Wildfires kill ‘at least 50’ in Greece

July 24, 2018 By administrator

At least 50 people are feared dead in wildfires burning in the Attica region around Athens, in Greece’s worst fire crisis in more than a decade, the BBC reports.

According to the Red Cross, 26 bodies were found in the yard of a villa in the seaside village of Mati, which is at the centre of the disaster.

Before news of the grim discovery, the official death toll stood at 24.

As part of a huge rescue effort, emergency workers used boats and helicopters to evacuate a beach.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blazes and the authorities are seeking international assistance.

Greece: Major forest fires rage near Athens as homeowners flee

July 23, 2018 By administrator

Wildfires rage amid Greece heatwave

Forest fires erupt uncontrolled in several places around Greek capital, destroying homes and disrupting transport links.

At least one person has been killed and 25 others injured in forest fires that raged around Greece’s capital, Athens, the Greek emergency services said.

Six of those injured were in serious condition, a senior official at the National Centre for Emergency Medical Services told state TV, as Monday’s fires damaged homes, disrupted major transport links and sent people fleeing for their lives.

Meanwhile, Greece’s coastguard said a search-and-rescue operation was under way for 10 people, believed to be foreign tourists, who fled a massive forest fire in a boat and were missing.

Earlier, authorities declared a state of emergency in two areas near Athens and said Greece would call on the European Union for assistance.

A coast guard helicopter and vessel were searching the sea near the town of Rafina, northeast of the Greek capital of Athens.

Several fires

The first blaze broke out in a forest near the coastal settlement of Kineta, some 55km west of the capital.

Residents were urged to abandon their homes as the ferocious fire closed one of Greece’s busiest motorways, shut train services and sent plumes of smoke over the capital.

Later in the late afternoon, a large fire also erupted north and east of Athens. A local mayor said he saw at least 100 homes and 200 cars engulfed in flames.

“People should leave, close up their homes and just leave. People cannot tolerate so much smoke for so many hours,” said Achilleas Tzouvaras, a senior fire chief, appalling to people to leave the area after some tried to stay put in their properties.

“This is an extreme situation.”

Greece, Macedonia sign historic deal to end naming dispute

June 17, 2018 By administrator

The foreign ministers of Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have signed a deal that could resolve a long-running dispute over the latter’s name. Opponents of the deal protested in Greece and Macedonia.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his counterpart from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Nikola Dimitrov, signed the deal on Sunday in the Greek village of Psarades, on the shores of Great Prespa Lake. The border between Greece and Macedonia lies in the water.

The controversial deal will see FYROM renamed as the Republic of North Macedonia. The accord should also allow Macedonia to join NATO and the European Union.

Sunday’s ceremony was attended by the prime ministers of Greece and FYROM, Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras. The EU’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, was also at the signing.

The deal, which has been protested by hard-liners on both sides of the border, must now be ratified by the respective parliaments, and will also be put to a referendum in Macedonia. The process will take months.

Nearby protests

The area around Psarades where the ceremony was held was closed off to prevent protesters gaining access.

In the nearby Greek village of Pissoderi about 4,000 people held a rally in protest at the deal with banners proclaiming: “There is only one Macedonia and it is Greek.”

Some marched to one of the police barricades and threw rocks. Several people were injured as police used tear gas against protesters gathered on a hillside about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from where the signing took place.

Macedonian media reported that 3,000 people had demonstrated against the accord in the southern city of Bitola.

In the Macedonian capital, Skopje, on Sunday night, grenades and tear gas were used by police to break up a protest rally outside the parliament building involving several hundred people.

A Reuters witness saw protesters pelting police with stones, chanting “Macedonia, Macedonia we will give our lives for Macedonia.” Some of the demonstrators were arrested.

Historical dispute

The naming row between the two countries began 27 years ago when FYROM declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, but has roots going back to antiquity.

Athens has objected to its neighbor being called Macedonia because it has a northern province of the same name, the seat of Alexander the Great’s ancient kingdom. Alexander the Great still represents a source of pride for many Greeks today.

Critics of the deal in Greece say the name change could imply territorial claims on the Greek province and usurp ancient Greek culture and civilization.

Opposition to the deal led to a no-confidence motion in parliament, with Tsipras surviving the vote on Saturday.

