- A bitter quarrel has broken out between
the United States and its Nato ally Greece, over a verbal attack on President
Bill Clinton by the Greek Foreign Minister, Theodore Pangalos.
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- The US State Department in Washington
accused Mr Pangalos of making outrageous and insulting comments, after
the foreign minister referred to Mr Clinton as a "shameless liar".
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- "When friends and allies disagree
they should share their concerns privately rather than resort to these
kind of insulting and spurious public criticisms," said the State
Department spokesman James Rubin.
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- Mr Pangalos's remarks were made last
week in the province of western Thrace.
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- He was speaking about American policy
on Cyprus and Washington's efforts to mediate between Greek and Turkish
Cypriots.
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- Mr Pangalos's remarks prompted a formal
protest from Washington.
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- But he reinforced his comments over the
weekend, saying Greece had had enough of US efforts to mediate the Cyprus
dispute.
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- He also said Greek Americans should consider
ending their support for American election campaigns.
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- Greek frustration
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- The US ambassador to Greece, Nicholas
Burns, has been having high level meetings in Athens to try to resolve
the row.
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- But the BBC Washington correspondent
says the Greek government appears to be standing by the remarks.
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- This, our correspondent says, is an indication
of the frustration with American efforts to mediate the Cyprus dispute.
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- Greek officials say Washington seems
more focused on preventing the Greek deployment of anti-aircraft missiles
in Cyprus than on pressuring the Turkish backed administration in the north
to negotiate - a charge that Washington denies.
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