Subject: News I, 13/08/83 From: zarros@turing.scs.carleton.ca (Theodoros Sp. Zarros) Athens News Agency Bulletin, August 13, 1993 ============================================ Athens, 13/8/93 (ANA) - Greece yesterday lodged a protest with the Albanian government over violent attacks by Albanian police against the ethnic Greek minority in Albania, foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Papaconstantinou said in a statement. "Information has reached the foreign ministry concerning unacceptable incidents and unprovoked, raw violence against members of the ethnic Greek minority by Albanian police", he said. "Such behaviour by law enforcement officials in the neighbouring country, unfortunately, displays a cast of mind that is not in any way compatible with a member-state of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe", the spokesman added. "These sad incidents coincided with the visit of the CSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Max van der Stoel to the Agioi Saranda and Delvino provinces in the framework of his mission to examine the degree to which the rights of the ethnic Greek minority are protected", he said. "Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou immediately ordered the Greek ambassador in Tirana to lodge a strong protest with the Albanian government and demand explanations for these events. At the same time, the ministry's director of Balkan affairs, Ambassador Angelakis, has been instructed to lodge a similar protest with the Albanian charge d'affairs in Athens", the spokesman added. Athens, 13/8/93 (ANA) - A Greek delegation is scheduled to leave for Ankara on August 18 for talks on curbing illegal migration, the foreign ministry said yesterday. It said the Greek delegation at the two-day talks would be headed by Ambassador Efstratios Doukas, the director of the ministry department responsible for monitoring compliance with the Schengen agreement on the free movement of persons. A large number of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Asia enter Greece through Turkey. Greece has demanded that Turkey take all necessary measures to block the flow of illegal migrants and last year informed Turkey that it would return any immigrants caught trying to enter Greece illegally from Turkey. The Schengen agreement, comprising most European Community countries, provides for co-operation among members in combating smuggling and drug trafficking in addition to regulating immigration from third countries. Athens, 13/8/93 (ANA) - The Slovak Republic has assured Greece that it will not establish diplomatic relations with Skopje before the mission of international mediators Cyrus Vance and Lord Owen has been completed within the framework of the United Nations, a foreign ministry statement said yesterday. The statement, issued after a meeting between Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou and the Slovak ambassador to Greece, Jan Valko, said Mr Papaconstantinou had also accepted an invitation to pay an official visit to the Slovak Republic in the near future. Athens, 13/8/93 (ANA) - The Greek freighter "M/V Viscountess" has sailed from Piraeus for the Black sea port of Sukhumi to evacuate about 1,500 ethnic Greeks from Georgia, the foreign ministry said in a statement yesterday. The mission, which includes diplomatic and military personnel, was mounted to evacuate Pontian Greeks from the fighting in breakaway Abkahazia. It will also deliver humanitarian aid. The ethnic Greek community, 1.9 per cent of Georgia's 5.5. million population, traces its ancestry to the ancient Kingdom of Pontus on the north-eastern shores of the Black Sea. The mission has been code-named Operation golden Fleece, after the Greek myth about Jason and Argonauts who sailed to Colchis, present-day Georgia, to steal the fleece of a fabulous ram guarded by a dragon. New York, 13/8/93 (ANA - M. Georgiadou) - The United Nations mediators has begun a round of talks aimed at resolving the Skopje issue, UN spokesman Joe Mills said yesterday. "The special representative of UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former US secretary of state Cyrus Vance, late (Wednesday) began, within the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 845, consultations with the delegation of the FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) to resolve the differences that exist between that republic and Greece", he said. "Later, Mr Vance will also hold talks with the Greek delegation and at the end of August will visit Athens and Skopje for talks with the heads of both governments", the spokesman added. Podgorica, Yugoslavia 13/8/93 (AFP) - Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos expressed the desire to meet with Pope John Paul II, in an interview published yesterday in the Montenegrin daily Pobjeda. "I would like to have a sincere discussion on all subjects with him, including the attitude of the Roman catholic Church, which is a source of concern and grief to us, and the common responsibility shared by Christians, even though they may be divided", the paper quoted Patriarch Vartholomeos as saying. "If reason and love are imperative as a new commandment of the Gospel, it might lead to mutual understanding