From: tzarros@ccs.carleton.ca (Theodore Zarros) Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Mon, 31 Oct 1994 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa). Athens News Agency Bulletin, October 31, 1994 --------------------------------------------- * Athens: Ankara must stop 'artificial tension' on territorial waters issue, new maritime convention codifies common law * New EU Commission jobs decided, Papoutsis gets energy, SMEs, tourism * Papoutsis 'very satisfied' * Soysal speaks to ANA: 'artificial tension necessary...' * Venizelos criticises Berisha on religious freedoms * Papantoniou to sell UK investors on OTE float * Turkish captain, crew charged with ferrying illegal immigrants * Samaras winds up Melbourne visit * NY Greeks celebrate Ohi Day Athens: Ankara must stop 'artificial tension' on territorial waters issue, new maritime convention codifies common law ----------------------------------------------------------------- Athens, 31/10/1994 (ANA): The government yesterday called on Turkey to avoid creating artificial tension in Greek-Turkish relations, underlining that Greece considered the new convention on maritime law as merely codifying what has long been common law. In a response to Turkish Foreign Minister Mumtaz Soyzal's interview to the ANA yesterday, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said: "While Mr. Soysal admits that he and other Turkish officials cultivate an artificial tension, his interview today (yesterday) persists in cultivating this tension. He reiterates unilateral Turkish claims and continues to ignore the fundamental Greek position: that Greece considers the new convention on maritime law codifies what has long been common law." On November 16, an international convention on maritime law comes into effect permitting countries to extend their territorial waters from six to twelve miles. Greece says it has an inalienable right to extend its territorial waters from six to twelve miles but has not said when it might do so. Ankara has repeatedly threatened Athens with war if it extended its territorial waters to twelve miles in the Aegean. "It would be good if Mr. Soysal, instead of showing excessive zeal, could contribute with his statements and conduct to avoiding artificial tension," Mr. Venizelos said. He said that "nothing will change" on November 16 regarding the twelve-mile limit for territorial waters but said the fact that the multilateral international convention would come into effect on that date was "important". "The policy followed by Greece on the issue of territorial waters is long-standing, steadfast and accepted by all the political forces of the country," Mr. Venizelos said. On Saturday, Mr. Venizelos expressed the hope that the "artificial climate of tension" created by "certain Turkish officials" would end, following a brief meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in Jordan. Replying to press questions on the issue of Greece's right to extend its territorial waters, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos made the following statement: "(Turkish Foreign Minister) Mumtaz Soysal recently had the opportunity at the signing of the Israel-Jordan peace pact to meet with (Foreign Minister) Karolos Papoulias and speak in a more restrained and realistic manner about this issue, over which (Mr. Soysal) has displayed excessive zeal during the last month. "The Greek position is steadfast... and in any case nothing changes with regard to the international convention of sea rights because... it merely codifies what has long been common law. "We would like to believe that after this brief meeting between Messrs. Soysal and Papoulias, an end will be put to this artificial climate of tension which is being created -- intentionally, to some extent -- by certain Turkish officials." In a TV interview earlier this week, Mr. Soysal said he thought "something can happen on November 16", the day the convention comes into effect. "We don't want a reckoning. We know who will win if there is one. We can whip Greece," Mr. Soysal said. Referring to statements by Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Ferhat Ataman, according to which the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Istanbul) was "not a legal personality" and thus there was no question of the Patriarch addressing international organisations, Mr. Venizelos said: ""The Ecumenical Patriarchate is an ecclesiastical institution, a religious institution, with a real universal dimension and international substance, known and recognised by all international organisations which invite the Patriarch to hear his admonitions and thoughts, since he is an international figure of great spiritual importance." "This was the meaning of his (the Patriarch's) recent visit and address to the European Parliament and, of course, the Patriarchate's more regular contacts with the European Union" in the future, Mr. Venizelos