Nationalists in Macedonia, for their part, assert their country’s right to bear the name without change.

The deal also means that Greece will lift its objections to the renamed nation joining the EU and NATO.

Macedonia, Greece Reach ‘Historic’ Deal On Name Dispute

June 12, 2018 By administrator

Macedonia and Greece say they have reached a deal to resolve their 27-year dispute over the former Yugoslav republic’s name.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on June 12 that Athens and Skopje agreed on the name Republic of North Macedonia, or Severna Makedonija in Macedonian, to end the row that has hampered Macedonia’s ambitions to join both the European Union and NATO.

“There is no way back,” he told a news conference after a telephone conversation with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Zaev said the deal preserved the Macedonian ethnic and cultural identity, while Tsipras said in a televised statement that the accord will allow a clear distinction between Greece’s province of Macedonia and the country.

“Maybe what has the most historic gravity and value for Greece [is that] according to this accord…our northern neighbors don’t have, and cannot assert, any link to the ancient Greek culture of Macedonia,” Tsipras said in a televised address.

The Greek prime minister also said that Macedonia’s name change would be reflected both domestically and internationally.

“We have a deal. I’m happy because we have a good deal which covers all the preconditions set by the Greek side,” Tsipras said.

Under the deal, the country’s language will be Macedonian and its citizens known as Macedonians or citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, according to Zaev.

And as part of the agreement, it is made clear that their language is part of the Slavic family, unrelated to ancient Greek heritage, the BBC reported.

The text is expected to be signed by the end of the week before being sent to the Macedonian parliament for ratification. The proposed name will also go to a referendum in Macedonia later this year.

Skopje also needs to revise its constitution, Tsipras said, before Greek lawmakers ratify the accord.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the “historic agreement” and called on the two sides to finalize it.

“This will set Skopje on its path to NATO membership. And it will help to consolidate peace and stability across the wider Western Balkans,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

The European Union congratulated Tsipras and Zaev for their “determination and leadership in reaching this historic agreement.”

“We now look forward to the [European] Council endorsing our recommendation of 17 April to open accession negotiations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in June,” EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini and EU Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a joint statement.

Officials in Albania, which also hopes to launch full membership negotiations with the EU, hailed the agreement between Greece and Macedonia as good for the whole Western Balkans region.

Prime Minister Edi Rama called his Macedonian and Greek counterparts “two progressive leaders.” “Balkans are today a better place thnx to you both,” he tweeted.

Skopje and Athens have recently stepped up United Nations-brokered negotiations to resolve their name dispute, which dates back to 1991 when Macedonia peacefully broke away from Yugoslavia, declaring its independence under the name Republic of Macedonia.

Athens objected to its neighbor’s new name, saying it implied a territorial claim over Greece’s province of the same name, which borders the Balkan country.

Because of Greek objections, Macedonia was admitted to the UN under a provisional name, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Greece, an EU and NATO member, has also cited the dispute to veto Macedonia’s bid to join the two organizations.

On June 6, thousands of people protested in major cities across Greece against the compromise, while, four days earlier, like numbers of supporters of Macedonia’s right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE party took to the streets of the capital, Skopje, to protest against a deal.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and the BBC

Greece Launches New 25% Cash Rebate to Lure Productions

May 12, 2018 By administrator

In a long-awaited measure to bolster a country fighting to recover from an ongoing economic crisis and seeking to reposition itself in the world economy, the Greek government has introduced a 25% cash rebate it hopes will attract foreign film productions to the Mediterranean nation.

Greece’s new incentive is substantial. A total of €450 million ($547 million) has been allocated for the new program over the next six years, offering foreign productions a 25% rebate on all qualifying local spending, with a minimum spend of €100,000 (around $122,000) and a €5 million (roughly $6.1 million) cap.

“I think the impact will be huge,” says Venia Vergou, director of the Hellenic Film Commission, who explains that the rebate will offer Greece a chance to capitalize on its rich natural and historic bounty. “We have amazing archaeological sites that no other European country has.”

In the past decade, Greece has struggled to attract high-profile foreign productions that were drawn to neighboring countries with competitive tax incentives. The most recent setback came last year, when “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” chose to shoot in Croatia. Vergou says the failure to attract the sequel to the iconic 2008 musical comedy that lensed on the Greek island of Skopelos was a particularly tough blow to the local film industry. “After losing ‘Mamma Mia,’ many people actually felt … what that loss meant,” she says.

