From: zarros@turing.scs.carleton.ca (Theodoros Sp. Zarros) Subject: Nea II (Greek Press Office BBS in Ottawa). To: macedonia@husc.harvard.edu (macedonia list.) Date: Mon, 5 Jul 93 18:23:22 EDT Cc: hellas@brownvm.brown.edu (Hellas Brown) (I.P.) Bulletin , 05/07/1993 ( ) ------------------------- A.N.A. Athens, 5/7/1993 (ANA): Greece on Saturday said the expulsion a week last Friday of a senior Orthodox cleric was not compatible with the principle of safeguarding human rights and religious freedoms and dismissed Albanian charges against Archimandrite Chrysostomos of ``anti-Albanian activities`` as ``totally groundless and fabricated``. ``Yesterday afternoon the Albanian foreign ministry presented to our diplomatic representatives supposed evidence concerning the activities of Greek Orthodox ARchimandrite Chrysostomos Maidanis, whom it persists in calling Kostas Stamou``, foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Papaconstantinou said. ``These charges continue to be totally groundless and fabricated. Documents were presented that are unrelated to Archimandrite Chrysostomos and which use the old formula of `anti-Albanian activities`. Thus far, the Albanian side has proved that it perceives the concepts of `justice` and `government` through the prism of the past``, he added. Noting the hastiness with which the archimandrite was expelled, ``without prior discussion with Greece in the spirit of friendly bilateral relations``, Mr. Papaconstantinou said Albania was now ``unsuccessfully`` trying to document the reason for the cleric's expulsion. ``This behaviour is not compatible in any sense with the concepts of safeguarding and securing human rights and religious freedoms``, the spokesman said. ``The Albanian leadership continues to follow a path of aggravating tensions. We want to make every effort to strengthen Greek-Albanian relations, but the Albanian side must realise that the course it is following is slippery``, he added. Asked to comment on the suspension of publication of schoolbooks for the ethnic Greek minority in Gyrokastr, Mr. Papaconstantinou said the government had ordered its diplomatic representatives in Albania to investigate the reports. ``Thus far our inquiries have found that the director of the Gyrokastr publishing plant did, indeed, receive an order to suspend printing of the text books. However, it has not been ascertained yet whether the order concerns a temporary suspension or a permanent ban``, Mr. Papaconstantinou said. Meanwhile, government spokesman Vassilis Manginas said Saturday that Albania should respect the rights of its ethnic Greek minority, including the right to religious freedom. ``Albania must understand that it has an obligation, beyond its signature of the relevant documents of international organisations, to respect the rights of the ethnic Greek minority, which include the religious rights of Orthodox Christians``. His remarks were made in response to a reported statement by Albanian President Sali Berisha that Albanian-born individuals or those with an Albanian identity would be placed at all levels of the Albanian Orthodox Church. ``These statements by President Sali Berisha, if reported corrwectly, neither contribute to the resolution of the problems which have arisen nor serve to restore the good and friendly relations between our two countries, given that there are no orthodox clerics of Albanian nationality because of religious persecution there in th elast halfcentury``, the spokesman said. --- Reuters reported that the head of the Albanian Orthodox Church said yesterday that the Albanian government had threatened him with a ban on any foreigners, such as himself, serving in the country's Orthodox clergy. Archbishop Anastasios, in an interview with an Athens radio station, said Mr. Berisha had made the threat to ban foreign clergymen personally during a meeting last Friday night. He said President Berisha had told him that ``there was no question of accepting Greek priests in Albania or any foreigners sent by the Ecumenical Patriarchate``, considered the Mother Orthodox Church and based in Istanbul. Archbishop Anastasios, a Greek national, was asked about reports that he was threatened personally with expulsion from Albania. ``Anything is possible in a place like the Balkans``, he said. He had been asked by the Ecumenical patriarchate to go to Albania in August 1992 to oversee the reestablishment of an independent Albanian Orthodox Church, destroyed under communist rule. Albanian communists ruthlessly suppressed the country's three main faiths -- Moslem, Orthodox and Catholic -- and banned religion outright in 1967. The order was rescinded in November, 1990. Meanwhile, ethnic Greeks packed churches in south Albania yesterday, to hear an appeal by Archbishop Anastasios for a return to calm and an end to the row between Tirana and Athens. Hundreds of Gyrokastr's Greek minority filed into two Orthodox churches in the town, 280 km (175 miles) south of Tirana, for the first big mass since clashes between riot police and ethnic Greeks erupted last week. Peasants from outlying villates arrived for mass in Gyrokastr and the nearby towns of Dervican and Saranda on horse-drawn carts and in buses. Many were prevented by police from reaching Gyrokastr on Wednesday, to join a protest over Albania's expulsion of a senior Greek Orthodox cleric. ``During the past few days the crisis between Albanian and Greece has escalated and its victims were thousands of innocent people, Archbishop Anastasios said in a letter read out to congregations yesterday. ``I share the suffering of all the people who have been expelled, regardless of their origin and religious traditions``. --- Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania has delayed his visit to Athens, orginally scheduled to begin yesterday, to today or tomorrow. The archbishop was scheduled to arrive in Athens via Rome on an Alitalia flight but for reasons which have not yet been revealed, his ticket was not delivered to him. He then planned to travel overland to Ioannina and then fly to Athens on Olympic Airways. He was advised, however, not to travel by road to the Greek-Albanian border, and remained in Tirana, where he attended the US Embassy's Independence Day reception last niht. ANA Athens, 5/7/1993 (ANA): Greece's assumption of the EC presidency next year will be a tremendous opportunity for the promotion of