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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-06-26
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, June 26, 1998
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] STATE-WIDE EXAMINATIONS CONTINUE TODAY FOR HIGH-SCHOOL
STUDENTS
[02] JEWISH LAWYERS, LEGAL EXPERTS HOLD IN/AL CONFERENCE IN
THESSALONIKI
[03] JOURNALISTS CONFERENCE BEGINS IN SAMOTHRACE
[04] THE DEFENSE MINISTERS OF GREECE AND ALBANIA WILL MEET IN
THESSALONIKI
[05] KARAMANLIS WILL TOUR NORTH-WESTERN GREECE
[06] THE GREEK PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MET WITH HIS ARMENIAN
COUNTERPART
[07] THE DRUG USE RELATED DEATHS INCREASED BY 185% IN GREECE IN
THE PAST 5 YEARS
[08] PAPANDREOU: THE SAE SEAT WILL NOT BE MOVED TO ATHENS
[09] ATHENS: THE COUNCIL FOR HELLENES ABROAD SEAT TO REMAIN IN
THESSALONIKI
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[10] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS IN CYPRUS, WARMLY SALUTED
[11] PRESIDENT OF GREECE ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO CYPRUS
[12] HOLBROOKE'S TALKS WITH MILOSEVIC BEAR NO RESULTS
[13] PAPOUTSIS: CYPRUS' COURSE TO THE EU IS A GIVEN
[14] GREEK FM ON GREEK-TURKISH RELATIONS
[15] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS VISITS ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF
CYPRUS
[16] GREECE'S AMBASSADOR TO LONDON RESPONDS TO "TIMES" ARTICLE
[17] CYPRUS SHOULD BECOME A BRIDGE OF COOPERATION INSTEAD OF BEING
A HOT BORDER
[18] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS WILL HAVE MEETINGS WITH CYPRIOT
POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS
[19] NORMALIZATION OF GREEK-TURKISH RELATIONS PRESUPPOSES
SETTLEMENT OF THE CYPRUS PROBLEM
[20] SERBIA:EVENTUALITY OF CIA BEING BEHIND THE KOSOVO LIBERATION
ARMY
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] STATE-WIDE EXAMINATIONS CONTINUE TODAY FOR HIGH-SCHOOL
STUDENTS
The state-wide examinations for would-be college students are
continuing today in the course of Chemistry, and Latin.
Tomorrow, candidates for the university science and math
departments are to be tested in Math.
[02] JEWISH LAWYERS, LEGAL EXPERTS HOLD IN/AL CONFERENCE IN
THESSALONIKI
Prominent Jewish lawyers and legal experts from Europe and
the US have gathered in Thessaloniki for a four-day international
conference to commemorate the Jewish community of the city almost
totally wiped out in the Holocaust and to mark the contribution of
Jewish lawyers, jurists and intellectuals to Greek law.
A total of 180 Jewish lawyers and jurists from the US,
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Belgium,
Switzerland, Bulgaria, Sweden, Australia and Argentina are
attending.
The conference, which began yesterday, is part of a series
of congresses being held in various European cities in memory of
thousands of Jewish lawyers, jurists and intellectuals who
perished in the Holocaust during World War Two with Thessaloniki
heading the list.
Items on the agenda include "Portraits of Jewish lawyers and
Jurists", "Family Law of Greek Jews: Transition from Jewish Law to
the Greek Civil Code", "Jewish presence in Greek Law and
Constitution" and "Laws concerning Jewish communities in Greece."
The conference will end with a round-table discussion on
"Anti-semitism and the denial of the Holocaust towards the 21st
Century".
During the conference, the delegates will visit the recently
inaugurated Holocaust Memorial in Thessaloniki, the Simon Marks
Jewish museum, the restored Jewish Quarter and synagogue in Veria,
and the royal Tombs of Vergina and Pella, birthplace of Alexander
the Great.
[03] JOURNALISTS CONFERENCE BEGINS IN SAMOTHRACE
The seventh national journalists conference has gotten
underway at the island of Samothrace.
