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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 99-04-27Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCYThessaloniki, April 27, 1999TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] NATO MISSILES FINISH OFF TV TRANSMITTERS IN BELGRADEBelgrade, April 27 (MPA)A NATO laser-targeted bomb hit the Uste Building in the center of a densely populated district of Belgrade last night, completely destroying the city’s only remaining TV and radio broadcasting station. The building, which housed the headquarters of the ruling Social Party of Serbia, was bombed for the first time a week ago. The Alliance continued to pound other areas of Yugoslavia as well, firing missiles against the cities of Kraljevo, Tecak and hitting a television transmitter on Mount Zladibor. A.F.[02] CHERNOMYRDIN MEETS WITH TALBOT IN MOSCOW TODAYMoscow, April 27 (MPA)United States deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott is presently in Moscow where he will be received by the Russian President’s special envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin in order to discuss the Yugoslavia crisis. According to reports, the meeting will be held "in a narrow format and partially tete-a-tete."Earlier today, Mr. Chernomyrdin spoke on the telephone with the U. S. Vice-President Al Gore. Meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to arrive at the Russian capital today, as well as Greece’s Foreign Minister George Papandreou. A.F. [03] OIL EMBARGO TO BE IMPOSED ON YUGOSLAVIA BY END OF THE WEEKWashington, April 27 (MPA)An embargo on oil deliveries to Yugoslavia is expected to be imposed by the end of this week, as has been decided by the European Union’s foreign ministers, although Russia has stated that it will not abide by the embargo.Concurrently, the “15” have decided to expand the economic sanctions against Yugoslavia and to prohibit the issuance of EU visas to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, his family, his government’s ministers and to Yugoslav businessmen. A.F. [04] GREEK-AMERICANS CALL FOR SAME STANDARDS IN CYPRUSWashington, April 27 (MPA)Over one hundred prominent members of the Greek community in the United States have sent President Bill Clinton a letter wherein they ask NATO to invoke its new standards for ethnic cleansing and intervene in Cyprus, as it does in Kosovo. The World President of the Council of Greeks Abroad ( SAE) Andrew Athens and the President of SAE of North and South America Chris Tomaras were among the letter’s signatories. “Now that this new NATO standard has been established for responding to the maintenance of ethnic cleansing policies, it will be far more difficult for NATO to tolerate any longer Turkey’s continuous use of deadly force (most recently in 1996) and the very active threat of deadly force (everyday) to prevent 200,000 ethnically cleansed Cypriots from returning to their homes,” the letter to President Clinton says. “NATO’s credibility and moral authority for its mission in Kosovo and NATO’s image will be seriously undercut if Turkey’s military occupation of Cyprus is not put to an immediate end and the Cypriots who were ethnically cleansed by Turkey are not allowed to return to their homes in safety.” The letter also makes reference to other conflicts heading for a permanent resolution under West’s willingness to mediate, such as the Northern Ireland issue and the Middle East. It stresses the Cypriot courageous efforts designed to reduce tension and help the dialogue, such as the decision to cancel the order of the surface-to air missiles, while it points out the negative attitude of the Turkish occupational government that constantly blocks diplomatic efforts with unacceptable preconditions. The letter campaign has been an initiative of the National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes, whose Chairman is the Greek-American lobbyist Andrew A. Manatos. A.F.[05] APACHE HELICOPTER CRASHES IN TIRANA DURING TRAINING FLIGHTTirana, April 27 (MPA)One of the 24 Apache helicopters, transferred to Albania from the United States for taking part in the operation against Yugoslavia, crashed in Tirana during a training flight last night, the Russian news agency Itar- Tass reported.According to a U.S. Pentagon spokesman, both of the helicopter’s crew members are now hospitalized in a satisfactory condition. According to his information, the military command do not believe that the helicopter was brought down by fire coming from Yugoslavia. A.F. [06] SWEDEN’S ROYAL COUPLE IN ATHENS ON OFFICIAL VISITAthens, April 27 (MPA)King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Sylvia of Sweden embarked on a three-day visit to Greece yesterday, the first-ever official visit by a Swedish head of state to this country, at the invitation of the President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos. The royal couple was received by Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis yesterday afternoon and attended a banquet held in their honor by President Stephanopoulos. Today, the King and Queen of Sweden will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and will meet with the Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, as well as with political party leaders and Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos. They will also attend a business seminar at the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Tonight, King Carl Gustaf and Queen Sylvia will hold a reception. A.F.