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Nightclub collapses around screaming revellers leaving two dead and dozens crushed as violent earthquake tears through building

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Earthquake rocks Greece and TurkeyThe 6.7 tremor struck south of the Turkish city of Bodrum and east of the Greek island of Kos – causing the White Corner Club to crumble

Two tourists were killed when a nightclub collapsed around screaming revellers during a violent earthquake this morning.

Scores of tourists and local residents fled as the White Corner Club, on the Greek island of Kos, crumbled around them.

Turkish national Sinan Kurdoglu, 39, died in the quake alongside a 27-year-old Swedish man, who is yet to be identified.

Greek authorities listed five seriously injured revellers who were flown to Crete by emergency services earlier today.

Two Swedes, one Norwegian, a Greek man and a Greek woman, were all taken to hospital.

One is reported to have suffered extensive leg injuries and all are thought to have been in the bar when the roof suddenly collapsed.

Maria Karagiannaki, who was working at the White Corner Club when disaster struck, told a Norwegian reporter: “We had two dead. I am in shock. I still cannot imagine it.”

Across Kos and the Turkish city of Bodrum, more than 200 people have been injured.

The 6.7-magnitude tremor struck south of Bodrum and east of Kos – areas popular with British holidaymakers.

As a search and rescue unit from the Greek armed forces flew in to support citizens, pictures of families cowering under tables and huddled on sun loungers emerged.

Buildings on Kos were damaged by the shockwaves, which prompted a small tsunami, flooding parts of the island.

Tourists had to flee their hotel rooms when the quake hit at around 1.30am, and experienced aftershocks throughout the night.

A number of Britons have spoken of their fear when they felt tremors.

Lauren Duffy, from Merseyside, said glass and broken pieces of marble statues were among the debris strewn near her hotel in the wake of the earthquake.

Kristian Stevens, from Nelson, in Lancashire, said he felt the building he was in “shake like a jelly”.

Sophie Wild said she fled her third floor accommodation in Altinkum, around 500 miles from Bodrum, when she woke to a loud banging noise.

The 21-year-old, from Canterbury, in Kent, said she was woken by a loud banging noise.

She said: “When we realised it was an earthquake, we got an immediate sense to get out, we thought the building was going to crumble around us.

“People were running out of rooms, banging on people’s doors to make sure they were out.

“Everyone just ran outside and waited for a couple of hours – it’s only now that people are starting to go back to their rooms.

“There are a few cracks in the walls but otherwise staff says it’s safe.”

That’s rich: Turks seek escape to Greece

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rich: Turks seek escape to GreeceWith purges intensifying, rich Turks are mopping up real estate in Greece. Old tensions may loom, but the incentive for secular Turks is sweet: visa-free stay in an EU member state. Anthee Carassava reports from Athens.

A lanky man in a bright red shirt paces across a wood-paneled waiting room. He peers out of the window, then plops into a comfy black chair, bouncing back up again within minutes to place a string of telephone calls, pacing the room once again.

Unnerved by the presence of a reporter, the lanky man shies away from any conversation, refusing to divulge his name and details of his family and their whereabouts.

“I’m just looking,” he says, glancing over a listing of apartments on sale in central Athens, making casual and polite talk.

When the conversation, however, shifts to developments in his homeland, the mid-aged man raises a critical eyebrow. And when the name of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan comes up, he breaks his silence. “I never trusted that man,” he tells DW in broken English. “God knows what he is capable of and what more he can do. One can only be prepared.”

Read: Greece rejects new extradition request for Turkish soldiers

For hundreds of thousands of secular Turks concerned about Erdogan’s descent from democracy, Greece is proving a surprise escape.

Escaping Erdogan

Since a mutinous faction of Turkey’s armed forces moved to overthrow the government there, real estate agents in Athens have been inundated by Turkish clients. Many realtors speak of a 50 percent rise in interest in the past year. But following the April referendum that gave sweeping powers to Erdogan – intensifying a colossal purge tearing the heart of any remaining hope of democracy that depends on independents voices, justice and an unfettered political competition – interest has rocketed even further.

That’s 10 times more than the 37 Turkish nationals who searched his site ahead of the April 16 referendum.

“Turks have a knack for rebounding and maneuvering during crises,” says. “So what this new-found interest comes down to is not that Turks have suddenly decided to pick up their belongings and move to Greece,” says the Turkish-born realtor, “it’s that Turkey’s wealthy, well-educated 1 percent is preparing for a ‘Plan B’ if things go really sour there.”