American writer-director Steven Bernstein, who moved to Greece in 2016 and is building a film studio on the island of Syros, sees the incentive as an important sign of progress. “This tax rebate is a huge step in the right direction,” he maintains.

Bernstein trains 400-500 film students a year in Greece as part of an effort to develop the country’s crew base, which he views as a major obstacle to growing the local industry. Another key hurdle to overcome is the stiff 24% value-added tax, imposed as part of Greece’s bailout terms with international lenders. “The government is well-intentioned,” says Bernstein, noting a willingness to work within the framework of the law to find solutions.

Greece will also have to clear up its notorious bureaucratic logjams. For starters, the Hellenic Film Commission is spearheading efforts to streamline the application process for shoots at archaeological sites and offer a more structured fee system for film permits. But stakeholders have to be on the same page. Just days after the Greek government formally introduced the rebate, a BBC One-AMC adaptation of John le Carré’s “The Little Drummer Girl” was denied permission from the Central Archaeological Council to shoot at an iconic ancient site. Though a compromise was eventually reached, one official called the incident “an international embarrassment.”

Vergou concedes there’s work to be done. “It’s not only the incentives. It’s not only the cash rebate. It’s actually changing the mentality all over the country,” she says. “There has to be a very coherent strategic plan at the national level.”

“The dialogue between the film industry and the [government],” she adds, “has to be far more productive.”

Greece, Cyprus and Israel together in Washington

May 12, 2018 By administrator

While the leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Israel confirmed once again in Nicosia their strategic choice to follow a common course on a number of issues and to promote cooperation in a series of sectors – leading with energy – diaspora organizations from the three countries organized a joint conference in Washington, during which they worked on joint actions aimed at securing the support of the United States.

These include efforts to better inform the Trump administration and especially Congress, the branch of the US government where sales of military equipment are approved or rejected.

Cooperation between the diasporas preceded cooperation between the three countries, since members of the Greek-American community, of both Greek and Cypriot origin, have for decades maintained channels of communication with the Jewish community. Now, with the rapid upgrading and deepening of relations at a state level, their cooperation has gained even greater momentum and substance.

Discussions with members of the Jewish community in Washington, on the sidelines of the conference co-hosted by the Hellenic American Leadership Council and the American Jewish Committee, confirmed that the tripartite cooperation is not only important for Greece and Cyprus, but also for Israel.

For a country surrounded by enemies and opponents, long-term strategic relationships that acquire the characteristics of an alliance are extremely useful and important, almost irreplaceable, as, apart from cooperation in the areas of security and counterterrorism, Greece and Cyprus have lately also been acting as a political and economic bridge between Israel and the European Union.

In the past five years, the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance (CHIA) caucus has been formed in the United States, and already includes 40 Congressmen led by one Republican, Greek-American Gus Bilirakis, and one Democrat, Ted Deutch, who is Jewish.

Currently, the CHIA is promoting an end to the arms embargo on Cyprus, as well as efforts to freeze the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.

David Harris, the head of the American Jewish Committee, noted eloquently how the course of this particular relationship is progressing, at the country level but also in the diaspora: “Relations between Israel, Cyprus and Greece are an example of cooperation in a world desperately needing such examples.”

The activities of the Greek-American community in the decision-making centers of the superpower should be and are extremely useful and supportive of Greece and its interests, which more often than not seem to coincide with those of the US.

Greece: Seven new airspace violations by Turkish aircraft

May 9, 2018 By administrator

Turkish aircraft violated Greek airspace seven times at the northeastern, central and southeastern Aegean on Tuesday, in incidents that resulted in one dogfight between Greek and Turkish fighter jets.

The six Turkish F-16 jets which flew in three formations and the two CN-235 also infringed air traffic regulations five times.

The foreign aircraft were identified and intercepted according to international rules.

Greece: Movement for Change leader calls for snap polls, debate on measures

May 2, 2018 By administrator

Fofi Gennimata

The leader of centrist Movement for Change, Fofi Gennimata, on Wednesday wrote to Parliament Speaker Nikos Voutsis, calling for snap elections before Greece signs an agreement for an exit from the country’s third international bailout.

