Subject: A.N.A. Bulletin 20/9/93 From: miltos@nfl2.irc.nrc.ca Athens News Agency Bulletin, September 20, 1993 =============================================== Athens, 20/9/1993 (ANA): Greece yesterday called on the Albanian government to respect the rights of the ethnic Greek minority there and allow the operation of minority schools. "We have been monitoring with particular concern the harassment of students, parents and teachers at various (Greek) minority schools in Albania", the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The Albanian authorities, in a new circular issued just days after the beginning of the school year, have prohibited the operation of existing minority schools. They insist on maintaining the minority zones created by the former communist regime. Thus, we have the inadmissible phenomenon of minority schools being closed down despite a significant number of enrolments, in a clear attempt to either Albanise education or force the migration of minority populations", the foreign ministry said. The statement said that the schools' closure had been ordered "despite the Albanian government's assurances and pledges to open new schools for the ethnic Greek minority and to fully respect international agreements concerning minorities' education" rights. "We expect the Albanian government to respect the Albanian its obligations and allow the operation of minority schools in every region of Albania" where there is a sizeable number of students "as well as to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents", the foreign ministry said. Athens, 20/9/1993 (ANA): Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou is scheduled to leave for Brussels today to attend a meeting of European Community foreign and farm ministers to discus a farm export deal with the United States that threatens a long-awaited GATT accord on world trade reforms. Monday's special "jumbo" meeting will be attended by 35 ministers from the EC's 12 member-states. The meeting will also discuss shipping issues. Mr. Papaconstantinou will remain in Brussels for a scheduled meeting tomorrow with officials from central and east European countries as part of an EC troika comprising ministers from Belgium, current holder of the Community's rotating presidency, Denmark and Greece, respectively the past and future presidents. The troika will also meet with officials from Bulgaria and Romania, countries with which Greece has shown particular interest in developing closer relations within the framework of the Community. Athens, 20/9/1993 (ANA): Foreign Under-secretary Virginia Tsouderou left yesterday for a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait as part of the programme of European Community contacts with the Gulf countries, the foreign ministry said. "The visit underlines the major role which the European Community is being called on to play in the international effort to provide economic and social support to the Palestinians following the recent Israeli-PLO agreement", a foreign ministry statement said. It said that "this new initiative aims at exploring the intentions of the Arab States in the light of developments and encouraging them to participate more actively in the financing of programmes in support of the Palestinian people". Ms. Tsouderou will visit the Gulf as part of an EC ministerial troika comprising ministers or senior officials from Belgium, current holder of the Community's rotating presidency, and Denmark and Greece, respectively the past and future president. The Belgian foreign ministry said Friday that the mission would be headed by the Belgian secretary of state for co-operation and development, Erik Derycke. Athens, 20/9/1993 (ANA): A group of 152 ethnic Greeks evacuated from Georgia's Abkhazia province arrived in Alexandroupolis yesterday under the second phase of Operation Golden Fleece. The evacuees were flown to Greece in a Georgian plane which will take back medical supplies and humanitarian aid donated by the Greek state. The ethnic Greeks will be temporarily housed at refugee reception centres in Evros. The evacuees had been scheduled to arrived Thursday but the airlift was postponed when Abkhazian rebels broke a seven-week-old truce and launched a major attack against Georgian troops. In August, the Greek government mounted a mission to evacuate more than 1,000 ethnic Greeks by sea from the Black Sea resort of Sukhumi to escape civil strife there. The ethnic Greek community, 1.9 per cent of Georgia's 5.5 million populations, traces its ancestry back to the ancient kingdom of Pontus on the shores of the Black Sea. The evacuation mission was named after the Greek myth about Jason and Argonauts who sailed to Colchis, present-day Georgia, to steal the fleece of a fabulous ram guarded by a dragon. The rebel attack on Thursday shattered a July 28 peace agreement, brokered by Russia, that ended a year of fighting between Georgian troops and Abkhazian separatists. Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported yesterday that the two sides had agreed to a simultaneous withdrawal of their forces from the war zone in Abkhazia but made no specific mention of a cease-fire accord. Athens, 20/9/1993 (ANA): Main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) leader Andreas Papandreou's kicked off his party's election campaign on Saturday evening at a mass rally in Thessaloniki in which he outlined his party's economic programme. PASOK's programme "aims at the immediate restoration of stability and confidence. (It is) a programme which not only includes a campaign against inflation, which we will embark on immediately, but also a policy aimed at bringing economic recovery and the restructuring of production", Mr. Papandreou said. The opposition leader said his party's economic programme was would emphasise three points: productivity, investments and a social contract. "The main aims of PASOK's development strategy are the improvement of the standard of living, the reduction of inequalities, the creation of conditions of full employment and the combating of poverty and economic and social alienation", Mr. Papandreou said. He added that the main thrust of his party's development strategy would be towards improving the competitiveness of the economy through the implementation of a policy to increase productivity and output. "The aim of our policy is to increase public and private investments from the current 17 per cent of GDP to approximately 26 per cent by the end of the decade. The harmonious and mutually supportive co-existence of the private and public sectors of the economy is a fundamental prerequisite if we are to keep pace with international technological and economic developments", he said. Mr. Papandreou criticised what he termed the "so-called denationalisation" policy of the government, saying that PASOK would immediately abolish "the authoritarian, anti-democratic institutional framework which undermines constitutional freedoms and suppresses individual rights". Turning to the health sector, Mr. Papandreou said that PASOK would re-institute a national health system along the lines of those of Canada, Sweden and England. --- Commenting on Mr. Papandreou's remarks, the ruling New Democracy party said the PASOK leader was trying to return the country to the failed policies of the past. Mr. Papandreou voiced "no self-criticism, no penitence, no recognition of the criminal mistakes of the lost, for Greece, decade of the Eighties and no new ideas, proposals or programmes", New Democracy said in a statement. "Mr. Andreas Papandreou is rejecting the invitation to a dialogue extended by the Prime Minister and leader of the New Democracy party, insisting instead on anachronistic monologues", the statement said. Athens, 20/9/1993 (ANA): The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) will emerge from the October 10 elections as a strong force, KKE leader Aleka Paparriga said yesterday. "After the elections, the KKE will not be a passive observer. It will be a strong force in parliament ... and will play an energetic, leading and effective role", Ms. Paparriga said in a speech at the 19th festival of the party's youth group in the Athens district of Kesariani. The KKE leader said that there were five main political parties in Greece but only two policies. "The one policy is that (followed) by the four parties and the other is the unique and truly alternative policy advocated by the KKE", she said. The October 10 elections are "a confrontation between the policy of submission and compromise and the policy of resistance and progress", she added. Athens, 20/9/1993 (ANA): Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis yesterday warned that the "irresponsible and adventurous" foreign policy advocated by the main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) would lead the country to war. Speaking at a New Democracy party rally in Kavala yesterday, Mr. Mitsotakis said the situation in the Balkans was "alarming" and said the Greek people should think carefully before choosing between New Democracy's responsible foreign policy and PASOK's "irresponsible and Third World" policies in the October 10 elections. The premier also cautioned Turkey against interfering in the Greek elections, warning Greece's Balkan neighbour not to try to create a rupture between Greece's Moslem minority and Greece. "The New Democracy government is the first government to make equality and equal rights for Thrace's Moslems a reality", Mr. Mitsotakis said, adding that voting for independent candidates would lead to the minority's isolation. Earlier Sunday, the prime minister paid brief visits to each of Thrace's four prefectures, the newly built hospital in Xanthi, the new Kavala port and Kavala University. Mr. Mitsotakis said infrastructure works such as new roads, the natural gas pipeline and port would reinforce the region's strategic importance as a key transport centre. The premier's visit to Thrace was his latest stop in the ruling party's re-election campaign. On Saturday, Mr. Mitsotakis visited the islands of Ikaria and Samos, where he inaugurated a five-billion-drachma road network and visited two wind power parks at Marathokambos and Mitylinous. He also met with local hoteliers and businessmen to discuss the completion of projects such as a sewage treatment plant, hospital and 600-berth marina. Speaking at the newly built, two-billion-drachma airport on Ikaria, the premier referred to other public works projects on the island, saying these would upgrade the island's facilities and improve living standards. Washington, 20/9/1993 (ANA- D. Dimas): The leader of Canada's Liberal Party on Saturday expressed his support for Greece's position on Skopje and pledged that a Liberal government would not recognise the former Yugoslav republic under the name "Macedonia". "History proves that Macedonia is Greek", Liberal Party leader and veteran politician Jean Chretien said at a campaign rally in light of next month's elections in Canada. Mr. Chretien also reaffirmed a statement by his top foreign policy advisor, Michel Dupuy, last week that a Liberal government would not recognise Skopje under the name "Macedonia". "This is our party's policy", the Liberal Party leader said. Mr. Dupuy, who recently visited southern Europe, had emphasised that "a Liberal government will neither recognise nor establish diplomatic relations with the state called 'Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' if the interested parties do not reach an agreement that respects and honours Greek civilisation".