Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-01-11
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, January 11, 1999
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] EDUCATION TO BE DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT TODAY
[02] STATE PROPOSES A SERIES OF TAX REFORMS
[03] WWII COUPLE REUNITES AFTER 56 YEARS, TILL DEATH DOES THEM
APART
[04] CENTRAL GREECE'S FARMERS WARN OF MOBILIZATIONS
[05] FINNISH PREMIER TO OFFICIALLY VISIT GREECE ON SUNDAY
[06] SOFIA-THESSALONIKI MOTOR ROUTE TO BE READY BY THE YEAR 2004
[07] STUDENTS DECIDE TODAY ON THE FATE OF THEIR PROTEST
MOBILIZATIONS
[08] THE PILOTS WILL HAVE A NEW MEETING WITH THE OA MANAGEMENT
[09] SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN MINISTERS OF DEFENSE MEETING IN ATHENS
[10] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE RESTORATION OF HISTORIC
MONUMENTS IN THE BALKANS
[11] SIMITIS WILL VISIT SPAIN TOMORROW
[12] THE SITUATION IN THE SCHOOLS IS MUCH BETTER, ACCORDING TO THE
GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN
[13] REPPAS: PASOK IS THE POLITICAL PARTY OF THE FUTURE
[14] EX-LIBRIS - THE UNKNOWN TO GREECE BOOKSTAMPS ARE EXHIBITED IN
THESSALONIKI
[15] NIKOS PAPADOPOULOS TAKES OVER A SEAT IN THE SWEDISH
PARLIAMENT
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[16] PRESIDENT OF CYPRUS TO MEET WITH DAME ANN HERCUS
[17] ARCHBISHOP SPYRIDON ANNOUNCES INITIATIVE TO RE-OPEN CHALKI
[18] UKRAINE: COAL MINE EXPLOSION DUE TO NEGLIGENCE
[19] BULGARIA'S DEFENSE MINSTER ARRIVES IN ATHENS TODAY
[20] KLA UNYIELDING OVER ITS CAPTURE OF EIGHT SERB SOLDIERS
[21] EUROPEAN COMMISSION FACES CENSURE VOTE BY PARLIAMENT
[22] SERBS TO CONDUCT PROTEST RALLY IN PRISHTINA TODAY
[23] US MAYOR MOVES FOR RESTORATION OF SYNAGOGUE IN CRETE
[24] SPECIALISTS START SAFETY CHECKS IN BULGARIA'S KOZLODUI
NUCLEAR PLANT
[25] THE ARREST OF HALUK KIRTZI WILL SHED LIGHT ON UNRESOLVED
CRIMES - HE HAD CONFESSED THAT TURKS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
FOREST FIRES IN GREECE
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] EDUCATION TO BE DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT TODAY
Today is a crucial day for the country's education sector as
the crisis plaguing schools throughout Greece will be discussed in
Parliament at political leaders level.
High school students throughout the country are conducting
general assemblies today in order to decide on the fate of their
mobilizations which have been held in protest to educational
reforms. Their teachers will conduct a two-hour work stoppage.
According to the Education Ministry, approximately 96% of the
schools operated last Friday, the first day after the Christmas
holidays. However, according to the Teachers Federation, the
majority of students are planning to continue the sit ins.
[02] STATE PROPOSES A SERIES OF TAX REFORMS
The state is promoting a series of tax reforms, among them
the reduction of the tax factors and the abolishment of the
objective criteria. Undersecretary of Finance George Drys is to
request the relevant plan from minister of National Economy and
Finance Yiannos Papantoniou and will embark on a social dialogue
within the following months.
Moreover, the government plans the gradual abolishment of the
special tax of banking processes, which will lead to a significant
reduction in loan costs.
[03] WWII COUPLE REUNITES AFTER 56 YEARS, TILL DEATH DOES THEM
APART
It began 57 years ago, when Luigi Surace, an Italian soldier
assigned to the Greek city of Patras as part of the WWII
occupation forces, met a local girl named Angeliki Stratigou, fell
in love with her and vowed to marry her after the war.
Indeed, once the war was over, he placed pen in heart and
wrote a series of letters to his beloved but received no reply.
That's because Angeliki's aunt disapproved of the affair and
intercepted her mail.
A disheartened Luigi, stopped writing after three years. He
did marry another woman but, after she died in 1996, he began
searching for his first love. He appealed to the mayor of Patras
who discovered Ms. Stratigou living alone, never having married.
She was 79 years old and he was 77.
After renewing their vows, they planned their wedding for two
weeks from now. However, Luigi's bride-to-be died on Saturday
after a sudden stroke. As the saying goes, love may conquer all,
in this case over half a century, but it cannot conquer death.
