Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 99-03-02
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, March 2, 1999
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] GREECE'S AMBASSADOR TO KENYA TESTIFIES FOR 15 HOURS
[02] GREEK INDUSTRIES FEDERATION IN N.GREECE RESPONDS TO KOC
[03] CONCERT HELD IN SUPPORT OF KURDS DRAWS LARGE CROWD
[04] GREECE-US MILITARY EXERCISE BEGINS IN THE AEGEAN TODAY
[05] BORDER ZONE TO INCREASE DEVELOPMENT IN N.E. GREECE
[06] REPPAS: THE SWEDISH NEWS AGENCY REPORT CREATED FALSE
IMPRESSIONS
[07] REPPAS: THE RUMOURS OVER A CRISIS IN THE AEGEAN ARE TARGETING
THE STOCK MARKET
[08] PAPANDREOU: THE CROSS-PARTY COOPERATION ON ISSUES OF FOREIGN
POLICY IS NECESSARY
[09] STEPHANOPOULOS RESPONDED TO THE TURKISH ALLEGATIONS ON THE
OCALAN CASE
[10] PAPANDREOU MET WITH POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS
[11] PANGALOS' PRESS CONFERENCE
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[12] STATE DEPARTMENT: GREECE DOES NOT SUPPORT TERRORISM
[13] OSCE PRESIDENT KNUT VOLLEBAEK TRAVELS TO PRISHTINA TODAY
[14] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS IN UZBEKISTAN
[15] FORMER FM PANGALOS INCENSED OVER SWEDISH WIRE REPORT
[16] C OF E'S COMMITTEE FOR PREVENTION OF TORTURE TO VISIT OCALAN
[17] STATE DEPARTMENT: WASHINGTON POST'S CLAIMS ARE UNFOUNDED
[18] MILOSEVIC REFUSES DEPLOYMENT OF NATO TROOPS IN KOSOVO
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] GREECE'S AMBASSADOR TO KENYA TESTIFIES FOR 15 HOURS
Greece's ambassador to Nairobi George Kostoulas testified for
15 hours before the Athens prosecutors who are conducting a
preliminary investigation into the Ocalan Affair and whether or
not any civilians can be held responsible in the matter.
The former public relations manager at the Athens airport,
Stephanos Evangelatos, is also to provide additional testimony
today. Also, the Greek Intelligence Service agent Maj. Savvas
Kalenteridis is to appear once more before the prosecutor today.
[02] GREEK INDUSTRIES FEDERATION IN N.GREECE RESPONDS TO KOC
The President of the Federation of Greek Industries in
Northern Greece (SEBBE) Vasilis Takas has harshly responded to the
President of the Turkish-Greek Business Council Rahmi Koc, after
the latter forwarded a letter to the Council's members asking them
to end all activities in Greece and freeze trade ties.
In a letter addressed to Mr. Koc, Mr. Takas stated that
"while the directive to cease business activity was not aimed at
us, we feel that we have an obligation to respond.
"We disregard your one-sided criticism on the Greek
governments policy on Greek-Turkish issues. We are not going to
follow you, since we also conduct our
own harsh but documented criticism regarding the Turkish
governments' provocations towards Greece.
"Our peoples have enough memory and knowledge of history to
judge the functions of democracy and human rights throughout the
history of both countries as well as the reasons that provoked
Greek-Turkish conflict," Mr. Takas writes in his letter.
He further notes that personal contacts have greatly
developed during the recent years among businessmen from both
countries, thereby promoting business cooperation in South-Eastern
Europe in an effort to dissociate business ties from political
developments.
"Through common actions" he adds, "we tried to create a
spirit of mutual trust and respect, by believing that the economic
interests that would develop would create a climate which in turn
would aid relations between the two countries. We insist on these
efforts, both at a bilateral level, as well as at the Balkan,
Black Sea and European levels.
" We realize the pressure recently exerted on you to put an
end to the spirit of Greek-Turkish friendship and cooperation
inaugurated with the Papandreou-Ozal meeting in Davos...However,
we cannot receive without returning the insulting accusations
(hurled) at the business world of Greece and the entire Greek
society, which lives freely in an entirely democratic and European
environment."
