MPA NEWS IN ENGLISH (22/07/1996)

From: Macedonian Press Agency <mpa@philippos.mpa.gr>

Macedonian Press Agency News in English Directory

MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Thessaloniki, July 22, 1996

NEWS IN ENGLISH

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

TITLES

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

NEWS IN DETAIL

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[01] GREECE WILL EXERCISE ALL ITS RIGHTS, ASSURES GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN

Minister of Press and Media Dimitris Reppas stated today that Greece will enact its rights as foreseen under international accords, in reference to the investigation of last Wednesday's airplane tragedy in New York where a TWA Boeing 747 jet exploded in the air ten minutes after take-off.

"We have not surrendered our rights and it is up to us as to the when, how, and if we will use them," Mr. Reppas stated.

According to the Press Minister, the Greek government is following the developments very closely and stated that if any organization considers that its rights have been harmed then it will have its final say.

[02] „UROPEAN COMMISSION WON'T DECIDE TODAY ON MEAT EXPORTS BAN

The European Union's Standard Agricultural Committee convened today in Brussels in order to decide whether to extend or lift the applied restricting measures on Greek meat and by- products which were enforced due to the foot and mouth disease outbreak in northeastern Greece.

The Committee will examine the dangers of the disease's spread, as well as the current status, following the preventive measures drawn by the Greek Agriculture Ministry and the report submitted by the EU veterinarians who visited the area and examined the stricken animals.

On July 12, the Committee had enforced upon Greece an eight- day ban on all meat exports as well as on unprocessed dairy products.

The Committee's decision is expected to be announced tomorrow.

[03] GREEK GOVERNMENT OPTIMISTIC OVER EU'S IMMINENT DECISION ON BAN

In light of the EU's imminent decision over the banning of meat exports from Greece due to the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Evros, Minister of Press and Media Dimitris Reppas stated this afternoon that Greece did whatever it could in order to secure public health.

Moreover, Mr. Reppas pointed out that the Greek government has undetaken all the necessary measures to prevent the spread of the disease and added that it will consider any decision that will limit the exports of Greek products to be one that will be detrimental to Greece's interests and will be consirered as "incomprehensible, unjustifiable and extreme" as it will not be supported by the true facts.

The European Union's Standard Agricultural Committee is convening today in Brussels in order to decide whether to extend or lift the applied restricting measures on Greek meat and by- products, which were enforced due to the foot and mouth disease outbreak in northeastern Greece.

"Our aim is that the European Union does not issue a ban for all of Greece but will rather proceed to limit the measures," stated to the Macedonian Press Agency the Undersecretary of the Agriculture Ministry Apostolos Fotiades.

According to Mr. Fotiades, the EU will be convinced that Greece has undertaken all the necessary measures to contain the foot and mouth disease that struck Greece's northeastern region in Evros and will not ban the exportation of unprocessed dairy products, meat and meat by-products from all of Greece.

"We admit that there is a problem of foot and mouth disease in Evros, which disease was brought in to Greece from Turkey, but this is not reason enough to ban meat exports from the whole country."

[04] TRANSPORTATION MINISTER DENOUNCES DEFAMATION OF HELLENIKON

Transportation and Communication Minister Harris Kastanides denounced the United States press reports implicating Athens' Hellenikon airport in the recent airplane tragedy that took place in New York.

"Greece will react strongly against this libelous campaign," stated the Minister and added that "foreign media have proceeded to shamelessly defame the Greek airport and its security, thereby developing a 'black propaganda.' Today, the Greek government will simply express its sadness, but later will proceed to specific intiatives."

According to Mr. Kastanides, Greece's Civil Aviation Authority -following the relevant investigations by the United States - will file criminal and civil claims against the defaming media in their countries.

Yesterday US Vice-President Al Gore, during a television interview, admitted that security measures in the American airports are not always up to par, while two French journalists revealed that two days after the fall of TWA's Boeing 747 on Wednesday, they were able to sneak into New York's Kennedy International Airport and pass through 25 doors prior to arriving at TWA's boarding area without being checked.

Moreover, US magazine Newsweek, in this week's issue, writes that according to a confidential report, security measures at many US airports are lax. Specifically, it reports that in 1993 and 1995 secret control units where able to sneak into supposedly high- security areas.

[05] GREEK ATHLETE WINS OLYMPIC GAMES SILVER MEDAL IN WEIGHTLIFTING

Greece's first silver medal in the 26th Olympic Games in Atlanta was won yesterday by 24-year-old weightlifter Leonidas Sarbanis who lifted a total of 305 kilos, tying previous world records.

The silver medalist competed in the 59-kilos category and came second to Chinese gold medalist Tang Ving Seng who picked up 307,5 kilos, thereby instituting a new world record.

Swimmer Tonia Mahaira broke twice the panhellenic record in freestyle 200m and came 14th in the final countdown.

Rowing athlete Tonia Svier made it to the preliminaries of tomorrow's simple skiffing, while the national gymnastics team is currently in the 11th position. The national water polo team was defeated yesterday by the US with a 9-7 score.

[06] JUDICIAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN GREECE, BULGARIA, ROMANIA

A tripartite cooperation agreement was signed today among the Justice Ministers of Greece,Bulgaria and Romania,following the closing of a three-day meeting held in Thessaloniki.

