AEK apologizes
AEK vice president Makis Psomiadis (l) and players outside the US Embassy yesterday. The soccer team’s officials, players, coaching staff, and fan representatives visited the embassy to sign the book of condolences for the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks and apologize for the appalling behavior of some of their hardcore fans. On Sept. 20, before a UEFA Cup match, AEK fans had burned a US and an Israeli flag and chanted the name of Osama bin Laden during what was supposed to be a minute of silence honoring the victims’ memory. The incident received wide coverage abroad. The operation against terrorism will take a long time and there is no guarantee that an attack such as the one on New York will not be repeated in any part of the world, Defense Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos told a Foreign Press Association news conference yesterday. We need a modern, unified security and defense policy to deal with asymmetric threats. We must take serious security measures and not half-measures, because we have the 2004 Games, he said.