added. New EU Commission jobs decided, Papoutsis gets energy, SMEs, tourism ----------------------------------------------------------------- Luxembourg, 31/10/1994 (ANA/C. Verros/M. Savvas/Reuter): Greece's new European Commissioner Christos Papoutsis was given responsibility for energy, the European Community's Atomic Energy organisation, EURATOM, small and medium-sized firms and tourism Saturday in the job share for the largest European Commission to date. An all-day meeting on Saturday in Luxembourg ended with agreement on who among the enlarged 21-member European Union executive should do what when it takes office in January. Papoutsis 'very satisfied' -------------------------- Luxembourg, 31/10/1994 (ANA): Christos Papoutsis, head of Greece's Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) European Parliament parliamentary group, told the ANA Saturday that he was "very satisfied" with his new job. Mr. Papoutsis will be responsible for energy, SMEs and tourism, "very important areas which interest all of Europe and particularly Greece but also the Balkan region," he said. He said his appointment to these fields could be considered a "success for Greece". The job will involve him in the European Union's relations with states of Central and East Europe, Russia and other former Soviet Union states and with the petroleum-producing nations of the Gulf, he said. Mr. Papoutsis will also be a member of the commissioners group which will be responsible for co-ordinating policy and funding for pan-European transport, energy and telecommunications networks. Soysal speaks to ANA: 'artificial tension necessary...' ------------------------------------------------------- Athens, 31/10/1994 (ANA): Turkey yesterday admitted that it was creating a climate of tension in its relations with Greece and proposed a "package solution" to settle what it sees as problems between the two neighbouring countries. In an exclusive interview with the Athens News Agency in Jordan, Turkish Foreign Minister Mumtaz Soysal acknowledged that the present tension between the two countries was artificial. "We are creating a small amount of tension in order to avoid the creation of high tension which could lead us to war," Mr. Soysal told ANA reporter Gerassimos Zarkadis. Mr. Soysal said that Turkey would be prepared to accept recourse to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to settle the issue of the delineation of the Aegean continental shelf, as proposed by Greece, "or to make some other concession" in return for Greece keeping the present six-mile limit for its territorial waters. Greece has consistently maintained that the only difference between the two countries is that of the delineation of the Aegean continental shelf. Mr. Soysal also said that Ankara would be willing to pull its Aegean army inland from the Turkish western coast if Athens demilitarised the Greek islands in the Aegean. Greece said it has an inalienable right to extend its territorial waters from six to twelve miles but has not said when it might do so. On November 16, an international convention on maritime law comes into effect permitting countries to extend their territorial waters from six to twelve miles. "For the last 17 years, we have stated that the extension of Greek territorial waters beyond six miles in the Aegean would be a casus belli for Turkey. We insist on this, despite the fact that Greece could take advantage of article 3 of the new convention and extend its territorial waters to twelve miles. But in such a case... the Aegean would shrink for Turkey. Greece would have 71 per cent of the Aegean and this would mean that we would have to say goodbye to the Aegean," Mr. Soysal told the ANA. "Despite the fact that the new convention gives Greece the right to extend its territorial waters, we believe that it is not necessary for Athens to do so, since the convention does not prohibit an agreement between two neighbouring countries. If two neighbouring countries agree that their territorial waters should remain as they are, this can be achieved, and this is what we propose...". Mr. Soysal proposed that "all the problems" between Greece and Turkey be examined as a package, including the issue of territorial waters. "In this way, we can solve all the problems," Mr. Soysal said, citing the demilitarisation of Aegean islands, the Aegean continental shelf, Aegean airspace, the Flight Information Region (FIR) and "technical problems". Mr. Soysal disagreed with Greece's view that the only problem between the two countries is that of the delineation of the Aegean continental shelf which Athens wants to have referred to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. "... because there are technical problems which result in our not recognising the jurisdiction of the Hague court. Theoretically speaking, however, Turkey could accept recourse to this court, in exchange, for example, for a solution