteer work at the Games.

Asked by a reporter to comment on elections to be held in Moscow on Monday for a new IOC president, Daskalaki said: "We are ready to work closely with whoever is elected."

Rogge gives account of Athens 2004 preparations to IOC General Assembly: International Olympic Committee Coordinating Committee chairman Jacques Rogge, lauded Greece's progress in organizing the Athens 2004 Olympic Games on Sunday.

Rogge, one of five candidates for the post of outgoing IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, discussed in his address to the IOC General Assembly, Greece efforts to organize secure Games by budgeting to pay out 600 million dollars in international security contractors, calling Athens, however, "one of the most secure cities" in the world.

He called for infrastructure projects to be completed in time and for Greeks to change their attitude in "buying their tickets at the box office", stressing the need to promote ticket sales through the Internet.

[02] Press and Media minister calls for a strong PASOK with a strong Simitis

Athens, 14/07/2001 (ANA)

"There is no strong PASOK without a strong Simitis, as there is no strong Simitis without a strong PASOK," Reppas said, adding that "PASOK is combining different opinions, it combines many social forces and for this reason it is a party of the majority".

He strongly supported the reelection of Simitis to the party's presidency in the congress scheduled for October, saying that if there will be another candidate, "he should be an agent of a policy radically different (than that presented by Simitis), so as to justify the alternative candidacy".

He stood against the possibility of a number of blank votes in the congress in the event that Simitis runs unopposed, stressing that "resorting to casting a blank ballot is not fitting, because it states refusal and a purposeful refusal at that, during a battle".

Reppas also stood against the election by the congress of the party's secretary, adding that such an election would lead the party to having two leaders.

The minister also said that the results of the opinion polls showing main opposition New Democracy in the lead are nothing new, recalling similar results before the last elections in April, when PASOK was reelected.

[03] Leading PASOK official says party to sink or swim at congress

Athens, 14/07/2001 (ANA)

"We will risk everything - victory or a definitive defeat," Skandalidis told the Sunday Kathimerini newspaper.

At the same time, the veteran PASOK official said he was hopeful that the outcome would be favorable as the party displayed healthy reflexes when faced by a major dilemma.

Another critical time for the party would be the beginning of September, when Prime Minister Costas Simitis makes his annual economic policy speech, signaling the way after the autumn congress.

Skandalidis, who will not stand for re-election as secretary, also charged that Simitis' model of government was outmoded and that structural changes were needed in the government coupled with radical changes in personnel.

At the same time, he pledged to back Simitis, the party's president, at the congress, "not as a hostage of PASOK but as the leader of the party in the new era."

"It would be catastrophic and suicidal to change a party president that has a public mandate to rule for another three years," he added.

Skandalidis said he would propose at the congress that PASOK’s rank and file should choose the party president.

Finally, he commented that recent opinion polls that showed PASOK in an adverse light were indicators of "a diseased climate and a poor image of PASOK."

[04] Most PASOK members want a change of tack, minister says

Athens, 14/07/2001 (ANA)

"The great majority of PASOK people are asking for a change of tack ... but they also want to see unity everywhere, in the government and in the party," Papoutsis, also a member of PASOK's executive bureau, told the Sunday Ethnos newspaper.

"A reorientation of our policy is needed in areas where negligence and poor handling have emerged," he said.

Referring to the call for a policy change in PASOK, Papoutsis urged responsible members to attend the party's congress in October:

"Staying away from the congress would reinforce our bad side," he said.

Among factors contributing to an adverse image for the government were a poor performance by the Athens Stock Exchange and tense relations with the Church, the minister added.

[05] Minister contrasts opinion polls with election results

Athens, 14/07/2001 (ANA)

"From 1998 to 2000 the opinion polls were adverse for PASOK, but the public itself conducted the final poll in April, 2000," Efthymiou told reporters, asked to comment on the recent surveys.

"The polls will be reversed by PASOK's political initiatives," he added.

On April 9, 2000, the ruling party won national elections, remaining in power.

The minister was replying to reporters' questions on the sidelines of a PASOK youth meeting held on the island of Crete.

[06] Patriarch calls for peace between Balkan Christians, Moslems

ISTANBUL, 16/07/2001 (ANA - A. Kourkoulas)

Vartholomeos told a vespers service he led in the Cappadocia region of Turkey that clashes between the two religious groups in their history "are not due to religious differences, but to other reasons," which he defined as political.

"This is also happening today in the Balkan region, where some are trying to present the conflict as a clash of religions, as a clash between Christians and Moslems, but things are not like this," he told the congregation.

Vartholomeos outlined initiatives the Patriarchate had taken for dialogue between the two religions, including a proclamation signed in 1994 after an inter-faith meeting in Istanbul.

