by Christina Rougheri, Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group - Gr.

ABSTRACT

The Greek press continued to treat with hostility both the national minorities of Macedonians and Turks, and foreign media or parliamentarians who addressed the issue of intolerance in Greece; also, Albanophobia and Roma-phobia were intensely cultivated. Albanophobia was frequent too in the extensive coverage of the turmoil in Albania, dominated though by references to the actual events and to the Albanians’ poverty and despair after the pyramids’ collapse. The people’s poverty was, as usual in recent months, the main trait in the coverage of Romania and Bulgaria; moreover, elections in Bulgaria gave rise to many articles on the fear of a pro-Turkish tilt of the new government. Serbia’s covergae was scanty and mixed. On the other hand, a Greek music concert in Skopje inspired for the first time a positive climate in the Greek press with respect to Macedonia with some politicians and journalists even supporting the need of Greece’s acceptance of a composite name and also to the need to resolve the question of the Civil War political refugees. Finally, Turkey’s extensive coverage was full of the usual negative images of her and her society; but there were some friendly articles, too, plus the continuing debate around Foreign Minister Pangalos’ repeated statement that Turkish civilization belongs to the European one, which drew again some "hate speech" against him.

An indicative example of the way in which the Greek press deals with the questions concerning the minorities in Greece is a series of articles that appeared on the 9/4, in different newspapers and about diverse subjects. A one column article in El. (9/4), with a title that in no way relates to the information provided, makes references to the criticisms of European Parliamentarians against Greece: "according to their point of view, Greece (!) restricts public gatherings of religious, ethnic and other minority members, [and] they point out that restrictions to free association are allowed only in cases where national security is threatened". The journalist's style is rather ironic, with the underlying idea that these criticisms are entirely groundless concerning Greece.

An article of E.T. (9/4) entitled "Anti-Hellenic comments by the New York Times", referred to an article in the New York Times which spoke about "the construction of a monument for the victims of the holocaust and the foundation of two museums dedicated to the Jewish community in Salonica". The E.T. story characterizes as "Anti-Hellenic" the commentary of the journalist from the New York Times who spoke about "the unjustifiable delay and the unbearable silence of Salonica" and "Greece's distrust towards the religious and ethnic minorities, and her persistent unwillingness to recognize their place in its history…". In the same newspaper, on that same date, we find a report about the reactions of the church and a number of citizens concerning the new identity cards. We also found the following opinion of ecclesiastic authorities, without any comment or the slightest reference to respect of religious freedom and religious tolerance. "The mere fact that in the E.U. there are countries where one's religion is registered, even if it is done optionally, must exclude any possibility for the Greek government to take away its inscription from the identity cards of the Greeks, who in their overwhelming majority are Christian Orthodox".

Lastly, Ad.T. (9/4) refers "to the final and irrevocable penalties which were imposed by the competent courts on the Muslim ex-deputy Faikoglou and the false mufti from the Rhodopes". All references on the last one are made with the prefix false-(mufti), while the whole text condemns declarations made by the mufti in question about a "Turkish minority".

About the minority of Thrace we have the interview in E.T. (20/4) of archbishop of Alexandroupolis Anthimos, who, according to the director of the Greek National Radio Station (E.R.A), G.Tzanetakos, "is considered - and not unjustifiably - naturally enlightened and progressive" (El. 19/4). The archbishop argues that "unfortunately the heads of the Muslim minority believe that by the number and by the size of the mosques they will achieve the alteration of the Christian Orthodox character of Thrace. Their effort is in vain. The Orthodox churches, old and new, prove the faith of Thrace’s Christians, especially their attachment to peace and the principles of respect for religious freedom". Therefore since even the archbishop of Alexandroupolis expresses such an opinion on the minority, as described by El. (19/4), it is easy for one to explain the intensely negative reactions which confronted the director of E.R.A, G. Tzanetakos, at Komotini, in a one-day meeting about the decline of birth rates.

There is also a report in E.T. (22/4) which argues that "the Turkish Consulate has exhumed Kemal’s saying: ‘Thrace belongs to Turkey and one day it will become ours again. It is your fatherland’". In the same newspaper (18/4) a journalist, in light of the information about the "curtailment, if not the cancellation, of a settlement project for Pontians [people of Greek origin from the Black Sea areas] in Thrace" asks "if it is possible to cancel such an appropriate national project and surrender Thrace, at a time when the Moslem minority increases and multiplies, reversing the population relations", and when it is known that "E. Venizelos saved the Greekness of Macedonia settling there Pontian refugees".