[04] CENTRAL GREECE'S FARMERS WARN OF MOBILIZATIONS
The farmers of central Greece are expected to
repeat last year's eventful road
blockades.
The Panthessaly Coordinating Committee of Farmers
is to conduct a city rally on January 15 at prefectural offices
and Agricultural Bank branches, while some local roads will be
blockaded. The protests are expected to continue into early
February.
[05] FINNISH PREMIER TO OFFICIALLY VISIT GREECE ON SUNDAY
The Prime Minster of Finland Paavo Liponen is to conduct an
official visit to Greece between January 17-19, in order to
discuss matters related to his country's undertaking of the
European Union's rotating presidency as of July 1, 1999.
Mr. Liponen will be received by the President of the Hellenic
Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos, his Greek counterpart Kostas
Simitis and the President of the Hellenic Parliament Apostolos
Kaklamanis.
According to reports, the talks will center on Cyprus's
accession to the EU.
[06] SOFIA-THESSALONIKI MOTOR ROUTE TO BE READY BY THE YEAR 2004
Greek and Bulgarian experts are to meet in Sofia
tomorrow in order to discuss the construction of the new motorway
(Strymonas) linking Thessaloniki and Sofia.
The motorway will embark from the Kulata-Promahona border
station and will cross through the Greek city of Serres before
ending in Thessaloniki. Later plans call for the motorway's
extension to Athens.
The present motor route between Thessaloniki and Sofia takes
four hours. The new motorway is expected to be ready by the year
2004, when Athens will host the Olympic Games.
The eight-million-ECU project is to be funded through the
European Union's PHARE program.
[07] STUDENTS DECIDE TODAY ON THE FATE OF THEIR PROTEST
MOBILIZATIONS
Today will be a decisive day for the future developments in
the sector of education. The student general assemblies meet today
to make the final decisions on the future of the school building
sit-ins.
In the region of Athens certain schools decided to extend the
occupations of school buildings but in northern Greece classes are
held without problems in almost all the schools.
Undersecretary of education Yiannis Anthopoulos in statements
he made pointed out that the goal is to avoid the extension of the
school year and added that a further cut in the study material on
which the students will be tested on at the end of the year is out
of the question.
[08] THE PILOTS WILL HAVE A NEW MEETING WITH THE OA MANAGEMENT
The pilots of the state-run Olympic Airways will have new
negotiations this afternoon with the company management to
discuss the program for the reform of the airline.
Meanwhile, the new flight schedule of Olympic Airways is in
effect including 2 to 5 flight cancellations daily in a total of
110 flights. For the moment, no problems have been caused by the
new flight schedule that will be in effect until January 31.
[09] SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN MINISTERS OF DEFENSE MEETING IN ATHENS
The ministers of defense of the south-eastern European
countries will ratify in Athens tomorrow the agreement for the
establishment of a multi-national Balkan peace-keeping force.
The talks started today with the participation of the
ministers of defense of Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy, Romania,
Albania and FYROM. Initially, Turkey will have the command of the
newly-created force, while its headquarters will be in Plovdiv,
Bulgaria.
[10] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE RESTORATION OF HISTORIC
MONUMENTS IN THE BALKANS
An inter-Balkan conference on "The restoration and revival of
the 18th-20th century historic buildings and cities in the
Balkans" will be held in Thessaloniki on January 20-22.
In the conference will participate specialists from Albania,
Bulgaria, FYROM, Greece, Romania, former Yugoslavia and Turkey.
[11] SIMITIS WILL VISIT SPAIN TOMORROW
Prime minister Kostas Simitis will be in Spain tomorrow for a
formal visit during which he will have talks with his Spanish
counterpart Jose Maria Asnar.
Mr. Simitis is expected to return to Athens on Thursday
afternoon and on Friday morning he will preside over a
Governmental Council of foreign affairs and defense meeting.
[12] THE SITUATION IN THE SCHOOLS IS MUCH BETTER, ACCORDING TO THE
GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN
The information campaign and the dialogue launched by the
ministry of education have helped significantly to the improvement
of the situation and the easing of the tensions, said government
spokesman Dimitris Reppas, adding that the ministry of education
is doing everything possible to restore the damages caused in the
school buildings that were under student occupation.
Mr. Reppas said that the situation regarding the school
building occupations is much better and pointed out that the
overwhelming majority of the schools have opened for classes. He
also said that it is reasonable to have the intervention of
justice in cases of punishable actions.
When called to comment on the accusations launched by the
prime minister against the Greek Communist Party according to
which, it instigates the student mobilizations, he responded that
the government will call on the Communist Party to respect the
laws of the state.