The annual event is jointly organized by the prefectural local
government of Evros, and the country's journalists associations.
The 300 participating Greek and Cypriot journalists are to
discuss issues such as the phenomena of xenophobia, the role of
the mass media in the new European reality and the changes in the
sector of journalism, and the role of unions.
[04] THE DEFENSE MINISTERS OF GREECE AND ALBANIA WILL MEET IN
THESSALONIKI
The latest developments in Kossovo as well as, the relations
between Athens and Tirana will be discussed by the defense
ministers of Greece and Albania Akis Tsochatzopoulos and Luan
Haidaranga, who will meet in Thessaloniki tomorrow morning.
The Albanian minister is expected to arrive in Athens today
for contacts with government officials.
[05] KARAMANLIS WILL TOUR NORTH-WESTERN GREECE
Right-wing main opposition party New Democracy leader Kostas
Karamanlis will be on a four-day tour of north-western Greece
starting tomorrow.
Mr. Karamanlis will meet tomorrow with the Metropolite and
the mayor of Grevena and will exchange views with the
representatives of the prefecture's production sectors. Mr.
Karamanlis will also visit Florina, Kastoria, and Kozani.
[06] THE GREEK PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MET WITH HIS ARMENIAN
COUNTERPART
Greek Parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis met with his
Armenian counterpart Kosrov Arutiunian in Athens yesterday.
The Armenian Parliament president briefed Mr. Kaklamanis on
the situation in Nagorno Karabach saying that his country is ready
for dialogue if the necessary international guarantees are
safeguarded, while he speculated that the development of closer
relations between Greece and Armenia will contribute to peace and
stability in the region.
Mr. Kaklamanis referred to the high level of cooperation
between Greece and Armenia which both countries intend to extend
to every sector.
[07] THE DRUG USE RELATED DEATHS INCREASED BY 185% IN GREECE IN
THE PAST 5 YEARS
One hundred and ninety million people around the world use
illegal substances, while the drug related deaths in Greece
presented an increase of 185% in the past 5 years. Especially
alarming is the fact that one out of 10 people, who die from drug
overdose is under the age of 21, while 40% of the people held in
the Greek prisons serve a sentence for drug related crimes.
The data mentioned above were given to publicity today on the
occasion of the World Day Against Drugs.
[08] PAPANDREOU: THE SAE SEAT WILL NOT BE MOVED TO ATHENS
Deputy foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou characterized as
strange the rumors that came to light based on which, efforts are
being made to move World Council of Hellenes Abroad, SAE, seat
from Thessaloniki to Athens.
Mr. Papandreou stated that he personally will not allow for
something like that to happen and that he guarantees the
continuation of the visions Andreas Papandreou had for
Thessaloniki.
Mr. Giorgos Papandreou inaugurated an exhibition in
Thessaloniki's Villa Bianca yesterday with documents on the life
and work of PASOK's founder Andreas Papandreou.
[09] ATHENS: THE COUNCIL FOR HELLENES ABROAD SEAT TO REMAIN IN
THESSALONIKI
The president of the Council for the Hellenes Abroad (SAE)
Andrew Athens, responding to reports, which referred to the
eventuality of the Council seat being moved to Athens, stressed
that SAE seat is in Thessaloniki adding that nobody could doubt
that
Mr Athens underlined that during the 2,5 years of his term of
office as president of the Council for the Hellenes Abroad, he
travelled to every place on earth where Greek people lived and
told all Hellenes abroad that his "home", the SAE seat was in
Thessaloniki.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[10] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS IN CYPRUS, WARMLY SALUTED
The arrival of the President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis
Stephanopoulos to the island of Cyprus, the first official visit
conducted by a Greek president since the founding of the republic
of Cyprus in 1960, has been characterized by the locals as a
"historic, rare, magnificent and singular event".
President Stephanopoulos arrived at the airport of Larnaca
yesterday morning at 11 and received a jubilant and warm welcome
by church, government and state officials as well as simple folk.
