Greece: Athens takes center stage in honor of literary greats

May 2, 2018 By administrator

Athens honor of literary greats

Athens on Monday started its one-year tenure as the World Book Capital, during which time it will host more than 250 book-related events across the city.

The World Book Capital title is awarded to a different city each year as part of UNESCO’s initiative to pay tribute to two giants of world literature, William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, who died on the same day – April 23, 1616.

Athens was officially inaugurated on Monday by Mayor Giorgos Kaminis in a special ceremony at the Acropolis Museum in the presence of President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

Cultural events also took place in the evening on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, a pedestrian walkway just south of the Acropolis, and the Herod Atticus Theater.

‘Regressive bigotry’: Athens outraged as Ankara launches Koran readings at Hagia Sophia

June 8, 2016 By administrator

Turkish authorities will allow Koran readings at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, a former Christian church and mosque which now is a secular museum. Greece slammed the move, with some fearing that Erdogan’s government is taking steps to turn the site back into a mosque.

Verses from the Islamic sacred book will be read at the Byzantine masterpiece daily during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The readings which started this Monday will also be broadcast live on Turkish state religious channel TRT Diyanet.

“Muslim rituals at the [UNESCO] World Heritage site are incomprehensible, demonstrate disrespect and show lack of contact with reality,” the ministry statement said. Athens also added that “such actions are not compatible with modern, democratic and secular societies.”

Greece’s former minister of foreign affairs and former mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyannis said that the new Koran readings at Hagia Sophia have “virtually transformed it into a mosque for the first time in 80 years.”

In a joint statement with another chief member of Greece’s largest conservative opposition party, New Democracy, the politician said that Ankara’s move is “provocative” and “shows disrespect against Orthodox Christians across the world and is not in line with Turkey’s European course.”

Last week, a deputy for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Samil Tayyar, suggested that the site should be open for Muslim worship as a response to Ankara’s western partners’ recent actions which the government regards as unsupportive. In a widely shared and liked post on Twitter, the Turkish MP said: “Since the United States are siding with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party], and Germany has clung to the [Armenian] genocide lie, friendship has shifted. It’s our turn – [Hagia] Sopia should be open for worship.”

Athens reacts to Western Thrace ‘identity’ conference in Turkey

May 15, 2016 By administrator

The Greek Foreign Ministry has slammed a conference held in Turkey titled “The Turkish identity of Muslims in Western Thrace” as stoking tension and uncertainty among Greek Muslims.

Greece does not recognize its Muslim population, located predominantly in Western Thrace, as an ethnically Turkish minority but as a religious one.

“Greece follows a policy of equality that pertains to all Greek citizens, regardless of religious identity, and secures the prosperity and dignity and rights of all,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Efstratios Efthymiou on Saturday.

According to reports, Turkish media carried stories identifying Greece’s Muslim minority as ethnic Turks stranded in “Europe’s poorest region.”

Athens, smugglers receive support in Turkey

January 18, 2016 By administrator

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said Turkey was not doing enough to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Europe and accused Turkish port officials of helping people smugglers, drawing a denial from Ankara on Monday.

Turkey reached a deal with EU officials late last year to keep more refugees inside its borders and stop them travelling onto Europe. Thousands fleeing civil war in Syria have made the perilous journey from Turkey, across the Aegean Sea to Ankara’s long-term regional rival Greece, many of them dying on the way.

“I greatly fear that Turkish people smugglers are getting support from the authorities,” Pavlopoulos said in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung published on Monday.

“In particular, the port authorities act as if they don’t notice anything. There are cases in which smugglers have supposedly been helped. We have evidence for this,” he said.

A senior Turkish official strongly denied the allegations, saying Ankara was determinedly fighting irregular migration.

“Allegations that Turkish authorities have closed their eyes to human trafficking and helped smugglers are baseless and slander,” the official told Reuters.

He said statistics showed Turkey had prevented the passage of nearly 200,000 irregular migrants and caught more than 3,800 people smugglers in 2015.

“In an environment where bilateral cooperation in the fight against irregular migration has intensified so much, the Greek president’s comments were met with astonishment,” he added.

Pavlopoulos said Greece was still prepared to contribute towards the 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) pledged by the EU to Turkey to help care for Syrian refugees as long as Ankara fulfilled its obligations.

“Up to now Turkey has not delivered,” Pavlopoulos, who is due to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel later on Monday, told the paper.

The European Commission said earlier this month it was far from satisfied with Turkey’s containment of migrants as the number of new arrivals to Europe remained far too high.

Angry Athens Rejects Ankara’s Aegean Sea Airspace Claim

December 27, 2015 By administrator

1032373942 Greece’s aviation authority has rejected Turkey’s announcement of restrictions to airspace over Greek territory in the Aegean Sea.

Greece’s civil aviation authority has rejected announcements from Ankara, which seeks to restrict flights over Greek islands in the Aegean Sea for 12 months so that Turkey can carry out military training, Greece’s pronews.gr reported on Sunday.

