Macedonian Press Agency News In English (96/11/05)

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

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory

MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Thessaloniki, November 5, 1996

NEWS IN ENGLISH

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

TITLES

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

NEWS IN DETAIL

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[01] FOUR SAILORS STILL MISSING AFTER LAST NIGHT'S FERRY-WARSHIP COLLISSION

Four sailors are still missing after a greek ferry boat and a greek warship collided yesterday at 6:30 p.m. in the sea region of Samos island in the Aegean Sea.

The missile-carrying warship "Kostakos" sank shortly after the impact of the collission. The four missing individuals are part of its 38-member crew. The 71 passengers and 51 crew members of the ferry boat "Samena" are all unharmed, although the ship underwent extensive damages.

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis expressed his sadness for the tragic incident and demanded the exemplary punishment of those guilty of criminal negligence.

This morning the ferry's captain Mathios Pnevmatikakis was interrogated by the district attorney of Pireaus who filed charges against him for negligent shipwrecking and violation of maritime law.

According to reports from the Naval General Staff, the missile carrier was conducting a concealment exercise less than half a mile from the shore, within the framework of the "Parmenion" military drill.

The Vice-Minister of National Defense Dimitris Apostolakis refrained from referring to the causes of the collission, merely stating that there were apparently a series of human mistakes made. He said that by tonight more data will be available on who is responsible for this tragedy and added that hopes for discovering the four missing sailors alive are diminishing.

The rescue operation was carried out throughout the night in the efforts to find the four sailors who are believed to be members of the engine room crew. They were identified as warrant officer Kanellos Kokkinis and petty officers Apostolos Asprogerakas, Vasilis Mavrogiorgos and George Andranasidakis.

[02] THE GOVERNMENT WANTS THE INVESTIGATIONS ON THE CAUSES OF YESTERDAY'S ACCIDENT TO REACH A CONCLUSION SOON, STATED MR.REPPAS

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas stated that the government wants ample light to be shed the soonest possible on the circumstances surrounding yesterday's accident near the island of Samos.

He stressed that those responsible for such unacceptable accidents will receive exemplary punishment and announced that all the necessary measures have been taken for the safe navigation of passenger ships in the region where the military exercise "Parmenion" is taking place.

Commenting on the landing of turkish fighter jets in the turkish occupied territories of Cyprus, mr.Reppas said that Ankara continues its efforts aimed at escalating the tension.

Meanwhile, the General Navy Staff in a statement it has issued mentioned that the investigations continue for the location of the four petty officers still missing after the greek Navy missile boat was rammed yesterday by a ferry boat near the island of Samos. Also, it was mentioned that a special committee has been formed made up of Navy officers in order to investigate the causes of the accident and the circumstances under which it occured.

[03] DEFENSE MINISTER AKIS TSOHATZOPOULOS SPEAKS ON NAVAL TRAGEDY

National Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos stated this evening that only the appropriate committee of the Naval Forces can provide a responsible answer to who's at fault in yesterday's naval tragedy in the Aegean Sea where a greek ferry boat rammed into a naval warship.

In a briefing session this evening, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos also stated that the Armed Forces will carry on with the "Parmenion" military drill, part of which was the sunk warship "Kostakos".

When asked if any other ships were near the area where the collission took place, the Defense Minister responded that another missile carrier was within a mile from "Kostakos".

Four sailors, part of the warship's engine room crew, are still missing. They were identified as warrant officer Kanellos Kokkinis and petty officers Apostolos Asprogerakas, Vasilis Mavrogiorgos and George Andranasidakis. The 71 passengers and 51 crew members of the ferry boat "Samena" are all unharmed.

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis has expressed his sadness for the tragic incident and demanded the exemplary punishment of those guilty of criminal negligence.

This morning the ferry's captain Mathios Pnevmatikakis was interrogated by the district attorney of Pireaus who filed charges against him for negligent shipwrecking and violation of maritime law.

[04] PM DISCUSSES UPCOMING YEAR'S BUDGET WITH CABINET MEMBERS

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis officiated a meeting today attended by his economic advisors where they drew the final figures on the 1997 state budget.

The Premier will meet with the PASOK political secretariat within the next weeks and will brief its members on the budget that will be tabled in Parliament.