In opposition to all of the above is the declaration of the Dean of Democritus University of Thrace, G. Panousis, who was quoted by El. (11/4): "The problem of Thrace is not the composition of its population. It is the lack of a strategy and a plan, so that ‘our national solitude’ develops into a national and multicultural peaceful creative co-existence… Wherever there is a minority there will be respect for and protection of the rights of every citizen".

In respect to illegal immigrants in Greece, the articles published concern mostly Albanians who live and work in our country. In the last two months the subject seems to be of a particular interest to the Greek press, especially in light of the events in Albania. Squeezed at the end of the main news reports, in a single column, is a presentation of a striking event - that of a Greek citizen who has been taken for an Albanian illegal immigrant by the police. "They insulted me in a vulgar way and they treated me as if I were a wanted criminal. One of the three policemen who stopped me, kicked me in the legs and after that he searched me". The "Eye-Witness", an article in El. (7/4), describes a real incident in Athens, where the administrator of an apartment building refused to give an apartment for rent to an Armenian woman recalling the tenants’ general assembly where they had decided "that foreigners are not allowed". The deeper cause behind that which actually happened can be traced back to the words of the administrator who, particularly defensive about her position, argued: "We have no problem with the lady, but who can guarantee us that the next one won’t rent his apartment to an Albanian? Aren’t Albanians after all the scourge for Greece now?".

Several of the articles, related to this subject, cultivate a kind of an intensified climate of uncertainty (and more precisely) Albanophobia, referring "to the tragedy of the Greek villages at the frontier", where the inhabitants "sleep and wake up with the shot gun on their pillow" (N 8/4) and those villages that are "at the mercy of Albanians who spread fright and panic in the area" (A.T. 1/4). In fact it appears that not only Albanians are treated as such. A commentary of a journalist in Eth. (4/4) entitled: "A ‘black’ story at the Petrula square" speaks about five young men, with a short hair, who attacked, without being provoked, a colored foreigner who was passing by (most likely a Pakistani). They reportedly began beating him cruelly with kicks, punches and slaps, and they dragged him down the street for about ten meters, at the same time insulting him with vulgar expressions".

The xenophobic feelings of the Greeks are also confirmed by two different researches, the results of which were published in several newspapers this month. According to the first research "over half of the illegal immigrants who live in Greece did not find paradise in our country since they argue that their life in Greece is worse than what they have expected" (N. 18/4). The second research confirms the first one since "one out of every two Greeks says ‘no’ to illegal immigrants" (E.T. 18/4). In addition, El. (6/4) referred to a public survey, ordered by the same paper, which speaks of the hypocrisy of the Greeks, the greater part of whom (about 67 %) do not agree with "the admission of Albanian refugees in Greece".

The articles which present the Gypsy camps which "have been transformed into drug sellers’ meeting places" (E.T. 18/4) continued to appear during the month. Several of them in fact correlate the activities of Gypsy sellers of hashish with the Albanian Mafia, based on the accusations by the Gypsies living in the camps that "the hashish sold comes from Albania" (E.T. 18/4). In the last month almost all newspapers cultivated a particularly negative climate towards the Gypsy camps, strengthening the racist opinions of the Greek readers. As a consequence to that many people found it just logical to read about "the clearing up operated by the police at a Gypsy camp for selling drugs" (Ap. 18/4). Certain reports insist on projecting a stereotype which presents the Gypsies as a resolute people, without any principles, because they "use even minors as carriers of drugs" (A.T. 19/4) and also they "use their women to push drugs" (E..T. 18/4). K. (6/4), in a report entitled ‘People and mice’, shows clearly the conditions of poverty and destitution in which the Gypsies live at the camps. "Hepatitis reaps and there is no other drinkable water than the one from a broken pipe, while the heaps of garbage which belong to the Ministry of Health and Welfare have not been collected since 1982".