[13] REPPAS: PASOK IS THE POLITICAL PARTY OF THE FUTURE
In democracy the political scene is open, commented
government spokesman Dimitris Reppas responding to questions by
reporters on the political moves of Athens mayor Dimitris
Avramopoulos and the likelihood to found a new political party.
On Mr. Avramopoulos' view that the existing political parties
have served their purpose, he said that this statement concerns
the rest political parties and mainly the right-wing opposition
party of New Democracy, the one from which Mr. Avramopoulos comes
from. He also said that the governing socialist party of PASOK is
the party of the future and such references do not concern it.
[14] EX-LIBRIS - THE UNKNOWN TO GREECE BOOKSTAMPS ARE EXHIBITED IN
THESSALONIKI
A special kind of small bookstamps, called ex libris, which
are known in Europe for more than 500 years and virtually unknown
in Greece, will be displayed in an exhibition in Thessaloniki that
opens tomorrow and will last until January 30.
The exhibition will present 370 of the 5.000 pieces of the
private collection of Vasilis Zevgolis, who said that the ex
libris are printed labels (5x8 centimeters) made by 150 artists,
27 of whom are Greek. The ex libris are placed on the inner side
of the front cover of a book. Their role is decorative but their
main use is to serve as property emblems for book owners.
There are about 30 associations of ex libris collectors and
artists with 30.000 members. The collectors of this rare form of
art around the world are estimated to be about 2.000. The ex
libris associations of collectors and artists are under the
auspices of UNESCO and international conferences are being held
every two years each time in a different country.
[15] NIKOS PAPADOPOULOS TAKES OVER A SEAT IN THE SWEDISH
PARLIAMENT
Greek-Swedish Nikos Papadopoulos, a member of Sweden's Social-
democratic party will fill a vacancy at the Swedish parliament
after his colleague Roland Larson left his seat for health
reasons.
Speaking to MPA, Mr. Papadopoulos expressed the hope that
during his four-year term in the Swedish parliament issues such as
the condition and quality of life of foreigners, education,
cultural issues and the creation of new jobs will be dealt with
successfully.
Mr. Papadopoulos is deputy chairman of the World Inter-
Parliamentary Association of Hellenism in which participate about
75 elected parliament deputies from several countries (Australia,
Canada, United States, Ukraine, Albania, Georgia, Romania, South
Africa, Yugoslavia, Sweden, Argentina, Holland, Lithuania, Peru
etc) and he will be in Thessaloniki by the end of January to
attend the Inter-Parliamentary Association meeting that will be
held in the city.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[16] PRESIDENT OF CYPRUS TO MEET WITH DAME ANN HERCUS
The President of the Republic of Cyprus Glafcos Clerides is
to embark on a new series of talks concerning the island's
occupation by Turkish forces.
Today, he will meet with the UN Secretary-General's
representative Dame Ann Hercus, the first meeting held between
them after the National Council's decision not to deploy the S-300
missiles on the island.
President Clerides will also meet with the United States
Ambassador to Nicosia Kenneth Brill.
[17] ARCHBISHOP SPYRIDON ANNOUNCES INITIATIVE TO RE-OPEN CHALKI
The Archbishop of America Spyridon has announced that the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is undertaking an initiative
to establish an independent
foundation whose task will be to promote efforts to reopen the
Halki School of Theology.
The Archbishop stressed that apart from the Greek Orthodox
faithful in the US, the initiative will expand to garner support
from all Orthodox churches of other nationalities.
[18] UKRAINE: COAL MINE EXPLOSION DUE TO NEGLIGENCE
Disregard for safety rules led to the explosion that occurred
at a coal mine in the Ukraine, which took the lives of six people,
according to a report issued by a member of the investigative
committee.
The committee member stated that the disconnection of the
ventilation system led to the accumulation of methane which caused
the explosion.
The Ukrainian government plans to provide the victims'
families with $166,000.
[19] BULGARIA'S DEFENSE MINSTER ARRIVES IN ATHENS TODAY
Bulgaria's Defense Minister Georgi Ananiev is to arrive in
Athens today in order to attend tomorrow's Southeastern European
Defense Ministers meeting.
An agreement is expected to be signed at the meeting
concerning the formation of a multi-national Balkan peacekeeping
force whose headquarters will initially be established in
Bulgaria's sister capital city of Plovdiv.
[20] KLA UNYIELDING OVER ITS CAPTURE OF EIGHT SERB SOLDIERS
The growing tension that peaked on Friday in Kosovo has
subsided according to observers from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), although rebels from the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) continue to hold hostage eight Serb
soldiers whom they captured in the village of Stari Trg hoping for
a prisoner exchange.