Greek Justice Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts,V.Cervenjakov and G.I. Giouzbaian, respectively, agreed to cooperate in creating a united balkan legal arena.Moreover,Mr.Venizelos pointed out Greece's will in providing support and aid to both countries in order to harmonize their judicial systems with European Union law. The Greek Justice Minister also announced that two annual seminars will be held in Thessaloniki where the invited participants wil be Bulgarian and Romanian law experts.

[07] SUSPECTS SOON TO BE ARRESTED FOR FEBRUARY'S EXPLOSION IN TRAIN

Arrests are expected to be made soon over the bombing that took place on February 21 in a Greek State Railway Organization (OSE) in Thessaloniki, according to Bulgarian Justice Minister Vladen Cervenjakov.

The Bulgarian Justice Minister stated that investigations have moved along and estimates that behind this attack are Bulgarian terrorists.

The explosion took place half an hour after the passenger train, whose route was Sofia-Thessaloniki, arrived at its destination. There were no injuries.

The coach, where the explosion took place, came from Bulgaria and was joined with the rest of the train in Strymonas, Greece.

Another bombing took place in April, also in a passenger train that had arrived in Thessaloniki from Sofia.

[08] THE MAJORITY OF GREEKS ARE AGAINST EARLY ELECTIONS

The majority of greek voters are against early elections, according to a public opinion poll held by the polling company PRC.

Specifically, 66,3% of the greek voters, who responded to the questionnaire, are against the holding of early elections, while 30,8% are for.

Meanwhile, 46% of those asked believe that the governing party of PASOK will be the winner in the 1997 elections and only 23,4% believes that the elections will be won by main opposition party of New Democracy.

[09] TURKISH NEWSPAPER DESCRIBES RHODES ISLAND AS A VACATION PARADISE

Turkish newspaper "Hurriyet" in a half page article describes the Aegean island of Rhodes as a vacation paradise praising its hospitable people, the low prices and the clean beaches.

The newspaper urges the turkish tourists visiting the turkish coasts in the Aegean to also visit the island of Rhodes where, as it is stressed in its article, there is "no trace of greek-turkish animosity".

According to "Hurriyet", the greek islands are the pearls of the Aegean, while it is mentioned that in the island of Rhodes, which by a ferry-boat is only 50 minutes away from Marmaris in the turkish coasts, one can have a magnificent weekend spending just 200 US dollars.

In the article is also mentioned that in Rhodes live 2.000 muslims who are satisfied with the living conditions there, while the turkish tourists are urged to try the greek salad, musaka and the greek gyro which is characterized as better than the turkish.

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

[10] ISRAELI FIGHTER JETS VIOLATED THE CYPRUS AIRSPACE LAST FRIDAY

Three of the five fighter jets that violated the Cyprus airspace last Friday were israeli, according to the Cyprus radio. One of the warplanes landed in Israel, while the other four returned to Turkey.

The flights were held within the framework of the turkish- israeli agreement concerning training flights by israeli warplanes in the turkish airspace. The cypriot government will protest against its airspace violations to the United Nations.

[11] SOME US AIRPORTS HAVE INADEQUATE SECURITY, SAYS "NEWSWEEK"

Any would-be bomber has many opportunities to materialize any of his plans because of the lax safety measures in certain US airports, according to revelations published yesterday in the weekly magazine "Newsweek".

Based on the same article, the report on the laxity of the safety measures in the US airports was never made public for national security reasons.

In its main article on last Wednesday's TWA Boeing 747 crash that killed 230 people, "Newsweek" mentions that in 1993 and again in 1995 undercover agents sent by the then Safety Inspector General, ms.Mary Sciavo had successfully managed to enter undetected the so-called high safety zones of many US airports.

Citing reliable sources, the magazine mentions that some of those agents did not have the necessary identification on them but inspite this they managed to pass through guarded check points, in many cases, by simply mixing with the airport employees. According to reports submitted in 1993, many members participating in investigative groups had managed to enter in high safety zones 15-20 times, while in one case an agent, having on him a de- activated hand granade, was able to get through a metal detector used in airports.

Also, "Newsweek" mentions that in 1995 there were no significant improvements in the safety measures compared to 1993 and adds that shortly after ms.Sciavo's recent resignation her report was put in the files by the Transportations Department for national security reasons.

[12] TURKISH POLICE ARREST 250 PERSONS AFTER DEATH OF POLITICAL PRISONER

Turkish police arrested 250 people during clashes between security forces and demonstrators that erupted after the death of 25yearold political prisoner, Aygun Ugur.

Ugur died in Constantinople's Umraniye Prison after a hunger strike that lasted 63 days. He had been sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison because he was a member of an outlawed leftist organization, and was one of the 216 political prisoners in 16 turkish jails who are on a hunger strike determined to continue until their death.

In the protest campaign against the living conditions in the turkish prisons participate a total of 1500 political prisoners in 50 prisons who periodically refuse to receive food.

Police announced that the security forces moved against the protestors, gathered outside the Umraniye Prison after unsuccessful attempts to persuade them to break up peacefully, while according to policemen, the protestors attacked the security forces with stones.

The political prisoners demand to be transfered to prisons in the towns were the indictments against them had been issued and also want the lifting of the isolation imposed on them. Furthermore, they demand better food and better treatment of their relatives and friends who visit them in jail.

According to official data, there are 9.000 political prisoners in the turkish jails and 2/3 of them are in detention awaiting trial.

Since the 1980 military coup in Turkey, 15 political prisoners have died in the turkish prisons as a result of hunger strike.

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