Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 01-08-26

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] GREAT GREEK-TURKISH CONCERT

[02] HOLY SYNOD IN SESSION TOMORROW

[03] BALKAN YOUTH FESTIVAL

[04] FRENCH WARSHIP IN THESSALONIKI

[05] ARCHBISHOP CRITICIZED BY THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE

[01] GREAT GREEK-TURKISH CONCERT

Awards to personalities who contribute to Greek-Turkish approximation, and understanding between the two peoples have been instituted by the Macedonian Press Agency and the Turkish Anadolu Press Agency. The awards will be given every year, while the first artists to receive them will be the great Turkish artist Zulfu Livaneli, Maria Farantouri and Mikis Theodorakis. The awards will be given on tonight, in the framework of the great Greek-Turkish folk concert which will take place in Aristotelous Square, and will be the commencement of the "Balkan Square" events, organized by the Municipality of Neapoli. In the same event Mikis Theodorakis will officially become an honorary citizen of the municipality of Neapoli.

The commencement event of the "Balkan Square" started with a torchlight procession. All officials and artists were to be present and participate in the concert at 7:30 pm in front of Venizelos' statue at the crossroads of Aristotelous and Egnatia streets, and the torchlight procession was to continue until Electra Palace where the Minister of Culture, Evaggelos Venizelos, will have a reception in their honor.

Before the beginning of the concert, the General Director of the Macedonian Press Agency and the General Director of the Anadolu Press Agency, will present Maria Farantouri and Zulfu Livaneli correspondingly, with an honorary plaque each. Honorary plaques for the two artists, for the mayor of Neapoli, Grigoris Hatzisavvas, and for the General Director of the Macedonian Press Agency will also be presented by Mayor of Kousantasi Fouat Aktogan.

Concequently, Livaneli and Farantouri supported by the Mikis Theodorakis Folk Band along with Panagiotis Karadimitris and Giorgos Theodorakis, will perform famous compositions by Mikis Theodorakis and Livaneli. It should be noted that the commencement ceremony of the "Balkan Square"is being reaized with the support of the Municipality of Kousantasi, the Macedonian Press Agency, the Anadolu Press Agency and Radio Thessaloniki.

[02] HOLY SYNOD IN SESSION TOMORROW

In the presence of the Archbishop of Athens and the whole of Greece, Christodoulos, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece will come into session tomorrow and the day after, in one of its last sessions with the composition of the 144th Synodic Period.

On Tuesday, with Mr. Christodoulos, the Standing Members of the Holy Synod and the members of the Committee on the ID card issue present, the results of the signature collection for a referendum on whether or not religion should or should not be depicted on one's ID card will be announced

[03] BALKAN YOUTH FESTIVAL

The prefecture of Pierria has turned into a magnet for young artists from all over Southeastern Europe, where the main events of the Balkan Youth Festival are taking place.

In this second consecutive organization of the festival , it is hosting artists, aged 18 to 25 from Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Cyprus, Rumania, Turkey, FYROM and of course Greece.

The main events, which have a competitive character in the sectors of music, visual art and video, will be completed tomorrow. The Balkan Youth Festival is supported by the Ministries of Culture and Macedonia-Thrace, the general secretariat of the New Generation and the prefectures of Katerini, Litohoro, and East Olympus.

The Katerini coast of Olympus, the Litohoro park and the main square of Leptokaria are the three great stages where the festivals events take place.

[04] FRENCH WARSHIP IN THESSALONIKI

The French warship carrying vehicles to be used by the French military force which has already arrived in FYROM by plane, arrived at the Thessaloniki harbor this morning. The vehicles were to leave for FYROM today, but had not departed yet at 11:00 this morning.

In the meantime, an Italian warship will also arrive in the Thessaloniki harbor, also carrying vehicles and equipment for the Italian force in the neighboring country.

[05] ARCHBISHOP CRITICIZED BY THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE

There was harsh criticism on Archbishop Christodoulos from the Minister of Justice, Mr. Stathopoulos, in an interview with the "Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia" newspaper.

Mr. Stathopoulos accused the Archbishop of maintaining the confrontation and is fanatacizing people, and supported the Prime Minister's stance on the issue.

"History will record who the opportunists were. The ones who forget essential principles in action which, among others, the founder of PASOK, Andreas Papandreou, proclaimed", he stressed.

"In the past dissenters were burnt at the stake. Now they are verbally turned into demons, ineffectually, of course. Even that is some, small progress", he pointed out among other issues.

Mayor of Athens, Mr. Avramopoulos, referred to the rift in the Church - State relationship from Kalymnos, where he is visiting with a group of his party, the United Citizens Movement.

Mr. Avramopoulos proposed an immediate discussion, stressing that the problem has already caused enough damage.

"It is trying even on our social cohesion. The opposition between Church and State must end". he pointed out.

The number of signatures gathered on the issue of whether or not religion should be displayed on ID cards, will be made public on Tuesday, according to Archbishop Christodoulos. On Wednesday, the Archbishop will meet with the President of the Republic, Kostis Stefanopoulos and will and make his request for a referendum known.

A delegation of the church hierarchy had programmed to meet with the Prime Minister, party leaders and the President of the Parliament, Apostolos Kalaklamanis, to prepare the meetings with the Archbishop. Mr. Simiti's office referred the hierarchs to the Minister of Education, Mr. Petros Efthymiou.

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