From: zarros@turing.scs.carleton.ca (Theodoros Sp. Zarros)
Subject: News 24/07/93, (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa).
To: macedonia@husc.harvard.edu (macedonia list.)
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 93 18:34:37 EDT
Cc: hellas@brownvm.brown.edu (Hellas Brown)

    bulletin, 24/07/1993 ( )
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 A.N.A.
        Athens, 24/7/93(ANA)--Israel said yesterday the divisive
issue of Jerusalem should be set aside and discussed later on in
the Arab-Israeli peace talks.
        ''Very sensitive issues should be set aside for later
stages. Now we should negotiate what can be accomplished'', Israeli
Deputy Foreign Minister Yosi Beilin said in Athens.
        ''If the very sensitive issue of Jerusalem is tabled from
the beginning then the wheels of the peace talks may come to a
halt'', he told a news conference.
        Talsk on interim self-rule for almost two million
Paleistinians in the Israleli-occupied territories have faltered
over jerusalem's status.
        Israel claims all the holy city, including Arab East
Jerusalem which it captured in 1967, as its undivided  capital  and
refuses to discuss compromise at this phase.
        Mr Beilin voiced optimism that the Middle East peace talks
which opened 20 months ago under the sponsorship of the United
States, could lead to a solution as ''all parties involved desire
peace and want to recognise each other''.
        He was speaking after talks with his Greek counteraprt,
Virginia Tsouderou, with whom he signed a protocol on the creation
of a committee that would meet twice a year to promote relations in
the economic, tourism and cultural sectors.
        Mr Beilin denied having requested Greece to mediate efforts
with the Palestinian side over the Jerusalem issue.
        ''Every government acts independently and Israel  is open
to any efforts to help resolve existing problems'', he said.
        Mr Beilin is the highest-ranking Israeli government
official to visit Greece since full diplomatic relations were
established in 1990.
        ''A new chapter of relations has opened between the two
countries. It may come later, but better later than never'', he
said.
        During his three-day stay, Mr Beilin also met with Prime
Minister Constantine Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Michalis
Papaconstantinou. ana

        Athens, 24/7/93(ANA)--Australian delegates in Thessaloniki
for the 6th international conference of Panmacedonian unions said 
yesterday there was no doubt as to the Greek origin of Macedonia,
after visiting the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum.
        ''There is no doubt that Macedonia was and is Greece and
only Greece'', he delegates said.
       The delegation, which includes the deputy premier of
Victoria, a South Australian senator and former minister Theophanis
Thephanous,
 viewed the museum's collection of archaeological finds from
Vergina and Sindos which testify to the unbroken continuity of
Macedonian Hellenism.
        The delegation is here to attend the official oepning of
the conference tomorrow. The conference is due to be attended by
representatives of overseas Panmacedonian unions and govenments
from Europe,the US, Canada and South America.
        The conference will end Tuesday. ana

        Athens, 24/7/93(ANA)--Two Turkish nationals were arrested
yesterday for attempting to smuggle 1.5 kilos of pure heroin into
Greece.
        Ahan Katraman, 22, and Fenzi Malkaz, 29, were arrested in
north-east Greece near the border with Turkey on a train bound for
Athens.
        The two Turks told police that they had bought the heroin
in Turkey and planned to sell it to drug dealers in Athens for 10.5
million drachmas.
        It is not known how Malkaz came to be at large after being
arrested in November 1991 fro smuggling over 1 kilo of heorin into
Greece. ana

        Athens, 24/7/93(Reuter)--Pionnering South African heart
surgeon Christiann Barnard became a Greek citizen and an honorary
Athenian yesterday.
        Barnard, 70, who performed the first heart transplant in
1967, was granted his long-standing wish to gain Greek citizenship
by the conservative government.
        He told reporters attending a ceremony at the interior
ministry that he had wanted to become a Greek citizen ever since he
first came to the country as a visitor in the 1960s.
        ''I was already a Greek in my heart'', said Barnard, who
reguralry visits Greece.
        He was also decorated with the medal of the city of Athens
at a separate ceremony at City Hall. ana

        Athens, 24/7/93(ANA)--In a message commemorating the 19th
anniversary of Greece's return to democracy after the fall of the
seven-year military junta on July 24,1974, Prime Minister
Constantine Mitsotakis yesterday stressed that democracy,while
being the best kind of political regime, was also the most fragile.
        ''Democracy is government by dialogue, tolerance and
responsibility and requires all due respect to its rules, both in
letter and in spirit'', the premier's message said.
        He pointed out that Greece had paid a heavy price for the
military dictatorship--the invasion of Cyprus--a price which Cyprus
continued to pay to this day.
        ''Once again we call on the international community and
declare that the withdrawal of Turkish occupation forces from the
territory of the Republic of Cyprus, a meber of the United Nations,
and the restoration of justice, freedom and human dignity in Cyprus
is a primary and unanimous goal of the Greek nation''.
        Main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement leader
Andreas Papandreou , in his message noting the anniversary,said
that the smooth operation of democratic institutions in Greece was
again coming under threat:no this time from military coups  but
from the government's high-handed approach to the parliamentary
process, trade union rights, local authorities and press freedoms.
ana

        Athens, 24/7/93(ANA)-- --Foreign Undersecretary Virginia
Tsouderou will leave for Singapore tomorrow at the head of
delegation bound for ministerial -level meeting of the
member-states of ASEAN and the European Community troika.
        The undersecretary will then visit Thailand on July 29-30
at the invation  of her Thai counterpart S.Pitsuwan.
        --Agricultural Minister Christos Koskinas met yesterday
with his Austrian counterpart Franz Fischler for talks on matters
o fmutual interest.
        Talks focused primarily on Austria's EC membership bid and
Mr Fischler called on Greece, which assumes the EC presidency on
January 1 1994, to handle the issue positively.
        Mr Koskinas underlined the need for problems faced by
mountainous and underprivileged regions to be tackled at Community
level, adding that Mediterranean products should be protected in
the light of GATT negotiations.
        Mr Koskinas accepted an invitation to pay an official visit
to Vienna later this year.
        --The foreign ministry's European Community
department--comprising the general directorate of Community
affairs, the Greek EC presidency bureau, European Community legal
services--will be found at the old Astir Hotel in Syntagma Square
as of Monday. End