Visit the Foundation for Hellenic Studies (FHS) Homepage Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923) Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923)
HR-Net - Hellenic Resources Network Compact version
Today's Suggestion
Read The "Macedonian Question" (by Maria Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou)
HomeAbout HR-NetNewsWeb SitesDocumentsOnline HelpUsage InformationContact us
Thursday, 28 March 2024
 
News
  Latest News (All)
     From Greece
     From Cyprus
     From Europe
     From Balkans
     From Turkey
     From USA
  Announcements
  World Press
  News Archives
Web Sites
  Hosted
  Mirrored
  Interesting Nodes
Documents
  Special Topics
  Treaties, Conventions
  Constitutions
  U.S. Agencies
  Cyprus Problem
  Other
Services
  Personal NewsPaper
  Greek Fonts
  Tools
  F.A.Q.
 

Antenna News in English 100996

Antenna Radio News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.gr

News in English, of 10/09/1996


TITLES

  • The Greek prime minister's letter about Iraq to the US president.
  • How the candidates stack up according to the latest polls.
  • And, Antenna's president comes to the aid of a poverty-stricken family.


LETTER

Prime minister Kostas Simitis says there should be one rule of thumb when it comes to international relations: respect international borders. In a letter of reply to US president Bill Clinton, Mr Simitis says he hopes the current crisis in Iraq will be wrapped up in accordance with UN directives and in keeping with international law. In his letter, Mr Clinton had explained American policy toward Iraq, asked Mr Simitis and other European Union leaders to show understanding for Turkey's interests in the area. He had also asked the EU to recognise Turkey's role as a stabilising force in the Middle East. In his reply to Mr Clinton, Mr Simitis offers a different perspective. The Greek leader says, "Since I received your letter, there has been confirmation of Turkey's decision to create a security zone in Iraq along its border with Iraq. This is worrying. It has a direct destabilising effect on the region, overturns principles of international law, and circumvents UN decisions. It sets a danagerous precedent", continues the Greek leader. And adds, "Greece considers it essential that the territorial integrity of nations in the region be respected as they have been determined by long-standing international agreements and treaties. Especially since Greece has recently had its territorial rights questioned by Turkey. Turkey doubts the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which determines Turkey's borders from the Black Sea to the eastern Aegean, and extends to Iraq and Iran. Greece understands the need to defend Turkey's rights to the extent that they are embodied in international treaties, and so long as the rights of other nations are also borne in mind. That's the only way to ensure stability". Mr Simitis concludes that he is certain that the principles outlined in his reply to Mr Clinton serve the common Greek and American goals of promoting stability and defending the interests of the western democracies.

POLLS

Pasok and New Democracy both say they're confident of victory on September 22nd. But the numbers say otherwise in two polls just published. A PRC poll conducted for the daily Ta Nea reflects the results of an MRB survey carried out for a major TV station. The TV station survey puts New Democracy half a percentage point ahead of Pasok, with both parties carrying around 30 per cent of the voters. As you can see, the PRC poll shows Pasok slightly ahead, but the error margin means it's anybody's guess who, if anyone, is on top. Of the other parties listed in the PRC poll, the Left Coalition, which failed to win a seat in parliament in the last electons, is top, with 5.3 per cent of the ovters. The new Pasok breakaway party Democratic Movement is right there with it, at 5.2 per cent. Indeed, in the MRB survey, Democratic Movement is ahead of all the other small parties. Party leader Dimitris Tsovolas left Pasok to set up the party, because he was unhappy with its economic austerity policies. Now, Tsovolas is confiedent. He says his supporters won't be drawn back to Pasok with the argument that a vote for him is effectively a vote for New Democracy. As for New Democracy members, they say they're confident their party is surging ahead. MP Stavros Dimas says, "We're on our way up. Today, we're much further ahead than the numbers showed at the beginning of the month. Mr Simitis's so-called new Pasok is faltering. Greeks want a government able to work for them". Defence minister Gerasimos Arsenis says the government is unconcerned by the surveys. "Our poll is the contact we have with the people", he says. "And that poll shows we're doing very well".

Both polls show Political Spring, third in the last national elections, is in a slump. PRC puts it in the gutter with a 4.1 per cent vote share. But Spring leader Antonis Samaras says the polls are phony. His spokesman, Niktas Kaklamanis says the people behind the polls are trying to stop Political Spring's rise with fake survey results.

SIMITIS

As they race toward election Sunday, the candidates are stepping up their campaign stumping. The prime minister has been up north. In Iannena, Mr Simitis said Pasok means stability, certainty and progress. He urged all voters, young and old, to get to the voting stations on election day. Pasok needs a large parliamentary majority, he added, so it can work fast and effectively in putting through the legislation needed to help the economy and solve the country's other problems. Mr Simitis added that this is the election when Greece will choose between a Greece determined to play an important role in the Balkans and the EU, a Greece with a proper welfare state; and a conservative, inward-looking Greece, isolated on the international stage.

At a rally in Serres on Sunday, Mr Simitis defended his fiscal policies against charges that they're hard on working people. Pasok, he said, is the party that is showing solidarity with working people through its policies. Making a play for undecided voters, the premier asked rhetorically: if New Democracy government takes power, will its financial policies be worker- friendly?

