In Greece, President Costis Stephanopoulos, along with cabinet members, political party leaders, military figures, and international dignitaries, attended a ceremony at the Athens Cathedral. Prime Minister Simitis and Archbishop Christodoulos were present at a military parade held in the Greek capital. The revolution against centuries of Ottoman rule began on March 25th, 1821, initiating an eight year struggle. In 1829, the first modern-day Greek government was established in the eastern Peloponnesian city of Nafplio, and Ioannis Capodistrias was sworn in as governor of the new state.

Independence celebrations this year come at a time when events in the Balkans are foregrounding Greece's regional importance. In an interview with CNN-Turk, Greek Defense Minister Tzohatzopoulos cited Greece's and Turkey's importance as the two most powerful Balkan nations, and called on fellow NATO member Turkey to cooperate in establishing regional security. He compared the developing crisis in the FYROM to the earthquakes that initiated the rapprochment between the two rivals. But Tzohatzopoulos, citing the 1923 Lausanne treaty, also rebuked Turkey for making claims to the Aegean, and he called on the neighboring country to clean up minefields along the border as a goodwill gesture. "Turkey and Greece have the greatest responsibility for regional security," Tzohatzopoulos said. "We ought to cooperate on this basis; it's time for cooperation, not antagonism."

State-of-the-art Airport Opens in Spata

Visitors to Greece will no longer see close-up views of coastal apartment rooftops as planes come in for a landing. The Hellenikon airport, in operation since 1938, closed this week. The new Eleftherios Venizelos airport, located in Spata, was declared open by Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

The facility at Hellenikon had struggled for years to accommodate the influx of travelers to one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations, with seemingly interminable lines at customs and scenes of near-anarchy in the baggage claim areas. The new multi-billion drachma, German-built airport features a 150,000 square meter central terminal and a state-of-the-art baggage screening system that will provide Athens - often faulted for lax security measures - with a level of security higher than in most international airports. Despite a last-minute delay involving the 30-kilometer toll road connecting Spata to Athens, airport construction proceeded mostly on schedule, providing a much-needed demonstration of Greece's ability to complete public projects on time. The new airport is expected to become a European hub, and will eventually attract as many as 50 million passengers.

During the opening ceremony, Simitis made bipartisan gestures towards the opposition New Democracy, praising former prime ministers Mitsotakis, Tzannetakis, and Karamanlis. The two parties had feuded over who gets credit for the project, which was initiated by a New Democracy government in the early 1990s. New Democracy has accused its rival of running up costs, but PASOK has argued that it protected Greek interests by renegotiating the deal with the German contractors who built the airport.

Albanian insurgents lose momentum, but threats remain

The FYROM government appeared to be gaining the upper hand in its struggle to contain an insurgency by ethnic Albanian rebels. It issued an ultimatum instructing National Liberation Army rebels to surrender their arms by midnight on March 21st, promising an all-out assault after the deadline. On March 24, following the arrival of MI-24 helicopters from the Ukraine, the FYROM attacked rebel positions in the hills around Tetovo. The international community remained strong in its support of the FYROM government, and Albanian parties within the FYROM, as well as in neighboring Kosovo, have come out against the rebels. But international condemnation of the rebels was also mixed with calls for restraint by the FYROM government, expressing fears that an all-out military assault could lead to widespread casualties, turn Albanian civilians against the government, and provoke an escalation of the conflict.

Such fears were partly confirmed last week as ethnic Albanians expressed anger over the killing of a father and son after their car had been stopped at a checkpoint. Police shot the younger man dead after he hurled what appeared to be a grenade, then killed the father as he fled from the car. Though television footage showed that the men were in fact carrying grenades, ethnic Albanians insisted the objects were mobile phones.

Meanwhile, the National Liberation Army gave mixed responses to the government's ultimatum, declaring a ceasefire intended to prepare the way for talks, but at the same time making defiant promises to "liberate" Skopje as well as other sections of the country with an Albanian population. The rebel group also threatened to take its campaign from the hills into the streets of Tetovo and other civilian centers, should the government make good on its plans to wage a decisive assault.

Rebels Condemned from All Sides

The rebels have gained almost no official support from any direction. On March 24th, U.S. President George Bush called the insurgents "extremists" and strongly condemned the violence. Albania, anxious not to jeopardize its long-term goals of joining NATO and the EU, has also distanced itself from the rebels. Albanian leaders in Kosovo, also, have finally come out officially against insurgents in the neighboring country. After weeks of ambivalence - and a rebuke from EU external affairs commissioner Chris Patten, who warned they would lose international support if they did not take a firm stand - Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova joined two other political figures in declaring they did not support the FYROM rebels. Their statement also called for Macedonia to recognize Albanian as an official language, eliminate discrimination in employment and schooling, and remove language in the Constitution that refers to "the Macedonian people" but does not mention Albanians.

Albanian parties within the FYROM have also come out against the insurgence, calling on the rebel fighters to cease their armed campaign. Despite the official statements, there have been signs that the nationalist extremists are garnering some grassroots-level support among Albanians across the region. Students in Kosovo demonstrated this week in support of the rebels, and Russian foreign minister Ivan Ivanov, on a visit to Tirana, was greeted with protests.

Official Red Cross figures put the number of people displaced by fighting in the FYROM at more than 22,000.

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