Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-05-19
NEWS IN ENGLISH
ATHENS, GREECE, 19/05/1997 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Premier's first confrontation with new opposition leader today
- Kranidiotis, Prendergast discuss Cyprus problem
- UN Chief's invitation to Clerides, Denktash
- Greeks remember Turkish genocide of Black Sea Greeks
- Tsohatzopoulos: 'nothing to negotiate with Turkey'
- Athenians remember pacifist Lambrakis
- Rate of development higher than expected
- More parking lots for Thessaloniki
- Eurobanking congress begins in Athens
- DETROP exhibition draws world interest
- Greek, Turkish pop idols to perform today amidst criticism
- Weather
- Greek first division soccer
- Foreign exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Premier's first confrontation with new opposition leader today
Prime Minister Costas Simitis will have his first confrontation today with
the main opposition New Democracy party's new leader Costas Karamanlis in
an off-the-agenda Parliamentary debate on the economy sought by Mr.
Karamanlis.
According to reports from both sides, Mr. Karamanlis intends to strongly
criticise the government's economic policy. Reports from Mr. Simitis's
close associates say that the prime minister will avoid a confrontation, in
the belief that the economy must not constitute a topic of party confrontation.
Mr. Simitis is reported to be preparing to focus on the fact that there
must and can be a fertile and substantive dialogue between parties on major
problems faced by the economy for participation in Economic and Monetary
Union (EMU).
Mr. Simitis will refer to the government's policy on all sectors of the
economy and will stress that the policy being applied has already produced
results. He will further say that the policy being applied is the sole one
which can prepare the groundwork for Greece's participation in EMU.
Reports said that Mr. Karamanlis will accuse the government of "lacking the
will and resolution" to restructure the state to facilitate a structured
development policy.
Mr. Karamanlis, although being aware that the economy is presenting
positive results in certain sectors, primarily in the figures sector,
maintains that necessary policies have not been developed to enable
convergence with European countries.
Kranidiotis, Prendergast discuss Cyprus problem
Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis and UN Secretary General special
envoy Sir Kieran Prendergast met yesterday and discussed the possibility of
success in talks between Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish
Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash under UN auspices. Mr. Kranidiotis underlined
the negative stance of the Turkish Cypriot leadership resulting in a
discontinuation of proximity inter-communal talks, since it was not
possible to find common ground for negotiations.
Under the circumstances, the holding and success of direct talks on the
Cyprus issue is the exclusive responsibility of UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, who is inviting President Clerides and Mr. Denktash to New York in
early June.
Sir Kieran referred to efforts being made by Mr. Annan and the UN for
negotiations to go ahead with the purpose of finding a solution.
Mr. Kranidiotis will meet Mr. Annan in New York on May 26 with whom he will
primarily discuss the Cyprus issue, as well as Greece's candidacy for the
Security Council after 1998.
UN Chief's invitation to Clerides, Denktash
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan reiterated his intention to invite Mr.
Clerides and Mr. Denktash to "face-to-face" negotiations in New York next
month.
Mr. Annan told the Athens News Agency (ANA) in Moscow on Saturday that both
sides had already expressed their willingness to his envoy to come to these
negotiations in New York and he estimates that the talks will be held in
the second half of June.
Mr. Annan said that he had appointed Mr. Cordobes as coordinator in the
Clerides-Denktash talks and praised his experience and the abilities he
showed in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Greeks remember Turkish genocide of Black Sea Greeks
A memorial service was held in Athens yesterday for the estimated 353,000
Black Sea Greeks who perished in the course of a campaign launched in 1919
by the subsequent founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk.
May 19, today, has been designated as Memorial Day for the Genocide of
Pontian Hellenism.
In a message on the anniversary, Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis
said "the memory is still alive. Turkey today is perpetuating the crime of
invasion and occupation of Cyprus. It is continuing to threaten in the
Aegean, with illegal, illogical, and historically groundless claims...
"Vis-a-vis this reality, we have the duty to maintain our resolute stand.
No sovereign right of Greece is negotiable, and we are ready to support
this decision of ours by every possible means...
"At the same time, we are not abandoning the effort for a peaceful
rapprochement of the two peoples, which will blunt the very negative
climate," he said.
In a message marking today's anniversary, main opposition New Democracy
party leader Costas Karamanlis stressed the state's duty to stand by "our
Black Sea brothers who are being repatriated as well as those who are still
living in countries of the former Soviet Union".
Tsohatzopoulos: 'nothing to negotiate with Turkey'
National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos reiterated in Thessaloniki
yesterday that there was nothing to negotiate in Greek-Turkish relations.
Referring to reports on Greek-Turkish dialogue, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos
said:
"There is nothing to negotiate. Don't worry. We are ready to talk, but not
(on) Greece's sovereign issues."
Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said Greece has the strength to say "no" to Turkey over
"air corridors" and "grey zones" and warned that "the Greek armed forces
will give a 'flexible' reply to whoever makes aggressive actions which it
will remember for decades."
Athenians remember pacifist Lambrakis
Athenians yesterday marched from Marathon to the city centre to mark the
34th anniversary of the assassination of leftist deputy and pacifist
Grigoris Lambrakis.
The march ended wth a rally last night at the Pedion tou Areos park in
downtown Athens, addressed by the daughter of Che Guevara, Aleida. A
cultural festival followed.
Grigoris Lambrakis was murdered in Thessaloniki in 1963 by extreme rightist
elements. His story later became the focus of the bestseller "Z" by
Vassilis Vassilikos and later popularised in the film of the same name,
directed by Costa-Gavras.