[07] MIKIS THEODORAKIS DENOUNCES NATO, CALLS ON PUBLIC TO “RESIST”Athens, April 27 (MPA)Greece’s renowned composer Mikis Theodorakis took center stage in last night’s highly successful concert held in downtown Athens in support of the Yugoslav people, denouncing NATO’s raids against their country.Facing a cheering crowd, Mr. Theodorakis stated: “The leaders of the NATO member-states yesterday (Sunday) signed a death sentence for the United Nations. The United States can now, with the connivance of the European countries, judge, sentence and punish anyone whom they view as objecting to their designs. I do not think it an exaggeration to say that we are about to enter another Middle Age era. So, get a hold of warm, wool clothing, mufflers, gloves, bitter cold lies ahead. As I have stated since the start of the raids, all that is being said about ethnic cleansing is merely pretext. I have said that they don’t care about dialogue and agreements, their sole aim is to transform the heretic Yugoslavia into burnt land and they intend to do just that, they want to transform Serbia into a desert. “A desert made up of dust and blood, displaying it to the next victims, warning them ‘look, this is what lies ahead if you don’t succumb.’ “We, the Greeks, should be proud since we were the only ones who all together and in unison said ‘NO’ to barbarity. We shall stand by the victims, by the Serbs and we want our signing today to cover the siren screams and the missile blasts. “Belgrade, today we sing for you. We are on your side. Be courageous, justice is on your side, and justice always triumphs.” A.F. [08] GREEK FM: GREECE EXTENDS FRIENDSHIP TO TURKEYWashington, April 27 (MPA)Greece will not participate in any potential ground operations against Yugoslavia, Foreign Minister George Papandreou reiterated during his address at the "NATO and Southeastern Europe" conference organized by Tufts University's Foreign Policy Institute in collaboration with the Socrates Kokkalis Foundation.He further added that Greece extended its friendship to Turkey in the belief that cooperation between the two neighboring countries could only benefit them. "Greece extends its friendship to Turkey not out of weakness, but out of the strength of its (Greece's) positions and in its belief that cooperation between the two countries can prove only of benefit to both of them," he stated. Speaking at the same conference, Greece’s Minister of Defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos stated that NATO needs to approach the subject of security by taking into account the political, economic, social and environmental factors. “I would like to stress that NATO should act in accordance with international law, and not in an attempt to substitute it,” he said. A.F. [09] F.R.Y.’S FM ACCUSES UN OF INACTIVITY IN HIS LETTER TO ANNANUnited Nations, April 27 (MPA)The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic has forwarded a written appeal to United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan, demanding that the UN immediately denounce the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia.According to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Mr. Jovanovic accused the UN of inactivity in is letter and pointed out that despite a request made by the Yugoslav government to call an urgent session of the UN Security Council in connection with the NATO criminal campaign against Yugoslavia, the UN had done nothing yet to stop this barbarous aggression, put en end to threats to international peace and security and ensure that the UN Charter outrageously violated by NATO be observed. "Kosovo and Metohia are multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-confessional territory of Serbia whose authorities equally treat all citizens and do not conduct a campaign of intimidation or expulsion of peaceful population," Mr. Jovanovic said in his letter. "Nothing except NATO bombs threatens peace in Kosovo and Metohia, but mass NATO bombardments which are made every day is the only obstacle impeding stabilization and return to the groundwork of peaceful settlement," he added. "Our forces in Kosovo and Metohia ensure defense against NATO aggression and serve as a shield deterring NATO troops concentrated in Albania and Macedonia," Mr. Jovanovic said. As soon as the aggression is stopped and NATO troops are withdrawn from the Yugoslav borders the number of the Armed Forces and Security forces of Yugoslavia will be immediately cut to the level of peace time, he