which would satisfy it with respect to (Aegean) airspace or the territorial waters," the Turkish foreign minister said. Stressing that Turkey had no intention of attacking Greece, Mr. Soysal said that the Turkish Fourth Army Corps, which is deployed on the Aegean coast, could be re-deployed to the interior if Greece demilitarised its islands in the Aegean. "We have no intention of attacking the islands, we have enough territory, the islands have no Turkish population so why should we attack?" Mr. Soysal said. Mr. Soysal replied in the negative when asked if Turkey would accept Greece's extending its territorial waters in the Aegean from six to twelve miles in the case that Athens conceded an exit passage to international waters. "This would not be in our interests," Mr. Soysal said. "We want (the limit for) territorial waters in the Aegean to remain at six miles, because the Aegean belongs to both countries." When asked what he considered each country's share of the Aegean to be, Mr. Soysal replied: "Half and half, why doesn't Greece want to share it? We must share it... We are not asking Greece to concede something, but merely not to make use of the right conferred on it by virtue of the new maritime law convention." Turning to the Cyprus problem, Mr. Soysal claimed that "it is already half solved. There are two peoples who have their territories and administrations and are free to resolve their affairs." Mr. Soysal proposed the creation by the Cyprus Republic and the Turkish-occupied north of the island of "joint bodies" to solve the problems of what he called "the two neighbouring states on the small island". He said that the operation of such "bodies" would consolidate mutual trust and lead to the creation of "other bodies". "This is how all federations in the world have been created," Mr. Soysal added. Asked if he rejected the concept of a single state as foreseen in UN resolutions on the Cyprus problem, Mr. Soysal replied: "We must forget it... The mistake of the UN was to issue one resolution after the other. A whole file of resolutions which each time repeated the previous resolutions which were not enforceable, with the result that when one looks at the Cyprus problem from a distance, one has the impression that it cannot be resolved." Asked if the UN was responsible for the problem, Mr. Soysal replied: "Exactly, the UN is no angel. Most of the time it makes mistakes..." When asked if Ankara would agree to give the same rights to the Kurdish minority that it was demanding for the Turkish Cypriots, Mr. Soysal replied that "in Cyprus there is no minority or majority. There are two peoples who belong to different nations and who speak different languages." Asked if he would therefore be in favour of the creation of a separate Kurdish state in Iraq, since Arabs and Kurds belong to two different nations and speak different languages, Mr. Soysal replied: "No, no." Mr. Soysal also expressed the view that the majority of Kurds did not want the creation of a separate Kurdish state, "only the separatist terrorists want this. The majority would be satisfied if they were granted certain rights within the framework of a unified state." On the crisis in former Yugoslavia, Mr. Soysal said that Turkey was "thinking of improving our relations with the Serbs of Serbia". "We believe that Radovan Karadzic should be ousted from the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs because his policy is based on certain racist perceptions," Mr. Soysal said, adding that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic should be given time "to see what he will do in the future. We are thinking of improving our relations with the government of Milosevic." Mr. Soysal said that Bosnia-Herzegovina should become a federation and that the Bosnian Serbs should join the existing federation between Croats and Moslems "and later we should consider some kind of confederation between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro." "In this way," Mr. Soysal added, "we can achieve the re-integration of former Yugoslavia, because we never wanted things to reach the point at which they are today. We believe that the Germans were wrong because former Yugoslavia was a model for the co-existence of different nationalities. Europe was wrong for destroying that model and now see what has happened." Venizelos criticises Berisha on religious freedoms -------------------------------------------------- Athens, 31/10/1994 (ANA): Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos yesterday criticised Albanian President Sali Berisha for continuing to promote the proposed provisions in the Albanian draft constitution limiting the freedom of religious worship and the ability of religious communities in the country to elect their spiritual leaders. "Greece is interested in religious freedom and the status of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, in the measure that