[03] CONCERT HELD IN SUPPORT OF KURDS DRAWS LARGE CROWD
Featuring a pantheon of Greek and foreign artists, musicians
and intellectuals, all participating on a volunteer basis, Athens
hosted a free concert in support to the Kurdish people yesterday
evening at Constitution Square, drawing a large crowd.
A salute was forwarded by Italian Nobel prize laureate in
literature, Dario Fo, who said that "For us it is a political
choice to stand by the Kurdish people and Ocalan."
[04] GREECE-US MILITARY EXERCISE BEGINS IN THE AEGEAN TODAY
Greece and the United States are embarking today on a mid-
sized military exercise code-named "Megas Alexandros", in the sea
region between Volos, Skyros and Agios Efstratios.
The exercise is part of a framework of bilateral cooperation
and joint training between all Greek forces and corresponding ones
from the United States.
Greece is participating with its 32nd marine brigade, a
frigate, a destroyer,
three landing craft and a number of support vessels.
The United States are participating with two landing craft
and a 1,500-troop force. The exercise will be coordinated by the
Greek national defense general staff.
[05] BORDER ZONE TO INCREASE DEVELOPMENT IN N.E. GREECE
The Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace has drawn a plan
called "Border Zone", which aims at increasing development in
northeastern Greece, including the border
region, working with local authorities.
The program will be presented tomorrow by the
minster of Macedonia-Thrace Yiannis Magriotis to the mayors of
the border municipalities of Central Macedonia, Serres, Kilkis and
Pella.
[06] REPPAS: THE SWEDISH NEWS AGENCY REPORT CREATED FALSE
IMPRESSIONS
Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas expressed the
government's regret over the statements attributed to Greek former
foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos by the Swedish news agency.
Mr. Reppas stated that false impressions were created as Mr.
Pangalos has never made such statements and characterized as sad
the fact that the news report in question was published by the
Swedish news agency without cross-checking it first.
[07] REPPAS: THE RUMOURS OVER A CRISIS IN THE AEGEAN ARE TARGETING
THE STOCK MARKET
The rumours over tension in the Aegean and the likelihood of
a "hot incident" between Greece and Turkey are targeting the stock
market, according to Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas.
Mr. Reppas said that Greek aircraft intercepted Turkish
planes but this is not unusual, adding that the rumours on tension
in the Aegean are spread for reasons everyone can understand. He
also stated that everyone should realise that these are games
played by certain circles for economic and political reasons.
He said that he does not know who is responsible for
spreading such rumours and added that if he knew he would have
made specific accusations.
[08] PAPANDREOU: THE CROSS-PARTY COOPERATION ON ISSUES OF FOREIGN
POLICY IS NECESSARY
The need for the promotion of the cross-party cooperation on
issues of foreign policy was underlined by foreign minister
Giorgos Papandreou in statements he made after the contacts he had
with parliamentary foreign affairs committee chairman Karolos
Papoulias, Democratic Social Movement leader Dimitris Tsovolas and
Coalition of the Left leader Nikos Konstantopoulos. Mr. Papandreou
gave detailed information to them on the developments in the
Kurdish issue and the moves the Greek government is prepared to
make in order to deal with the propaganda launched by Turkey
against Greece.
Mr. Papandreou stated that he will convey the views of the
political party leaders to the prime minister and stressed the
need for the political parties to play an important role in the
foreign policy, while he also stressed the role of the citizens to
the tactics followed on national issues. He said that there is no
evidence over a "hot incident" in the Aegean, adding that Greece
is ready to face any eventuality.
[09] STEPHANOPOULOS RESPONDED TO THE TURKISH ALLEGATIONS ON THE
OCALAN CASE
Greek president Kostis Stephanopoulos responded to the
Turkish allegations concerning the Ocalan case. Mr. Stephanopoulos
stressed that the Kurdish issue and the Ocalan affair will not
become subjects of a Greek-Turkish dispute. He also pointed out
that Ankara's allegations over the relation between Greece and PKK
are slanderous mentioning that Greece never backed military,
politically or economically the PKK and Ocalan.
The Greek president stated that Greece did not grant
political asylum to the Kurdish leader not because it did not
recognize the humanitarian dimension of the issue but due to the
difficulties in the Greek-Turkish relations. Mr. Stephanopoulos
expressed regret because Turkey requested that Greece should be
included in the list of the countries that support terrorism.
