Antenna: News in English (PM), 98-01-28

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From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.gr

Last Updated: Wednesday, 28-Jan-98 12:01:07

CONTENTS

[01] Turkey

[02] Stefanopoulos

[03] Strikes

[04] Danielle Mitterrand

[05] Weather

[06] Basketball

[01] Turkey

In response to a warning from a Greek gunboat, the Turkish vessels then left the area.

Turkey nearly sparked a war in 1996 when it landed troops on the Greek rocks of Imia, claiming them as their own.

The culprits in the latest episode sailed from the port of Axaz opposite the island of Rhodes. Violating Greek seas between Kos and Kalolimnos to the north, they approached Imia.

After the first shots were fired, the Greek vessel Navmachos, sailing in the area, informed the Turkish captains they had violated the rules of inoffensive trespass, which require a steady speed and course and no military activities.

Ignoring the Greek warning, the Turkish boats continued to fire rounds intot he air for several minutes.

Shortly thereafter, though, they left the area and returned to port.

The Greek ambassador in Ankara lodged a strong protest with Turkish officials over the incident.

[02] Stefanopoulos

Theodoros Pangalos said Ankara must learn to take its differences to court, and stop flexing its military muscle to get its way.

At the same time, the leader of New Democracy believes the Pasok government lacks a strategy for

handling Turkey.

During his meeting with the nation's president Tuesday, Kostas Karamanlis accused Pangalos of showing a deferential face to an aggressive Turkey.

Foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos urged Turkey Tuesday to accept that the world is living in a new era, and accept the international court as the proper forum to resolve differnces with other countries.

Kostas Karamanlis told president Kostis Stephanopoulos Tuesday he disagrees with the idea of sending matters related to Greece's sovereign rights into arbitration.

That was in response to the foreign minister's earlier call in a newspaper interview, for Turkey to take any differences it has with Greece to the international court.

Many of Ankara's differences amount to claims on Greek air and sea space and rocks in the Aegean.

The government says it has no intention of accepting Turkey's claims as bilateral issues, but that the proper forum for any demands Turkey insists on making, is the court.

Nonetheless New Democracy says Pangalos's interview - which expressly calls on Turkey to take all its differences to the cout - is a move in a dangerous direction.

After meeting with the president, Karamanlis called on the prime minister to clarify whether or not Pangalos's statements are in accordance with the government's Turkish policy.

"If the government has already decided to move the way Pangalos suggests", said Karamanlis, "that means things most Greeks oppose have been prearranged. It also means the government has assumed huge national and historical responsibilities".

He added that if the foreign minister's statements are a part of a show of goodwill, then they are

ill-advised. An intention to show goodwill can't be an excuse for exposing Greece's sovereign rights to risk, Karamanlis explained. And when there's no response from Ankara, the only thing Pangalos succeeds in doing is making Greece appear weak and deferential, which encourages Turkey to step up its pressure on Greece.

[03] Strikes

The unions are resisting a government bill rider that will allow government legislators to make many decisions concerning the workplace that have heretofore been a product of collective bargaining procedures.

What the government wants more control over now is overtime, bonuses, and staff deployment in financially-troubled public sector enterprises, namely: Olympic airways, the post office, and the buses and trains.

The prime minister said Monday that it's time to take a close look to see if any money can be saved, and how.

Reiterating the government's determination to push ahead with its plans over union objections, the development minister said Tuesady that public sector companies need to be turned around. "Society spends hundreds of millions to keep them afloat", explained Vaso Papandreou, "it's vital that they be rationalised".

Appearing to distance herself slightly from the prime minister and Papantoniou, Papandreou added that there may be diferent ways of going about the task. What's important is that the task is carried out.

Papantoniou altered his bill to state explicitly that the new measure will apply only to troubled industries, and is a one-off deal.

The government is offering the unions six months of dialogue to try to work out a new way of doing things in indebted industries that both sides can live with.

Unappeased, transport workers say there will be more hardship for commuters if the government doesn't back off.

[04] Danielle Mitterrand

Mitterrand is in Athens for an address at the Andreas Papandreou Strategic and Developmental Studies Institute in Athens.

At a press conference Tuesday, she lashed out at Turkey for its killing of the Kurds.

"I know many Kurds in France who were able to escape the slaughters carried out in their villages", she said. "But there are others who stayed behind, and are suffering under dictatorship".

Greek president Kostis Stephanopoulos told Mitterrand the Greek people admire her not only because of her connection to her late husband, but mainly because of her personal struggle in the cause of human rights.

Danielle Mitterrand also met with prime minister Kostas Simitis.

[05] Weather

Snow anywhere near Athens is always a big story. Not so in other parts of Greece, where snowfall is normal in winter.

Many parts of northern Greece got more of the white stuff than some people would care to walk or drive through. Others didn't mind at all, welcoming the winter white.

[06] Basketball

It's neck and neck in the first half, as Franki King leads Panionios and Milan Tomich does the good work for the visitors.

The half ends with Panionios up by a point, and the battle continues after the break. Giorgos Kargoutis makes the difference for the home team, which hands Olympiakos its third loss of the season.

And with that loss, Olympiakos drops into a first- place tie in the standings with its perennial rival Panathinaikos.

Off the court, a Turkish team has been penalised because of the way its fans treated visiting Olympiakos last week.

Fans in Ankara threw rocks, bricks - even pieces of metal at the Greek players before, during, and after a European championship league game between the defending European champs and the home team, PTT.

Three Olympiakos players were slightly injured in the episodes, which conitnued even in the locker room after the contest was over.

The International Basketball Federation FIBA has slapped a 60 thousand dollar fine on PTT, and the team will also have to play its next two European championship games before an empty house.

If events like those last week recur, FIBA may bar the team from European competitions permanently.

(c) ANT1 Radio 1998

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