One hour later, Mr. Stephanopoulos was bestowed with the
golden key of the capital city, Nicosia by its mayor Lelos
Demitriades.
The Cypriot government spokesperson characterized the visit as an
"exceptional event" and stressed that it contains multiple
symbolisms."
At President Stephanopoulos welcoming ceremony held at the
airport, the president of the Republic of Cyprus Glafkos Clerides
stated in his address:
"Your presence in Cyprus, our friend, Mr. President, I
believe forwards a very significant message to various directions.
The message is that Greece, a guarantor power of the Republic of
Cyprus, is here, with us in the same entrenchment. This is the
first time the Cypriot Hellenism has the honor to welcome Greece's
head of state. And your visit is taking place during the most
critical, perhaps, period for the Cyprus issue, after the Turkish
invasion."
In his reply address, the President of the Hellenic Republic
stated:
"Cyprus is for Greece a matter of foremost significance,
Greece identifies with Cyprus in its effort to support the Cypriot
people's struggle for the restoration of freedom, for the
attainment of independence and the national integrity of the
Cypriot Republic.
"All of the country's political forces, the Greek people
throughout, have the unisom, the unshakable, the unyielding
fervency to support this struggle. I am not a messenger of
aggressive or hostile messages. I shall leave this task to others,
who, devoid of support from international law, who by continuously
violating the lawful world order from 1974 to date, want to mask
these shortcomings of theirs by expressing, at every opportunity,
by expressing this kind of threats, this kind of slogans.
"I've come here as a messenger of peaceful, friendly
sentiments of cooperation and brotherhood. Cyprus must become a
place of prosperity for all, Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots,
and this can be achieved in one way only: When the decisions and
resolutions of the United Nations Security Council are accepted.
When lawfulness operates again in Cyprus When a unified state
will be able to exist, a bi-communal, bi-zonal federated state,
which will accede - and this is completely certain- the European
Union."
[11] PRESIDENT OF GREECE ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO CYPRUS
The President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos
is currently on an unprecedented visit to Cyprus, and the island's
authorities prepared a magnificent welcome reception for the Greek
head of state.
President Stephanopoulos arrived at 11 am yesterday,
embarking for a four day official visit, the first of a Greek
head of state since the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus,
in 1960.
He was received at the Larnaca airport by Cypriot President
Glafkos Clerides. An hour later, President Stephanopoulos
received the "golden key" of Nicosia, given to him by the city's
mayor.
The Greek President is escorted by Greek Foreign Minister
Theodoros Pangalos, Foreign Under-Secretary Yiannos Kranidiotis,
Finance Under- Secretary Alexandros Baltas and other officials.
The Greek president will visit the United Nations-patrolled
``Green Line'' separating the
two communities and the tomb of the late Archbishop Makarios.
[12] HOLBROOKE'S TALKS WITH MILOSEVIC BEAR NO RESULTS
Newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard
Holbrooke met with Serb president Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade
yesterday and, according to reports, the discussion bore no
results in terms of ending the conflict in Kossovo.
The US diplomat stressed that the situation in Kossovo is
developing into a tragedy and once again appealed for
international mediation.
[13] PAPOUTSIS: CYPRUS' COURSE TO THE EU IS A GIVEN
The European Commissioner Christos Papoutsis stated that
Cyprus will be among the first countries to gain accession to the
European Union during its next expansion.
Following his meeting with Cypriot President Glafkos
Clerides, held in Nicosia, Mr. Papoutsis stressed that the road
to Cyprus's course to the EU is open and the Commission stands by
the side of the Cypriot government in order to expedite this
course.
[14] GREEK FM ON GREEK-TURKISH RELATIONS
Turkey wants to hold a discussion with the European Union on
economic matters, but will not accept criticism on its political
system, or a discussion on human rights issues, international law,
its actions against its neighboring countries and its actions in
its very own people, stated the Greek Minster of Foreign Affairs
Theodoros Pangalos, who is accompanying Greek president Kostis
Stephanopoulos on his visit to Cyprus.
