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The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 99-11-18
From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <ert.ntua.gr/>
CONTENTS
[01] OSCE SUMMIT OPENS IN CONSTANTINOPLE TODAY
[02] GREEK PRIME MINISTER TO MEET TURKISH COUNTERPART
[03] PRIME MINISTER MEETS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
[04] AMERICAN PRESIDENT EXPECTED IN ATHENS TOMORROW
[05] OPPOSITION PARTIES PROTEST OVER BAN ON RALLIES
[06] AMERICAN PRESIDENT TO MEET RUSSIAN COUNTERPART
[07] CYPRIOT PRESIDENT ATTENDS OSCE SUMMIT
[08] ECONOMY MINISTER PROMISES BELOW 2% INFLATION RATE IN 2000
[09] MARCH TO AMERICAN EMBASSY IN ATHENS STAGED PEACEFULLY
[10] GREEK EURO-DEPUTY OBJECTS TO USE OF ONLY TWO EU LANGUAGES
[11] DEATH TOLL RISING IN TURKEY
[01] OSCE SUMMIT OPENS IN CONSTANTINOPLE TODAY
The two-day summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe opens in Constantinople today with the participation of the
heads of state and government of the 54 member-states.
[02] GREEK PRIME MINISTER TO MEET TURKISH COUNTERPART
Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis will meet with his Turkish
counterpart Bulent Ecevit on the sidelines of the conference. However,
according to Greek acting government spokesman Yannis Nikolaou, no
common statement will be issued after the meeting. Before leaving
Athens yesterday, Mr Simitis called on Ankara to imitate Greece and
undertake substantial initiatives for improvement in the two countries'
relations. In the meantime, Turkish foreign minister Ismail Cem warned
that if Turkey was left out of the European Union, European borders in
the Balkans and the Aegean might become a friction point, adding
however that Turkey wished the improvement of Greek-Turkish relations.
[03] PRIME MINISTER MEETS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
Prime minister Simitis yesterday had a meeting in Constantinople with
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos. He underlined the importance Greece
attached to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and expressed his solidarity.
Patriarch Vartholomeos congratulated the prime minister for efforts to
achieve reconciliation and cooperation between the peoples of Greece
and Turkey. American president Bill Clinton also visited the Patriarch
yesterday.
[04] AMERICAN PRESIDENT EXPECTED IN ATHENS TOMORROW
American President Bill Clinton is expected in Athens tomorrow
afternoon. Security measures will be strict at the airport and all
along the route president Clinton's cavalcade is expected to follow.
[05] OPPOSITION PARTIES PROTEST OVER BAN ON RALLIES
Meanwhile the Greek Communist party and the Democratic Social Movement
described the government's decision to ban protest rallies outside the
American embassy tomorrow as undemocratic and unconstitutional. For his
part, prime minister Simitis said the state had the obligation to
safeguard the country's interests and prestige.
[06] AMERICAN PRESIDENT TO MEET RUSSIAN COUNTERPART
As Western objections to the Russian military operations in Chechnya
are mounting, American President Bill Clinton's scheduled meeting with
his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin in Constantinople is awaited with
interest. Nevertheless, a few hours before the signing of the
agreements concerning the pipeline which will carry oil from the
Caspian sea to the Turkish port of Ceyhan by-passing Russian territory,
Washington said the agreements were not aimed at excluding Russia.
[07] CYPRIOT PRESIDENT ATTENDS OSCE SUMMIT
President of the Cyprus republic
Glafkos Kliridis has been in Constantinople since yesterday to take
part in the OSCE summit opening today.
[08] ECONOMY MINISTER PROMISES BELOW 2% INFLATION RATE IN 2000
Speaking before the parliamentary committee debating the 2000 budget,
national economy minister Yannos Papantoniou said efforts for a strong
economy had borne fruit and the government was now in a position to
earmark money for education, health care and low income groups. He
added that despite increases in international oil prices, the
government would have fully achieved the goal of an inflation rate
below 2 percent by February of the year 2000, shortly before Greece's
application for admission into European economic and monetary union.
[09] MARCH TO AMERICAN EMBASSY IN ATHENS STAGED PEACEFULLY
The annual march to the American embassy, in commemoration of the
victims of the 1973 Polytechnic University student uprising against the
dictatorship in Greece, was held in Athens yesterday. Strict security
measures had been taken to prevent violent incidents.
[10] GREEK EURO-DEPUTY OBJECTS TO USE OF ONLY TWO EU LANGUAGES
In a letter to speaker of the European parliament Nicole Fontaine, New
Democracy party Euro-deputy Marietta Yannakou expressed her strong
displeasure over plans by the general secretary of the European
parliament to cut down the number of languages used by the parliament's
press office from eleven to two. She said the move did not conform with
the principle of equality amongst EU languages and disregarded the
needs of journalists covering the parliamentary sessions in Strasbourg
and Brussels.
[11] DEATH TOLL RISING IN TURKEY
The death toll from last Friday's earthquake in Turkey has risen to 550
-- with 3,305 injured. However, despite the acute cold, a 42-year-old
woman managed to survive for more than 100 hours buried under the
rubble of her home and was pulled out by rescue crews yesterday. Apart
from the freezing cold temperatures and the heavy rain in the
quake-stricken region, the plight of those left homeless has been
exacerbated by the panic caused by periodic after-shocks-one of which
measured as high as 5 on the Richter scale. In protest against the
Turkish government's delay in providing much-needed assistance for
those affected by the quake, 10,000 inhabitants of Duzce yesterday
blocked the Ankara-Constantinople highway for 5 hours. They charged
that they had been left without tents and medicine, and called for the
resignation of the governor of the Bolu province, whom they accused of
concealing the extent of the disaster.
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