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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 99-07-04Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.Last Update: 23:27 GMT+2SECTIONS
NEWS HEADLINES[A] GREECE[B] BALKANS[C] EUROPE[D] WORLDNEWS IN DETAIL[A] GREECE[01] EUROPEAN YOUTH CHAPTER OF SAE MEETS IN THESSALONIKIWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Thessaloniki, 04/07/1999 (MPA) The European youth chapter of the Council of Greeks Abroad is presently holding its first Regular Meeting in Thessaloniki where young people of Greek descent from throughout Europe will meet, mingle and brainstorm.Macedonia-Thrace Minister Yiannis Magriotis and Thessaloniki Mayor Vasilis Papageorgopoulos inaugurated the event, whose central theme is "Young Greeks from the Atlantic to the Urals". Mr. Magriotis welcomed the 150 delegates, stating that the event is granting them an opportunity to discuss the greatest hurdle faced by young Greeks living abroad, that of education. He invited them to submit their proposals, ideas and suggestions as to what action should be taken within the European Union regarding the preservation of language and cultural heritage, especially on matters concerning culture and national issues. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigoris Niotis urged the young delegates to take the future of Hellenism into their hands, as they hold the key to preserving Hellenism in the Diaspora, while he also congratulated the young Greeks for the significant task they have ably performed so far. In a moving address, World President of SAE Hon. Andrew A. Athens asked the young Greeks dispersed throughout the continent to always safeguard Hellenism, Orthodoxy and Greece within their soul, propelled by love, peacefulness, unity, conciliation and in absence of animosity and division. Illustrating the work of SAE, Mr. Athens outlined the medical support program funded by the Council in the countries of the former Soviet bloc and announced that the SAE presiding board will visit the Greek community of Northern Epirus tomorrow. "We want to help with actions, not merely words," Mr. Athens stressed, adding that tomorrow's visit will determine the existing needs and the action to be taken by SAE within its abilities. A.F. [02] FRENCH SENATOR VISITS TO DISCUSS BALKAN RECONSTRUCTION HQWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Thessaloniki, 04/07/1999 (MPA) The President of the French Senate's committee for foreign affairs and defense Xavier de Villepin is presently in Greece where he will hold talks with Greek officials concerning Thessaloniki's role in the Balkans reconstruction program.Mr. De Villepin will hold talks with parliament speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias and members of the parliament's Greek-French friendship group. He will also visit Thessaloniki tomorrow to discuss the city's role in the reconstruction of the Balkans with Macedonia-Thrace Minister Yiannis Magriotis. A.F. [03] EDUCATION MINISTER TO MAKE CONCESSIONS TO FAILING STUDENTSWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Athens, 04/07/1999 (MPA) Education Minister Gerasimos Arsenis has vowed to proceed with making special adjustments within the system, for those students who failed at this year's sophomore examinations and literally flunked a grade.In an interview with an Athens Sunday paper, Mr. Arsenis stressed that, while adjustments will be made to assist the students, they will not be given a second chance, as parents and teachers have requested. He stated that, as of September, extra curriculum will be set into effect for the 13.4% of the students who failed. A.F. [04] GREEK FM: WE CAN BENEFIT FROM A DIALOGUE WITH TURKEYWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Athens, 04/07/1999 (MPA) The Greek government believes that "we can benefit from a dialogue with Turkey", according to Greece's Foreign Minster George Papandreou, who concurrently added that the country's positions on important issues concerning the Greek-Turkish relations remain the same.On the other hand, the country's main opposition party leader, New Democracy's Costas Karamanlis told an Athens Sunday paper that he fears the government is slipping into a "across-the-board dialogue with Turkey". Mr. Karamanlis also expressed his confidence that New Democracy will win next year's elections. A.F. [B] BALKANS[05] YUGOSLAV FM ASKS UN TO ALLOW YUGOSLAV TROOPS IN KOSOVOWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Belgrade, 04/07/1999 (MPA) Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council yesterday asking it to discuss the problem of returning part of Yugoslav servicemen to Kosovo, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported.Mr. Jovanovic said that U.N. Security Council resolution No 1244 foresees the deployment of hundreds of Yugoslav servicemen in Kosovo. Their task is to protect Serbian monuments, guard the border and maintain relations with international peacekeeping forces. The minister said that after KFOR deployed in Kosovo, the situation aggravated in the region and there are mass violations of fundamental rights of the population. He called for returning the part of Yugoslavs and Serbs which will be able to ensure relations with civilian missions and international security forces. A.F. [06] GERMAN OFFICIAL: BALKANS PACT IS TO PREVENT FUTURE CONFLICTWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Sarajevo, 04/07/1999 (MPA) The aim of the new Balkans Stability Pact is to prevent future conflicts in the region such as those that have occurred in ex-Yugoslavia, a top aide of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said yesterday.According to the French