“The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority has issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) to [nullify] and void three Turkish NOTAM, which provocatively and brazenly restrict flights in large areas of the Aegean for even 12 months,” wrote pronews.

A NOTAM is a notice filed with an aviation authority that alerts aircraft pilots to potential hazards in an area which could affect the safety of a flight.

Pronews reported that on December 23, Ankara issued NOTAM Α5885/15, Α5884/15 and Α5881/15, which announced restrictions on aviation in the northern, central and southern areas of the Aegean Sea.

The area Turkey wanted to use includes the Athon peninsula in the northern Aegean and the Greek islands of Lemnos, Patmos, Tinos, Mykonos and Skyros among others.

Skyros is among the sites where Greece has a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system installed, while the northern Aegean contains valuable Greek oil and gas reserves, the newspaper noted.

In response, the Greek aviation authority issued NOTAM A2642/15, A2641/15 and A2640/15, which asserted that only Greece has the right to issue an announcement that restricts Greek airspace.

“The coordinates given by Ankara cover a region over which Greece has national sovereignty,” said Athens.

As well as Greece’s internal air traffic, Turkey’s attempt to restrict airspace has also interfered with the R19 and L995 international aviation corridors, the aviation authority stated.

Source: sputniknews.com

Greece struggles with wildfires, France sends firefighting planes

July 17, 2015 By administrator

By John Hadoulis AFP,

Athens (AFP) – Greece appealed for EU assistance Friday to battle wildfires raging on the outskirts of Athens and in the southern Peloponnese region that forced the evacuation of several villages.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he had requested help to fight the fires and announced army and airforce units were being deployed to douse the flames.

“All firefighting forces, in addition to the army and the airforce, are on alert,” Tsipras told reporters, blaming the outbreak on “emergency weather conditions”.

“We all need to stay calm,” he said.

Greece had asked for four aircraft from Europe, fire department spokesman Nikos Tsogas told a briefing.

France’s interior ministry said it was sending two water-bombing Canadair planes and a reconnaissance aircraft following the appeal.

It said this was an “important effort” as the wildfire season had already hit France.

EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, said the EU “stands by Greece to help in the response to this natural disaster”, and added his gratitude to France.

Tsogas said fire fighting forces were continuing to work through the night to put out fires still blazing in Kareas, Malakasa, Neapoli in Lakonia and Spathovouni in Corinth.

Around 300 firemen with over 100 fire engines, a dozen airplanes and six helicopters had battled during the day to hold back the flames on Athens’ doorstep and the Peloponnese.

The fire in Athens broke out on brush land on Mount Hymettus around midday, near the northeastern district of Kareas, and later spread to the outskirts of residential areas.

Within a few hours, it had crossed the mountain and was threatening the districts of Ilioupoli and Glyfada close to the Athens coast.

– ‘Clearly arson’ –

In the afternoon, a new fire front broke out in Malakassa, north of the capital.

Television images showed residents dousing pockets of flames with buckets and garden hoses as local officials said the blaze was started deliberately.

“This is clearly arson, I heard explosive devices go off in the forest,” Vassilis Balassopoulos, the mayor of the district of Ilioupoli that borders the mountain, told Vima radio.

A huge grey cloud billowed over the city, and a nunnery and a children’s shelter were evacuated.

Earlier in the day, four villages were evacuated in the Peloponnese peninsula, near the town of Monemvassia, where strong winds fanned a raging wildfire, local officials told state agency ANA.

“It’s hellish right now, there are hundreds of pockets of fire,” Iraklis Trichilis, mayor of the town of Monemvassia, had earlier told Skai television.

The fire department said five homes in the area had been burned down.

“The town is being evacuated, we can only see two metres ahead of us,” said a resident of the coastal town of Neapoli, where a health centre and retirement home were also emptied by authorities.

National civil protection chief Tassos Mavropoulos told Skai TV that reinforcements from the entire Peloponnese region had been rushed to the area, where the operation was hampered by the wind and mountainous terrain.

A fire-fighting plane was forced to make an emergency landing near Neapoli but the two pilots escaped with only minor injuries.

Fire department spokesman Tsogas had earlier warned there could be further damage to property.

“The winds are strong and are not expected to weaken. There could be further damage,” he said.

A fire also broke out on the island of Evia and was threatening homes, officials told state agency ANA.

Greece is routinely hit by wildfires at this time of year, many started by arsonists, every summer, fanned by high temperatures and strong winds.

The worst recent major blazes, in the Peloponnese and on the island of Evia in 2007, left 77 people dead and ravaged 250,000 hectares.

Published on Yahoo

Report: Greece debt crisis: Athens accepts harsh austerity as bailout deal nears

July 9, 2015 By administrator

The Greek government capitulated on Thursday to demands from its creditors for severe austerity measures in return for a modest debt write-off, raising hopes that a rescue deal could be signed at an emergency meeting of EU leaders on Sunday.

Athens is understood to have put forward a package of reforms and public spending cuts worth €13bn (£9.3bn) to secure a third bailout from creditors that could raise $50bn and allow it to stay inside the currency union.

