Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 04-11-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] NO ACCESSION WITHOUT SOLUTION

[02] HOLY REMAINS RECEIVED IN A GREAT BYZANTINE CEREMONY

[03] THE MAP OF SHAME

[04] THE GREEK FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ON TURKEY'S EU COURSE

[05] ΠΟΔΟΣΦΑΙΡΟ: ΟΙ ΔΙΑΙΤΗΤΕΣ ΤΗΣ 10ης ΑΓΩΝΙΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΤΗΣ Α' ΕΘΝΙΚΗΣ

[06] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[07] THE ACTING GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE EU-TURKEY ROUGH DRAFT

[08] THE ACTING GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE PRIME MINISTER'S LETTER TO THE US

[09] THE GREEK STATE QUALITY FILM AWARDS

[10] THREAT AGAINST THE US EMBASSY IN SKOPJE

[01] NO ACCESSION WITHOUT SOLUTION

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis states in his response letter to US President George Bush Athens' decision to block FYROM's accession into the EU and NATO if the issue of the FYROM name is not solved through an agreement between Greece and FYROM.

The Prime Minister points out in the letter sent on Monday evening that the unilateral recognition of FYROM by the United States does not help the efforts for the settlement of the problem while, at the same time, he expresses satisfaction for Mr. Bush's assurance that the United States continue to support the efforts for a solution through negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations.

Mr. Karamanlis points out that the recognition of FYROM under the name Republic of Macedonia does not help the efforts for a mutually acceptable solution.

At the same time, he underlines that the assurance given by the US President that will support the decisions reached through the UN negotiations is a positive fact.

The United States do not support territorial claims aimed at the creation of a greater Macedonia, stated US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

[02] HOLY REMAINS RECEIVED IN A GREAT BYZANTINE CEREMONY

The Holy Remains of Saints Ioannis Chrisostomos and Grigorios Theologos were formally received today in a great Byzantine ceremony at the Patriarchal Church of St. Georgios in Istanbul.

The Holy Remains were removed from the church of Saint Apostles during the first Capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 and returned after 800 years.

The Greek government represented Deputy Foreign Minister Panagiotis Skandalakis. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew received the Holy Remains from Pope John Paul B' himself in a special ceremony held at the Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican last Saturday.

The special ceremony in Istanbul attended representatives of all the autocephalous Christian Orthodox Churches and hundreds of faithful.

[03] THE MAP OF SHAME

The much talked about US map with the Greek Macedonia to appear as occupied was made public by Athens daily Eleftherotipia.

It is a map that shocks and is regarded as strictly classified by the Americans. On the map, which is included in US Department of Defense official documents, one can see that according to its editors, Thessaloniki and Chalkidiki are regarded as FYROM territory occupied by Greece

The map shows FYROM (mentioned as Macedonia) with an Aegean Sea coastline!

The map existed formally for at least 5 years and was included in a US Department of Defense handbook but the Greek Foreign Ministry became aware of it last August.

Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos has assured that the map has changed after moves made by the Greek Foreign Ministry and that the United States have already sent a new corrected map that will be in the new edition of the US Department of Defense handbook replacing the old map in included.

[04] THE GREEK FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ON TURKEY'S EU COURSE

Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos referred to Turkey's EU accession course on the occasion of the rough draft of conclusions drawn up by the Dutch EU Presidency in view of the EU Summit Meeting on December 17.

Mr. Koumoutsakos pointed out that the non recognition of Cyprus constitutes political and institutional absurdity and has to be lifted. He added that Greece believes that if Turkey meets all terms and preconditions should become an EU member at the end of the process, because in order to be a tough judge one should also be able to be a fair judge as well.

He mentioned that if Turkey receives a date for the opening of EU accession negotiations on December 17 it will signal the beginning of the process for the country.

