Subject: A.N.A. Bulletin 6/9/93 From: miltos@nfl2.irc.nrc.ca Athens News Agency Bulletin, September 6, 1993 ============================================== Washington, 6/9/93 (Macedonian Press Agency) - Greece is a factor of stability in the Balkan region, US President Bill Clinton said at the White House yesterday during an official ceremony to receive the credentials of Greece's new ambassador to the US Loukas Tsilas. Stressing the need to prevent the expansion of war, Mr. Clinton referred to the resurgence of nationalism, adding "in this difficult period (Greece and the US's) close co-operation and the long-term guarantee of the US for the security of Greece and more important than ever". Mr. Clinton extended his greetings to President Constantine Karamanlis and Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, stressing that he was looking forward to the Greek premier's visit to the White House on October 26. Placing particular emphasis on the two countries' common ties, Mr. Clinton referred to the Cyprus issue, stressing that it is an issue on which he places great priority and underlined the need for confidence building measures for a speedy and effective impetus towards a solution of the Cyprus issue. Stressing Alexander the Great's links to Greece, Mr. Clinton said "Greece is Known in the US for its ancient grandeur and its present beauty ... Every American pupil learns of the birth of democracy in Athens, the wisdom of Solon, the exploits of Alexander the Great and the achievements of ancient Greek artists". Mr Tsilas conveyed the greetings of the president and prime minister to Mr. Clinton and referred to the important role the Greek-American community played in the US and to strong, long-standing and specially close relations between Greece and the US. He further referred to the role played by Greece as a factor of stability and peace in the Balkan region, pointing to the need for the finding of a speedy and just solution to the Cyprus issue. Mr. Tsilas finally underlined the importance Greece places on respect and observance of human rights for the Greek minority in Northern Epirus. Paris, 6/9/93 (Macedonian Press Agency) - UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali said Saturday that Greece 's difference with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were of a diplomatic nature and that any further conflict in former Yugoslavia was likely to come from Kosovo, not Greece. Mr. Boutros Ghali was speaking in an interview with French radio station "France-3". Referring to the stationing of blue berets in FYROM, he said that it was the first time in UN history that blue berets had played a purely preventative role in maintaining peace in the region. Athens, 6/9/93 (ANA) - In a speech officially opening the 14th conference of directors of European International Relations Institutes on the changing face of European security in Rhodes Friday, Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou warned that the unchecked situation in the Balkans would continue to endanger European security. "European security could suffer a serious blow if attention is not paid to the important problems existing in the Balkans", Mr. Papaconstantinou told the participants. "Any solution to the Yugoslav crisis should depend on general principles which could be applied uniformly to all similar instances. Otherwise it will be very difficult to meet the demands of national and religious minorities in other regions", he said. The conference entitled "European security in a Changing World" and organised by the Hellenic Foundation of Foreign and Defence Policy (ELIAMEP) and the Hellenic Centre of European Studies and Research (EKEM), is being held for the first time in Greece. Officials and academics from the former Eastern European and Soviet Union countries as well as policy makers from foreign ministries of all European countries, North America, Asia and North Africa are attending. "The issues concerning European security in this new framework cannot be determined in an isolated fashion. They constitute a part of wider interests and are linked between them. They should be examined in conjunction with NATO 's new role, the targets of the recently more active IN and the principles of the CSCE (Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe)". He expounded the three parameters of new European Security: common defence in the framework of the Western European Union; NATO which remains the primary institution for transatlantic consultations; and the CSCE, the forum in which all the European states, the US and Canada can convene on matters of European security for the first time in history. He also referred to Greece's efforts to resolve the Yugoslav crisis and the development and improvement of Greece's relations with the Balkan countries, emphasising Greece's financial penetration in the Balkans. Referring to the Skopje issue, Mr. Papaconstantinou reiterated that Greece supported the existence and safety of the republic and that it was willing to co-operate and to grant it financial assistance so long as it abandoned once and for all its expansionist policy, hostile propaganda and usurpation of history for reasons of political expediency. Athens, 6/9/93 (ANA) - National Defence Minister Ioannis Varvitsiotis yesterday praised the contribution of Greek peacekeeping troops to Somalia, on the return of part of the force. The 55 men were met by Mr. Varvitsiotis at the Elefsis airport yesterday. The welcoming ceremony was attended by the National Defence Ministry's military leadership, senior officers and relatives and friends. The minister underlined the force's great contribution to the UN operation to restore peace in the war-torn country and the humanitarian work carried out by them under difficult conditions. Istanbul, 6/9/93 (ANA - A. Kourkoulas) - In a speech at the Panayia Kamariotisa church in Neohori yesterday, the anniversary of the 1955 pogrom, Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos denounced recent acts of vandalism and desecration of graves at Orthodox cemeteries in Istanbul. In what was considered unusually strong language for the Phanar, Vartholomeos said: "We have suffered enough without being at all at fault because we are Greeks by race and Orthodox in faith and are considered a minority". "Why? Towards what end? What did our dead do?", the Patriarch asked. "We law-abiding citizens call on (Turkey's) honourable government to protect what we hold most sacred -our lives and property- and not allow every adventurer or impassioned fanatic to give vent to his frustration by destroying Orthodox cemeteries". Vartholomeos said he did not believe Turkish authorities were involved in the acts of vandalism but warned that "those who conceived and dared to do this should know that they do Turkey the worst possible disservice, exposing it on the international stage and harming its paramount interests". Referring to the fate of the Greek minority, Vartholomeos said it has become "a negotiating lever in relations between neighbours and allied countries". Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos said he was sending a message to all that the small Greek community in Istanbul and the Ecumenical Patriarchate would not be daunted and terrorised by such actions. Attacks on Greek cemeteries in the suburbs of the Bosphorus have taken place repeatedly in recent years. The Therapikon cemetery and cemeteries on the Asian side of the Bosphorus have been vandalised in the same way as in Neohori. Athens, 6/9/93 (ANA) - President Constantine Karamanlis and Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis will meet on Thursday, government spokesman Vassilis Manginas said Saturday. Commenting on press reports alleging friction between the two, Mr. Manginas "both co-operation and personal relations between the two men are harmonious". Athens, 6/9/93 (ANA) - A three-day conference to discuss the flow of information to Greek and foreign journalists in the first half of 1994, when Greece will hold the presidency of the EC, was held last week in Potidea, Halkidiki. The conference, entitled "The Greek Presidency and the Mass Media", was held with the participation of various mass media organisations and press unions, the foreign, communications, and agriculture ministers, academics and journalists. Athens, 6/9/93 (ANA) - Greece supports the resumption "as quickly as possible" of the Geneva peace talks on Bosnia, Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou said yesterday after talks with Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic in Corfu. "All who can exert pressure on the parties involved in the peace talks to force them to negotiate must do so," Mr. Papaconstantinou said. He also stressed that Greece was "the first country to insist on a political solution to the Yugoslav crisis and to oppose military intervention". Mr. Papaconstantinou and Mr. Sainovic were present yesterday at the inauguration of the Serbian Military Museum in Corfu which has been co-founded by the culture ministries of both countries. Both men attended a religious service at the tombs of Serbian soldiers Killed during the First World War. Mr. Sainovic represented Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic who could not attend the inauguration. The Serbian premier is due to meet today with Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis. Athens, 6/9/93 (ANA) - Main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement Leader Andreas Papandreou yesterday ended the PASOK National Council with a threat to thwart the sale of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE). In his closing speech, Mr. Papandreou called the government's planned partial sale of OTE "a national crime" and stressed that a PASOK government would overturn all contracts. Government spokesman Vassilis Manginas said the opposition leader's threat to warn off prospective investors was "a grave national mistake". "This action of his, which will produce no result since nobody believes in Mr. Papandreou any more, is aimed directly against the interests of the Greek people and proves the ruthless and cynical methods he uses to satisfy his passion for power", Mr. Manginas said. Calling on the government to resign, Mr. Papandreou said he believed it and Skopje President Kiro Gligorov had agreed to extend negotiations on the Skopje issue indefinitely. All supporters of the government, whether they were active supporters or merely tolerated the government, he said, were jointly responsible. "(The government) is eating the flesh of the country", he said, adding that "the 'opera' within the (New Democracy) family only interests the people to the degree that elections will be speeded up. All the rest are insipid games". "The task of the country's salvation belongs to PASOK," Mr. Papandreou said, speaking of the party's "renaissance", expressing his conviction that his party would win the elections and Greece celebrate the new century with PASOK in power. Athens, 6/9/93 (ANA) - In his three-day tour of the Evros prefecture, Macedonia-Thrace Minister Panayiotis Hatzinikolaou has officially declared work open a number of development projects in border communities. Among the projects Mr. Hatzinikolaou laid foundation stones for are a dam at Nipsa and a pumping stations at Peplos, both of which will help resolve irrigation problems in the area. The Handri-Hionades freeway was inaugurated and Mr. Hatzinikolaou laid that foundation stones of Orestiada's 8th elementary school and the Rizion community's cultural centre. On Saturday night, he inaugurated the 14th agricultural exhibition at the Komaron community focusing on achievements in the sectors of agriculture, stock-breeding, forestry and fishing. It will remain open until tomorrow September 7. Tirana, 6/9/93 (ANA-K. Liatis) - Criticism of the growing trend to Islamic fanaticism in Albania by the country's Helsinki Committee has been followed by press reports alarmed at the escalation of intolerance. Independent newspaper Koha Yiana voiced concern at the trend, pointing out to the growing number of people wearing traditional Islamic dress and veils in the city streets. "It is absurd and regrettable to see little girls and school students wrapped up in grey Moslem Veils", the newspaper wrote, adding that such actions are unacceptable and not justified by Albania's accession to the Conference of Islamic Countries. The highest-circulation paper in the country Aleanza denounced the regime at a Turkish college in Tirana, which is attended by 200 pupils from all over Albania in an article called "A Turkish island in the centre of the capital".