Συνέντευξη Τύπου προς τους έλληνες και ξένους ανταποκριτές και τα ομογενειακά ΜΜΕ παραχώρησε σήμερα το μεσημέρι στο Γραφείο Τύπου της Νέας Υόρκης ο έλληνας υπουργός Εξωτερικών κ. Γιώργος Α. Παπανδρέου μετά το πέρας της Ειδικής Συνόδου του ΟΗΕ για το Κόσοβο και τη συνάντηση που είχε με τον τούρκο ομόλογό του, κ. Ισμαήλ Τζεμ.

Ο κ. Παπανδρέου στην εισαγωγική του τοποθέτηση ανέφερε:

«There are two things that I would like to mention. First of all, today was an important day in the UN as we discussed the whole question of Kosovo and where it is going. Greece was invited as a member of a group which Kofi Annan has created, called 'Friends of Kosovo'. I assume that this group will be important in discussing some of the major policy issues as we deal with the ongoing situation in Kosovo but it will also have some practical import concerning questions of deployment of troops, filling in positions of high officials in Kosovo and, of course, on the financial matters involved. We discussed the situation in Kosovo, the reports we got from the UN, the OSCE and the EU officials. Greece, also being in the region and having people on the ground, and also having close ties both to Albania and to Serbia, we were able to give a full picture of how we see things there. There is obviously an important humanitarian problem both in Kosovo, but also in the wider area of Yugoslavia. We believe that one of the issues is water, medicine of course, but there are some issues concerning humanitarian problems which will have to be discussed and decided upon, particularly in Yugoslavia. if this includes or not questions of rebuilding electricity stations, water supply and so on. Our position is that, yes these issues should be dealt with positively, as they are of direct import to humanitarian concerns. We may see, as winter comes on, a huge exodus of Serbs frog Yugoslavia if we don't deal with the humanitarian problems now.

Second issue was the developments in Kosovo itself, particularly concerning the political developments. Here we have two, I would say, major issues. One is what is happening with the multi-ethnicity of Kosovo. KFOR is there not to protect the Albanians only -that is one of its purposes- but to protect every civilian that lives and resides in Kosovo. This includes all minorities, includes the Serbs, and, therefore, it is very important that a situation is created where anyone can feel safe in Kosovo. This is going to be a model for the region, and, therefore, Greece has said that it is very important we maintain its multi-cultural, multi-ethnic character. We suggested that it will he very important that Bishop Artemios of Kosovo is involved in the Kosovo Council which is going to be created under the UN auspices to administer Kosovo for an interim period. This was a proposal, which was agreed upon and accepted by Kofi Annan. Secondly, we talked about the KLA. We have insisted that demilitarization must proceed normally and steadily and at the same time that we must see how we can help that political institutions are created for the expression of all Kosovo Albanians and we don't have an infighting among the different fractions in KLA or among the different fractions of Kosovo Albanians, which could create further destabilization. We also mentioned the need for security on the borders of Albania, Yugoslavia and FYROM. Finally, we discussed the issue of reconstruction. Greece will be active in this area, first of all because it is in the region, secondly because it has the know-how in the region, and thirdly -and this is a recent decision in Brazil, Mr. Kranidiotis was just in Brazil where he negotiated the final discussions of this issue and I commend him for his work- we have been able to get the agreement of the EU that the reconstruction agency for the Balkans will be situated in the northern Greece, in Thessaloniki. Of course, there are many details to work out on how big this agency will be, what its exact mandate will be, but it is important for the region.

Let me go on to the second issue during this meeting in the UN have invited Mr. Cem, my counterpart in Turkey, to meet with me after an exchange of two letters, one from his side and one from our side, on issues where we could cooperate. We discussed those issues. Basically what we said was that there are certainly big and complicated issues which have divided our two countries over many years, if not decades. There have been many attempts to see how we can work together and solve our problems, the issues that divide us, and move ahead and cooperate. I, therefore, suggested that it would be most productive that we deal with issues, which we feel can be issues where we might be able to make some progress. If we make progress in these issues, certainly that will help the climate between our two countries. And as the climate between our two countries becomes better, that will hopefully allow us to deal with bigger issues in a different spirit. Certainly big issues are there, Cyprus is there, the question of Turkish claims on Aegean Islands are there, but we didn't get into these issues or negotiate those issues. We decided, therefore, to agree and we agreed on the following:

- First of all that we appoint two high officials from our two Ministries to meet separately and discuss initial talks on a number of issues. These issues will include questions of cooperation in Tourism, which has become a very important issue for both our countries particularly in the Aegean, where we are very close and tourist industry could profit from this cooperation.