In respect to the question of religious freedom, El. (21/4) refers "to the super-patriots of Chania who continue to provoke, threatening municipal counselors and demanding that the minaret of Saint Nicholas is not restored, as it was decided by the municipality". An article of I. Konidaris (B. 20/4) concentrates on the complete absence of any reference by the Greek mass media to "the extended damage at the Jewish cemetery of Trikala". He goes on critically with the fact that the "ecclesiastic authorities speak of ‘Zionist plans’, in the wider context of foreign powers who are responsible, as usually, for whatever misfortune comes to us". Lastly, an article by K. Beis (El. 2/4), referred to the information that Patriarch Peter celebrated a mass in Cairo at the presence of Egypt’s President and wished that "the innate difficulties of the Greek reality are overcome, so that the 40,000 Muslims living in Athens can acquire the temple, of which they are deprived, in order to pray to their God".

This month again, a picture of a country beyond any control, which is left to poverty and anarchy dominates the presentation of Albania in the Greek press. "There is a lot of suffering. There is sorrow and despair everywhere. Those who suffer are the weakest. Everyone wants to leave. This thing worries me. There isn’t a specific enemy. Many parents, unable to provide for their children, abandon them at the orphanages." (a statement made by the Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, El. 9/4)

The situation is evaluated as "particularly disturbing" (Ap. 15/4); "the country sinks in hunger, criminality and blood, since all sorts of weapons, even chemical ones, are found in the hands of the citizens" (Ad.T. 8/4). Fears are expressed, not only about the Greek minority and its security but also about the danger of "a vast flow of Albanian illegal immigrants to Greece". There is "an important difference in regards to previous years, in which similar phenomena of illegal immigrants flocking into the country were observable. But this time many Albanians are armed with Kalashnikoff". (E.TR. 3/4)

Regarding the ramming of the Albanian ship by an Italian corvette at Otrando straits, the Greek press condemned the event and blamed it on the Italian authorities as well as the Italian intellectuals because of the "dead silence in face of the abominable crime" (El. 3/4). "The Albanians have no more the right to hope, to live. To their heart-rendering call we answer with death, because now we are able to live only through the other’s death. The other, the stranger, the despised has no place in this horrible civilization" (El. 3/4). Certain articles, in light of the shipwreck, condemned even the attitude of the Greeks and the Greek authorities: "The Greeks who consider the Albanians living in our country to be pieces of garbage deserving only contempt, rudeness and fierce exploitation, are not very likely to have been in the least infuriated by the ramming of the Albanian ship by the Italian corvette" (K. 2/4). "Of course not one of the organized anti-western humanitarians remember at all these Albanians who were killed accidentally by the Greek forces guarding the borders these last years" (B. 6/4). El (6/4) published the appeal for a humane treatment of the Albanians that was addressed by the International Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.

In light of the Greek army’s mission in Albania there is an abundance of reports which cultivate a climate of danger, speaking of "provocations by Chams who, in a secret scheme with Berisha, put Greek soldiers at their sight" (Ap. 20/4). On the same day we find in E.T. reactions to the mission of the Romanian soldiers because, as the journalist argues, it takes place "exactly in the same places where for three years B. Tsouderou was fighting to awaken the Greek consciousness of the Vlachs of Koritsa, sending there even missions of the mayor of Metsovo, in order to neutralize the attempts of Romanian diplomats who had already penetrated into the area…". A problem was also raised about the Turkish army’s mission: "I would like to know what the logic for inviting Turks in Albania is - to plunder or to train new orders of Turkish Albanians?" (Ad.T. 3/4)

After "the attack of the Greek Consulate at Gjirokastra by Albanian terrorists" (E.T. 4/4), the theft of the inflated boat from the coast of Preveza and the fatal wounding of the Greek harbor officer by Albanians, we read several anti-Albanian commentaries in the press: "I have written it several times. Be careful with the Albanians. They are the official goat thieves of the Balkans. In the ancient times with bows and arrows. Now with Kalashnikoff…" (Ad.T. 22/4). "But it is not possible not to point out that Albanians evolve into the ignominy of Europe. We support them, feed them, give them work and help, we send our children there to defend them and to take care of them. But they rob us, plunder us, kill us, they fill our country with drugs and worst of all - they hate us. Not only they don’t thank us for everything we do for them, since gratitude is an unknown word in their modern vocabulary, but they hate us. During Easter they drowned every single Greek in grief, with the brutal murder of the young guard of our sea Thermopylae, at the northern extremes of the Ionian Sea" (Ap. 29/4)

