Athens - The Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, seeking to ease tension with neighbouring Turkey, has asked officials to remove the word "genocide" from a decree saying Turks massacred Orthodox Greeks in the 1920s.
A senior Greek Foreign Ministry official said yesterday that Mr Simitis had asked Culture Minister, Mr Evangelos Venizelos, and others to drop the word at the last minute. "The prime minister has asked his ministers to change the presidential decree," said the official. The decree, which has infuriated Turkey, is ready to be ratified by Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos.