- Secondly, in the area of environment. Environment is becoming more and move an important issue around the world, but it particularly is important for the quality of life of our citizens and again for the tourist industry in the Aegean.

- Thirdly, the area of culture where we have suggested that we could possibly work together in areas such as pinpointing religious sites, could be mosques, churches on both sides, or other historical sites, cultural sites, which we could renovate or protect in mutual cooperation. We could work, possibly, in other areas, such as Balkan history, which is a difficult but productive effort, and also areas such as exchanges, cultural exchanges, but also exchanges of NGO's, people to people I would say, people diplomacy, which is very important for creating bonds and understanding and new venues of communication.

- Fourthly, the issue we would call it 'security of the citizen' -the Turkish side might give a different title to this- which would include drug-trafficking, terrorism, inter-border or transborder crime arid organized crime in general and illegal migration. These issues are of particular interest to both countries. I would like to stress that the issue particularly of illegal migration in Greece has become a very big social issue and, therefore, of great importance.

- Finally the issue of trade, which has I think almost tripled over the last years. There is great potential for our two business communities to work together and to see how we can develop ties in this area also.

In this context we also said that we can immediately decide to strengthen our cooperation on a multilateral basis. We have been working quite well on a multilateral basis, both in the Balkans and the Black Sea. The recent months have been very interesting in this respect, because during the Kosovo crisis we were able to open quite frequent communications, Mr. Cem and I. The two of us worked together on the humanitarian front but also in the regional and general front of the Balkans. So we said that, since there has been good progress on this level why not strengthen this progress and particularly work in the area of reconstruction within the Stability Pact. You know that the Stability Pact, which has been decided upon for the Balkans, is an area where we can work closely on a bilateral basis, Again here our business communities have an important role to play.

I want to be very clear that this is obviously a step, a first positive step. However, I don't want to raise expectations in any away. I think that we have too often begun such efforts in the past and soon met with failure or with problems. So I wouldn't want again to raise expectations. It is a difficult process, it is not a process which will yield immediate results and, therefore, I wish all to bear with us in going through this difficult process to see if we can get through and create a better climate between our two countries, and, therefore, after that, we can probably deal with more difficult issues,

Thank you».

Απαντώντας σε ερώτηση δημοσιογράφου αναφορικά με την τρομοκρατία ο κ. Παπανδρέου τόνισε ότι η Ελλάδα δεν προβαίνει σε χαρακτηρισμούς οργανώσεων, είναι αντίθετη και καταπολεμά την τρομοκρατία και δεν επιτρέπει ή υποστηρiζει κανενός εiδους τρομοκρατική δραστηριότητα στο έδαφός της. Προσέθεσε δε, ότι η Ελλάδα έχει συζητήσει το ζήτημα του ΡΚΚ εντός της Ε.Ε., υπενθυμίζοντας ότι υπάρχει μία κοινή θέση σχετικά που καταδικάζει την τρομοκρατία, προσβλέπει στην επίλυση του Κουρδικού με ειρηνικά μέσα και αντιτίθεται στην θανατική ποινή ως είδος τιμωρίας. «Αυτό όμως δεν σημαίνει ότι δεν μπορούμε να συζητήσουμε το ζήτημα της τρομοκρατίας. Έχουμε διαφορετικές θέσεις επ' αυτού. Σε περίπτωση, εν τούτοις, που ανταλλάξουμε απόψεις με ειλικρινή διάθεση, θα δούμε που βρίσκονται αλλά και που δεν βρίσκονται οι διαφορές μας και που έχουν δημιουργηθεί απλώς εσφαλμένες εντυπώσεις», κατέληξε ο κ. υπουργός.

Σε ερώτηση σχετικά με τις σχέσεις Τουρκίας - Ε.Ε. ο κ. Παπανδρέου τόνισε ότι η Ελλάδα θα καλωσόριζε την υποψηφιότητα αλλά και την ένταξη της Τουρκίας στην Ε.Ε., υπάρχουν ωστόσο, ορισμένες προϋποθέσεις σχετικά, Η Τουρκία πρέπει να κάνει σημαντικά βήματα προς την κατεύθυνση αυτών των προϋποθέσεων, κυρίως σε τομείς που δεν ενδιαφέρουν μόνο την Ελλάδα αλλά και άλλες χώρες. Τέτοιου είδους βήματα θα δημιουργούσαν θετικές εντυπώσεις και θα οδηγούσαν, κατά συνέπεια, στην αποδοχή της υποψηφιότητας Τουρκίας για ένταξη στην Ε.Ε.. «Αναμφισβήτητα το Κυπριακό θα παίξει ένα σημαντικό ρόλο στις σχέσεις Τουρκίας - Ε.Ε.», κατέληξε ο κ. Παπανδρέου.