There is uncertainty in the greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the meeting between greek Foreign Minister mr Carolos Papoulias and his turkish counterpart mr Erdal Inonou in New York after the latest political developments in the neighbouring country and the resignation of the Tansu Chiller's coalitioin government.
Mr. Papoulias stated after his meeting with greek President mr Constantinos Stephanopoulos that he does not know yet with whom he will meet in New York or whether there will be a meeting.
The greek Foreign Minister stated that his intension is that the meeting take place but he insinuated that he does not expect a lot to come out of it.
Responding to yesterday's statements made by turkish mr Erdal Inonu according to which Greece is unwilling to discuss bilateral issues with Turkey, mr. Papoulias said that mr. Inonu expresses the turkish positions. Mr.Papoulias said that according to the greek position there are no bilateral differences between Greece and Turkey except for the issue of the continental shelf which Greece has proposed to be settled in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The greek Foreign Minister added that Turkey is unwilling to help in the solution of the Cyprus problem underlining that the military factor in the neighbouring country is reluctant to move towards the solution of the Cyprus problem.
Mr.Papoulias said during his visit in New York and in the sidelines of the UN General Assembly will meet with about 20 Foreign Ministers from different countries, among which the Minister contadicted that his FYROM counterpart mr Stevo Crevenkovski is included.
On the issue of the relations wbetween Athens and Skopje, mr. Papoulias stated that this is a phase of preparations adding that a greek committee has been formed and in the following days there will be a meeting with the respective FYROM committee for the implementation of the agreement signed in New York.
Meanwhile, greek Foreign Ministry spokesman ambassador Constantinos Bikas responding to the statements made by mr. Inonu stated that Greece's position concerning its sovereign right to expand its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles is non negotiable. He also characterized as "an insult to our intelligence" the allegations made by the turkish side according to which Turkey is being threatened by the defense cooperation between Greece and Cyprus while at the same time turkish forces continue to occupy northern Cyprus.
Press and Media Vice Minister mr Nikos Athanassakis said yesterday mr Inonou repeated the known turkish positions on which there has been a full greek answer by the Greek Prime Minister mr Andreas Papandreou recently from Thessaloniki.
Mr Athanassakis reiterated that the problem of Cyprus is not a bilateral grecoturkish problem but a problem of foreign invasion and occupation and reminded that ther has been a proposal by president Cleridis of Cyprus who suggested full demilitarization of the area around Paphos.
Greek Prime Minister mr Andreas Papandreou left at noon today for Majorca to attend the informal EU Summit meeting that will be held there tomorrow and the day after.
According to statements made by greek Press and Media Vice Minister, mr Nikos Athanassakis the only topic of discussion in the informal summit meeting of the heads of States of the 15 European Union member states will be the 1996 Inter-Governmental Conference.
No else apart from the heads of the deligations will be in the room of the summit while no minutes will be kept either.
Mr Athanassakis said that the Greek government presented its positions on the intergovernmental conference in time, on May 31, 1995 and stressed that this presentation was the result of the work done by the special ministerial committee set for the subject.
It is reminded that the Greek committee for the preparation of the greek positions on the 1996 European Union intergovernmental conference had expressed support for the principle of unaniniminty concerning vital national interests.
The results of the work of the committee which were then submitted to the Prime Minister also stress that the application of the Common Foreign and Security Policy is pursued while at the same time the necessary guarantees on the finacial field are not visible.
According to the same committee Greece believes that more common policies are needed in fields like agriculture and energy and stresses that the elements of stability and credability are necessary for the political and social legalization of United Europe.
Two members of the Albanian parliament who are of greek origin, mr Thomas Mitsou and mr Kostas Makariadis announced yesterday their decision to abandon the albanian parliament in a sign of protest against the lack of measures by the albanian government for the education of the minority.
In a letter the two deputies sent in the parliament elements supporting that there has been deliberate lack of care for the education of the minority which he attributed to the fact that the government did not fully apply the existing law. In the same letter the two deputies note that this behaviour towards the greek minority in Albania talkes place while there is a favourable climate on the Athens- Tirana relations.
It is to be reminded that the issue of the minority education had created a crisis in the Grecoalbanian talks last month in Athens which had led the then Greek Press and Media Minister mr Evangelos Venizelos stress that Athens will never abandon the rights the greek minority has for education.
Information from New York mentions that behind-the- scenes consultations are being held in New York and in Washington aiming at the revival of interest in the Cyprus problem.
Already, US President's special envoy to Cyrpus mr Richard Beattie had separate meetings with the Ambassadors of Cyprus and Turkey in Washington and also with the deligation of the not-recognised turkish-cypriot state in the United Nations.
According to information, the United States will try to achieve the resumption of direct talks between the two communities in Cyprus.
Greek National Defense Undersecretary Manolis Beteniotis will represent the government in the festivities that will take place in the framework of the greek "Nautical Week" that opens tomorrow and will last until Sunday, September 24th. The events will take place in Astoria's Bohemian Hall and Park in Queens, New York and are organized by greek-american associations.
In the 3-day cultural, educational and recreational events will participate many greek intelectuals, politicians and businessmen with speeches, lectures and exhibitions.
A strong earthquake measuring 4,4 on the Richter scale hit at 11:46'am today the region of the city of Ioannina in north-western Greece.
According to the National Observatory in Athens, the earthquake's epicenter was located 330 kilometers north- west of Athens and 30 kilometers west of the city of Ioannina.
Hundreds of yachts will participate in the first Sea Festival that will be held in the island of Poros on October 27-29.
Greek Tourism Minister Nikos Sifounakis stated that the festival will be held in the framework of the efforts to develop Greece's sea tourism and to build a new profile for the country's tourism. The festival is organised by the Greek Association of Yacht Owners and is expected to become an annual event in Poros, which according to the ancient greek mythology was the island of Poseidon, God of the Sea.
The Festival will be held under the auspices of greek President Stephanopoulos and its cost which is estimated to be about 150 million drachmas will be covered by sponsors.
A new pioneer method has been developed by greek Ophthalmology professor Giorgos Theodosiadis giving hope to many patients with eye problems in Greece and abroad.
Recently this method was used on a young patient who came to Greece after a suggestion by Dr.Halvey Glikov, a famous surgeon and Ophthalmology professor in New York's Coreil University. The 22yearold Brian Frintberg from Virginia suffered from an eye disease which could lead to blindness. A hole had been created in the optic nerve and as a result pathological fluid was gathered on the retina.
This disease in the beginning reduces the ability of the patient to see and finally leads to blindness. The young patient had two eye operations in New York's Corneil Hospital that brought no results and when his case was examined by Dr.Glinkov he suggested that the patient should be operated by Dr.Theodosiadis in the University Clinic of the Athens General Hospital.
When the patient arrived at the Athens General Hospital on September 12th he could see the fingers of his hand only if they were held 20-25 centimeters from his eyes. The operation went well and the results satisfied everyone completely. Yesterday, when the young american left for his country was able to see and could easily move around in a large room while after 4 months his vision will improve considerably.
According to the method developed by Dr.Theodosiadis a silicon implant is placed near the optic nerve which closes the hole stopping the flow of pathological fluid to the retina. Until today the method has been used in 12 patients in Greece of which 11 regained their sight and only in one the operation had no satisfactory results.