Prime minister Kostas Simitis said if re-elected, he'll take some tough steps, like curbing public-sector hiring, and eliminating unjustified tax breaks. Getting the national financial house in order is called economic stabilisation, and Mr Simitis is committed to it. But he's also committed to social peace and solidarity. In Thessaloniki also said he'll give wage-earners inflation-pegged raises. He believes the inflation rate will be 8.2 per cent at the end of this year. Mr Simitis was optimistic about the future of the eocnomy, and pleased with what his government has achieved so far. Pasok's policies have been a recipe for success, he says, and he aims to continue them. In Greece's second city, Mr Simitis took a shot at the economic programme of his main opponent in the upcoming election, New Democracy 's Miltiades Evert. Once again, he accused Evert of campaigning on a pork barrel: promising to hand out money left and right if he's elected - thus destroying the economy. He asked Evert to explain where he plans to find the 3.5 billion dollars his tax relief plans for farmers and the middle class self- employed would cost the nation. For the first time, the premier also attacked Democratic Movement leader Dimitris Tsovolas, who left Pasok last year, when the late Andreas Papandreou was still at the helm. Weekend polls show Tsovolas could pull in 5 to 6 per cent of the votes. Mr Simitis said in Thessaloniki that Tsovolas is responsible for having split Pasok, the progressive party. The consequence of Tsovolas's departure from Pasok, he added, is to help New Democracy, whether Tsovolas intends to or not.

CAMPAIGN/EVERT

New Democracy leader Miltiades Evert has also been campaigning up north. In Karditsa, he told the crowd at a rally, "It's time for work". That's the motto of Evert, who says Pasok has been a do-nothing government. Evert said there's too much wasteful spending in government, and that government ministers pretty much do what they want. Enough, he told the crowd. It's time for a government that will work for the Greek people. Amid shouts of enthusiasm, the New Democracy leader said there are solutions to the country's problems, as long as government ministers take an interest in the people after the elections, as they do before the elections. He said his party is united and determined to help Greeks to a better life.

EVERT WITH DEANS

Miltiades Evert discussed the problems of higher education with university deans on Monday. Evert slammed the government for its handling of the problems of the country's universities. The opposition leader said, "Unfortunately, many students missed their exam periods because the government couldn't find the cash to keep the universities working during exam time. Yet, the government gave found 70 million dollars to pour into advertisements of the country's public works projects", added Evert. Evert said the country's universities need to be freed of government control. The universities need economic and administrative autonomy, because they know how to run their own affairs better than the education ministry does.

CYPRUS

Turkish attempts to use the shooting death of a Turkish soldier to sully the name of free Cyprus, have failed. The two soldiers were shot at a Turkish sentry post along the island's neutral zone near the village of Acheritou, across from territory under British command. The shootings come just a month after the brutal murder of two unarmed Greek-Cypriot protestors in the neutral zone. Those video-taped killings were broadcast around the world, setting Turkey back in the eyes of international public opinion. After the shootings of the Turkish soldiers, Ankara was quick to try to gain back lost ground. Blaming the Greek-Cypriots, Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said the shootings had been in reprisal for the deaths of the two Greek-Cypriots. But the British authorities say the shots fired at the Turks came from within Turkish-occupied territory, not from the Greek-Cypriot side. That would appear to corroborate the Cypriot authorities assertion several days ago, that an act of Turkish provocation, involving the murder of Turks or Turkish-Cypriots, and designed to make the Greek-Cypriots look bad, was about to unfold. Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis said Greek-Cypriot soldiers had nothing to do with Sunday's shooting. Responding to Turkish foreign minister Tansu Ciller's attempt to use the incident as eveidence of Greek aggression, Mr Simitis said, there is no Greek aggression in Cyprus, just Turkish barbarism, as evidenced by the merciless killings of the two Greek-Cypriots in August.

KYRIAKOU

Antenna president Minos Kyriakou has come to the aid of a family living in desperate poverty. Antenna television brought the plight of an 11-member family living in a wooden shed under a bridge in Chalkida to public attention. Hundreds of Greeks have already phoned in to make a deposit in the bank account set up by Mr Kyriakou to help the family. Mr Kyriakou himself made a deposit of 20 thousand dollars. The Ionian Bank account number is 090-317-00-639. Maria Sourla is appealing to the country's political leaders to help her nine children and her husband, disabled by a stroke. To help them out of the poverty trap. Before Mr Kyriakou opened the bank account, the family had nothing more to live on than her husband's 100-dollar monthly pension - that's about 10 dollars a month for each family member. “I want a home", one of the children says. The nearest school is to far away for the kids to attend. One of the youngsters says, "I want to go to school". The kids also lack clothing, and often have to sleep on an empty stomach.

SOCCER

Turning to sports, and the first week of premier division soccer, defending champ Panathinaikos picked up where it left off last season, beating Kalamata 3-nil. Ofi of Crete also wins its season opener, stopping Pasok 3-1. Other victors over the weekend, Ionikos and Paniliakos, both playing on their home turf. Iraklis, Kavala, and Aris play to draws on their home grounds. Powerhouse Aek will be disappointed with that result against little Kavala. There's one winner on the road, as Panachaiki gets past Edessaikos, 2-1.

© ANT1-Radio 1996


Antenna Radio News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Back to Top
Copyright © 1995-2023 HR-Net (Hellenic Resources Network). An HRI Project.
All Rights Reserved.

HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute, Inc.
ant12html v1.00 run on Tuesday, 10 September 1996 - 8:59:11