between Catholic and Orthodox believers", he added. The Ecumenical Patriarch reaffirmed the Orthodox Church's desire to enter into a dialogue with Rome, " but on an equal footing, in a spirit of faith and candour" but said these qualities were "not always forthcoming". The Patriarch on Thursday ended a week-long visit to Serbia and Montenegro, the first leg of a Balkan tour that will include visits to Romania and Bulgaria. Athens, 13/8/93 (ANA) - Parliament late last night narrowly adopted in principle legislation to partially privatise the Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE). The midnight vote, 51-47-1, came after a four-day debate by parliament's second summer session on a bill that would allow the government to sell 49 per cent of OTE. The ruling New Democracy party has a one-seat majority in the summer session, comprising one-third of the members of the 300 -seat house. One independent deputy voted present. The critical vote was cast by New Democracy Deputy Miltiades Evert, a former minister to the prime minister's office. Opening Thursday's debate, Evert had threatened to vote against the bill unless Article 10, which outlines the managing director's powers, was amended. Shortly before the debate closed, National Economy and Finance Minister Stephanos Manos amended the bill by deleting a clause limiting the board's powers over the managing director's decision-making authority. He added that the government had consistently implemented its 10 year programme to modernise OTE, adding that it had announced its decision to partially privatise the phone company in 1992. Hoyerswerda, Germany, 13/8/93 (Reuters) - A gang of up to 10 neo-Nazis used heavy tools to attack three Greek men in the eastern town of Hoyerswerda, scene of one of Germany's ugliest recent racist attacks, prosecutors said yesterday. The Federal criminal Office said separately that racist violence more than tripled in June after an arson attack in the city of Solingen killed five Turkish girls and women. In Hoyerswrda, the local prosecutor said eight members of the neo-Nazi gang aged between 20 and 39 were arrested after attacking the Greek workers at a taxi stand on Wednesday. They gave hatred of foreigners as their motive. One of the Greeks suffered a severe concussion, another a possible fractured skull and the third had facial injuries. All but one of the attackers lived in Hoyerswerda, a depressed town in east Germany where hundreds of people cheered young neo-Nazis who besieged a foreigners' hostel for a week in September 1991 and forced it to be evacuated. That attack came near the start of a wave of extreme right-wing violence against foreigners. At least 25 people have been killed in racist attacks in the last 18 months. The Federal criminal Office said in a reply to a parliamentary question that the number of recorded racist crimes rose to 1,307 in June from 400 in May. The crimes included 76 arson attacks, one bombing and 84 personal assaults. In the first quarter of this year, 6,719 cases of right-wing crime were investigated, including 2,419 racist offences. There were 390 convictions. The cases investigated included 40 instances of murder or manslaughter, 442 of grievous assault, 114 of arson, 148 of anti-Semitism, 1,505 of incitement to racial hatred and 2,788 instances of the use of banned Nazi insignia or symbols. Athens, 13/8/93 (ANA) - The government has reached agreement with the Peroyiannakis Group on the sale of the Neorio Shipyards on Syros, Finance Under-secretary Peter Doukas said yesterday. He said the agreement, which has been accepted by labour unions, had been ratified by the inter-ministerial committee on privatisation. The Peroyiannakis Group will purchase the shipyards for 700 million drachmas cash and has agreed to preserve 700 jobs, Mr Doukas said. The agreement also stipulates that the company must immediately re-open the shipbuilding unit and operate it for at least five years. Mr Doukas also announced that the government was accepting bids for the purchase of the yard's repair facility. Athens, 13/8/93 (ANA) - Foreign exchange from shipping rose by 10 per cent in June compared with the same month of last year, the Merchant Marine ministry said yesterday. But it said foreign exchange from shipping in the first half of the year had recorded a 1.3 per cent drop as compared to the same period of 1992. Shipping foreign exchange totalled 199 million dollars in June compared with 180.9 million dollars in June 1992. Inflows from shipping foreign exchange totalled 951 million dollars in the first six months of the year compared with 963.7 million dollars in the same period of 1992. Athens, 13/8/93 (ANA) - The Finance Ministry yesterday said the five members of the selection committee which will handle the second phase of bidding for eight casino licences would be announced next week. Finance Under-secretary Peter Doukas said bids for the operating licences would begin at 5.5 billion drs and 3.5 billion drs for Athens and Thessaloniki respectively. The government estimates it will receive between 20 and 30 million drs in revenues from the sale of the eight casino licences and an estimated 15 billion drs in tax revenues from the casinos each year, he added.