Sweet incentive

With Greece offering visa-free stay for investments over 250,000 euros, well-to-do Turkish families are mopping up real estate deals to secure the future of their offspring.

Read: Greeks still hostile to reforms despite economic depression

On one sunny afternoon this week, the lanky man in the bright red shirt met up with Arslanoglou to survey a number of flats in central Athens. Hours prior, and as the Turkish government mounted a fresh crackdown on dissent and free expression, a high-profile Turkish newscaster flew to Athens to close a deal, purchasing a seaside penthouse along the Greek capital’s southern suburbs.

Under the so-called Golden Visa program, Greece offers five year visa-free stay to investors and their immediate family. The plan was set up in 2013 to attract much-needed foreign capital, luring deep-pocketed Chinese, Egyptian, Lebanese and Russian nationals. Since then, only 49 visas had been issued to Turkish nationals.

In the month that followed the July attempted coup, Greece’s interior ministry issued 21 permits, decreeing 100 percent more in the last three months, in the run up to the controversial April referendum. Scores more are said to be being processed, while the government, eager to attract more investments, is considering dropping the 250,000 euros benchmark investment for the Golden Visa program, according to local media.

Bad blood forgotten?

“Our most modest projections,” says Ioannis Ziavras of the Remax real estate agency, “forecast a 30-percent rise within the next six months.”

Just a decade ago, a mere blink in centuries of testy ties and bad blood between rival Greeks and Turks, such interest would have been snubbed. But now, strapped for cash, seven years into a devastating crisis that has seen property price plunge by as much as 50 percent, many locals claim they can not afford to be defiant.

Read: Foreclosed Greek homes go under the online hammer

“I’ve been trying to sell a flat for over a year to pay tens of thousands of euros in debt and back taxes,” says Michalis Zafiriou a young restaurant owner. “I couldn’t care less whether a Turk picks it up.”

Others, though, remain wary. “We must not forget. And all, is definitely not forgiven,” Maria Beinoglou, whose parents were forced out of Istanbul last century and who defiantly still calls the city Constantinople, told DW. “These people, though, are not to blame. It’s politics and Erdogan we have to keep under close watch.”

Since Erdogan Fake military coup, 236 Turkish citizens sought asylum in Greece

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Yorgo Kirbaki – ATHENS

A total of 236 Turkish citizens have sought asylum in Greece since the July 2016 failed coup attempt, marking a rising trend in the number of requests compared to previous years. According to official data from the Greek Asylum Services seen by daily Kathimerini,

236 Turkish citizens requested political asylum in the country between July 2016 and February 2017, with most of them are believed to be the members of the Fethullahist  which was accused of the FAke attempted takeover on July 15, 2016. According to figures, some 43 Turkish citizens sought asylum in Greece in 2015 while another 51 requested political asylum in the country between January 1, 2016 and July 14, 2016. Some 98 of the asylum requests were made in 2017, the data showed. Meanwhile, the re-trial process of eight former Turkish soldiers who escaped to Greece following the coup attempt will begin soon.

The process for Ankara’s new demand on their extradition has also begun. In January, the Greek top appeals court had rejected the extradition of the soldiers.  While they are still waiting for the outcome of their asylum request, Turkey’s NATO ally

Norway have already granted asylum for four Turkish soldiers and a military attache in the country.

Nikos Kotsias: Purpose of my visit to create a strategic partnership between Armenia, Greece

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Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received today a delegation led by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotsias. “This year ushers in the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Greece. Our friendly relations are at a very high level, but we are keen to activate the cooperation with Greece and take it to a new qualitative level,” Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said addressing the guests, according to the government press service.

Stressing the need to boost economic exchanges, the head of the Armenian government said there is great untapped potential in this area. Karen Karapetyan welcomed the ongoing bilateral cooperation within international institutions and the fact that the two countries keep by similar positions on a number of issues on international agenda.

Pleased with his stay in friendly Armenia, the Greek Foreign Minister conveyed warm greetings on behalf of Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras.

“We have always been brotherly peoples. The purpose of my visit is to create a strategic partnership,” Nikos Kotsias said. Highly appreciating the Armenian-Greek political dialogue, the Greek Foreign Minister agreed in that economic relations are on a low level, and there is a need for their harmonious development.

As they discussed issues of bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation, the parties highlighted the role of the Armenian-Greek joint commission on economic, industrial and scientific-technical cooperation. In particular, the interlocutors discussed the possibility of holding an Armenian-Greek business forum. In this context, Prime Minister Karapetyan suggested clarifying the areas of mutual interest to the two countries’ business circles and actively working on joint projects.

