Antenna: News in English (PM), 98-07-22

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

Last Updated: Wednesday, 22-Jul-98 23:07:23

CONTENTS

[01] Giovanoudas has been expelled from N.D

[02] Kosovo

[03] Cyprus-S300

[04] Fires

[05] Basketball

[01] Giovanoudas has been expelled from N.D

The move is in response to the claims made by a 25- year-old woman that Giovanoudas beat her during a lover's quarrel.

The decision to expel Varsamis Giovanoudas from the party came as no surprise to most people.

For over a week, the MP has been embroiled in a scandal concerning the allegations of a woman who claims she was having an affair with him.

25-year-old Maria Katavati maintains that Giovanoudas beat her during a lovers' quarrel. She also claims the MP gave her copies of the documents finalising his divorce from his wife in 1996.

Katavati made a statement to the prosecutor Wednesday, but her lawyer says it's way too early yet to say whether or not she'll press charges.

Giovanoudas says the whole thing is a frame up, the evidence forged. It's true that the divorce papers are phoney; the question is, who forged them, and why?

The MP expresses confidence that his name will be cleared in court, "the truth will shine through" in what he claims is a conspiracy.

New Democracy's file on the case contains other information: there's a letter from Katavati to the party leader's office, in which she complains about Giovanoudas's behaviour.

There's also a letter written by a leading member of New Democracy alleging that Giovanoudas had another affair, in 1991.

The MP says that, like the rest of the story, is fiction.

And there's another twist to the story: Dimitra

Ganatsiou, the wife of the eyewitness to the alleged beating of Maria Katavati, maintains that her husband was having an on-off affair with Katavati.

If the disciplinary committee's decision concerning Giovanoudas was expected, there is consternation in the ranks over the case of another MP, Gerasimos Giakoumatos. After Giakoumatos's house was robbed recently, he launched a strong verbal assault on the public order minister, saying he was incapable of defending the public from criminals. Calling for him to resign, Giakoumatos even brandished a pistol in parliament.

Like Giovanoudas, Giakoumatos was hauled up before the party's ethics committee Tuesday. But while Giovanoudas was sent to the disciplinary committe, the ethics committee merely ordered Giakoumatos to surrender his gun licence and step down as chairman of a party committee.

Ethics committee chairman Miltiades Evert was surprised when party leader Kostas Karamanlis overrode the the ethics decision Tuesday night, ordering Giakoumatos to appear before the disciplinary committee along with Giovanoudas.

Evert said that if Karamanlis was determined to see Giakoumatos hauled up before the disciplinary, then he should have done so before the matter ever went to the ethics committee.

The party leader responds that the ethics committee hearing was necessary, since there were ethical issues involved in Giakoumatos's behaviour.

On Wednesday, Giakoumatos received a nine month suspension from the party.

He, like Giovanoudas, says he accepts the penalty he's received.

[02] Kosovo

Klaus Klinkel says there's no indication that the two sides are about to sit down to settle their differences peacefully.

The battle that raged for four days in the town of Orahovac appeared to be over Wednesday. Ethnic- Albanian forces withdrew from their last positions in the strategically-importnat town early Wednesday morning.

Moderate ethnic-Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova has acknowledged the growth of what he called the liberation struggle. That reference is seen by observers as an opening to the militant Kosovo Liberation Army, which wants nothing short of independence for the Serbian province, with its Albanian majority of 90 per cent.

In the West, there is concern that the conflict could spill over into Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where a third of the population is Albanian.

Twice since Saturday, Serbian shells have landed on Albanian territory, reminding everyone that borders may not be enough to contain the conflict.

[03] Cyprus-S300

Turkey has threatened to attack Cyprus if it deploys Russian antii-aircraft missiles as planned this autumn.

With the S-300 missiles due to arrive in Cyprus sometime in the autumn, President Kostis Stephanopoulos didn't mince words when explaining how Greece would react to a Turkish assault on free Cyprus.

"An attack would meet the proper response", he said. "If Turkey were to strike Cyprus, could

Greece sit by and do nothing as it did during the 1974 invasion because of circumstances".

Stephanopoulos said the constant threats against Greece and Cyprus being issued by Ankara could be acted upon at some point.

And, even though Greece doesn't want war, there are limits to how many insults - and possible attacks - it can sit still for.

The Cypriot purchase of the S-300 missiles for defensive purposes is the focus of concern for all sides at the moment.

Prime minister Kostas Simitis discussed the issue with his defence and foreign policy aides and the chief of the Cypriot National Guard Wednesday.

In Western capitals, the pressue on Cyprus to cancel the missile deal continues. The German government has issued a travel advisory, warning its nationals to make sure its safe to travel to Cyprus before they visit Cyprus this autumn. The German advisory also says that at present, there is no need for travellers to be concerned.

In the US, the state department spokesman responded to Greek criticism of the fact that US embassy personnel in Cyprus attended celebrations of the 1974 Turkish invasion in the occupied territory earlier this week.

James Rubin downplayed the issue, saying the embassy officials did not attend the celebrations in an official capacity.

Rubin also denied Greek and Greek-Cypriot claims that Turkish F-16 fighter planes had landed in the occupied north during the celebrations.

[04] Fires

That fire, and another blaze between Athens and Sounion were under control by late afternoon.

Three firefighters lost their lives battling the blaze in the Athenian suburb of Ilioupoli.

Dead are Alexandros Diavolis, Dimitris Maloukas, and Themistocles Mavroides.

A fourth man was also killed by the fire.

The three firefighters were found in an embrace a few yards from their burnt vehicle, encircled by flames.

Relatives of the victims collapsed in grief when they saw the terrible scene.

Efforts were underway Wednesday evening to identify the fourth man killed in the blaze.

Six homes were damaged in the fire, and two warehouses were burnt out.

By five pm, firefighters had the fire under control - there were a few spots where the flames were still burning. But the planes that had dropped water on the blaze at its peaks had retired, an indication that the remaining hot spots could be handled from the ground.

The force nine winds ruled out any complacency - they made the possibility of flare ups a constant danger.

350 firefighters, 40 engines, and a helicopter were still battling another fire at 6 pm, this one in Saronida, some 20 miles south of Athens.

A three-storey house was destroyed in that inferno; three cars were burnt.

[05] Basketball

The NCAA stars are forced off their shot from the

outset. The collegians shoot just 37 per cent from two-point range on the night, and 20 per cent from trayland, as Greece wins it 78-56.

Greece finishes the tourney 3 and oh, but coach Panagiotis Iannakis says there's some fine tuning to be done with the world basketball championship starting in a week.

Iannakis wants to get his team to pick up the pace on offence, and to improve its defensive rebounding. 17 of the USA's 41 boards were offensive in the game against Greece. That's too many, says Iannakis.

(c) ANT1 Radio 1998

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