Antenna: News in English (AM), 97-03-05

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From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: [email protected]

News in English, 05/03/97

TITLES

• Southern Albania in rebellion: Antenna reports.
• Visiting the monasteries that helped take "The Glory of Byzantium to New York.
• And, two musicians, one Greek, the other Turkish, bonded in friendship and harmony.

ALBANIA

The towns of Avlona, Argyrokastro, and Agious Saranta are at the centre of the storm.

People living in the Greek villages in the region say gangs have looted and vandalised their homes and businesses.

Southern Albania, with its large Greek minority, is in the throes of rebellion. And the military is poised to suppress it.

What began several weeks ago as angry protests against the government, after hundreds of thousands of Albanians lost all their money in an investment scandal, has developed into an armed standoff between the army and citizens in open rebellion.

For days, people in Argyrokastro, Avlona, and Agious Saranta have been raiding military bases and police stations, arming themselves with the authorities' weapons.

Antenna's Argyris Dinopoulos reported Tuesday afternoon that an army tank had entered Agious Saranta...but it was being driven by rebels.

Dinopoulos said that was the only tank within a few kilometres of the town, but the military has surrounded all three towns with tanks. 60 tanks were reported to be in the Avlona area Tuesday afternoon, and there were reports that air force jets had dropped warning bombs into the sea near Agious Saranta. Many observers anticipated they would move soon to retake contol.

Armed residents in all three towns tell Antenna they don't want a fight, they just want Sali Berisha to resign.

But the government appears determined to put down the rebellion.

Four tanks entered Argyrokastro, this time under army control. Perhaps a calling card - if it was, the rebels had a card of their own, opening fire on the vehicles, which withdrew with no one injured in the confrontation.

Residents in the Greek villages around the three towns are frightened; in Delvino and Argyrokastro, armed bands come at night, firing shots and setting off grenades.

"It's to scare us", one Greek man in delvino told Antenna's Nikolas Vafiades. Many Greeks have been robbed, and their property vandalised. "They robbed us, we're afraid", said another Greek man. Still another added, "We've lived in terror for years. We want Greece and Europe to do something".

In Argyrokastro, Greeks assess the damage and losses by daylight.

"They just found and excuse to rob us", one Greek woman told Antenna.

Another woman says, "They've taken everything, our TV, what can you say".

One ethnic Greek parliamentary deputy from southern Albania said members of the Greek minority are not among those who have armed themselves.

There are also claims of terror tactics being used. Four people were reportedly killed by rebels for trying to give their weapons over to the authorities.

As the sun set Tuesday, no one knew what night would bring. Most people were closed in their homes in Avlona, as in Argyrokastro and Agious Saranta. But armed bands of men were out on patrol, ready to protect their towns from government troops.

ALBANIA REACTION

The Greek governemnt is calling for all sides in Albania to put their guns aside, and work out a political solution to their problems.

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said Tuesday that it is urgent that a political solution is found to the turmoil in Albania, and that all sides should be a part of that solution.

In the spirit of a pluralist solution, Pasok is calling for the release of Albanian opposition leader FAtos NAno, jailed in Triane.

Alarmed by the growing tension and chaos in Albania, the Greek government's foreign policy and defence council decided that alternate foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou should meet with European Union ambassadors in Athens, and with the American, Russian, and Albanian ambassadors.

After meeting with Papandreou, US ambassador Thomas Niles said the US shares Greece's concerns over Albania. He added that the US wants to work with Greece to achieve a peaceful settlement to the problems troubling the country.

The rebels though, are in no mood to talk to Berisha, whom they consider a thief. CNN talked to Antenna correspondent Argyris Dinopoulos in Agious Saranta. Dinopoulos said people are rising up against what they consider an intolerable regime.

Prime minister Kostas Simitis discussed developments in Albania with the Dutch foreign minister, who went on to visit Albania.

Deputy foreign minister Giannos Kranidiotis called a meeting of Greek businessmen with investments in Alania.

There is much concern about the plight of the large ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania. Reppas urged them to remain calm and to act responsibly. He added that steps have been taken to guarantee the security of the Greek consulate in Argyrokastro.

Giannis Sarantakos, an Albanian MP for the ethnic- Greek Human Rights Party, told Antenna he's worried about the safety of the Greek minority. And another Greek minority spokesman said the United Nations should send peacekeepers to southern Albania to protect the ethnic Greeks.

Concern for the Greek minority was heightened Tuesday night, following reports that the Albanian government was trying to stir up sentiments against the Greek-minority. Albanian state television reportedly ran video of armed rebels with the legend: "Warning: they speak Greek".

The Greek government protested the anti-Greek propaganda to the authorities in Tirane.

What Greece wants to see, is peace restored. New Democracy leader Miltiades Evert says a multi- national force might need to interven. Evert says the Pasok government has made the right moves so far. But he'd like to see the European Union moving faster over Albania, because the situation is deteriorating. Evert wants EU foreign ministers to meet, and for the EU to send a diplomatic mission to Albania. If that fails to bring results, Evert thinks a multi-national peace-keeping force should be sent in.

