eurokarate.eu: 2 - Contents of Recognition
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20/2/2004 |
ÐÁÍÅËËÇÍÉÁ ÏÌÏÓÐÏÍÄÉÁ GREEK TRADITIONAL
ÐÁÑÁÄÏÓÉÁÊÏÕ ÊÁÑÁÔÅ (ÐÏÐÊ)
KARATE FEDERATION (GTKF)
ÓÅÂÁÓÔÏÕÐÏËÅÙÓ 133, 11526 ÁÈÇÍÁ SEVASTOUPOLEOS 133
ÔÇË. 210-6921723, 6947-808524, 11526 ATHENS, GREECE
FAX 210-3639508 TEL 30-210-6921723
ÁÑ. ÌÇÔÑ. ÐÑÙÔÏÄ. ÁÈÇÍÙÍ 548/30-1-1995 FAX 30-210-3639508
Athens, Greece, 20 February 2004
To: Mr. Lambis NIKOLAOU, President of the Hellenic
Olympic Committee
52, Dimitriou Vikela Ave.
15233 Halandri, Greece
URGENT MATTER: Please kindly communicate to the participants of the International Olympic Committee Plenary Session the Greek Court judgments concerning the independent and autonomous existence of “Traditional Karate” in the Greek and international sports field!
ATTACHED:(a) Judgment 72/1996 of Athens First-Instance Court
(b) Judgment 3914/2000 of Athens Court of Appeals (final)
(c) Judgment 110/2003 of Greek Supreme Court (irrevocable)
(d) Press cuttings concerning Mr. Giorgos GEROLYMPOS from Greek
newspapers “Filathlos” 18, 19 Feb. 2004 and “SportDay” 20 Feb. 2004.
Dear Mr. President,
We recently read in the sport press that on Sunday 22 February 2004 the Conference of the Olympic Committees of all nations (202 nations, 583 participants!) shall commence in a central hotel in Athens, Greece. We would therefore like to draw your attention to the following concerning the sport cultivated and developed by our federation.
1. The General Situation in International “Karate”
The “Hellenic Amateur Karate Federation” (HAKF) was established in 1986 and is a member of the World Union of Karate-do Organizations (WUKO).
The “Greek Traditional Karate Federation” (GTKF) was established in 1995 and is a member of the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF).
WUKO and ITKF filed separately application with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for recognition of their respective sports as an “olympic sport”. The IOC in its 101st Meeting (October 1993) in Monte Carlo decided to accept in the Olympic Games “Karate” as one (1) olympic sport, after both federations merge into the “World Karate Federation” (WKF) with two internationally independent and technically and administrative separate branches, namely: (a) “General Karate” of WUKO, administered by WUKO and (b) “Traditional Karate” of ITKF, administered by ITKF. Moreover, the IOC gave a draft charter of WKF and a deadline for the merger.
2. The International “Movement”!
Since then WUKO and ITKF made efforts to
agree to the terms and conditions but the talks did not succeed by fault of
WUKO, which
however claimed
that the fault was ITKF’s.
This international “Movement” had the form of arranging meetings between members
of WUKO and ITKF to discuss the terms and conditions of the merger between the
two federations, WUKO’s members would not appear at the meetings and
WUKO would
falsely report to the IOC that ITKF’s members did not appear at the meetings.
The result of this “Movement” (1), the deadline for the merger (2), and the “personal contacts” of the heads of WUKO (the Spaniard Mr. Antonio ESPINOS, President, and the Greek Mr. Giorgos YEROLIMPOS, General Secretary) with the then President of the IOC Mr. Juan Antonio SAMARANCH (3), was that at a first stage the IOC recognized (June 1999) a nominal “WKF”, by violation of the resolution of the 101st Meeting of the IOC. This nominal “WKF” had as its first constituent member the well-known WUKO and as its second constituent member … the well-known WUKO, with its claim that it develops and cultivates “Traditional Karate”, too. Therefore, the confederation “WKF” did not include neither the two (2) different sports nor the two (2) international federations, but was in fact the old WUKO renamed in its attempt to usurp from ITKF the rights to “Traditional Karate”!