A cabinet meeting signed off the reform package after ministers agreed that the dire state of the economy and the debilitating closure of the country’s banks meant it had no option but to agree to almost all the creditors terms.

Parliament is expected to endorse the package after a frantic few days of negotiation that followed a landmark referendum last Sunday in which Greek voters backed the radical leftist Syriza government’s call for debt relief.

Syriza, which is in coalition with the rightwing populist Independent party, is expected to meet huge opposition from within its own ranks and from trade unions and youth groups that viewed the referendum as a vote against any austerity.

report the guardian

Turkish nationalist committee barred from entering Athens

January 9, 2015 By administrator

The Talat Paşa Committee, (the perpetrator of the Armenian genocide) a Turkish nationalist organization aiming to counter recognition of the 1915 events as the “Armenian genocide,” has been refused entry to Athens, where it had gone to issue a statement in protest at a recently approved Greek bill.
The members of the committee left for Athens on Jan. 9 with the aim of making a statement in front of the Greek Parliament, but returned by the Greek authorities.

The committee wanted to protest and demand the withdrawal of a controversial bill approved by Greece’s parliament in September that stiffens penalties for racially motivated crime and criminalizes the denial of genocide and war crimes.

The delegation of 13 people was intercepted by police at the airport and prevented from entering the city for “security reasons.” They were sent back to Turkey on the next flight.

Speaking to reporters in a news conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said anyone must be able to hold peaceful demonstrations, while refuting allegations that Ankara had tried to block the committee’s visit to Greece.

Perinçek case

Çavuşoğlu also commented on a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) case between Switzerland and Turkey’s Workers’ Party (İP) Chairman Doğu Perinçek.

He said he would prefer Perinçek, who is banned from going abroad in relation to an ongoing coup case, to be able to attend an ECHR appeal hearing on an Armenian genocide denial-related case.

Çavuşoğlu said he had expressed the same view in a phone conversation with Perinçek, but noted that the local court in Turkey would make the final decision.

Perinçek was found guilty by a Swiss court on March 9, 2007, after his participation in a number of conferences in Switzerland in 2005, during which he publicly denied that the Ottoman Empire had perpetrated the crime of genocide against the Armenian people.

Following the Swiss court’s decision, Perinçek appealed to the ECHR in 2008 in Strasbourg, arguing for “freedom of expression.”

However, Perinçek is currently prevented from leaving Turkey after being jailed in connection with the “Ergenekon” coup plot case.

“The process is in the [Turkish] Supreme Court’s hands now,” Çavuşoğlu said.

The foreign minister also stressed that Turkey would “defend its thesis in the best way possible” in the upcoming months.

Athens, Demonstrations banned in down town Athens on Friday and Saturday

December 5, 2014 By administrator

The ban due to the visit of Turkish PM Davutoglu is effective from 6am on Friday until 3pm on Saturday

The Police announced that demonstrations in the city center of Athens are banned for public safety concerns, between 6am on Friday and 3pm on Saturday.

The ban was introduced due to the upcoming visit of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu, as part of the Supreme Council of Cooperation between Greece and Turkey that is scheduled to take place in Athens. About 6,000 to 7,000 police officers are set to be deployed in the streets of Athens in order to prevent any disturbances.

Aside from the top-level political meeting though on Saturday, there are concerns over the anniversary of the murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos, which could result in major disturbances. The hunger strike of Nikos Romanos, Grigoropoulos’ best friend, may also exacerbate the situation, as indicated by a recent solidarity demonstration which resulted in clashes between police and anarchists in Exarchia.

Turkish navy to conduct exercises in the Aegean during talks

December 3, 2014 By administrator

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due in Athens for talks on Friday amid a tense atmosphere between Greece and Turkey, which has been exacerbated by the neighboring country’s decision to carry out naval exercises in the Aegean while discussions take place in the Greek capital.

Turkish ships and submarines have been conducting exercises in the northern and southeastern Aegean, near the Greek islands of Limnos, Kastelorizo, Ro and Strongyli since the start of the week. Although the operations had been planned much earlier, the maritime order (also known as a Navtex) marking out the area was only issued last week, suggesting that Turkey intended for the exercises to take place at the same time as leaders are due to meet in Athens for the two-day High-Level Cooperation Council.

Greek authorities have also noted an increase in the number of incursions into Greek air space by Turkish fighter jets over the past few days. There have been more than 20 since the start of the week.

Athens was hoping that its agreement for the meetings to take place would lead to a de-escalation in tensions between the two countries, which were ratcheted up when a Turkish research vessel Barbaros entered Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone in October.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannis Kasoulides told Kathimerini on Wednesday that Nicosia is hoping that the cooperation council will help lead to the resumption of reunification talks on the island, which were abandoned when the Barbaros sailed into the Cypriot maritime zone. He added that his government had been disappointed by Washington’s suggestion that hydrocarbons issues should be part of the agenda negotiated at this stage with the Turkish Cypriots.

“The US interventions have not helped to ease the tension,” he said. “Washington is trying unnecessarily to introduce the common management of hydrocarbons, which is unacceptable for us.”