Greek forces are on the alert along the Greek- Albanian border, and helicopters are patrolling the waters between Corfu and Albania. The worry is that the situation in Albania could lead to a wave of refugees heading for Greece.

BYZANTIUM

Antenna went behind the scenes of the exhibition, visiting three of the monasteries that lent the Met precious works of art from Byzantine times.

When Antenna's crew left Cairo on its long and arduous journey to St Caterine's monastery in Mt Sinai, they could hardly have known the and splendour that awaited them.

Here, on Sinai, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.

For centuries, the monastery has been an oasis of Orthodoxy inMuslim world. Today, 50 monks, most of them Greek, cut off from the world, keep the monastery alive, its treasures of inestimable archeological and spiritual value, in tact.

Abbot Inadiamenos has headed the monastery since 1960. He and Antenna's other hosts, Father Pavolos, Father Daniel, and Father Iannis showed themselves to be men of great wisdom, and full of love.

They face the task of handing over the treasures they are the guardians of to the Metropolitan Museum with some trepidation. The responsibility for the safe-keeping of the teasures is their, and every work is a part of them.

The icons have been preserved virtually unchanged through the ages, thanks in no small part to the exceptionally dry climate of Sinai.

But the contribution to the exhibition at the Met comes from the heart nonetheless. It's done for the sake of Orthodoxy, facing so many difficulties today, and for all those who have fought to defend its interests.

The monks avoid the camera, but seek out, perhaps unconsciously, contact with the outside world. And they have many questions pertaining to Greece and issues of importance to Hellenism.

With endless patience and insistence, they show the Antenna crew every corner of their monastery: there's the well where Moses met his wife, here's the copy of a manuscript with Mohammed's palm print on it - that document has kept the monastery safe from attack through the ages. The visitors are also shown the bones of St Catherine, who, it is said, was carried to this spot, to show where the monastery should be built.

And there are the icons, emblems of the Orthodox faith.

Antenna's next stop is the monastery of Iviron, on sacred Mount Athos in northern Greece. Women are prohibited from entering Athos, but the monks welcome the Antenna contingent.

At the Mount Athos monasteries, time is kept according to sunset, but Iviron is an exception: here, it is kept according to sunrise, in keeping with the ancient tradition of the farmers of the Caucasus, from where the monastery founders came.

This monastery contributed three ancient gospel texts to the exhibition in New York.

Antenna's final stop is the enchanting island of Patmos, where St John received his vision of the Apocalypse.

The thousand year old monastery of St John the Evangelist is one of the most important in Orthodoxy. Father Panteleimon is the Antenna crew's gracious guide through Orthodoxy's most impressive library.

This monastery is a centre of learning, worship, and religious reflection. Shortly after it was founded, it started to become a storehouse of important document and works of religious art.

The monasteries are treausure-houses and historical transcripts of Orthodoxy. William Wicksam, exhibition organiser explains the significance of getting those treasures to a global audience.

"Certainly in Greece and parts of Europe, Byzantium is still very real, but to most Americans, Byzantium is something most Americans know practically nothing about and so I think it's important for ;the Aemrican pubulic to gbe confronted with this. And it helps to tell a very interesting background for some of the things that are going on today, some of the divisions in the Balkans for example. They have a history that oes back into this period and it's, the more we understand of this period, we see its ramifications in later periods as well as across geography, so it's a vertical and horizontal increase of knowledge I hope".

All three of the monasteries Antenna visited made contributions to the Metropolitan Museum exhibition in the belief that they can help put orthodoxy on centre stage, and tell its living story at a time when Hellenism faces great political tests.

STOCK EXCHANGE

That put an end to the tumble that started last Thursday, when the market dropped 15 per cent in three days, after two months of record gains.

State and private banks intervened Tuesday to help boost the exchange.

Brokers and investors say they feel the market can continue to rally. They add that Tuesday's upturn wasn't just due to the banks; it was natural for the exchange to rise again after its three-day slump.

GR/TURK CONCERT

Greece's Maria Papapetropoulou and Turkey's Sentef Ertcetin have been inseparable since they met at the Ecole Normale in Paris in 1989.

"We're close friends", says Sentef. "We just get along very well".

On stage as well as off. Maria and Sentef have played in over twenty concerts together. Their latest performance was at the Turkish embassy in Athens.

They're proof that all people can get along, despite the evidence which quite often points to the contrary.

"We place music above all else", says Maria, adding, "the message of music is there for everyone. It's peace, love, and living side by side in harmony".

Maria and Sentef had something else to prove besides the fact that we all share a common humanity. Their music teacher never thought they'd amount to much as musicians. He was wrong. They both had a will to succeed.

The idea for the concert in Athens came from Delek Pamir, the wife of Uhmit Pamir, the Turkish ambassador to Greece. Delek means "desire" in Turkish. Uhmit means "hope".

© ANT1 Radio 1997

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