Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-12-13

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek demands for WWII reparations 'still legally active', Pavlopoulos says from Kalavryta

[02] PM in 'Ethnos': Refugee crisis 'does not lend itself to petty party squabbling'

[01] Greek demands for WWII reparations 'still legally active', Pavlopoulos says from Kalavryta

"The rights of the victims of the German occupation army are a mission that serves not only the national rights of Greeks but also the culture and law and order in the European Union. Consequently in Germany itself," he noted in a speech on the anniversary of the Kalavryta massacre.

After attending an event at the Paleologina manor house, where he was declared an honorary citizen, Pavlopoulos said it was a reminder "of our self-evident ... duty not to lower the flag for the cause of vindicating the Kalavryta Holocaust's sacred victims," and send the message that "We do not forget. Never again."

He emphasised, however, that this message did not contain feelings revenge but, on the contrary, was an obligation to the memory of the victims to seek unfailing implementation of the international law, as a fundamental sign that law and legality will eventually generally prevail.

Speaking in the presence of the German Ambassador to Greece Peter Schoof, Pavlopoulos said that it was a historic fact now also admitted by Germany that the slaughter and destruction in Kalavryta on December 13, 1943 were the greatest and most odious war crime committed in Greece by the German occupation army in WWII.

He noted that Greece's demands for repayment of the occupation loan and compensation to the victims of German occupation troops were "legally active and pursuable through the courts" and that neither had been written off, while having a firm basis in international law and the Hague Treaty of 1907.

On the second half of his message, Pavlopoulos said that Greece sent from atrocity-stricken Kalavryta a warning "urbi et orbi" that "we all have a duty to learn from the Kalavryta Holocaust" at a time when jihadist terror and criminal action "demands that we keep our awareness alert".

[02] PM in 'Ethnos': Refugee crisis 'does not lend itself to petty party squabbling'

"It is a matter of national responsibility," he emphasised, noting that Greece was implementing decisions taken in Europe by setting up hotspots on five Greek islands and through its handling of the problem that arose at Idomeni, on the borders between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

"We handled it with a sense of responsibility and respect toward people. We proved that in difficult situations, there are solutions without violence," he said.

Tsipras stressed, however, that Greece could not be turned into a "warehouse of souls" and had already taken all necessary action on an international level to implement readmission agreements.

"This will be reaffirmed at the summit on Thursday," he said.

"We are experiencing a global crisis, perhaps one of the greatest movements of human populations after World War II. And this movement passes through our country, our islands, the islands of the Eastern Aegean. We are trying to manage this huge problem with humanity and solidarity, on the basis of international law, without surrendering to the barbarous populism of violence, of fences and of walls that are today being raise in Europe, or the illegal pushbacks at sea," Tsipras said.

"In the face of this climate of fear that certain extremist circles are making coordinated attempts to cultivate, our country shows the other face of Europe," the prime minister added.

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