3. The Greek “Movement”!
These acts by WUKO had as a natural result that in every country the national federation-member of WUKO attempted to usurp the rights to “Traditional Karate” from the respective national federation-member of ITKF!
This happened in Greece, too. HAKF
(a member of WUKO)
attempted to usurp the rights of GTKF
(a member of ITKF)
to “Traditional Karate”. The case of Greece, however, became
the focus of interest of international karate, because the person who had
undertaken and “pulled the strings” of the international case was none other
than the Greek Mr. Giorgos YEROLIMPOS,
President of HAKF and General Secretary of WKF.
In Greece, the creator and participant in the “International Movement” was the person who, in his attempt that HAKF usurp the rights of GTKF to “Traditional Karate”, did not hesitate to cheat the Greek General Secretariat for Sports, the HOC (Hellenic Olympic Committee), the Greek Courts and the thousands of Greek karate athletes and officials, with unlawful acts. The goal of those acts would essentially never be justified, even if the IOC recognized WUKO, because ITKF always exists, operates internationally, and is determined to challenge before international courts any result contrary to its interests!
The HOC, and in particular yourself Mr. President, as well as the General Secretary of the HOC, Mr. DIATHESSOPOULOS, did not hesitate in the past to support Mr. Giorgos YEROLIMPOS against us, in your letters to the Greek Citizen’s Ombudsman, to whom we had resorted!
The result of the actions of Mr. Giorgos YEROLIMPOS was the unlawful refusal since 1995 of the special sports recognition by the Greek General Secretariat for Sports, which GTKF is entitled to!
4. The Condemnation of the “Movement” in Greece!
In Greece, following eight (8) years of court struggles between HAKF, GTKF, and the European Traditional Karate Federation (ETKF) by virtue of judgments (a) 72/1996 of the Athens First-Instance Court, (b) 3914/2000 of the Athens Court of Appeals (final judgment) and (c) 110/2003 of the Greek Supreme Court (irrevocable judgment), which are res judicata in Greece, the courts vindicated GTKF and ETKF. The above judgments resolved that the “Traditional Karate” of ATKF has always been and is today different from the “General Karate” of HAKF (today renamed “Hellenic Karate Federation”) and therefore GTKF may, under Greek Law 2725/1999, request the special sports recognition by the Greek Secretariat for Sports.
We hereby note that Greek Law 2725/1999 does not require as a prerequisite that a sport should be designated as an “olympic sport” in order to be awarded by the Greek State the special sports recognition (Art. 28 para. 1). The Greek State has recognized fifteen (15) non-olympic sports Federations.
5. We hereby ask you to:
(a) In view of the above court judgments, which are res judicata in Greece, we ask you to communicate these court judgments to the participants of the International Olympic Committee Plenary Session and to the participants of the Olympic Committee of all the countries taking part in the Conference.
(b) We would like to bring to your attention the press cuttings from the Greek sports newspapers “Filathlos” and “SportDay”, in which the unlawful actions of Mr. Giorgos YEROLIMPOS are published in full [Vice-President, President (for eight years) and now President Emeritus of the counter-party “Hellenic Karate Federation”]: establishment of nominal companies with the aim of unlawfully undertaking the supply of very expensive security systems for the Olympic Games, for which Mrs. Yanna ANGELOPOULOU, President of “Athens 2004”, not only fired him from his post as Sports Director, but also madfe a special file which was sent to the Public Prosecutor for inquest for possible felony!
With the express reservation of all our rights, a competent court bailiff is instructed to serve this letter to Mr. Lambis NIKOLAOU, a resident of 52, Dimitriou Vikela Ave. 15233 Halandri, Greece, in his capacity as President of the Greek Olympic Committee, to whom it is addressed for his knowledge and for all legal consequences.
Sincerely,
Electrical-Mechanical Engineer
President of the GTKF