[05] ΠΟΔΟΣΦΑΙΡΟ: ΟΙ ΔΙΑΙΤΗΤΕΣ ΤΗΣ 10ης ΑΓΩΝΙΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΤΗΣ Α' ΕΘΝΙΚΗΣ

Ο Γιώργος Κασναφέρης του συνδέσμου Αργολίδας θα διευθύνει την αναμέτρηση του Σαββάτου που θα γίνει στο γήπεδο «Καραϊσκάκη» μεταξύ του Ολυμπιακού και του ΠΑΟ στο πλαίσιο της 10ης αγωνιστικής του πρωταθλήματος της Α' Εθνικής. Την αναμέτρηση του ΠΑΟΚ με την ΑΕΚ θα διευθύνει ο κ. Τσαχειλίδης του συνδέσμου Πειραιά, ενώ το ντέρμπι της Θεσσαλονίκης μεταξύ της Καλαμαριάς και του Αρη θα διαιτητεύσει ο κ. Ταπαντζάς του συνδέσμου Θράκης.

Αναλυτικά οι διαιτητές της αγωνιστικής είναι:

Ολυμπιακός- ΠΑΟ: Κασναφέρης (Αργολίδας)

Πανιώνιος- Ξάνθη: Νταμπώσης (Πιερίας)

ΠΑΟΚ-ΑΕΚ: Τσαχειλίδης (Πειραιά)

Κέρκυρα- Ηρακλής: Σκουφίτσας (Αθηνών)

Χαλκηδόνα-ΟΦΗ: Σπυρόπουλος (Φθιώτιδας)

Αιγάλεω- Καλλιθέα: Τεροβίτσας (Αιτ/νίας)

Εργοτέλης- Ιωνικός: Δούρος (Κορίνθου)

Απόλλων Καλαμαριάς- Αρης: Ταπαντζάς (Θράκης).

[06] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.65% at 2654.81 points, while the volume of transactions was at 271,2 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 97 had gains and 195 had losses, while the value of 124 stocks remained unchanged.

[07] THE ACTING GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE EU-TURKEY ROUGH DRAFT

The Greek policy remains unchanged. Greece supports Turkey's European prospect and expects from Turkey, like all the EU partners, to fill the European criteria, preconditions and rules and meet the EU values.

The above were stated by acting government spokesman Vangelis Antonaros responding to a question on the Dutch EU Presidency rough draft of conclusions in view of the EU Summit meeting.

The acting government spokesman responding to questions by reporters stated that the rough draft of conclusions is a very early form and added that the Summit meeting is two-and-a-half weeks away. He stressed that negotiation is not a subject for discussion in the pressroom and diplomacy is not conducted in public.

[08] THE ACTING GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE PRIME MINISTER'S LETTER TO THE US PRESIDENT

Acting government spokesman Vangelis Antonaros referred today to Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis' response letter to US President George Bush.

According to Mr. Antonaros, the Prime Minister stresses that the recognition of FYROM does not help the efforts for a mutually acceptable solution to the issue of the FYROM name and underlines the assurance given by the US President that the United States will support the outcome of the negotiations between the two countries held within the framework of the UN and aimed at a mutually acceptable solution.

The Prime Minister thanks the US President for his letter and reiterates the good will for the cooperation of the two countries pointing out that the two peoples share old relations of friendship and cooperation.

Asked to comment whether the Prime Minister in his letter points out that FYROM will not be able to become a member of the EU and NATO if no mutually acceptable solution to the issue of the FYROM name is found, he refused to make any comments by saying that he has nothing else to add.

Finally, he left open the likelihood for the Prime Minister's letter to become public.

[09] THE GREEK STATE QUALITY FILM AWARDS

The picture Nyfes (Brides) directed by Pantelis Voulgaris won the top state quality film award (58,700 euros) in a special ceremony at Thessaloniki's Megaron Music Hall held last night. Nyfes received a total of 10 awards.

The second prize (44,025 euros) was awarded to Rakushka directed by Fotini Siskopoulou and the third (29,350 euros) went to Testosterone by Giorgos Panousopoulos.

In the documentaries category, the top prize (17,610 euros) was won by Massalia, Makrini Kori (Marseille, Distant Daughter) directed by Marco Gastine and the second prize (11,740 euros) went to Enas Anthropos Pandos Kerou (An all-weather man) by Ioannis Soldatos.

[10] THREAT AGAINST THE US EMBASSY IN SKOPJE

The US State Department attributed to security reasons, which were not clarified, the decision to close indefinitely the US embassy to Skopje.

Meanwhile, DUI leader Ali Ahmeti assured that there is no armed group of Albanians in the region of the village of Kontovo (village with a purely Albanian population) situated between Skopje and Tetovo.

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