[10] PAPANDREOU MET WITH POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS
Foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou had contacts with the
Greek political party leaders on the Ocalan affair and the efforts
of the Greek government for the sensitization of the international
public opinion over the Kurdish problem.
Mr. Papandreou met with leader of Democratic Social Movement
Mr. Tsovolas and Coalition of the Left leader Nikos
Konstantopoulos. Earlier, he had met with parliamentary foreign
affairs committee chairman Karolos Papoulias. Mr. Tsovolas called
for a national council meeting or a political leaders' meeting
under prime minister Kostas Simitis.
[11] PANGALOS' PRESS CONFERENCE
The alleged statements made by former Greek foreign minister
Theodoros Pangalos on the Ocalan affair caused the strong reaction
of the Greek delegation in Milan where the European Socialist
Party conference is being held. The statements made by Mr.
Pangalos on the alleged surrender of Ocalan to Turkey were
reported by the Swedish news agency.
Mr. Pangalos said today that he made no such statements to
any reporter and spoke of mere fiction, falsification of texts and
suspicious aspects of the case that should be investigated.
Mr. Pangalos clarified that he spoke about his resignation
and the Ocalan affair with many people but he stressed that he had
reiterated to them what he had already stated to the Greek press
and the Greek parliament.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[12] STATE DEPARTMENT: GREECE DOES NOT SUPPORT TERRORISM
The United States have reiterated that Greece should not be
included in the list of countries which support terrorism.
State Department spokesperson James Foley stated that Greece
is a friendly country, an ally of the United States.
"We work closely with Greece on a whole range of issues -
regional, economic, strategic, political." While adding that the
US disagree with Greece granting asylum to two colleagues of the
of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, the matter should be placed into
perspective.
"The terrorism list is something which covers repeated,
systematic, high-level pattern of state sponsored support for
terrorism, and I wouldn't talk about a close NATO ally and such a
prospect in the same breath," he said.
[13] OSCE PRESIDENT KNUT VOLLEBAEK TRAVELS TO PRISHTINA TODAY
Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek has stated that
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has rejected the latest
proposals for the signing of a draft agreement in Kosovo.
Mr. Vollebaek, who is also the President of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is presently in Prishtina
where he will hold talks with the region's ethnic Albanians.
Meanwhile United States former presidential candidate Bob
Dole, at the Secretary of State's prodding, will try to persuade
the Albanians into accepting the interim agreement of Rambouillet.
[14] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS IN UZBEKISTAN
The President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos,
who arrived yesterday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, accompanied by
Deputy Foreign Minister Grigoris Niotis and a delegation of Greek
businessmen, is to meet with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimof
today.
Megrs. Karimof and Stephanopoulos are expected to sign
agreements on consular issues and road transport. Greece and
Uzbekistan signed a friendship and cooperation pact and a series
of cooperation agreements in commerce, technology, training and
tourism when Mr. Karimof visited Greece on April 1, 1997.
During his aircraft's refueling stop in Tbilisi, Georgia
yesterday, while en route to Tashkent, President Stephanopoulos
had an hour-long meeting with Georgina President Eduard
Shevardnadze who received the Greek President with a guard of
honor. They discussed bilateral relations as well as on Mr.
Stephanopoulos' planned official visit to Georgia in May.
[15] FORMER FM PANGALOS INCENSED OVER SWEDISH WIRE REPORT
Greece's former foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos is
reportedly incensed over a report issued by the Swedish News
Agency according to which he referred to the Ocalan affair and
said "we were forced to turn him over in order to avoid worse."
The report claimed that Mr. Pangalos made the statement on
the sidelines of the European Socialist party meeting in Milan
yesterday.
Mr. Pangalos characterized the report as "a figment of
imagination" and stated emphatically that he did not speak to any
Swedish reporter on the Ocalan affair.
Moreover, he added that the only talks he held with journalists
concerned the ESP's future.
[16] C OF E'S COMMITTEE FOR PREVENTION OF TORTURE TO VISIT OCALAN
Three members of the Council o Europe's Committee for the
Prevention of Torture are to visit PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan,
according to Turkish Ambassador in Washington Baki Ilkin.