Mr. Simitis has repeatedly stated that those who "have and possess" will be called upon to fill in the budget's gaps for those who "have not".

Present at the meeting were Minister of National Economy and Finance Yiannos Papantoniou, Vice Ministers Nikos Christodoulakis, George Drys, Christos Pachtas, and the Governor of the Bank of Greece Lukas Papademos.

[05] PM TO DISCUSS UPCOMING YEAR'S BUDGET WITH CABINET MEMBERS

The upcoming year's budget will be finalized today during a meeting officiated by Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and attended by his economic advisers.

After final figures for the 1997 state budget have been drawn, the Premier will meet with the PASOK political secretariat and will brief its members on the budget that will be tabled in Parliament.

Mr. Simitis has repeatedly stated that those who "have" will be called upon to fill in the budget's gaps for those who "have not".

[06] EU COMMISSION NOT INFORMED ON "INCOMPLETE PEACE" REPORT

Dutch EUCommissioner Hans Van Den Broek appeared to adopt a report on the Balkans titled "Incomplete Peace" wherein Greece is criticized for its performance on minority rights issues and the term "Macedonia" is widely used in reference to FYROM.

Mr. Van Den Broek presented the report during a conference with the International Committee for the Balkans, which has been sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Aspen Institute of Berlin, and stated that he himself adopts on general terms the analysis of the situation and the suggestions offered by the Committee.

Greek Commissioner Christos Papoutsis reacted strongly to the report and to Mr. Van Dern Broek's statements and issued a formal response wherein he stated that the European Commission has not been informed of the report and asked that acute attention and responsibility be given to these matters.

[07] NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL OF GREEKS ABROAD TAKES OFFICE TODAY

The new Secretary-General of Greeks Abroad Stavros Labrinides will take office today, following his appointment by the Foreign Ministry.

The 34-year-old international relations expert, is a professor at Yale University and in 1994 served as advisor to the then-Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreou on matters of international law and Greek-American relations, as well as Mr. Papandreou's special advisor when the latter was Minister of Education.

Since January of 1996, Mr. Labrinides has been the Secretariat Director of Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos.

[08] NEW DEMOCRACY'S POLITICAL COUNCIL DECIDED AGAINST THE HOLDING OF ELECTIONS IN THE PARTY

Main opposition party New Democracy Political Council and its Executive Committee decided unanimously against the holding of elections in the party.

In their meeting today was stressed that every effort should be made in order for the party conference to be held in May and not in June. New Democracy Parliamentary Group Secretary mr.Panagiotopoulos stated that until the party conference there will be no party leadership change or transitional leadership issue.

[09] INCREASED BY 25% WAS THE PARTICIPATION IN THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF US NATIONALS LIVING IN NORTHERN GREECE

The participation in the US Presidential elections of US nationals living in northern Greece was increased by 25%.

According to the US consulate in Thessaloniki, of the 6.000 US nationals living in northern Greece turned out to vote about 2.500, a participation regarded as especially satisfactory by the consulate compared to previous elections and is attributed to the publicity given to this year's elections.

The US citizens voted by mail and the procedure was completed a week ago in order for the votes to arrive in time at the polling stations in the United States.

The Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce in Thessaloniki organizes today a special event for the US Presidential election night at a Hyatt Casino hall that will begin at 9pm tonight. The first results are expected at 1am (greek time) when the polling stations in the states of Kentaky and Indiana will be closed. An hour later, polling stations will be closed in other 7 states on the US east coast, while at 6am (greek time) voting will be completed in the state of California and in all the western states.

[10] MINISTER OF MACEDONIA-THRACE VISITS PERTH IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Philippos Petsalnikos visited the city of Perth in western Australia today where he met with Liberal Party deputy Cheryl Edwards and Labor Party deputy Bill Thomas, as well as members of the city's greek community.

Mr. Petsalnikos was impressed by the strong greek element permeating throughout this city in whose schools the language of modern greek is one of the optional classes that increase a student's chances of entering a choice college.

Mr. Petsaslnikos and his delegation will return to Greece on Thrusday morning through Sidney.

