PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRIME MINISTER OF GREECE

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRIME MINISTER OF GREECE

The Prime Minister of Greece, Costa Simitis, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today that he had had an open and friendly discussion with the Secretary-General today, who had pointed to the possibility of having the outlines for a solution to the Cyprus question by the end of June.

Mr. Simitis, who was in the United States for an official visit, was joined by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, George Papandreou, and the Minister for Press and Mass Media, Christos Protopappas. Shashi Tharoor, Interim Head, United Nations Department of Public Information, introduced them and provided correspondents with biographical notes on the Prime Minister's achievements in government and academia.

The Prime Minister delivered his opening remarks in Greek.  He went on to relate, in English, some of the details of his discussion today with the Secretary-General.  They had spoken about Cyprus, the Balkans and Afghanistan, he said.  It was the opinion of both Alvarez de Soto and the Secretary-General that there should be continuous discussions, as often as three times a week.  The United Nations would be cautious, the Secretary-General had indicated, but it would work very hard and there was a positive feeling that there could be a solution.

Regarding the Balkans, he said that the Secretary-General was of the opinion that efforts should continue for reconstruction, peace and cooperation.  As far as Afghanistan was concerned, the Secretary-General thought that in the next three to six months it might be possible for the peace force to cease to exist, since the Afghans, themselves, would police their territory by then.  The main problem now was the reconstruction of that country and finding the money for the task.  There was another donors conference next month, in which Greece would participate.

Asked about his priority with respect to relations with Turkey, the Prime Minister said that, in the framework of the European Union, those countries had taken a decision known as the Helsinki Declaration.  The roadmap should be applied according to that agreement.  If Turkey had problems with its neighbour, Greece, then it should seek to solve them.  It was up to Turkey to take the initiative and if those problems were not solved, then it must go to the International Court of Justice.  As far as Greece was concerned, the only problem was the delimitation of the continental shelf, and he had repeatedly asked Turkey to agree to resolve that issue.

To a question about whether the Prime Minister had taken up with the Secretary-General Turkey's insistence on the recognition of two separate States under a confederation scheme, he said he had mentioned that to Mr. Annan, who shared his opinion that, in such a case, one of the parties always insisted on that point of view.  Turkey insisted on its point of view, but the situation had changed.  The Turks were insisting in order to show "a very hard" attitude.  "We have to continue our negotiations in order to solve the problem", he said. 

Referring to a somewhat damaging story on a United States television network programme over the weekend, a correspondent asked how committed Greece was in the fight against terrorism.  Mr. Simitis said that President Bush and his team knew very well that "we are with the Americans and we are with this part of the world

that has decided to fight terrorism".  He had sent airplanes to Afghanistan with humanitarian aid and he had also agreed to send soldiers with engineering expertise, as well as a military hospital.  He had given all possible facilities to American airplanes coming from the United States or Europe to Afghanistan.  So, no one from the United States ever questioned whether his country was part of the alliance against terrorism, he emphasized.

With respect to terrorism in Greece, there should be no doubt on that subject.  Since 1980, many American agents in Greece had worked with Greek police and had been provided with all of the necessary information.  The present situation was a result of their work.  There was very good cooperation with the Americans and the British, and there should be no concern about the security at the next Olympic Games.  "They indeed will be absolutely secure", he stressed.  That had been his plan since the beginning, since before 11 September.  And he would achieve that. 

Was his goal to have a political solution before or within the accession to the European Union? another correspondent asked.  Mr. Simitis said that the accession had been mentioned, and, as he had said earlier in the conference, the Secretary-General had hoped for the outlines of a solution by the end of June.  The accession would take place at the end of 2003.  Although the political solution was not a condition for the accession, that would make accession much easier.  The European Union and the European Commission had said on several occasions that there would be accession without a solution of the political problem.  It was in everyone's interest, however, to solve the political problem as soon as possible, he added. 

To a comment that Greece has not supported Turkish accession to the European Army, he said that Turkey, as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), took part in all exercises and actions of NATO.  The European Army was a force of European nations belonging to the European Union.  The question that could be asked was, under what conditions did the Union operate with NATO.  That was not a question only about Turkey, but of Iceland, Norway, and so forth.  The question concerned the framework of cooperation.

The Foreign Ministers were working seriously to search for solutions and ideas, he added.  Concerning an invitation to visit Turkey, he said certain conditions must be in place.  He would go when the work of the Ministers indicated there would be something new and things would change.

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