Mr. Ocalan is presently incarcerated by Turkish authorities
at the high-security prison of Imrali island.
[17] STATE DEPARTMENT: WASHINGTON POST'S CLAIMS ARE UNFOUNDED
State Department spokesman James Foley has rejected as
"unfounded" the Washington Post's allegations that Greece revealed
NATO codes to Russia.
When asked during the regular press briefing yesterday if the
United States are
satisfied with the Greek government's response to these
allegations, Mr. Foley stated that the preliminary answer is that
the findings are pointing in the direction of a satisfactory
resolution of the matter.
"They look promising. I can't give you a formal read-out
because we had a Pentagon delegation that went over to Greece
because, indeed, there were allegations concerning Greek
unauthorized transfer of US origin military technology to Russia.
But the key word here is "allegation." We conducted an
investigation with the fullest cooperation of Greece and the US
Government agencies are currently awaiting the investigator's
report for analysis.
They have completed the work. My understanding,
preliminarily, is that the results look very promising. The
Pentagon will be briefing congressional committees who are already
kept abreast of the matter.
I'm not going to comment on specifics until that consultation
and briefing is complete and we have the final report," Mr. Foley
said.
When asked if this matter is only concerning allegations, the
State Department spokesman said that the matter consists of two
parts.
"One is an allegation; not a truth, but an allegation. The
other is the fact that the allegation happened to cover a serious
matter. Therefore, you have to investigate if it's serious, if
it's not minor. But it's looking good, as I understand it," Mr.
Foley explained, assuring the journalists that it turned out to be
a false allegation and that there was no transfer of technology.
When asked if the US plan to include Greece on the list of
countries which support terrorism, or at least urge them to close
all terrorist training camp in the Greek territory, Mr. Foley
responded that another journalist had tried to draw him "down that
path" last week and said that he refuses to be drawn in that
direction.
"Greece is a friendly country, is an ally of the United
States. We work closely with Greece on a whole range of issues -
regional, economic, strategic, political. We disagree with Greece
over what happened in the Ocalan affair, as well as with the
asylum granted to his two colleagues. We make no bones about that.
But let's put this in perspective. The terrorism list is something
which covers repeated, systematic, high-level pattern of state
sponsored support for terrorism, and I wouldn't talk about a close
NATO ally and such a prospect in the same breath," he said.
When asked if the United States believe that PKK leader
Abdullah Ocalan can get a fair trial in Turkey, taking into
account the treatment given to the attorneys of the accused, Mr.
Foley responded that the US have welcomed the statement given by
Turkish Premier Bulent Ecevit on February 26 who said that he has
taken measures necessary to prevent demonstrators from threatening
Mr. Ocalan's lawyers.
"We believe that Turkey understands that it's in Turkey's
interest to
create the conditions necessary for Ocalan's trial to be conducted
in a transparent way and in accordance with its obligations under
international human rights instruments," Mr. Foley said.
"I think Turkey does not necessarily need to hear from other
countries that its treatment of Ocalan is in many ways going to be
very closely watched, inevitably, by the international community,
by virtue of the very fact that Turkey achieved such a notable
counter-terrorism success. The fact is there is a greater
spotlight; and it is, indeed, an opportunity for Turkey to show
how well its system of justice can work in transparency and in
accordance with international norms. That's certainly what Turkey
has committed itself to do, and that's certainly what we expect it
to do."
[18] MILOSEVIC REFUSES DEPLOYMENT OF NATO TROOPS IN KOSOVO
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic continues to refuse the
deployment of NATO troops in Kosovo who would overview the
application of the peacekeeping agreement.
During his meeting with the President of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Knut Vollebaek, the
Yugoslav president stressed that if an agreement is reached during
the second round of talks between the Serbs and the ethnic
Albanians of Kosovo, to be held in Rambouillet on March 15, then
the presence of NATO troops in Kosovo will not be necessary.
Mr. Vollebaek stated that "I find it hard to understand how
the agreement will be applied without the presence of a
peacekeeping force", pointing out that, aside from the sporadic
conflict that erupts in the region, there's also lack of trust
between the two sides.
He said that if the agreement is signed when talks resume on
March 15, then OSCE's verification mission would need military
back up.
|