economic cooperation and bilateral relations between the European Community and the Balkans, EC Commissioner Joao de Deus Pinheiro said Saturday. ``The Greek presidency of the EC, which begins on January 1994, is an important opportunity for Greece to play a leading role in promoting economic cooperation and in-depth relations between the Community and the Balkans``, Mr. Pinheiro said at a three-day congress in Corfu, jointly sponsored by the Greek Centre for European Studies (EKEM) and the Hellenic Institute of Defence and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). Mr. Pinheiro referred to Europe's interest in an end to the crisis in former Yugoslavia, acknowledging the manner in which the international community had handled the issue up to now had not been ``completely successful``. ``In order to make a fresh start, the Community should define carefully its geopolitcal interests and secure consensus on the manner in which it would go ahead with it``, he said. As regards greater relations between the EC and the Balkans, Mr. Pinheiro referred to economic aid promoted by the Community through the PHARE plan, including bilateral agreements between the EC and certain Balkan countries, stressing the need for cooperation not only between the EC and Balkan countires, but also amongst Balkan countries themselves. The congress, which began Friday, ends today with a speech by National Economy Minister Stephanos Manos at the Astir hotel, Vouliagmeni. ANA Athens, 5/7/1993 (ANA): Spaking at the ``Orthodoxy and the new European reality`` congress, Foreign Undersecretary Virginia Tsouderou said Saturday that Greece was today the only Orthodox EC member state which can assume the role of a bridge between a united Europe and the East European Orthodox states. In her address to the participants of the congress, held in Halkidiki, Ms Tsouderou emphasised the great importance of Orthodoxy at a time when moral values are being systematically scorned. She said Orthodoxy constituted the only reliable, firm and permanent source of inspiration and provided answers to the problems of our era. The State and the Church, she continued, are interrelated. They must and can undertake roles which complement one another. President of the parliamentary Committee of Religious Affairs and Orthodoxy, New Democracy Deputy Vassilis Korahais said the contgress aimed to discuss three main points: the need for Orthodoxy to exist in the midst of a new European way of thinking; the need for the solutionof problems created, with the tolerance of the Western world; and the need to continue the present congress and establish a new committee, the role of which shall be discussed at the next meeting in September. ANA Athens, 5/7/1993 (ANA): President Constantine Karamanlis sent a message to US President Bill Clinton on the ocasion of the July 4 commemoration of American Independence Day. A message was also addressed to the US President by Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis. ``Our two countries are linked by traditional ties of close friendship and cooperation in all sectors. These ties are rooted in our dedication to common values and have been forged in common struggles to defend these values``, Mr. Karamanlis said in the message. ``I am confident that in the new conditions prevalent in the world today, and especially in our region, that our relations will continue to be strenthened and developed to the mutual benefit of our countries``, the message added. Mr. Mitsotakis in his own message expressed his conviction that ``the excellent relations (between Greece and the United States) which are based upon the same ideals, the common struggles and common sacrifices for freedom and democracy... will be further strenghened in the benefit of our two nations``. ANA Athens, 5/7/1993 (ANA): Some 22,000 illegal Albanian immigrants have been expelled to date, public order ministry officials said Saturday. Sources say that the actual number may be as high as 55,000, as many illegal immigrants chose to sneak back across the border on their own with household appliances which would otherwise have been confiscated by customs. ANA Athens, 5/7/1993 (ANA): Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis yesterday attended the July 4 Independence Day reception at the US Embassy. Speaking to journalists, Mr. Mitsotakis said there was no prospect of his meeting with Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia President Kiro Gligorov in the event of a related initiative by UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali. ``There is no such prospect and, as I have already stated on earlier occasions, we are not against such contacts. But I see no purpose to such an encounter at summit level at present, as decisions that should be taken are of paramount importance and Skopje's positions are negative, very uncompromising and Gligorov should understand that he should make some reasonable and necessary concessions``, the premier said. Asked whether or not he was prepared to go to New york to meet President Gligorov if he were requested bo by Mr. Boutros Ghali, the premier said Mr. Boutros Ghali had made no such request but that if he were to, he still would not go. Asked to say when he would be going to New York, the premier responded: ``It is an open question. We are in the course of discussions. We will see. I requested that it should be relatively soon, in the autumn, naturally, as it could not take place earlier. I should like to discuss burning issues of the region, and I should like to discuss them in good time, now that the issuew are in development``. As for elections, the prime minister recalled that the government had received a four year-mandate and planning had been made on the basis of four years. ANA Skopje, 5/7/1993 (Macedonian Press Agency): The Moslem Cultural Association of Skopje has denounced Turkish big business interests as attempting to infiltrate the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in the guise of sending humanitarian aid. In a statement issued Saturday, the association accused Turkish businessmen of carrying out a propaganda campaign during the distribution of aid to convince the population of Moslem villages that they are Turkish. In one instance, the statement said, Turkish businessmen offered money to have a Turkish school built without first obtainining or notifying local authorities.