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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 
 
¶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