Rate of development higher than expected
Development Minister Vasso Papandreou said in Thessaloniki yesterday that
results of the government's development policy are "very positive and in
certain cases unexpected."
"We have development rates which are higher than those we had hoped for,"
Ms Papandreou said at a conference on economic development organised by
local PASOK party officials.
Ms Papandreou said interrelated convergence and development programmes are
being consistently implemented, adding that this was taking place for the
first time in Greece. She further said that preparations have also started
for the implementation of the
Third Convergence Programme.
More parking lots for Thessaloniki
Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister Costas Laliotis said
in Thessaloniki on Saturday his ministry would provide 1.5 billion drachmas
for the construction of parking areas in the Thessaloniki municipality,
adding that the creation of every new parking place would be subsidised
with 600,000 drachmas.
Mr. Laliotis attended an extraordinary session of Thessaloniki's municipal
council which focused on "the unified parking plan", which includes the
research report and the proposals by experts from the Aristotelion
University on tackling Thessaloniki's t raffic problem.
The plan's initial stage provides 3,000-4,000 parking spaces in the centre
of the city with the creation of underground and surface parking lots. The
municipal council expressed support for an immediate implementation of
studies.
An appeal was also made to Mr. Laliotis during the municipal council's
meeting to contribute to the resolution of two problems concerning the co-
existence of parking space and archaeological sites in Dikastiriou
Square.
Eurobanking congress begins in Athens
The 25th Eurobanking congress, organised by the National Bank of Greece
from May 18-21, began yesterday at the Astir hotel in Vouliagmeni.
The congress of the European Working Group on Operational Research in
Banking was addressed by Eurobanking's general secretary Frederick Ridgeway
from the Bank of Ireland.
National Bank of Greece's deputy governor Andreas Vranas, referred to the
trends and prospects of financial services in Greece, while Ioannis Manos,
general secretary at the Union of Greek Banks spoke on economic and
monetary union, the s ingle currency and financial services and timetable
and preparation by member-states.
Mr. Ridgeway underlined the role of Eurobanking, a broad and dynamically
evolving group of European bank officials specialised in banking and
financial services research, that convenes annually to criticise and review
techniques, experiences and methods of operations research, as well as
other problems facing banking administration.
DETROP exhibition draws world interest
The 14th DETROP exhibition has drawn commercial visitors from all over the
world, and the important economic agreements concluded so far have proved
the important role the major exhibition is playing for the Greek economy
and the foodstuffs and beverages sector.
HELEXPO has registered arrivals of commercial visitors from 33 countries,
including countries from the Far East, the Arab world, North America and
the European north.
Among the visitors is the foodstuffs market director of Israel's Supersol
company, which is the biggest foodstuffs branch in the country, with a
turnover of $672 million. Other companies such as Layam Co Ltd and Willy
Food Ltd are also represented at DE TROP.
Greek, Turkish pop idols to perform today amidst criticism
There were mixed reactions in Cyprus and Greece over the weekend as
preparations got under way for a joint Greek-Turkish pop concert to be held
today on the Cyprus buffer zone separating the island's free areas and the
Turkish occupied northern part.
The organisers of the concert by Greek pop idol Sakis Rouvas and his
Turkish colleague Burat Cut expect to draw about 6,000 youths from both
communities.
The event has received the endorsement of the United Nations as well as the
Cypriot government.
However, some of the republic's political parties and at least one
citizens' group have been critical of the initiative in the light of the
occupation situation in northern Cyprus.
Similarly in Greece a number of cultural figures and Pontian organisations
have expressed their opposition to the concert.
UN security is being stepped up around the area where the concert will be
held in Cyprus' "no-man's-land", while the organisation's spokesman and UN
peacekeeping force spokesman Waldemar Rokoszewski denied recent press
reports that the two communities in the audience will be separated, saying
that "there would be no reason to have this concert if we kept Greek
Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots apart".
Meanwhile, the Athens secretariat of the Ipekci Award has decided to
propose the two pop singers for its next "Special Peace and Friendship
Award" in a statement expressing support for the concert.
WEATHER
Fine weather with light winds is forecast for today, with local cloudiness
in central and northern Greece in the afternoon and rain and possible
rainstorms in the mountainous regions of eastern Macedonia and Thrace.
Athens will be sunny with some local clouds and temperatures between 17-
31C. Same in Thessaloniki with some local clouds and possible rain and
temperatures between 16-29C.
GREEK FIRST DIVISION SOCCER
Xanthi-Olympiakos 3-5 Aris-Kalamata 0-0
Ionikos-Iraklis 2-0 Panahaiki-Athinaikos 3-0
Paniliakos-AEK 0-2 Kastoria-Veria 1-2
Edessaikos-Apollon 0-1 Panathinaikos-OFI 1-1
Kavala-PAOK 0-3
Standings: Olympiakos 81 points
AEK 69 OFI 66
PAOK 63 Panathinaikos 61
Kavala 55 Paniliakos 44
Ionikos 44
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Friday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 269.130
Pound sterling 441.777 Cyprus pd 532.307
French franc 46.999 Swiss franc 187.796
German mark 158.219 Italian lira (100) 16.059
Yen (100) 232.981 Canadian dlr. 196.356
Australian dlr. 208.528 Irish Punt 410.053
Belgian franc 7.667 Finnish mark 52.407
Dutch guilder 140.715 Danish kr. 41.547
Swedish kr. 35.266 Norwegian kr. 37.988
Austrian sch. 22.475 Spanish peseta 1.874
Port. Escudo 1.568
(C.E.)
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