Karen Karapetyan and Nikos Kotsias exchanged views on cooperation within the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union, the furtherance of EEU-EU dialogue, as well as on the prospects for regional cooperation.

Earlier the Greek Foreign Minister was received by the Speaker of Armenian Parliament Galust Sahakyan.

The parties have stressed the high-level relations between Armenia and Greece with rich bilateral agenda, ranging from political dialogue to mutually beneficial cooperation in number of spheres.

According to the National Assembly press release, Galust Sahakyan has highlighted the Armenian-Greek inter-parliamentary relations that have been productively growing.

Greek foreign minister to visit Armenia

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The foreign minister of Greece is starting a three-day official visit to Armenia on Friday, March 10.
Upon his arrival in Yerevan, Nikolaos Kotzias will be greeted by the President of Armenia and and the Catholicos of All Armenians, the Foreign Ministry’s press service reports.
The Greek official is scheduled to have meetings with Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan.
Later the same day, he will meet with FM Edward Nalbandian for private talks and a subsequent news conference.

 

Greece Kammenos: Turks will not set foot on Greek islands

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Speaking about Turks, the Greek Minister of National Defense, Panagiotis “Panos” Kammenos, said “they will not set foot on Greek Islands,” and Turkey will receive a response in case of new provocations.

During an interview with Skai TV of Greece, he commented on Turkish FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s statement that Turkey could set foot on Imia islets whenever it wanted.

“There will be no case that they [i.e. Turks] set foot on Greek islands; we will hinder it,” said Kammenos. “If they enter, we will see how they will flee from there.”

In his words, the current Greek government considerably differs from the government in 1996, and it will not withdraw.

Greece does not respond to verbal battle cries. But the government will not back away in matters of national sovereignty, added the minister.

Turkey close to crossing Greece’s red lines in the Aegean: Athens

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Turkey came very close to crossing Greece’s red lines in the Aegean last week, when a Turkish coast guard vessel fired shots in Greek territorial waters east of the islet of Farmakonisi, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias told Skai Television’s “Istories” program Tuesday, February 21 night, Ekathimerini.com reports.

In a long interview, Kotzias also spoke about Greece’s determination to protect its sovereign interests, the Cyprus issue, the case of the eight Turkish servicemen whom the Supreme Court refused to extradite to Turkey, and NATO’s operations in the Aegean.

“A year-and-a-half ago I described Turkey as a nervous power, a power, in other words, which like Germany after Bismarck in the 19th century had become nervous and did not maintain a balance with its environment,” Kotzias said in the interview.

“Some people in Turkey think that Greece could be like Syria or Iraq. The ‘game’ they played at Farmakonisi is a serious violation of international law and I think they should know that we will not always be tolerant, that our response will not only be the one that we gave then, that it will be much harsher.”

Asked what the Greek government was doing to face this “nervousness,” Kotzias said: “We have communicated with all the major powers on the planet, we have informed all international organizations and, of course, we have made the necessary protests against Turkey for their violations of our territorial waters and for their behavior. The international climate and international law are on the side of our interests, they are tools that we will not abandon. But I want to repeat from here, in this interview, that they are not the only instruments we have. We are not Syria, which has been destroyed, nor a disorganized Iraq… Turkey is making a mistake if it thinks that because we have an economic crisis we are weak as regards our country’s security. They are making a big mistake. Because we have economic problems our care for the security of our country and its sovereignty is greater than in the past.”

Asked whether Turkey had crossed any of the Greek government’s red lines, as in the Farmakonisi incident, Kotzias replied, “They nearly did this morning.”

Commenting on whether differences between Greece and Turkey could be solved at The Hague, Kotzias said: “If I had to choose between a court and war, I would choose the court. If I had to choose between a court and a bilateral, substantial and real agreement, a process of agreement, I would choose the latter. For the time being, we are in the latter process. With the difficulties caused by the situation in Turkey.”

Related links:

Ria.ru: МИД Греции предостерег Турцию от новых провокаций
Ekathimerini.com. Greek FM: Turkey close to crossing Greece’s red lines

Greece reports mass Turkish air incursions as tensions simmer 138 violations

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Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos speaks during a news conference on an EgyptAir plane that vanished from radar en route from Paris to Cairo, after exiting the Greek airspace, in Athens, Greece, May 19, 2016. REUTERS/Michalis Karagiannis

(Reuters) Greece reported mass incursions by Turkish military aircraft on Wednesday, amid tensions over Athens’ failure to hand over Turkish soldiers Ankara accuses of involvement in a coup attempt.

