Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-04-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] A TIME FOR LAWSUITS

[02] EXODUS

[03] FREE MOVEMENT TEARS ARTIFICIAL WALLS DOWN

[04] CLOSER GREEK-TURKISH COOPERATION IN THE ENERGY SECTOR

[05] THE 10TH EU-IRAN DIALOGUE MEETING ON APRIL 29

[06] EVENTS IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

[07] HITIRIS: THE CREATION OF A WAITING ATMOSPHERE IN THE PUBLIC OPINION IS

[08] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[09] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH IN ATHENS

[10] DRUG RING BASED IN SOUTH BULGARIA

[11] PROTOPAPAS SUES KOURIS

[01] A TIME FOR LAWSUITS

The conflict between the publisher of the Avriani newspaper G. Kouris and the government continues today with a judicial twist, as Minister of the Press and the Media Ch. Protopapas will press charges against Mr. Kouris and architect Mrs. Xynrianou, who claims that she was in charge of campaign centers in 1996, after directions she received from the ALTEC company. Minister of the State St. Manikas threatened the publisher of the Avriani with a lawsuit. The Financial Crime Task Force found extensive tax violations during their audits of ALTEC and Mr. Kouris' groups.

[02] EXODUS

The departure of major urban center residents to the countryside for the Easter holidays, began today. Traffic Police authorities have taken all necessary measures to ensure stability in traffic and is appealing to drivers to observe the driving code. Restrictions have been made on the moving of trucks on national highways, in order to avoid accidents. The climax of the exodus is expected on Saturday.

[03] FREE MOVEMENT TEARS ARTIFICIAL WALLS DOWN

His satisfaction on the first day of free trading between the free and occupied territories in Cyprus, was expressed by Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou, who stressed that free trading tears down the artificial walls dividing the two communities, and he repeated the EU's support to the efforts being made by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, for the resolving of the political problem of Cyprus. Four thousand Cypriots traveled over the boarders.

[04] CLOSER GREEK-TURKISH COOPERATION IN THE ENERGY SECTOR

The 1st Greek-Turkish Energy Conference to take place in Athens on May 8-9 is expected to build energy cooperation bridges between Greece and Turkey.

The conference, held under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Development and the Greek-Turkish Chamber of Commerce, is expected to be organized every year to Greece and Turkey alternately.

Greek and Turkish specialists will present issues concerning natural gas, electricity, oil as well as, market regulation and legislation issues. It is estimated that the conference participants will introduce a total of over 20 presentations.

[05] THE 10TH EU-IRAN DIALOGUE MEETING ON APRIL 29

The 10th EU-Iran complete dialogue meeting will take place in Athens on April 29. The meeting will open with the speeches of Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Yiannitsis and Iranian Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ahani.

The issues under discussion will be bilateral cooperation issues (the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, as well as trade, investments, energy, drug, immigration and refugee issues). The two sides will also discuss issues concerning terrorism, disarmament, human rights, cultural dialogue and regional issues (Iraq, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Caucasus, Caspian Sea, Central Asia, and developments in the EU and the Balkans).

[06] EVENTS IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The events in memory of the 1.500.000 Armenians massacred by the Turks in 1915 culminated in Thessaloniki today.

The march to the Turkish consulate that takes place every year was cancelled because the event coincided with Holy Thursday of the Christian Orthodox Easter. After the memorial service held for the genocide victims, an Armenian Youth delegation delivered a protest memorandum to the Turkish consulate calling on Turkey to acknowledge and condemn the Armenian genocide it committed in 1915 and assume its responsibilities. Also, return to the Armenian people the territories it occupies illegally, change its stance on the Nagorno Karabach issue, lift the isolation imposed on the Republic of Armenia, stop arming Azerbaidjan and contribute to the initiatives for a fair and viable solution to the issue of Nagorno Karabach.

[07] HITIRIS: THE CREATION OF A WAITING ATMOSPHERE IN THE PUBLIC OPINION IS A MISTAKE

Undersecretary of Press Tilemachos Hitiris responded to the latest rumors according to which, Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will reach decisions after the Easter holidays concerning the accusations launched by publisher Giorgos Kouris against government officials.

In statements he made to reporters, Mr. Hitiris underlined that the Prime Minister will not proceed with a government reshuffle and is firm to his positions expressed last Monday, before his tour of northern European capitals, when he issued a strong warning that the government defends legality and transparency.

The Undersecretary clarified that the creation of a waiting atmosphere in the public opinion is a mistake and underlined that Mr. Simitis will not allow others to determine the government's decisions, programs and priorities.

He also reminded that orders have been given to every direction to check if legality and transparency are observed.

[08] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.58% at 1.663,77 points, while the volume of transactions was at 79 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 121 recorded gains and 182 had losses, while the value of 55 stocks remained unchanged.

[09] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH IN ATHENS

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos will visit Athens on Monday, May 5, in order to participate in the first European Conference organized by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, on Principles and values for the construction of Europe.

The Ecumenical Patriarch will be greeted at the Eleftherios Venizelos airport by the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, Christodoulos. They will then have a meeting at the Mansion of the Holy Archbishopric of Athens.

Participants in the Conference include heads of Orthodox Churches, other dogma representatives, Metropolites of the Church of Greece, EuroMPs and representatives of the European Parliament and political bodies.

[10] DRUG RING BASED IN SOUTH BULGARIA

Five members of a Greek-Bulgarian drug ring, allegedly headed by a drug trafficker from Sadanski south Bulgaria, were arrested by Thessaloniki undercover police officers, while they seized quantities of cocaine, heroin and counterfeit euro bank notes.

As was announced by the Thessaloniki Undercover Direction, the 5 suspects arrested 3 men and 2 women are an offshoot of the international drug trafficking ring based in Sadanski and run by a man known both to Greek and Bulgarian authorities for his activity, Vasil Manikatov.

A police officer who approached them as a buyer, spoke with him over the telephone and agreed to buy 100 grams of cocaine for 4,500 euro. As was expected, Manikatov himself did not turn up at the rendezvous. Instead he sent his Bulgarian accessory, M.D. from Pernik, Bulgaria, who was arrested.

According to the police, they then located the rest of the ring members, while they confiscated 237 grams of cocaine, 39 grams of heroin, 2 counterfeit 200 euro bills, one forged passport, and money originating from drug sales.

Police authorities are continuing their investigations, as undercover police officers appreciated that there are possibly more people involved in the drug trafficking operation.

[11] PROTOPAPAS SUES KOURIS

The beginning of the end for Mr. Kouris has come. With every day that goes by, his position becomes worse, stated Minister of the Press and Government Spokesperson Christos Protopapas, who submitted his first lawsuit against the publisher of the Avriani newspaper this morning.

He stressed that he will press more charges and submit more suits and observed: Beginning today, I will stop dealing with Mr. Kouris. We all know he is a common slanderer. I will not discuss anything with him. Anything that he has to say, he can say it here, in court, Mr. Kouris will be brought here, to prison.

Mr. Protopapas pointed out that last night he had a long discussion with Prime Minister Costas Simitis, concerning the case of the Avriani's publications.

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