The extracts which follow are diametrically different from all the above: "We are a bus full of friends. The only one which traveled in the land of the eagles. So, I didn’t see the Mafia, the merchants of white flesh and drugs anywhere. Nor did I see anything else we have charged them with, not completely unjustly. Today I am happy to see that our government finds itself on a very good path in respect to the Albanians. We finally defend a people who is our friend and brother from the very old days" (Eth. 7/4, a letter of D. Pitara). "It seems that besides Albanians who rob and destroy the Greek property and don’t hesitate even to kill, there are those who respect the good relations of the two people." (Ad.T. 17/4)

Bulgaria and Bulgarians

As it was expected, Bulgaria attracted the interest of the Greek press in relation to the parliamentary elections held in the former. Looking at the majority of the articles, they soon predicted the expected victory of the Center Right coalition in Bulgaria. Most journalists acknowledged that what interested them much more were the final results and the distribution of the seats in parliament.

The party of the Turkish minority "which was openly financed by Ankara" drew the attention of the Greek media. (E.T. 20/4) Many journalists explained the significance that was given to this event, by arguing that Greece counts "primarily on the Bulgarian position against Turkey. Sofia naturally takes this into consideration. This is valid even more, since the numerous Turkish minority provides Ankara not only with the excuse for a mounting territorial claim, but also with an incite to influence Bulgarian political relations and governmental decisions" (N. 23/4). On the basis of the previous argument many presented the reasoning that we ought "to strengthen our ties with our Northern neighbor in order to prevent its extreme inclination towards the East" (N, 23/4). The appeal of the Turkish Prime Minister Erbakan towards the Turks of Bulgaria to vote for the minority’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms was criticized by the entire Greek press "as an interference by Erbakan in the Bulgaria elections" (el. 9/4).

The results of the elections were commented on in a neutral way, with very few exceptions, e.g. El (21/4): "The victorious political party traditionally boasts good relations with Ankara and the party of the Turkish minority. (…) The country’s international relations are dependent mainly on its internal situation which, in spite of the majority that has been assured by the coalition of the Union of Democratic Forces, is fragile.

Great significance was attached to the country’s grave economic problems with which the new government ought to cope and which appear to have the potential danger of setting off the mass rallies anew, thus prolonging the crisis in the country. There was much talk about "the temporary optimism" (N. 21/4), for "the elections of poverty" (Ap. 20/4). Characteristic are the following references to the Mafia and the conversely analogous part it plays in the country’s progress. "The Mafia gets richer, Bulgaria dies" (Ad.T. 20/4). "Drowned in poverty, black economy and under the domination of organized crime, Bulgarians are carried away to vote with one particular idea on their mind - the fury against corruption and crime…" (Ap. 19/4). The picture of poverty and despair of the Bulgarians is particularly "picturesque" in the title of K. (15/4) "They even sell their relatives’ corpses! 82% of the population of Bulgaria is below the poverty level" with a correspondingly high level of corruption (Ad.T. 15/4): "Very prosperous enterprises are established by all ex-Ministers and Prime Ministers of Bulgaria, with Socialist Zhan Videnov being the first and the best. He takes the lead in occasional enterprises, particularly in the transportation of fuel". This picture of wretchedness of the neighbors was intensified much more when an article in El. (12/4) referred to the appeal by Bulgarian ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, G. Pirinski, to the European Socialists: "…at a certain moment, evidently touched and perceiving the vicissitude in which it has gotten embroiled, the people cried, ‘Comrades help!’".

Quite cynical is a comment by a journalist of Ad.T. (6/4) which speaks of "Bulgarian beggars" referring to the representatives of Bulgaria at the reunion of the Socialist parties of Europe. The journalist asks: "why they remembered PASOK and ‘beautiful Greece’…Only because they came to borrow without paying back. It would be good if PASOK keeps in mind that Greece has been burned not a few times from these pre-electoral invigoration of the parties of neighboring countries, when the ‘subsidized’ governments proved to be self-interested and against our national interests!".

