ATHENS NEWS AGENCY

ENGLISH BULLETIN

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ANA Athens reiterates its intent to alleviate Kosovo refugee problems

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
Athens said yesterday it would do its best to contribute to any
efforts at alleviating problems arising from the Kosovo crisis.
"We shall be present, in the best and most efficient way, to
contribute to the tackling of problems that have been created due to
the crisis in Kosovo. We shall be present so that, simultaneously with
our responsible options and best handling of the sit uation, we may
guard our national interests," government spokesman Dimitris Reppas
said after a meeting of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and
Defence (KYSEA) yesterday.
Sources said the Greek government was examining, at an initial stage,
the prospect of reinforcing the Greek contingent in Albania within the
framework of a broader NATO operation to provide humanitarian aid to
the Kosovar refugees fleeing to that country.
The same sources said the Greek military contingent in Albania has
been praised by all sides involved for its contribution in providing
humanitarian assistance for the refugees, while Non-Governmental
Organisations (NGOs) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
(FYROM) have also been prai-sed for similar work.
As a result of the Greek assistance, the same sources added, the
accommodation of 20,000 refugees had been made possible in FYROM.
KYSEA convened yesterday for three hours, under the chairmanship of
Prime Minister Costas Simitis, to discuss ways in which Greece could
contribute to the problem of refugees abandoning Yugoslavia due to the
ongoing crisis.
Greece's contribution was in in the framework of consultations and
discussions taking place at an EU level, Mr. Reppas said, adding that
the refugee problem should be tackled in accordance with each
country's abilities.
"Greece will not tackle the problem alone. In that framework, the
government is examining the prospect of Greece taking in a few
thousand refugees," the spokesman said.
Other sources said any possible refugees allowed into Greece could
possibly be hosted in central and southern Greece.
On his part, Mr. Reppas said Greece would also be present in efforts
to ease the refugees problem, and also in the creation of conditions
for a political solution to the crisis, so as to safeguard its
national interests.
Athens News Agency

Tsohatzopoulos criticism of Yugoslav leadership of Kosovo strategy

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos on Saturday was
categorical in his condemnation of Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic, charging that ethnic cleansing in Kosovo aims at changing
borders in the region and making all the Balkan peoples host age to
the problem.
Speaking to reporters in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's
(FYROM) capital of Skopje, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos further char-ged that
the policy of ethnic clean-sing began before the NATO bombings
started, saying that it now seemed that Mr. Milosevic did not wish to
accept a solution, because he possibly had a different future form of
Yugoslavia in mind.
Asked about the NATO air strikes against downtown Belgrade on Saturday
Ð the first since the Nazis bombed the Yugoslav capital in April 1941
Ð he responded: "It doesn't matter what I believe, but that NATO has
decided on the operations with an aim of putting an end to the
humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo and a return to the negotiating
table."
He also stressed that Greece was "entitled" to make such charges,
citing the mass persecution and "ethnic cleansing" practised by the
Turks against ethnic Greeks in the Black Sea region and Asia Minor in
1922 and on Cyprus in 1974.
Then too, he continued, the objective was to change existing borders.
"The Yugoslav leadership must take a position about how to bring an
end to this situation. The Balkan peoples will not be held hostage to
the plans promoted by Yugoslavia," he added.
He repeated this position several times, accusing Belgrade of wanting
"to make all countries part of the Kosovo problem," but stressing that
"we are not willing to accept it and for this reason we shall react".
The Greek minister also spoke of those "continuing the disastrous
policy they began with the dissolution of Yugoslavia," in apparent
reference to the Yugoslav president.
Mr. Tsohatzopoulos stressed the urgent need for humanitarian aid to be
sent to refugees leaving Kosovo and commented ironically on the fact
that European Union services were closed yesterday because of the
Easter holiday in Catholic and Protestant countries.
"The bombing couldn't stop for Easter, but they have a public holiday
when it comes to humanitarian aid," he said.
Mr. Tsohatzopoulos reiterated his opposition to any use of NATO ground
forces in Kosovo.
"Not one NATO soldier will go to Kosovo. Only through diplomatic and
political means can a solution be found. NATO operations are the means
to stop the uprooting of Kosovars and to bring everyone back to the
negotiating table," he argued.
Opposition reaction : The defence minister's remarks in Skopje were
strongly criticised by several Greek opposition parties.
"The despicable statements by the defence minister, with which he
attributes responsibility to the leadership of New Yugoslavia for the
war, absolves NATO and the EU, the real culprits, of their
responsibility for the crime being committed," the Communist Party of
Greece (KKE) said in a statement.
KKE said Mr. Tsohatzopoulos' statements "confirm that Greece has an
extremely dangerous government, which is participating in the
slaughter of the neighbouring people while at the same time
hypocritically and cravenly maintaining the opposite."
The Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) in a statement,
expressed its deep concern "that we are at the beginning of a new
period in the Balkans, in which the problem of borders may arise at
any moment and the problem of minorities may worsen."
Addressing Synaspismos' central committee, party leader Nikos
Constantopoulos charged that the Greek government bore heavy
responsibility for the situation "because it added its signature at
all the stages so far of the NATO operations.
Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI) leader Dimitris Tsovolas described
Mr. Tsohatzopoulos' references to "ethnic cleansing" as "unacceptable"
and "abject".
"Contrary to what the government and Prime Minister Costas Simitis
were hypocritically declaring in public until just yesterday, (the
minister's statements) in effect provide complete justification for
the inhumane NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and our friends, the Serb
people, which completely violates all rules of international law," Mr.
Tsovolas said.
Athens News Agency