"Fanaticism and fundamentalism are not blessed by any religion, and every war in the name of a religion is a war against all religion, he added.

It is the third time in two years that the Patriarch has visited Cappadocia, which was a center of Orthodox Christianity in eastern Asia Minor during the Byzantine era.

[07] France honors Greece for role in WWII Normandy landing

Athens, 14/07/2001 (ANA)

On behalf of his country, French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert on Saturday received nine Greek veterans and the relatives of dead seamen who took part in the landing in a ceremony timed to coincide with France's national day on July 14.

"Without the men of June 6, 1944 I would not be here tonight. We owe peace to those men. I am saying thank you to Greece - France will never forget you," Ripert told the ceremony held in the grounds of the French School of Archaeology in Athens.

In a message, French President Jacques Chirac welcomed Greece's contribution to the final victory against fascism.

Among dignitaries present at the ceremony was National Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos, who said that Greece had refused to fatalistically accept the Nazi yoke and had played its part in the war.

Ripert added that Greek Cypriots should also be honored for their action in World War II.

In a message, Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos noted that it was the first time France had bestowed a special honor on Greece's Normandy veterans.

On D-day, three Greek warships - the Tombazis, Kriezis and St. Spyridon - took part in the landing by the allied forces. Hundreds of Greek soldiers and four commandeered merchant ships joined the forces of 17 other nations in the Normandy landing to liberate France.

[08] Greek found murdered in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, 16/07/2001 (ANA - A. Kourkoulas)

The victim has been tentatively identified as Dimitrios Roumbos, reported missing by his family several days ago.

Greece's General Consulate in Istanbul is monitoring the case, according to diplomatic sources.

[09] Noted journalist dies

Athens, 14/07/2001 (ANA)

Born in 1937, Bistikas held positions including director of the Kathimerini daily newspaper (1989-1990), news direct of ERT-1 state TV (1977-1980), and press officer of the late president of the republic, Constantine Karamanlis (1980-1983).

Expressing condolences were the Athens Union of Journalists and the leader of the main opposition New Democracy party, Costas Karamanlis.

[10] Errors of the past should not be repeated, President Clerides says on occasion of Coup anniversary

NICOSIA, 16/07/2001 (CNA/ANA)

Speaking after a special commemoration service held Sunday in Nicosia for those killed during the 1974 military coup against the democratically elected President Archbishop Makarios which was followed five days later by Turkish invasion, President Clerides said "we must persist in our principles and show enough skillfulness to overcome this difficult time".

The wailing of sirens was heard at 8.20 local time, the very time when the coup occurred and special commemoration services were held in all churches in the free areas of the Republic and prayers were said for those killed during the military coup, while at the same time leadership and people stress their determination not to accept the de facto division of the island.

A church service was held at Saint John Cathedral in Nicosia, officiated by the Primate of the Church of Cyprus Archbishop Chrysostomos and attended by President Glafcos Clerides.

On July 15 1974 a military coup engineered by the Junta then ruling Greece, toppled the democratically elected President of Republic, Archbishop Makarios. Five days later Turkey invaded Cyprus and occupied 37 percent of the island's territory, forcibly uprooting some 200.000 Greek Cypriots, making one third of the island population, from their homes and properties.

Cyprus House: In a special session of the House of Representatives held Saturday, on the occasion of the anniversaries of the coup and Turkish invasion, parliamentary parties denounced the 1974 military coup against the democratically elected government of Cyprus which was followed five days later by the Turkish invasion which resulted in the illegal occupation of 37 percent of the Republic's territory and its de facto division.

After a minute's silence in memory of the people killed during the coup and Turkish invasion, House President Demetris Christofias, taking the floor said that its about time that Turkey abandons its intransigent position on Cyprus and agree to a comprehensive settlement of the island's political problem, based on UN resolutions and high level agreements reached between the two sides in 1977 and 1979.

He added that despite Greece's attempts for rapprochement with Turkey, the latter climaxes its threats against Cyprus.

Christofias pointed out the need for an in depth analysis of the developments and Turkey's position on Cyprus, the behavior of the international factor and the island's accession course to the EU, by the National Council (Cyprus top advisory body to the President on the Cyprus problem) in order to chart a comprehensive strategy.

Political party leaders and representatives also addressing the House's special session called for national unity and for the re-unification of the island and a solution which would secure the rights of all communities on the island.

In January Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash abandoned the UN-led proximity talks, which started in December 1999, declaring them dead and demanding recognition of his self-styled regime in Turkish occupied Cyprus before he returns to the dialogue.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied one third of its territory.

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