The fear of the post-electoral counter-balancing which will come about was spreading out in most journals, especially in relation to the triangle Sofia-Athens-Ankara. According to the report of the Greek Society for Strategic Research and Mr. G. Moschovakos "it is not impossible to rekindle the Greater Bulgaria spirit which will go along together with Turkey." (Ap. 27/4). However, the difficulties of the neighboring country are treated rather sympathetically. "In the last period the bilateral relations between Greece and Bulgaria remained good, since Greece has serious economic interests in Bulgaria. Fears and reservations about the increase of immigrants’ flow, that were expressed particularly in Northern Greece, did not function in any case as abrogation." (E.T. 6/4)

An exception constitutes the letter to Ad.T. (22/4) by a university professor G. Papazoglou: "In the last few days we are observing the ‘anxious appeals’ for help for Bulgaria, while no one refers to what our families in Drama, for example, were subjected to during the successive Bulgarian occupations this century. These have been smoothed out. Maybe, before any aid, which we provide so naively, we should request that the Bulgarians at least return immediately the stolen political treasures of Eastern Macedonia - Thrace, those held by the Bulgarians …and which they display at expositions all around Europe.…"

Macedonia and Macedonians

All Greek newspapers responded positively to an event , which took place at the theater of Skopje, namely the concert given by M. Theodorakis. Many spoke about "a musical bridge of friendship" (Eth. 14/4). For the first time we ascertained a positive climate in the Greek press in respect to the relations between the two countries. In fact certain ideas, different from the usual ones, were projected (especially in El) by politicians and journalists in relation to the need of Greece’s acceptance of a composite name and also to the need to resolve the question of the Civil War political refugees. The following extracts are indicative of the progressive and very important change of climate, which is expressed timidly by some journalists, politicians, and anonymous citizens. "Going back to a very old passport which was used often for passing through ex-Yugoslavia by car, one can confirm the truth in the Skopjan argument, that is, that they had the specific name (MAKEDONJE) from many years ago. I would like to draw the attention of every politician to the absolute necessity of a composite name, which will contain as an exclusive second component the name MACEDONIA (letter of F. Kizoulis, El. 22/4)

Two cases deviating from the familiar stereotypes we are used to when referring to our neighbor: The statements of the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, G. Paschalidis, about the name, in order to transform it from "a means of irredentism to a means of peace, friendship ad co-operation". Also, the point of view which presented the necessity "of a humane communication between the families that were divided because they live in Greece and Skopje" (El & Eth. 21/4). Following a similar spirit are the statements of PASOK MP, P. Paraskevopoulos, who said that he "would have liked Simitis at Skopje" (El. 20/4) and of L. Kyrkos, who said that the concert constituted "a concrete disapprobation of all the nationalistic hysteria which had led to the embargoes, the humiliating statements about ‘Skopjan gypsies’ and to the development of enmity and hatred towards a neighboring people". The latter adds that "we ought to say, ‘Listen, friends, we’ve committed indescribable mistakes, it’s time to turn the page and taste the benefits, not of hostility and hatred, but of co-operation". Similarly, the statements of ex-Foreign Affairs Minister M. Papakonstantinou for a composite name "on the basis of a distinction between the Greek and the Slavic Macedonian" (El. 15/4). In fact, El., in its 12/4 issue presents the opinions of M. Papakonstantinou, who argues that "according to International Law what stands out is what we refer to as self-determination of peoples". Also, in the same paper, we find the opinions of the Prime Minister of Macedonia, M. Cervenkovski, who argues that "the solution that is sought must not only respect the dignity of our people but also its identity and the constitutional principles of our state".

All of the above constitute examples of a faint change in the judgment and the expressions of certain public persons in respect to a very sensitive issue in Greece - the name issue. And we speak of a "faint" change, since there was no absence of articles with opinions and commentaries on the neighboring country which were extremely negative. Having taken as a point of departure the concert in Skopje, some of the politicians and the journalists expressed worries and fears that the name issue is hastily led to a closure against Greece’s interests, thus producing a feeling of endangerment and setting off an already tense atmosphere. "They argue, with the unbearable hypocrisy which characterizes them, that Mikis conquered Skopje. Wrong. M. Theodorakis gave a concert for the President of pseudo-Macedonia. He legitimized with his artistic authority pseudo-Macedonia, which in the Greek people’s comprehension is a non-existent story. That is the bitter truth." (E.T. 15/4). "They tell us that Mikis brought the neighbors ‘near Greece’. But the people of FYROM were and are near Greece. We must neutralize this regime’s irredentism. On the contrary we encourage it…" (N. 19/4) And another: "whose logic and what international law legitimize a people’s illicit exploitation of a name and a history which don’t belong to it. And what internationalist order, what political nearsightedness and profitable wind which bring Greek businessmen to Skopje, have the right to strengthen the endurance of the neighboring nationalism" (El. 14/4)