said, underlining that the government of Yugoslavia "guarantees security to all citizens of the country and is also able to guarantee implementation of a future political agreement." According to Mr. Jovanovic, that is why there is no need to deploy international military or police forces on the territory of Yugoslavia, adding that "their presence in Yugoslavia is unacceptable." A.F. [10] TWELVE GREEK SHARES AMONG EUROPE’S HIGHEST YIELDINGThessaloniki, April 27 (MPA)Greece’s Commercial and Ionian banks hold first and second place, respectively, in the “Wall Street Journal”’s list of the 20 highest yielding European shares, for the 1998-99 fiscal year.Specifically, the two banks’ share returns stand at 365.1% for Commercial Bank and 242.9% for Ionian Bank, while the list also contains ten more Greek ventures, with National Bank ranking among the top five with returns of 197.1%. A.F. [11] GREECE’S AGRICULTURE MINISTRY VIES FOR FOUR TRILLION FROM CSFThessaloniki, April 27 (MPA)Greece’s Ministry of Agriculture is vying for four trillion drachmas from the Third Community Support Framework, according to its 2000-06 Regional Development Plan (RDP) submitted to the Ministry of National Economy. The RDP allocates expenditures of 3.8 billion drachmas for agriculture and an additional 200 billion for fishery. The “lion’s share” of the funds would be absorbed by infrastructure works in the sector of agriculture. A.F.[12] UCK CONDEMNS MODERATE LEADER RUGOVA TO DEATHTirana, April 27 (MPA)The Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) has condemned the moderate leader of the province’s ethnic Albanians Ibrahim Rugova to death. According to Tirana’s state-owned television station, the UCK is trying to remove Mr. Rugova from the political scene since it does not agree with his efforts to reach a peaceful and political resolution to Kosovo’s issues. A.F.[13] TALBOTT MEETS WITH IVANOV, TALKS WERE “CONSTRUCTIVE”Moscow, April 27 (MPA)The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott had an one-hour meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Moscow today, which he described as “very constructive.” According to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Mr. Talbott stated that "consultations between Moscow and Washington on the situation around Yugoslavia will be continued.” Responding to the question on whether the United States got a more clear idea of Russia's stand with regard to the Kosovo settlement, Talbott said that he had learned even more than he had known before about Russia's attitude to the situation in the Serb region of Kosovo. He saw for himself that Russia and the U.S. continued to cooperate on a number of issues in other countries of the Balkan region, it was reported. A.F.[14] HOWITZERS ARRIVE AT SKOPJE AFTER LONG STAY IN THESSALONIKIThessaloniki, April 27 (MPA)Thirty-six U.S.-made howitzer weapons arrived at their destination in Skopje yesterday, after having been kept at the port of Thessaloniki for two months. The weapons had been kept at the port due to red-tape tangles at customs and the fact that the necessary permit had not been requested from Greece’s military and political authorities. Their release was made feasible after a judicial order.Meanwhile, according to Skopje’s state-owned radio station, the number of NATO troops in FYROM is expected to reach the 15,000-figure within the next ten days. Quoting NATO officials in Skopje, the radio program reported that presently there are approximately 13,000 NATO troops in FYROM, while, taking into account the imminent arrival of an additional 1,800 British soldiers, the number will increase to 15,000. One hundred and sixty-eight German troops crossed the Greece-FYROM border yesterday, with 103 vehicles, along with 100 French and 40 British soldiers. A.F. [15] FYROM’S MINISTER OF ECONOMY RESIGNSSkopje, April 27 (MPA)FYROM’s Minister of Economy Zago Cado, submitted his resignation last night, stating that the proposals he submitted to the government for economic recovery were not accepted.Mr. Cado, who participates in the coalition government under Vasil Tupurkovski’s Democratic Alternative Solution party, also stated that, during his term, it was impossible to coordinate his ministry’s activities with other ministries and added that following the changes that took place in the public administration section, his ministerial duties were significantly limited. A.F. [16] MILOSEVIC: RED CROSS WILL ASSIST KOSOVO REFUGEESBelgrade, April 27 (MPA)Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic stated that the return of Red Cross officials to Kosovo will significantly contribute to addressing the humanitarian problems in the region.According to the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug, following his meeting with the Red Cross chairman Cornelio Sobaruga, Mr. Milosevic assured that all Red Cross members can perform their duties in Yugoslavia. A.F. Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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