Antenna: News in English, 99-04-20

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From: Antenna <www.antenna.gr/> - email: webmaster@antenna.gr

CONTENTS

[01] Simitis

[02] Mitsotakis-Kosovo

[03] Mitsotakis-Kosovo

[04] Nikos Rizos

[01] Simitis

Kostas Simitis spoke after meeting with orthodox archbishop of the Americas Spyridon.

Simitis said Greece wants to work together with the Greek-American community to try to make the voice of peace heard.

Archbishop Spyridon said Greek-Americans are ever- vigilant when it comes to watching over Greek interests.

Simitis met with the UN secretary general in New York Monday. The Greek leader told him the UN security council should take an active role in trying to find a peaceful solution for Kosovo.

But US state department spokesman James Rubin said after that meeting that the only way for peace to come is for the Serbs to accede to Nato's demands.

[02] Mitsotakis-Kosovo

Meeting with foregin minister Giorgos Papandreou Tuesday, Mitsotakis expressed grave concerns about developments over Kosovo.

Former prime minister Constantinos Mitsotakis, today honorary leader of New Democracy, said Tuesday that if the situation in Yugoslavia deteriorates further, the Balkans could be turned into a new Middle East or Afganistan.

Many Greek leaders worry that the Nato military build up in the region is a prelude to Nato ground assaults on the Serbs.

American troops and Apache helicopters have been pouring in to Albania. German troops are also being sent to Albania. And 150 German Leopard tanks rolled across the Greek border into Fyrom Tuesday morning.

French defence minister Imber Ventrin now says a land invasion of Kosovo would be a "natural eventuality".

The build up and the talk have most Greek observers jettisoning the hope they nurtured during the first few weeks of Nato bombing - the hope that the fighting might be wrapped up quickly. And as the hope for a quick diplomatic settlement fades, the grim vision of a growing war takes its place.

Left Coalition leader Nikos Konstantopoulos believes that a Nato ground campaign has essentially already begun. And he urges the Greek government not to facilitate in any way what he calls this "nightmarish development".

The Pasok government says it won't take part in the Nato military campaign; but the defence minister said Monday there are no constitutional bars to Athens allowing Nato forces to pass through Greece.

Like Constantopoulos, Mitsotakis is concerned about military developments on the ground in the Balkans. He says the activities of the Kosovo Liberation Army and the West's encouraging approach to it constitute the scandal at the core of the Kosovo crisis. How, he asks, can Nato say it respects the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia and at the same time lend support to the KLA, the avowed aim of which is secession?

[03] Konstantinos-Kosovo

"This is an attack against a sovereign state that did not attack another state", says Constantine. "It's punishment of an entire people".

Greeks and everyone else have watched with anxiety the Serbs mistreat the ethnic Albanians, he continued. But similar things have happened elsewhere: in Cyprus, Tibet, Cuba, with the Kurds, and in Africa. Does that mean, asks Constantine, that they should all be bombed?

The former Greek monarch proposes a conference of all parties involved in the Kosovo crisis to work out a peaceful settlement. And the conference, he says, should be held in Moscow, to get the Russians involved in the peace process.

Constantine also believes that the Greek orthodox church could play a key role in finding a peaceful solution.

The Serbian church is the closest of all the orthodox churches to Greece, he points out. And archbishop Christodoulos, head of the church in Greece, should try to use his prestige to find a peaceful solution.

[04] Nikos Rizos

He will be remembered for generously dishing out the laughs to his audiences for half a century.

Nikos Rizos was born in Arta in 1924. In 1948 he appeared in Alekos Sakellariou's "People-People". He immediately distinguished himself through his enormous talent, his stage presence, and his self- deprecating humour.

Rizos worked with Marika Kotopouli, Sophia Vembo, Vasillis Aulonites, Georgia Vasiliadou, and all the bright comic stars of the big screen in the 1960s.

His hits were "The Grooms of Happiness", "The Deceased's Treasure", and "The Giant of Kypseli".

Rizos was married to actress Elsa Rizou, with whom he had a son.

(c) Antenna 1999

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