The whole question of the name is attached also to the subject of the recognition of the Macedonian minority in Greece. "FYROM, having dealt with the name issue, will put forth the issue of ‘a Macedonian minority’ in Greece… VMRO and the other nationalists of the newly established state will begin to speak, timidly at first, about the unredeemed Aegean Macedonia (as it is done by the representatives of Rainbow, the lobby of ‘Macedonians’ abroad, as well as by many people from FYROM). If they were interested in what is important - the existence of the state and its friendly relations with the neighboring countries - they would have accepted the term ‘Slavomacedonia’. But this name cuts them off from history. It prevents them from illicit exploitation. And, naturally, it limits the possible future claims." (El. 15/4). Even the declaration of a member of the PASOK Executive Bureau, M. Charalambidis, that "Skopje is not only a non-durable state, but it could constitute a factor of destabilization for the whole area" (Eth. 2/4). This seems to follow the same reasoning as that of G. Moschovakos from the Greek Society for Strategic Studies, as expressed in Ap. (27/4): "the pseudo-Macedonian state of Skopje in the future may possibly serve as a satellite to Sofia or Ankara".

In the context of broader discussions about the destabilization of the neighboring country and the Balkans, several newspapers were occupied with the question of the University of Tetovo and the Macedonian rallies against the country’s Albanian population. The Greek press did not hesitate to speak of "the strengthening of the nationalist movement in the country" (El. 1/4) and of the "nationalists who undermine the government of Skopje" (El. 1/4), concluding that what "sets off the crisis is the University of Tetovo" (K. 1/4).

Romania and Romanians

All the articles which refer to Romania emphasized the country’s poverty and wretchedness: "They sell their gold teeth in order to live in Romania" (E.T. 4/4). The article quotes the Romanian News Agency and refers to the Romanians of the Rezita area, who "find themselves in such a dreadful economic situation that they sell their gold teeth to the National Bank in order to supplement to their monthly income". The same picture emerges from the tragicomical of an information that "the mayor of the Romanian city of Pirgaresti preferred to become an illegal immigrant in …Italy, since, as he himself said to an acquaintance of his, he won more as a worker, much more than as a municipal authority in his country".

Finally, we point out the article of Ap. (27/4) entitled: "From the Dakes to today’s Romanians" which is about the origin of the Romanians and about the extent to which this origin is close to the Greek one. "This Romanian people is more a brother to the Greeks, and if we examine carefully we’ll find out that with our Serbian friends we have no racial relation, because they are Slavs. They are a completely different race from the Greeks".

Serbia and Serbs

The articles which referred to Serbia were very few this month. Nevertheless, the news of the assassination in Belgrade of Serb Assistant Minister of the Interior, General Stoisic, was presented by all Greek newspapers. The event was interpreted as "the most impressive act in the context of settling accounts inside police and secret service mechanisms of the regime". The victim was identified as "the right hand of Milosevic"; a servant of "the regime’s perception of things, that which expressed itself all these years with the destruction of the cities, ethnic cleansing, plundering in Bosnia, Croatia, but also of fellow-countrymen in Serbia. The last public undertaking of Stoisic’ special unit took place in Belgrade on December 27, 1996 when dozens of citizens, who participated in the demonstrations, were injured. This was a ‘confirmation’ of his statement that "Belgrade is the most secure city in Yugoslavia" (El. 12/4). The corresponding article of (K. 12/4) raised the question whether this was "a political assassination or an assassination by the Serbian Mafia". On the same date E.T. marks that "the assassination provoked a sensation in Belgrade, where an intensification of criminality could be observed", adding that "Stoisic was the red flag of the opposition since he directed the undertakings of the police against the demonstrators who requested for months the recognition of the municipal elections results.