Gennimata also asked Voutsis for a debate in Parliament about he measures that Greece has committed to enforce after it officially emerges from the third bailout.

“The country, the economy, our society cannot be led towards a tough future, unprotected and unsafe,” she wrote.

“The government has no mandate from the people to undertake such serious commitments,” she added in her letter.

Turkey Targeting Greece – Again, Cyprus in 1974, Syrian city of Afrin this March, virtually no global reaction

April 20, 2018 By administrator

Turkey Targeting Greece – Again

by Uzay Bulut,

With the illegal seizures and occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974 and the Syrian city of Afrin this March — with virtually no global reaction — Turkey apparently feels unchallenged and eager to continue; this time, it seems, with the oil-and-gas rich islands of Greece.
“To take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Crimea, Karabakh, Bosnia and other brotherly regions is both the duty and the right of Turkey. Turkey is not just Turkey. The day we give up on these things will be the day we give up on our freedom and future.” — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 2016.
Turkish needs are in reality supplied by its association with the US. Turkish officials usually get whatever they want from the West, but they seem to have chosen to align themselves with Iran and Russia, possibly in attempt to blackmail the West for more.

Turkey has been harassing Greece consistently. Most recently, this week, on April 17, two Turkish fighter aircraft harassed the helicopter carrying Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Greek Armed Forces Chief Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis as they were flying from the islet of Ro to Rhodes.

With the illegal seizures and occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974 and the Syrian city of Afrin this March — with virtually no global response — Turkey apparently feels unchallenged and eager to continue; this time, it seems, with the oil-and-gas rich islands of Greece.

Another provocation by the Turkish government recently took place when three young Greek men recently paid tribute to a dead pilot by planting five flags in some islets in the Aegean.

According to the Turkish media, Turkey first urged Greece to remove the flags, then carried out a military operation against a tiny islet, Mikros Anthropofagos, at night: special operation units (SAT) of the Turkish Navy allegedly removed them on April 15.

“Do not take dangerous steps,” Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, warned Greece: “Our soldiers might cause an accident.”

Many Turkish media outlets proudly covered the operation as if Turkey, in a triumphant battle, had conquered new realms. The Greek media, however, reported that according to witnesses in the area, all five flags are apparently still in place.

The Aegean islands that Turkey keep threatening to invade, legally and historically belong to Greece.

Since Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Greece last December, the Turkish media has escalated its anti-Greek, pro-war reporting concerning “the Greek occupation of the islands.” Some newspapers claim that “Greece has become home to terrorists hostile to Turkey.” Others say, “Greece is planning to invade Turkey.” Some columnists claim that “Turkey can fight against Greece in the Aegean”, while others accuse Greek consular officials in Istanbul of trying to revive the Greek Byzantine Empire through an exhibition the Greek consulate organized in Istanbul from December 2017 – January 2018.

Why are so many Turks obsessed with Greece?

In 1923, after a major attack against Anatolian Greeks — the 1913-1923 genocide — the Turkish republic was founded. Since then, Turkey’s expansionist goals seem to be inspired by a seeming historical aggression, hatred towards Greeks, neo-Ottomanism and an Islamic tradition of conquest, or jihad.

From the mid-15th century until the proclamation of the first Hellenic republic in 1822, modern Greece’s borders were occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Erdogan has been open about his goals of resurrecting the Empire or at least expanding Turkish territory as much as possible:

“There are physical borders and there are borders in our hearts,” he said. “Some people ask us: ‘Why do you take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Georgia, Crimea, Karabakh, Azerbaijan, the Balkans, and North Africa?’… None of these lands is foreign to us. Is it possible to divide Rize [in Turkey] from Batumi [in Georgia]? How can we consider Edirne [in Turkey] to be separate from Thessaloniki [in Greece]? How can we think that Gaziantep [in Turkey] has nothing to do with Aleppo [in Syria], Mardin [in Turkey] with Al-Hasakah [in Syria], or Siirt [in Turkey] with Mosul [in Iraq]?

“From Thrace to Eastern Europe, with every step you take, you will see traces of our ancestors… We would need to deny our true selves for us to think Gaza and Siberia, with whom we speak the same language and share the same culture, is separate from us. To take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Crimea, Karabakh, Bosnia and other brotherly regions is both the duty and the right of Turkey. Turkey is not just Turkey. The day we give up on these things will be the day we give up on our freedom and future.”