The KLA issued an announcement wherein it insists that its
prisoners will be released "once an agreement on the release of
Kosovo Albanians taken captive by the
Serb side has been reached."
OSCE monitors allowed to visit the eight hostages
have stated that they are
in good health and are confident they will be freed.
[21] EUROPEAN COMMISSION FACES CENSURE VOTE BY PARLIAMENT
The European Parliament is to embark on a debate today
concerning the censure vote against the European Commission, whose
20 members are faced with dismissal over charges of fraud and
mismanagement.
The allegations were brought forward by socialist European
deputies and concern an array of topics, spanning the funding of
humanitarian programs amounting to millions of dollars to
favoritism.
A successful censure vote requires a two-thirds majority of
votes cast and would have drastic consequences as, according to
the European Union's treaty, the 20 Commissioners would be forced
to step down.
European Socialist leader Pauline Green told the BBC that a
greater degree of transparency needs to be established in order to
restore the Commission's credibility.
[22] SERBS TO CONDUCT PROTEST RALLY IN PRISHTINA TODAY
The Serb residents of the province of Kosovo are to gather in
a rally signaled by the slogan "End to silence - no more misery",
in the center of Prishtina this evening.
The event is organized by the Serb party of Kosovo
Resistance, with the support of the Serb church.
According to the party's leader Momcilo Trikovic, the rally
wants to convey a message to Belgrade over the problems faced by
the region's Serbs who are forced to abandon their homes. He added
that there are many areas resided solely by Albanians.
[23] US MAYOR MOVES FOR RESTORATION OF SYNAGOGUE IN CRETE
The Jewish mayor of Great Neck, a suburb in the greater New
York area, Bob Rosegarten, has moved for the restoration of the
Etz Hayyim synagogue in Chania, Crete, a remarkable monument that
attests to the 2,400 year-old Jewish presence on the island.
The synagogue, located at the old port of Chania, once was a
center of bustling activity for the island's Zedecca community and
was destroyed during the course of World War II. It was built as a
church during the 15th century and was transformed into a
synagogue in the 17th century. In 1944 it housed 269 Jews for two
days before they were transported by the German occupation forces
on a ship that would take them to Auschwitz. The ship sank a
short distance from the island of Milos and only one person
survived.
Aiding Mr. Rosegarten in his efforts to restore the Jewish
synagogue is Greek professor Nikos Hannan-Stavroulakis.
[24] SPECIALISTS START SAFETY CHECKS IN BULGARIA'S KOZLODUI
NUCLEAR PLANT
The conclusions that will be reached after the safety checks
that will be conducted by the International Atomic Energy
Committee will be of decisive importance for Bulgaria's nuclear
energy industry, stated Kozlodui nuclear plant assistant director
on safety issues Iordan Kostantinov in an interview with the Sofia
newspaper "Pari", commenting on the checks about to begin today to
determine the state the plant's four nuclear reactors are in.
A group of International Atomic Energy Committee
representatives has already arrived at Kozlodui and is made up of
9 specialists and 3 observers from countries with developed
nuclear programs to evaluate the safety level of the BBEP-440 type
nuclear reactors.
The team's work will be completed on January 29 and its
members will submit a report to the Bulgarian government which
will include their views on the condition of Kozlodui's four
nuclear reactors.
[25] THE ARREST OF HALUK KIRTZI WILL SHED LIGHT ON UNRESOLVED
CRIMES - HE HAD CONFESSED THAT TURKS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
FOREST FIRES IN GREECE
The arrest of wanted criminal and member of the "Gray Wolves"
terrorist organization, Haluk Kirtzi, who had revealed in a
telephone communication with a Turkish TV channel after the
Susurluk scandal that members of Turkish parastate organizations
are responsible for the forest fires in Greece, will shed light on
a number of unresolved crimes which shocked Turkey in the past
twenty years in which the Turkish Mafia was involved.
Kirtzi, who had been released from prison "by mistake", was
arrested again yesterday by the Turkish police in his house at
Istanbul's Pedik suburb.
He had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of
7 leftists which he had committed together with other 9
nationalists in Istanbul on October 9,1978. Kirtzi is also
involved in the murder of Kemal Turkler, chairman of the Maden Is
workers union which was committed 2 months before the military
coup of September 12, 1980.
Kirtzi's name surfaced again on November 3, 1996 with the
Susurluk traffic accident which led to revelations on the state-
Mafia connection scandal. Kirtzi allegedly was in the car with the
bodyguards of Turkish parliament deputy Sedat Butzak. In Butzak's
car, which collided with a truck, were also top Mafia man Abdullah
Catli, a high-ranking police officer and a former beauty Queen.
The only survivor of the crash was Butzak himself.
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