[11] INTERPARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION TO VISIT MELBOURNE FOR "DEMETRIA '96"

A five-member interparliamentary delegation will be in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday in order to attend the "Demetria '96" celebrations organized by the Pan-Macedonian Union of Victoria-Melbourne.

Participating in the delegation are PASOK deputy Ioannis Tsaklides, New Democracy's Helias Vesdrevanis, Communist Party of Greece's Stavros Panayiotou, Coalition of the Left and Progress' Stella Alfieri and the Democratic Social Movement's George Rokkos.

[12] GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS STAGED A PROTEST AT THE FACILITIES OF MOTOR OIL IN CORINTH, SOUTHERN GREECE

GREENPEACE activists staged a protest this morning at the facilities of the oil company MOTOR OIL in Agii Theodori near the city of Corinth, in southern Greece.

Members of the ecological organization arrived at the facilities with inflatable boats and were chained on oil tankers and on the pipe line used for the refuelling of ships, blocking this way the company ships' loading and unloading.

With this action GREENPEACE aims at stressing the need for stricter safety measures during the loading and unloading of oil tankers in order to avoid sea pollution, like the one that happened about three months ago at the company's facilities, while it also calls for tougher legislation against the pollution of the environment caused by oil.

[13] THE NUMBER OF TOURISTS FROM FINLAND WHO VISITED GREECE IN 1996 INCREASED BY 18,8%

An increase of 18,8% was observed in the number of Finns who visited Greece during summer, according to data provided by the finnish Tourist Businesses Association.

According to the same source, 150.000 finns visited Greece in 1996 and first in their preference comes the south-eastern Aegean island of Rhodes where there was an increase of 30% in arrivals. Second comes the island of Crete and third the island of Kos. The finnish tourist association attributes the increase in the number of tourists visiting Greece to the improvement observed in the finnish economy.

Meanwhile, on the initiative of the Greek Tourist Organization, passengers travelling from Finland to Sweden with cruise-ships of the finnish company "Viking Line" will have the opportunity to enjoy traditional greek food and wines while they will be entertained by a folk dance and song group from Rhodes, starting from this Saturday until November 24.

[14] THE ND HONORARY PRESIDENT MET WITH FORMER ARCHBISHOP OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, IAKOVOS

Honorary President of New Democracy and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis met with former Archbishop of North and South America, Iakovos.

The former Prime Minister stressed that the solution of the Cyprus problem is getting closer and appealed to the US government to play a decisive role in the whole process.

During the meeting was also expressed the certainty that US President Bill Clinton will be re-elected to the presidency in today's elections.

[15] GREEK CONSTRUCTORS-BUILDERS SATISFIED BY CONTACTS IN FYROM

A delegation of Greek businessmen in the construction and building sector who recently visited FYROM expressed their satisfaction for their contacts with comparable companies in Skopje.

The delegation, headed by the Foreign Ministry's director of the Greece-FYROM Economic Cooperation Department Dimitris Platis, met FYROM's Premier Branco Cervenkovski and FYROM's Ministers of City Planning, Reconstruction and Transport, Georgi Shudovski and Dimitar Buzlevski, respectively.

One of the delegation's participants told the Macedonian Press Agency that FYROM offers a developed construction industry.

"It is evident that the technical offices from Former Yugoslavia undertook significant projects throughout the country," he stated.

[16] GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF ATHLETICS TO BE ESTABLISHED IN THESSALONIKI

A General Secretariat of Athleticswill be established in Thessaloniki for Macedonia-Thrace, announced today the Minister of Athletics Andreas Fouras.

According to Mr. Fouras, the Secretariat constitutes an impertive need and will be presented in legislative form to be tabled in Parliament by the Ministry of Culture.

Regarding Athens's candidature for the 2004 Olympic Games, Mr. Fouras stated that the efforts are on a good track.

[17] POET TAKIS VARVITSIOTIS REPRESENTED GREECE IN THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL POETRY FESTIVAL HELD IN THE CANARY ISLANDS

Thessalonian poet Takis Varvitsiotis, after receiving a honorary invitation, represented Greece in the 1st International Poetry Festival that was held in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands last October.

Speaking in the Festival, mr.Varvitsiotis stressed that the greek, the latin-american and the spanish poetry is the avant- garde of world poetry as it serves the mysterious, the magic and the pure lyricism, using a language simple and spontaneous and reacting in a redeeming way to the mental, eccentric and sophistic tendencies observed in contemporary western european poetry.