The developments in Kosovo, in relation to the sixth assassination of an Albanian in the area, as well as of some Serbs (including policemen), occupied the Greek press, which spoke of the "broader agitation in the Balkans" (Ap. 11/4). Greater concern was expressed when all of the above mentioned events were related to the statements made by the leader of the Kosovo Albanians, Ibrahim Rugova, "about the recognition of the borders of this Northern Serbian province, repeating the claims about independence." (K. 12/4)

The presentation of the second edition of L. Hatziprodromdis book (B. 6/4) on the recent war, which contained a critique of Greece’s stand in the previous years, recognized in the writer one of "the Greek and foreign researchers who had informed us on time about the truths of the Yugoslavian tragedy", when, at the same time, "most fellow-countrymen didn’t consider it their obligation to do whatever possible in order to re-establish a good peace in the inflamed Yugoslavia. On the contrary, they chose to revert into fanatic allies not to Serbia and the Serbians, but to the Milosevic regime, praising as well the Bosnian Serb leaders (creations of Karadjic and Mladic)".

The press praised the fraternization of two schools, one from Athens and the other from Belgrade. The atmosphere was characterized as being "cordial", while the reportage closes with the words of a Greek professor who declares that "the message of this fraternization was to get to know one another and to have contacts through education, since our connecting link is religion and the Greek language". (Ap. 5/4)

Turkey and Turks

This month saw again numerous discussions about Turkey’s position in Europe. The new statement of the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Th. Pangalos, related to Turkey’s position in Europe, provoked new reactions. "I am on the alert when one practices politics on the basis of religion... That is why I don’t understand those who think that Europe ends somewhere between Zagreb and Belgrade... And here, in the Balkans, exists a Europe which it is not permitted to abandon. (...) Islam is not a foreign body to Europe, but a known component of its cultural physiognomy. Islam belongs to the future of Europe, a future which will be shared with the Moslems…" (El. 5/4)

Conservative papers, especially E.T., reacted negatively, speaking about "extreme ignorance of history and delirious assertions" (E.T. 5/4), as well as "inadmissible declarations" (E.T. 6/4), going back to the subject on every possible occasion. There were reactions from journalists and contributors of other newspapers. "The origin of the Turks is clearly Asian. Their remoter ancestors seem to have been the horrible Huns, whose invasions destroyed Asia and Europe, so much that their name rests in history as a symbol of abysmal barbarism and disaster... Concerning ‘the crowning’ [statement] of our Minister, we will not even comment on the assimilation of the two countries, of which one stood as the infinite source (‘paga laleousa’) of a splendid civilization and the teacher of Europe, while the other was throughout time and throughout the continents a slaughterer, a vandal, Irostratos" (B. 6/4). N. (17/4), quoting the French newspaper Le Monde and the statements of the Turkish writer Yasar Kemal in respect to the Kurdish question, asks "to what extent Turkey is Europe" when "in fact Turkey has not made even one notable step to progress since 1963". Ap. (21/4) presents the opinions of PASOK MP, Ch. Kipouros, that "Turkey is the last colonial state, whose policy is racist in respect to all ethnic groups and especially to the Kurds". Even a journalist of E.T. (6/4) who is in charge of the pages on "Orthodoxy and Hellenism" notes: "How, therefore, Turkey, but also mutatis mutandis Albania or Bosnia, can become members of the European family... without altering the European consciousness… The brains of Brussels are mistaken if they believe that they’ll be absorbed in the European ‘melting-pot’".

The classic stereotyped pictures of Turkey which present the neighboring country in total contradistinction to whatever has authority in the rest of Europe, appear in the Greek press on every occasion. "The Mafia controls Turkey" writes Ap. (4/4) while E.T. (5/4), in light of the conclusions reached by the Parliamentary Committee in Turkey, which investigates the relations of organized crime with the politicians and the police, speaks about "the indescribable rottenness and corruption in the Turkish governmental circles". "On the hour that the Turkish generals were killing 46 Kurdish insurgents, going according to their plans for liquidation in the East, in Ankara and Constantinople large populations took part in massive rallies provoked by the scandal on the relations between the state and the Mafia, in spite of the official interdiction of the authorities..." (Ap. 14/4).

The country’s democratic deficit and the issue on the respect of human rights in Turkey, as well as everything negative which diminishes the authority of the neighboring country, not only in the eyes of Greece, but also abroad occupy the pages of the Greek newspapers. "Destroyed houses, bombarded villages, operations of suppression by the army and the police: in this way the 160 observers from 18 countries who visited Northern-Eastern Kurdish Turkey last month summarized their experiences…" (El. 4/4). There was a special presentation "of Turkish savageness on the Kurdish New Year Day"(El. 4/4), and also the report of the Union for Human Rights, according to which "tortures, not only weren’t reduced but were increased" (Ad.T. 10/4).

