Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09THESSALONIKI16
2009-04-04 13:37:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Thessaloniki
Cable title:  

THESSALONIKI: NORTHERN NOTES - MARCH 2009

Tags:  ECON PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG SNAR SOCI GR TU MK 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9690
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHIK #0016/01 0941337
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 041337Z APR 09
FM AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0432
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHIK/AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI 0475
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THESSALONIKI 000016 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG SNAR SOCI GR TU MK
SUBJECT: THESSALONIKI: NORTHERN NOTES - MARCH 2009

THESSALONI 00000016 001.2 OF 002


Following is a summary of last month's major developments in
Northern Greece:

FINANCIAL CRISIS FORCING BUSINESSES TO REDUCE WORK HOURS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THESSALONIKI 000016

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG SNAR SOCI GR TU MK
SUBJECT: THESSALONIKI: NORTHERN NOTES - MARCH 2009

THESSALONI 00000016 001.2 OF 002


Following is a summary of last month's major developments in
Northern Greece:

FINANCIAL CRISIS FORCING BUSINESSES TO REDUCE WORK HOURS


1. (U) On March 9, the President of the Exporters Association
of Northern Greece Vassilis Thomaidis stated that local
businesses have implemented reduced work hours in order to avoid
substantial lay-offs. On March 17, Alumil S.A. President
Giorgos Milonas announced that employees in his company (the
largest in Northern Greece) agreed to work 20% fewer hours and
receive 20% lower wages for the next six months. Media and
union leaders strongly criticized the development.

INCIDENTS HIGHLIGHTPOLICE TRAINING, RECRUITMENT PROBLEMS


2. (SBU) A number of recent arson attacks and other violent
anarchist acts have drawn attention to reported police training
deficiencies. For example, according to police contacts, there
is no indoor police shooting range in Thessaloniki and as a
result, officers are inadequately trained. Police practice
shooting at an outdoor range at least once a year, but are
discouraged from going due to the remote location and lack of
bullets provided (officers who go frequently end up paying for
the bullets they use). In another police-related development,
Hellenic Police's new Rapid Reaction Force reportedly has
problems attracting enough officers, despite an announced salary
bonus for assuming a position with the new group. Local media
claim that the new Force will effectively replace the relatively
inactive "Z" Force.

MUSLIM MINORITY IN THRACE - PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS


3. (SBU) Minority organizations circulated a petition earlier
this month, asking for the establishment of bilingual
(Greek/Turkish) kindergartens in Thrace. Local Muslim MP Ahmet
Hajiosman told press that Muslims were determined to take the
matter to the ECHR, if they were turned down by GoG. The GoG
has proposed instead "multicultural" kindergartens instead, in

which instruction in Pomak and Romani languages could also be
available, depending on the student needs. Also, local media
claimed that 250 imams in Thrace have not been paid government
stipends for over a year, due to a long-standing disagreement
with GoG over their insurance. An MFA contact told post that
the matter was resolved on March 1 and the imams received all
their due salaries, after most of them had been upgraded to full
civil servant status as part of the GoG's February 2007 minority
rights initiative. Finally, a report in the local
Greek-language press cited members of the minority as "very
happy" with conditions in Thrace with minority education as the
only issue with room for improvement. Members of the Turkophone
Muslim minority, however, continue to complain openly about the
GoG's refusal to recognize the existence of a "Turkish"
minority, and the inability of Muslims to choose their own
muftis.

HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS DRAW CRITICISM FROM LOCAL OFFICIALS/MEDIA


4. (SBU) Local opinion is mostly negative about U.S., UN and
European Union reports on minority rights in Thrace. Media
claim that the State Department Human Rights Report chapter on
Greece, the report by EU Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas
Hammarberg and the report by UN Independent Expert on Human
Rights Gay McDougal are part of a coordinated effort to pressure
Greece on minority rights, driven by the United States.
Additionally, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki Anthimos stated after
a televised Sunday sermon that the UN report on Greece could
"cause many problems for Greece, if it succeeded in creating a
Macedonian and a Turkish minority in the country." Finally,
opposition MP Giorgos Lianis (elected in Florina, northwest
Greece -- home of the Slavo-phone Greek population that claims
to be members of a Macedonian minority) called the UN Report "a
scheme for the documentation of a Macedonian minority in Greece."