The distinguished greek poet after reading some of his poems made a presentation under the title "Certain thoughts on today's western european poetry" pointing out the symptoms of a deep crisis and the dead end observed in the western european poetry in contrast to the greek, the spanish and the latin-american poetry.

The Festival was held in the last week of October with the participation of over 120 poets from all over the world. It was decided that the festival will be held annually and a committee made up of distinguished poets will award the International Prize Atlantis which will be accompanied by a prize money of 1 million pesetas.

This year the prize was awarded to poet laureate Derrick Walckot from the Antilles in recognition of his work.

[18] DIONYSIS SAVVOPOULOS TO PERFORM IN LOS ANGELES ON NOVEMBER 15

Dionysis Savvopoulos, a legendary name representing a whole era in Greek music, will perform live in Los Angeles on November 15.

Savvopoulos will appear at the Wilshire Ebell Theater at 8 p.m. and is expected to perform a potpouri of his older songs, along with newer compositions.

[19] GREECE'S NATIONAL THEATER TO HONOR 100 YEARS OF GREEKS IN MELBOURNE

Greece's National Theater, along with musician George Dalaras and cinema director Theodoros Aggelopoulos, will participate at the festivities organized by Melbourne's Greek community celebrating the 100-year mark since its founding.

According to community President George Fountas, during the Grecian Ball that was held yesterday evening, the National Theater will perform an ancient tragedy and Mr. Dalaras will hold a concert in Melbourne.

Also, a series of Aggelopoulos' films will be shown and the director will speak about his work.

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

[20] THE GREEK UNDERSECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS CONTINUES THE CONTACTS IN CYPRUS

Cypriot Foreign Minister, Alekos Michailidis and greek Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Christos Rozakis continued their talks in Nicosia aimed at coordinating the actions and positions adopted by Athens and Nicosia on the Cyprus issue and the country's accession to the European Union.

Mr.Rozakis also met with Archbishop Chrisostomos who stated after the meeting that the expected initiatives for the solution of the Cyprus problem must be studied carefully, while the greek Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the Church's positions should be taken under consideration.

Later, mr.Rozakis met with prosecutor general Alekos Makridis and they discussed legal aspects related to the opening of negotiations for Cyprus' accession to the European Union.

The greek Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs yesterday met with cypriot President Glafkos Kliridis and had discussions with political party leaders.

[21] FATHER OF MURDERED GREEK-CYPRIOT OFFERS REWARD FOR ARREST OF ASSASSIN

The father of Solomos Solomou, the Greek-Cypriot civilian murdered in cold blood last summer, has declared a 10,000 cypriot pounds reward for information leading to the arrest of his son's assassin, Turk-Cypriot Kenan Akin, a so-called "minister" in Rauf Denktash's regime.

Mr. Stavros Solomou decided to proceed to this action, when Akin yesterday insolently called his victim a "dog."

The disconsolate father stated that he will accept monies in order to raise the amount of the reward.

[22] EU OFFICIAL MEETS WITH CYPRIOT PRESIDENT CLERIDES, DECLARES HIS SUPPORT

The European Union must exert every possible effort to put an end to the current situation noted in Cyprus, stated the president of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Economic Affairs, Willy de Clerk.

Mr. de Clerk met with Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides and Cypriot Foreign Minister Alekos Michaelides and exchanged views on the European Union's role in the cypriot issue.

According to Mr. Michaelides, the European Parliament is currently displaying great sensitivity on the issues concerning Turkey, especially matters regarding human rights and respect of borders.

Moreover, the Cypriot Foreign Minister characterized Mr. de Clerk's visit as "very useful" since he now has a personal view of what occupation means and what the island's status quo is following the invasion.

[23] TWO TURKISH F-16 JETS VIOLATED THE CYPRIOT AIR SPACE

Two turkish F-16 jets violated the cypriot air space yesterday and landed for a short time in the Lefkonikou airport in the occupied part of Cyprus before returning to Turkey.

It is believed that there will be many violations of the cypriot air space and territorial waters during the turkish military exercise "Toros 96" that began today.

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