Reports were devoted to "the disappointment with the state of human rights in Turkey that was expressed by the German parliamentary representatives who visited Ankara, Constantinople and Diyarbakir. The kidnappings and the tortures continue to be the order of the day, regardless of the occasional proclamations made by the Turkish government, said the German deputies" (Ap. 16/4).

The country’s interior problems, the discussions about the theocratic and the secular state, the discontent of the Turkish military with certain positions of Prime Minister Erbakan and the "readiness" of the generals to interfere in order to save the country’s prestige, happen to obtain continuous projection in the Greek press. In opposition to all that happens to well-governed countries, the picture of Turkey that is projected is that of a country where the army, and not the legally elected government, seems to function as the guardian of the principles of the civil state. In respect to the army’s roles, K. (18/4) writes: "The generals - again the guardians", while El. (6/4) does not hesitate to speak of a "junta in slow motion".

The threat of Islam to Greece and Europe is presented continuously, often cultivating an intense climate of something dangerous. An indicative example of this is the report by Ap. (19/4), quoting Italian papers, which is entitled " ‘Hellenism’ also a target of the Islamists". The newspaper refers to "14 fanatical Turkish Islamists who, according to the Italian secret services, may attempt an attack on the Pope and an Iranian personality of the opposition who lives in the West", an operation that may even be realized at the Greek airport. The strange thing is that if we compare the before mentioned report of Ap. with those of other newspapers of the same day, we will see that the information itself concerns "Iranian extremist groups" which, in co-operation "with Turkish Islamic terrorists from Bosnia, are expected to aim against European airports, among which the Greek one" (El. 19/4)

The discussions about the Greek-Turkish dialogue are confronted with suspicion by the majority of the Greek press. Indicative of this is the following commentary of a journalist from Ap. (19/4): "You’ll see that this attempt at a Greek-Turkish dialogue will also take place with Turkish claims, as it happened during the Turkish occupation. Then, when the Greek rayas invited at an official manifestation the Turkish aga, they were obliged, besides the food, to offer also a certain compensation as an indemnity for the damage done to his teeth due to eating and drinking during the whole night. The invitation was obligatory... The long tradition is also kept by their contemporary fellow-countrymen. Each time they are invited to ‘the table’ they want to eat well, they request new dishes from rocky islets as far as miles of our territorial waters, so that they devour them... And at the end they’ll send us the bill…".

In light of the victory won by the Salonica basketball team Aris over the Turkish Tofas and the winning of the Korac Cup "inside Turkey", we observe a strong nationalistic air in the athletic pages of the Greek press. "Hoisting of the flag on Turkish territory" (Ad.T. 4/4), "Aris - the Turkish slayer (Turkofagos)…" (Eth. 4/4). "Bottles of Champagne were opened, Bengal lights were thrown, the national anthem was sung, while an huge sign said: ‘The capital of Greece is Constantinople’" (Ap. 4/4). "It was a victory of a Greek team (and in fact a Macedonian Greek one) against a Turkish one, which had a European coverage. The victory was realized in Brusa, a city with great emotional weight for the Greeks, a lost fatherland" (Eth. 5/4). The only objection to all of the above came from P. Boukalas (K. 9/4): "Honestly, I have difficulty understanding why the Greek soul, the one we have inside us and the one we realize that our fellow-countrymen dispose, is necessarily superior to the Turkish one, to the Italian or the Australian ones".

The Greek press praised the exchange of visits between Turkish and Greek students, in the context of the AEGEE program. "Greece-Turkey one embrace!…" (Ad.T. 16/4); "Write on a white page" (El. 15/4). The same climate prevailed in the information about the three-day Greek-Turkish meeting of women from the North-Eastern Aegean and the coast of Asia Minor (El. 15/4), as well as about the meeting of representatives of the local self-government of the two countries at Cesme. (El. 8/4) and (Ad. 9/4). Finally, the continuous development of a civic society in Turkey was also covered positively N.(15/4): "A country which is thirsty for change. Besides all its evils, we shouldn’t lose sight of this encouraging side of Turkey".