When NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, President Clinton claimed that this action was necessary in order to protect the rights of the ethnic Albanians in Kossovo. In view of this statement, the fact that there are presently half a million ethnic Albanian refugees means that NATO has been unsuccessful in meeting this goal. We do not justify the ethnic cleansing by the Milosevic regime in Kossovo. But it is very difficult to explain this number of refugees by the sole action of the Yugoslavian paramilitary. There is no doubt that the bombings have increased dramatically the number of refugees. In fact, before the bombings, there were almost no refugees from Kossovo. On the other hand, the bombs do not discriminate between Albanians and Serbs. For example, in the hospital of Pristina the majority of the victims are Albanians. Another example is the bombardment of a convoy of Albanian refugees returning home on April 14, which resulted in 75 deaths. The western media continuously present the drama of the Albanian refugees. But they fail to show adequately the drama produced by the bombings: the loss of human life, including hundreds of civilians, the thousands of wounded and mutilated, the destruction of bridges, power stations and factories that result in hundreds of thousands of unemployed, the destruction of trains, schools and hospitals "by mistake". They also failed to present the shocking events related to the bombardment of the main television center in Belgrade on April 23, that had dozens of victims, mainly journalists. In view of the above facts we are justified in expressing the opinion that the world is grossly misinformed about the basic facts concerning Yugoslavia and Kossovo. We sympathize with the Albanian refugees, and Greece was the first country to provide substantial humanitarian aid to them. But we sympathize also with the killed, the wounded, the mutilated Serbs and Albanians, that are the victims of the most modern war machinery in the world. Furthermore, the western world does not know that even worse situations than in Kossovo take place in other nearby geographical regions. They ignore that more than half a million of Serbs have been expelled from Kraina and parts of Croatia and Bosnia. Ethnic cleansing has been applied also by the Turkish regime in Cyprus, and brutal repression is a daily phenomenon against the Kurds in Eastern Turkey. The Kurdish people are called terrorists, but the UCK groups in Kossovo are called freedom fighters and have the military support of NATO (although some months ago they also were called terrorists in the West). Finally, the NATO action lacks any justification according to the International Law. It lacks the support by the United Nations which is the only organisation that has the authority to act in international conflicts. According to its constitution, NATO was supposed to be a defensive organisation to protect its member states. What right does it have to select particular international problems for action outside its frontiers? There is a growing anxiety that the war may expand and involve countries that are beyond the control of NATO, with unforeseen consequences. Their is also a growing anxiety due to the ecological catastrophe that affects not only Yugoslavia, but the neighbouring countries as well. We believe that the war is a much worse alternative than any difficult negotiations. After all if the tens of billions of dollars spent up to now by NATO for destruction were used in Kossovo they would make all its citizens rich. As a conclusion we ask you: 1) to DEMAND from the media, and all other agencies involved, to provide adequate and objective information, coming from all sides involved in the Kossovo crisis, before passing judgement about the war in Yugoslavia, and 2) to URGE the NATO governments to stop the war in Yugoslavia and start again negotiations for a just and permanent solution in Kossovo.

On behalf of the following Greek non-governmental organisations:

Hellenic Astronomical Society (President: Prof. J. Seiradakis)

Hellenic Physical Society (President: Prof. C. Spyridis)

Hellenic Society for the Study of High Energy Physics (President: Prof. M. Dris)

Hellenic Nuclear Physics Society (President: Prof. G. Anagnostatos)

Hellenic Mathematical Society (President: Prof. N. Alexandris)

Association of Greek Chemists (President: Prof. N. Katsaros)

Panhellenic Union of Biologists (President: Dr. C. Yapidzakis)

"Русский переплет"