MFA CONFIRMS POLICY ON NAME ISSUE; GREEKS CONTINUE TO SHOP IN
MACEDONIA


5. (SBU) MFA Dora Bakoyanni reiterated the Greek position on
the name dispute with Macedonia, i.e. a name with a geographical
determinant that will be used in all circumstances, during a
visit to Pella, northern Greece on March 15. Meanwhile,
northern Greeks reacted negatively to the news that the European
Parliament ratified with a large majority (478 for to 98
against, 42 abstaining) a report on Macedonia, that Greeks
perceived as "reducing" the name issue to a bilateral dispute.
Also, local press pointed out that despite the dispute between
the two countries, hundreds of Greeks continue to visit
Macedonia for inexpensive goods and services, spending around
300m a year in the neighboring country. Lastly, the defrocked
Macedonian-speaking priest Nikodimos Tsarknias was handed a

THESSALONI 00000016 002.2 OF 002


suspended sentence of six months in prison for assaulting a
minor who was singing that "Macedonia was Greek" [Note: After
being defrocked for alleged homosexuality in 1993, Tsarknias set
up his own "Church of Macedonia of the Aegean." End Note]


VIOLENT INCIDENTS: ANARCHISTS BECOMING BOLDER?


6. (SBU) A number of fire-bombings and other violent incidents,
including some committed downtown in broad daylight, raised
concerns that anarchist violence may be entering a new phase.
The most spectacular attack occurred in the early evening of
March 30, when the offices of six Greek parliamentarians of
different political parties were simultaneously firebombed. All
suffered light or moderate damage. A group calling itself the
"Deconstruction Council of Order" claimed responsibility. On
March 29 at 2:30 in the afternoon, about 30 anarchists attacked
with hammers the front windows of two shops in downtown
Thessaloniki, while the shops were open for business and full of
customers. The organizations "Path to Darkness" and "Arsonists'
Co-operation of the Millennium" claimed responsibility. On March
28, shortly after midnight, unknown individuals smashed the
front window of a bank and set fire to its interior, causing
extensive damage. At 02:30am, a hand grenade damaged a National
Bank ATM. On March 22, during a demonstration organized by
right-wing party LAOS, an American journalist was attacked and
lightly injured while trying to take photographs of the event.
On March 7 at midnight, unknown individuals threw Molotov
cocktails into the parking space of a public utility, completely
incinerating four official vehicles. The organization "Nikola
Tesla" claimed responsibility. On March 5, at around 19:30, 300
marching members of the "Anti-racist Initiative of Thessaloniki"
hurled stones, paint and Molotov cocktails at shop windows in
the city center. Riot police dispersed the crowd. Police made
no arrests in connection with any of the incidents.

COUNTERFEIT ARRESTS AND CONFISCATIONS ON RISE


7. (U) On March 4, northern Greek police in arrested a 19-year
old foreign national for possessing 142 counterfeit CDs and 33
DVDs. Police confiscated the products and fined the culprit
2,840. In another incident on March 9, police arrested a
20-year old asylum seeker from Pakistan for possessing 96
counterfeit CDs which were also confiscated. Local media
reported this month a statement by the Director General of
Customs Nikos Vernardakis, according to which, confiscations of
counterfeit products have increased 1000% in the last five years
nationwide. Also, police, the Coast Guard and the Ministry of
Finance reported to the media the confiscation of a total of
216, 445,228 smuggled cigarettes for 2008, up from 148,636,895
the previous year.

SMUGGLERS - ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTS


8. (U) On March 4, police on the Greek-Turkish border arrested
two foreign nationals for smuggling 11 illegal immigrants into
the country in a plastic boat. Police also arrested the illegal
immigrants and confiscated the boat. On March 13, police in
Thrace, northern Greece arrested three Turkish nationals and a
French national suspected of smuggling them into the country.
On March 17, police in Thrace arrested two Bulgarians suspected
of alien smuggling and the two Syrians they were attempting to
smuggle into Greece.



NARCOTICS ARRESTS AND SEIZURES: 11 KG HEROIN, 171 KG HASHISH


9. (U) On March 10, narcotics squad officers arrested an
Albanian national and a Greek national and confiscated 11 kilos
and 128 grams of heroin in the former's car. On March 4, police
arrested an Albanian national in northwest Greece after they
found and confiscated 68 kilos and 650 grams of hashish in his
car. On the same date, police arrested four men in Thessaloniki
for possession of 53 kilos of hashish. Police confiscated the
drugs and 14,695 in cash. On March 19, in two separate
incidents in NW Greece, police confiscated a total of 50 kilos
of hashish, arrested one individual and are looking for another
two.
YEE