Top US diplomat Talbott arrives for talks

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott is scheduled to hold talks
with Foreign Minister George Papandreou and Alternate Foreign Minister
Yiannos Kranidiotis this morning.
Mr. Talbott, who arrived in Athens yesterday afternoon, is on a Balkan
tour and will be going on to Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia (FYROM), Bulgaria and Romania. Diplomatic sources said he is
enunciating Washington's official positions regarding all aspects of
the Kosovo conflict. The US official has also asked to meet with PM
Costas Simitis.
Athens News Agency

Canadian FM Axworthy's visit postponed

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy's scheduled talks in Athens
with Greek foreign ministry officials has been postponed, it was
announced yesterday.
Ministry sources said Ottawa requested a postponement of Mr.
Axworthy's meeting here today with Greek officials as an unforeseen
obligation had arisen for the Canadian FM.
Athens News Agency

Constantopoulos in Belgrade today

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) leader Nikos
Constantopoulos is scheduled to meet Yugoslav leaders in Belgrade
today, including President Slobodan Milosevic.
Mr. Constantopoulos, who is beginning tour of the Balkans, will remain
in the Yugoslav capital for two days.
Winding up sessions of the his party's central committee, the
Synaspismos leader strongly condemned NATO attacks on Yugoslavia,
calling on the Greek government to clearly state its disagreement
regarding the planned escalation of military operations in the
Yugoslav provice. "The war transcends Kosovo, it is a crime against
humanity," he stressed.
Athens News Agency


Athens reportedly sets condition for accepting Kosovar refugees

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has officially
asked the Greek government to accept about 20,000 Kosovo refugees now
in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), sources said
yesterday.
The request was made during a telephone discussion between UNHCR head
Santago Ogata with Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who reportedly
responded in the negative. According to the same sources, Mr.
Papandreou told Ms Ogata and his German counterpart Joschka Fischer,
with whom he also spoke, that Greece would accept refugees only within
the framework of a decision for allocating them among NATO and
European Union countries.
Athens News Agency