When asked to comment on the pressures exerted upon Greece to
lift its veto over Turkey's funding from the European Union, Mr.
Pangalos stated that most of the countries throughout the world
will not accept one country to be negotiating with the EU only on
financial matters, without values, without principles, without
systems that establish democratic order.
[15] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS VISITS ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF
CYPRUS
The President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos
visited this morning the archaeological museum of Cyprus.
Following the tour, President Stephanopoulos expressed his
awe for the museum. He was received by the Cypriot Minster of
Transportation Leontios Ierodiakonou.
[16] GREECE'S AMBASSADOR TO LONDON RESPONDS TO "TIMES" ARTICLE
The Greek Ambassador in London Vasilis Zafiropoulos has
responded to the article recently published by the "Times", which
supports the stay of the Parthenon marbles at the British Museum,
by pointing out that the same paper six years ago supported the
return of the said marbles to Greece.
In his letter, Ambassador Zafiropoulos quoted the "Times"
article published on April 6, 1992 which read" The Marbles have
for the Greeks singular significance.
"The Parthenon is the symbol of their cultural unity and
their heritage...The value of the marbles is immeasurable greater
for Greece than for England."
[17] CYPRUS SHOULD BECOME A BRIDGE OF COOPERATION INSTEAD OF BEING
A HOT BORDER
Cyprus from a hot border it is today should become a bridge
of cooperation between Greece and Turkey, stressed Greek president
Kostis Stephanopoulos, who is on a formal visit to Cyprus.
Mr. Stephanopoulos in his speech in the formal dinner given
in his honor last night stressed among others that Greece's
solidarity toward Cyprus is given and added that this should be
taken under consideration by certain parties.
The Greek president laid a wreath at the burial site of
Archbishop Makarios at noon today, while earlier he had visited
the Museum of Cyprus which he characterized as "unique".
[18] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS WILL HAVE MEETINGS WITH CYPRIOT
POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS
Greek president Kostis Stephanopoulos will have a number of
meetings with Cypriot political party leaders this afternoon and
later in the evening he will speak before the Cypriot Parliament.
Later on, he will attend the formal reception that will be given
in his honor in the residence of the Greek ambassador.
In his speech in the Kikou Monastery, Mr. Stephanopoulos
characterized his trip to Cyprus as a visit of national and
religious pilgrimage and issued an appeal to the international
public opinion and those who govern the world to stop turning a
blind eye to the Cyprus problem.
Referring to the Turkish Cypriots, he said that Cyprus's
accession into the European Union will benefit all.
[19] NORMALIZATION OF GREEK-TURKISH RELATIONS PRESUPPOSES
SETTLEMENT OF THE CYPRUS PROBLEM
The President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos,
addressing the Cypriot Parliament, today, expressed his conviction
that Greek-Turkish relations could not be normalized unless the
Cyprus problem was solved.
Mr Stephanopoulos stated that the peaceful settlement of the
Cyprus issue and the implementation of international law is of
great importance to Greece and called on the international
community to pay attention to the situation on the island.
Mr Stephanopoulos reiterated that Greece unequivocally
condemns any thought concerning the partition of the island and
added that Ankara should realize that "Europe could never humble
itself by succumbing to Turkey's demands"
[20] SERBIA:EVENTUALITY OF CIA BEING BEHIND THE KOSOVO LIBERATION
ARMY
Serbian Information minister Aleksandar Vucic described the
meeting, the US special envoy for the Balkans, Richard Holbrooke,
held with representatives of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), in
Pristina, as a "diplomatic mistake". Mr Vucic stressed that the
meeting was not accidental because "no American diplomat meets by
accident with anyone" and claimed that the meeting was organized
by the US embassy in Belgrade.
According to mr Vucic, mr Holbrooke knew who he held talks
with and who was behind the UCK. The Serbian Information minister,
also, pointed out that "mr Holbrooke's meeting with the leaders of
that terrorist gang in Kosovo proves that the US intelligence
service and the US government are behind it".
Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available
on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at
http://www.hri.org/MPA/
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