Defense ministry officials said they had recorded 138 violations of Greek airspace over islands in the central and southern Aegean, an unusually high number. They were intercepted, they said.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos criticized what he called Turkey’s “cowboy antics”.

“We want peace, we are not looking for a fight or for trouble in the Aegean, but there won’t be an aircraft which will not be intercepted,” Kammenos told Antenna Television.

A Greek court last week blocked the extradition of eight Turkish military officers Ankara accuses of involvement in a failed coup in July 2016. Turkey said relations between the two countries would be reviewed.

Turkey and Greece, members of the NATO military alliance, came to the brink of war in 1996 over the ownership of uninhabited islets known as Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish.

A statement by a Greek deputy shipping minister in early January on plans to make 28 small Aegean islands habitable stoked Ankara’s ire.

“Greece is trying to take advantage of Kardak and similar rocky areas. Greece will not be permitted to open new areas here,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said during a roundtable interview with reporters on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Turkey’s chief of staff and the heads of the navy, air force and land forces went to inspect a naval headquarters and passed close to Kardak, the military said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Kammenos flew by helicopter over the region and threw a wreath into the sea to commemorate three Greek officers who died in a helicopter crash during the 1996 crisis.

“It was my obligation to be there … I won’t ask for anyone’s permission,” he said.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas, Renee Maltezou and Humeyra Pamuk; editing by Andrew Roche)

Terrorist State of Turkey’s ruling AKP deputy warned Greece : Don’t mess with us or we’ll shoot you

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A ruling Justice and Development (AKP) deputy has Greece over a fresh rift over the Kardak islets, saying Turkey would shoot at the country if they “played any games.”

“I am warning Greece: You were saved owing to a cowardly [Turkish] admiral in 1996. Do not play the Kardak game with us. We will shoot you!” Hüseyin Kocabıyık, the party’s İzmir deputy, tweeted on Feb. 1.
Kocabıyık was referring to a previous escalation between the two countries 21 years ago over the small Aegean islets.

The AKP deputy also claimed that the naval commander of the time disobeyed the instruction of then-Prime Minister Tansu Çiller to sink Greek ships.

“The Greek impertinence in the Aegean is continuing because the political order was not followed on that day. However, the Greeks should know that Turkey is not the country as it was in 1996,” Kocabıyık added.

Tensions in the Aegean are the highest they have been in years, with Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and his top brass visiting the area near Kardak with a naval war ship on Jan. 29, prompting condemnation from the Greek side. Coast guard vessels of the two countries have also come head to head around the islets.

The islets, Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish, are two small uninhabited rocks in the Aegean Sea, situated between the Greek island chain of the Dodecanese and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey. Greece and Turkey nearly went to war over the islets in 1996 in an escalation that resulted in each side landing soldiers on one islet.

Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-ruling-akp-deputy-to-greece-dont-mess-with-us-or-well-shoot-you-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=109246&NewsCatID=338

February/01/2017

Turkey Threatens Annulling EU Migrant Deal if Greece Doesn’t Extradite Soldiers

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By Kerry Kolasa-Sikiaridi,

On Friday Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made a statement of veiled threats to annul the EU-Turkey migration deal if Greece does not allow the extradition of the eight Turkish officers who fled Turkey for Greece following July’s failed military coup attempt.

According to the hurriyetdailynews.com, Minister Çavuşoğlu said that Ankara would take the “necessary steps, including possible annulment of the bilateral readmission agreement,” following Thursday’s decision by the Greek Supreme Court to deny extradition of the eight Turkish officers.

The officers, who were soldiers in the Turkish military, flew their helicopters to Alexandroupolis on July 16, 2016 as the military coup attempt in Turkey failed. The soldiers have since claimed that if they return to Turkey their lives will be endangered, leading them to apply for asylum in Greece.



Greece, as well as all of Europe relies heavily on the EU-Turkey migration deal as it details that asylum seeking migrants who come to Greece from Turkey will have their asylum requests denied and be sent back to Turkey.

Erdogan implies Tsipras promised to return Turkish officers, expresses anger
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras making it clear that failure to return the officers would harm bilateral ties.

Erdogan made comments suggesting that Tsipras had promised him that the eight officers would be returned. “The first night [after the attempted coup] I called him. He said the matter would be settled in 15 to 20 days,” Erdogan said, referring to Tsipras.

The Turkish leader spoke of “terrorists” who must be tried in their country. “The delay in their return obviously undermines trust,” he said, in reference to bilateral ties.