Athens march,other protests against NATO bombing

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
The Italian and US embassies, as well as the EU Commission's
representation in Greece were the target of protesters yesterday
during another march against the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
The protest march began at Syntagma Square and ended outside the US
embassy.
According to reports, a handful of mostly youthful protesters entered
the Italian embassy's premises causing minor damages. Vandalism of
several banks and automobiles along the protest route was also
reported.
Meanwhile, serious incidents were reported outside the Souda naval
base, near Hania, Crete, and the NATO regional headquarters at
Tyrnavos, central Greece, when protesters attempted to deliver
petitions.
More than 3,000 people took part in the Hania protest march, which
developed into a pitched battle with police when demonstrators were
denied access to the base's gate. Police used tear gas and the crowd
responded by throwing stones.
Several police officers and protesters were injured.
In Tyrnavos, protesters broke through a police cordon and painted
slogans on the walls of the enclosure.
Earlier, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary General Aleka
Papariga charged that the war was being carried out by NATO on the
pretext of minority rights, while Greece was part of the Balkan
problem with "the criminal attack against the Yugoslav, Serbian, and
Albanian people", as she noted.
"No minority has been a cause of war. Any problems with minorities can
be solved in the context of the respective countries," she added.
Athens News Agency

Messolonghi exodus commemorated as statements point to Yugoslavia
crisis

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos yesterday said he was
"deeply saddened" over the bloodshed in neighbouring Yugoslavia,
expressed bitterness over the international community's stance.
Speaking at an event in the western city of Messolonghi to mark the
173rd anniversary of the "Exodus of the Free Besieged" - as the town's
heroic inhabitants came to be known during the 1821 War of
Independence - the Greek president expressed sadness over the victims
of the conflict and the uprooting of thousands of unarmed civilians,
adding that "the international community hesitates to be moved."
On Saturday night, speaking at a similar event, Archbishop
Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece called for an end to the war in
Yugoslavia and for the prevalence of peace, as "no one has the right
to kill unarmed civilians and harm or violate territor ial integrity".

The prelate of the Autocephalus Orthodox Church of Greece said the
nation was a "victim of the powerful of the earth", although it is
"always in favour of justice, of liberty".
The government was represented at Saturday's event by Development
Minister Evangelos Venizelos.
The Sunday commemoration began with a te Deum at the Aghios Spyridon
Cathedral, which was followed by a march to the Tomb of Heroes.
On his part, main opposition New Democracy leader Costas karamanlis
said the sacrifice of the "Free Besieged" should inspire all Greeks,
calling for national unity regarding the Yugoslav crisis.
Athens News Agency

Protests against NATO bombings continue across N. Greece

Athens 05/04/1999 (ANA)
Thousands of northern Greece residents gathered at the Evzoni border
post on the Greek-FYROM frontier yesterday to protest the NATO air
strikes against Yugoslavia.
Initially protesters gathered in Thessaloniki yesterday morning and
formed a convoy of cars that wound its way to Evzoni.
Waving Greek and Serbian flags, pennants of the Orthodox Church and
holding flowers, protesters lined up along the Greek side of the
border for a concert also attended by local mayors, prefects and
deputies of various political parties.
Local officials addressed the crowd, calling for peace, and
protestors, after observing a minute of silence for the victims of the
war in Yugoslavia, threw the flowers up into the air.
The flowers, an organiser said, would remain strewn on the border road
along which NATO military vehicles carrying supplies destined for the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia would pass.

A makeshift explosive device exploded early Saturday morning outside a
branch office of the ruling PASOK party in the Athens suburb of
Galatsi, causing some damage to the building but no injuries.
The bomb, which had been placed just outside the entrance of the
office, consisted of a small quantity of dynamite, a detonator, two
clocks and a battery.
No warning was given prior to the blast and no group has yet claimed
responsibility.
Officers of the anti-terrorist squad said, however, they suspected the
"November 17" terrorist group was behind the attack. The officers
based their suspicions on the way the bomb had been wired.
PASOK's headquarters in downtown Athens were the target of a failed
rocket attack on Thursday morning, which also bore the hallmarks of
the elusive "November 17" organisation.
Athens News Agency/END


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