Erdogan also referred to the Misak-ı Milli (“National Pact”), a set of decisions made by the Ottoman Parliament in 1920 concerning the borders of the future Turkish state to be established in Ottoman Turkey. The National Pact is commonly referenced by Turks when calling for Turkish territorial expansion.

The Turkish newspaper Hürriyet wrote:

“Some historians say that according to the National Pact, the Turkish borders include — in addition to the current borders of Turkey — Cyprus, Aleppo [in Syria], Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk [in Iraq], Batumi [in Georgia], Thessaloniki [in Greece], Kardzhali, Varna [in Bulgaria], and the Aegean islands.”

On April 18, the Turkish foreign ministry asserted, “the Kardak rocks [Greece’s Imia islets] and their territorial waters and airspace above them are exclusive under Turkish sovereignty.”

Major political parties in Turkey unite in their desire to invade the Aegean islands — what they disagree on is who is guilty of having allowed Greek sovereignty over the islands in the first place. The main opposition party, the CHP, (Republican People’s Party) accuses the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) of “letting Greeks occupy Turkish islands”; the AKP accuses the CHP, the founding party of Turkey, of “letting Greeks take the islands through the 1923 Lausanne treaty.”

Turkey’s quests for new economic gains from additional tourism, but especially from the newly-found Aegean oil and gas potential, seem to have intensified Turkey’s renewed interest in Greece.

In 2011, after facing an economic crisis, Greece re-launched its own gas and oil exploration. Last year, France’s Total and Italy’s Edison companies signed a lease for oil and gas exploration off Greece, Reuters reported.

Although Greece might well be willing to partner with Turkey in economic agreements, Turkey appears to prefer “other means.”

Turkish needs are in reality supplied by its association with the US. Turkish officials usually get whatever they want from the West, but they seem to have chosen to align themselves with Iran and Russia, possibly in attempt to blackmail the West for more.

In the meantime, Turkish politicians threaten Greece on Turkish national television. Yiğit Bulut, a chief advisor to Erdogan, recently said that he wants to avenge the blood of his grandfather, whom he claims was killed by Greeks:

“Anatolia [Turkey] will walk all over Greece. And no one can prevent this. Greece should know its place. If they try to attack and rape this geography like they did 100 years ago by trusting [French President] Macron, England, the U.S., Germany and [Angela] Merkel, these attempts will end terribly.”

The time to stop Turkey is now.

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist born and raised in Turkey. She is presently

Greece’s Defense Chief Says Armenia and Greece are facing common security challenges and threats,

March 30, 2018 By administrator

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sarkisian (left) and Greek counterpart Panos Kammenos meet in Yerevan on March 29.

Armenia and Greece are facing common security challenges and threats, Greece’s visiting minister for national defense, Panos Kammenos, has said.

“Greece and Armenia were, are, and will be always together. We have common values, common history, common victims of the two big genocides of the Armenian people, of the Greek [Pontic] people, and we’ll continue to have problems with the same friends and allies,” Kammenos said at a joint press conference with Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sarkisian in Yerevan on March 29.

“Armenia and Greece are facing common security challenges and threats that require both a comprehensive approach and understanding as well as a solid political determination in order to cope with them effectively,” he said.

When asked about recent developments in Turkey, which like Greece is a member of the NATO military alliance and which aspires to join the European Union, Kammenos said: “Our wish always is for Turkey to be a European country with the respect of international law, with the respect of human rights. Our wish is to see Turkey approach the European values.”

But he said recent statements and decisions by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan show he still “dreams of the big Ottoman Empire” and have the potential to “guide Turkey away from Europe, away from international law, away from the international community.”

“We will continue to do our best to explain to Turkey that we want peace,” Kammenos said. “But we have to remind Turkey that in many moments of its history, and especially in the moments of its history when they had in their mind the big Ottoman empire, they lost, like in 1821 in Greece.”

An 1821 rebellion in Greece, which was part of the Ottoman Empire then, resulted in Hellenic independence from the Ottoman rule.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/greece-defense-chief-kammenos-says-armenia-greece-face-common-threats/29134626.html