news agency AFP, Michael Steiner said that "the Stability Pact tries to express concretely the solidarity of the international community, of the European Union towards this region. "It is a preventive approach. We want to finally have an approach which prevents events as we have been seeing them all over the former Yugoslavia." The Stability Pact was signed on May 10 in Cologne by countries of the region, member-states of the European Union, the Group of Eight (G8) of the world's top industrial nations, 20 further countries and international organizations. Speaking during a visit to Sarajevo, Mr. Steiner said the Pact aimed to "foster democratic structures and to foster human rights and the protection of minorities." A.F. [C] EUROPE[07] MOSCOW MAYOR: RUSSIA, EU, WARN MILOSEVIC ON MONTENEGROWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Moscow, 04/07/1999 (MPA) Russia and the European Union should jointly issue a warning to President Slobodan Milosevic if he continues pressuring Montenegro, the smaller of the two Yugoslav republics, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov said yesterday.According to the French news agency AFP, Mr. Luzhkov, a contender for the Russian presidency in the next elections, told journalists on a visit to Munich that if President Milosevic continued questioning Montenegro's autonomy within Yugoslavia or threatened the pro-western Montenegrin government he must reckon with joint measures by Russia and the 15-nation European Union. He did not elaborate. Montenegro's reformist government has been openly critical of Belgrade, especially during the Kosovo war. President Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro has said publicly the Yugoslav president should be removed from office. Earlier this week he said Yugoslavia had become "a laboratory for Slobodan Milosevic and his autistic, xenophobic regime in permanent conflict with the whole world." A.F. [D] WORLD[08] US-HELLENIC MEDIA PROJECT SETS RECORD STRAIGHT WITH L.A.TIMESWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Los Angeles, 04/07/1999 (MPA) The American-Hellenic Media Project (AHMP), a U.S. based non-profit organization created to address media inaccuracy and encourage independent, ethical and responsible journalism, has taken the L.A. Times to task for an article published late last month which erroneously reported that FYROM is the homeland of Alexander the Great.In a letter to the editor written on June 25, AHMP executive director, P. D. Spyropoulos, Esq., sets the record straight: "In her June 24th article ("Ethnic Quilt Looks Frayed in Macedonia"), Alissa Rubin validates concerns that the distortion of Greek history will be used to fuel nationalist myths in one of the most unstable regions of the world. She remarks that 'despite its heritage as the homeland of Alexander the Great, Macedonia has been a nation for only eight years', " Mr. Syropoulos wrote. "Only the southernmost part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) was part of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia," he continued. " Its heart still lies in the northern Greek province of Macedonia, where today visitors can view the mass of ancient Macedonia's archeological finds and visit Alexander's capital in Pella. FYROM's Slavic predecessors moved into the area almost a millennium later and had no direct linguistic or cultural connection with the ancient Macedonians, who were Greek by language, religion, self-identification and most likely by race. "Perhaps of greater concern is Ms. Rubin's groundless assertion that Greece has expansionist designs on FYROM," Mr. Spyropoulos stated. "Such torturing of both ancient and modern history is a critical reason why our foreign policy in the Balkans has become an unmitigated disaster. The dispute that transpired earlier this decade between Athens and Skopje had nothing to do with Greek claims on FYROM but with concerns over the misappropriation of Greek history and over nationalists in FYROM agitating for a "Greater Macedonia". The danger to FYROM's territorial integrity never came from EU-member Greece, by far the most democratic and stabilizing country in the Balkans, but from our current administration's (he refers to the U.S. government) destabilizing policies of aggression and from nationalism by ethnic groups within FYROM itself," he concluded. The letter prompted a correction from the L.A. Times which, on the issue of June 29, section A, page 3, wrote: "For the Record: "Macedonia--In a Times story Thursday about Macedonia, a reference to that country as the homeland of Alexander the Great was misleading. " Alexander was born in the ancient city of Pella, in what is now the Greek province of Macedonia. In the 4th century B.C., when Alexander was born, the entire area was known as Macedonia." A.F. [09] PAN-MACEDONIAN ASSOCIATION ELECTS NEW PRESIDING BOARDWeb Posted: 20:20 GMT+2Hartford, 04/07/1999 (MPA) The 53rd national convention of the Pan- Macedonian Association of USA-Canada, held at Hartford, Connecticut, came to a close today with the elections of its new presiding board.Seraphim Papayiannis, a physician from Boston was unanimously elected as chairman of the board, with Nina Petropoulou as vice-president. Serving at the post of secretary general is George Gatzoulas, with Dimitris Tassopoulos as treasurer. A pantheon of leading figures, from within the Omogeneia, joined by a score of philhellenes and other officials, including the President of the United States Bill Clinton, saluted the convention. A.F. 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/Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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