this Church serves the needs of the Greeks of Albania who comprise a national minority, and who, as Orthodox Christians also comprise a religious group. Mr Berisha, instead of finding ways out, returns to the same themes, cultivating tension in Greek-Albanian relations, and attempting to intervene in the internal affairs of the Orthodox Church", said Mr Venizelos. Premier to brief president -------------------------- Athens, 31/10/1994 (ANA): Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou will meet with President of the Republic Constantine Karamanlis today at 12:30. The premier will brief the president on current domestic and foreign issues, including developments in the Balkan region which affect Greece, such as the Albanian government's draft constitutional article affecting the status of Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios and Greek-Turkish relations. Papantoniou to sell UK investors on OTE float --------------------------------------------- London, 31/10/1994 (ANA/L. Tsirigotakis): National Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou will today outline the opportunities offered by the government's planned share float of 25 per cent of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) to prospective invest ors at the Schroeders Banking House. Mr. Papantoniou yesterday met with the presidency and members of the Greek Maritime Co-operation Committee and briefed Greek shipowners on the government's economic policy and the course and outlook of the Greek economy. He will also meet with British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke. Mr. Papantoniou will return to Athens tomorrow. Turkish captain, crew charged with ferrying illegal immigrants -------------------------------------------------------------- Athens, 31/10/1994 (ANA): The Turkish captain and seven crew members of the Turkish vessel which landed 52 Pakistani and Afghan illegal immigrants at Palea Fokea yesterday appeared before the public prosecutor in Athens. The Pakistanis and Afghans identified Ziogi Gursu as the captain of the vessel who had smuggled them to Greece and alleged that he caused the death by drowning of seven other illegal immigrants whom he forced at gun-point to jump into the sea. Gursu and the all-Turkish crew of the 43-metre boat "Z Bairaktar" who denied the allegations, were charged by the prosecutor with smuggling illegal immigrants and assault. Harbour police identified the Turkish vessel Saturday morning in the port of Aigion, where it had sailed after landing the illegal immigrants the previous day. Forty-one of the immigrants, who each paid $2,000 for the trip from Turkey, will appear in court tomorrow, charged with illegal entry. Samaras winds up Melbourne visit -------------------------------- Melbourne, 31/10/1994 (ANA/S. Hatzimanolis): "The Greek nation is in for some painful surprises if it accepts the logic of 'convenient settlement' in our national issues," Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras told hundreds of Greek-Australians at a Pan-Macedonian Union function yesterday. Mr. Samaras paid tribute to Greek-Australian efforts on behalf of Greece's national issues, saying it was "incredible that the Greek-Australian expatriates first hoisted the flag and made Australians accept our positions". Phil Honeywood, representing Victoria state premier Jeff Kennett, said the state government of Victoria was the only one in the world to designate the language of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 'Slavomacedonian', and called on the Federal Labour government to do the same. Mr. Samaras met with Mr. Kennett Friday, and also had extensive contacts with prominent Greek community members, including deputies of Greek origin in the State parliament. Mr. Samaras will return to Greece on Thursday, after visiting Adelaide and Sydney. Niotis celebrates Ohi Day with Greeks in Brazil ----------------------------------------------- Athens, 31/10/1994 (ANA): Foreign Under-Secretary Gregoris Niotis, in South America on a ten-day tour of Greek communities there, sent a message of peace and unity to overseas Greeks at a special mass to celebrate Greece's national Ohi Day at the Ayios Savvas church Friday in Kouritimba, Brazil. Mr. Niotis, who is responsible for overseas Greeks, ended his visit to Brazil Friday and is currently in Uruguay. He will visit Argentina and Chile next. NY Greeks celebrate Ohi Day --------------------------- New York, 31/10/1994 (ANA/M. Georgiadou): New York's large Greek community celebrated the October 28 National Day in front of the Greek Navy destroyer 'Aetos', docked next to the US aircraft carrier-museum 'Intrepid', in New York harbour. Orthodox Archbishop of North and South America Iakovos, the prefect of Corfu, the consul generals of Greece and Cyprus, and city officials attended the events. 'Aetos' is also to be converted into a Greek war museum, next to the 'Intrepid'.