Solidarity Protests For Greece Organized in Many European Countries

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Solidarity protests for Greece are being organized in many European countries for this Saturday. People will protest against the economic crisis and its effects on Greek society.

As noted in an online call to the international audience, the austerity measures that the Greek parliament voted on February 12 (under the pressure of the EU and IMF) are imposing major reductions in salaries and pensions while the dismissal of thousands civil servants is planned.

The indignant movement warns that Greece “is being used as a laboratory experiment”.

“Greek people need international solidarity and ask for our support. We respond to their call. We are all Greeks! ”

Protests of solidarity will start on Saturday 14:00 local time. Demonstrations are planned even in New York (14:00 Saturday at the Zuccotti park, where members of the ‘Occupy New York’ movement have camped for months).

During the last months the solidarity movement for the people of Greece has been increasing rapidly in prominence. Thousands of ordinary European citizens have joined their voices to the “Movement of Nantes” demanding double nationality.

(Source:http://www.happensingreece.com)

‘Twice A Stranger’ Exhibition To Be Presented in Istanbul

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‘Twice a Stranger’ is a journey into the greatest forced migrations of the 20th century, when millions of people were uprooted and moved to new homelands. Based on oral testimonies and film archive, this multimedia exhibition brings visitors face-to-face with the survivors of these traumatic events.

From the Greek-Turkish exchange in 1923, ‘Twice a Stranger’ travels to the Partition of India, the German-Polish forced migration at the end of World War II and to the Cyprus crisis of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Through these events, visitors are confronted by the enormous consequences of population transfer and discover what lessons can be learnt from these tragedies.

This is an exhibition about the people who are never quite at home, both in the place where they were born and where they grow old. This is the story of their memories, their common experience of lost homelands and communities ripped apart; the story of being ‘Twice a Stranger’.

The exhibition will be initiated on the 23rd of February at the University Bilgi of Istanbul. The exhibition is organized by İstanbul Bilgi University and Anemon Productions. The opening will be held in the presence of author Bruce Clark and professor Roger Zetter (Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford University).

‘Twice a Stranger’ will be distributed online and via a multi-media exhibition and will be hosted at the Benaki Museum in Athens and the Leventis Municipal Museum in Nicosia during 2012.

The project is accompanied by educational programmes, storytelling sessions, documentary screenings, music workshops, community and outreach events.

Greece Participates in 13th Architecture Biennale of Venice

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After a decision taken by Nikolaos Sifounakis, Greek Alternate Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, the Ministry of Environment will once again undertake the organization of the Greek participation in the 13th Architecture Biennale of Venice.

The 13th Exhibition will take place from August 29 to November 25, 2012, at the Giardini and at the Arsenale and in various other venues in Venice. The title chosen by David Chipperfield for the 13th International Architecture Exhibition is: Common Ground.

Greek participation aims at promoting and strengthening contemporary Greek architectural work. The Greek Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change is planning to create an institutional body concerning the intensive promotion of the contemporary Greek architectural work. The major purpose for Greek participation is the promotion of Greece internationally.

The architects who wish to apply for the Biennale can visit the official website of the Greek Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change.

Greek TV Promotes Vietnamese Tourism

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Greek channel 902 TV has said it will continue to work with the Vietnamese embassy in Athens to promote Vietnam as a destination, and strengthen co-operation in introducing the people, landscapes, cultures, historical traditions, economics, politics, and societies in both Vietnam and Greece through their network.

The broadcaster made the commitment at a recent meeting with the embassy.

902 TV has co-ordinated with the embassy for this since the latter opened in December 2010.

It showed stories about Vietnamese circus and art performances in Athens last December and a get-together to welcome spring in 2012, both co-organised by the embassy and Vietnamese living in Greece.

(Source:vietnamnews.vnagency.com)

Strong Greek Presence at Tourism Exhibition in Bulgaria

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Greece participated in the Tourism Exhibition “SPA & Holidays” in Sofia of Bulgaria, with an impressive stall presenting awesome pictures of the Parthenon and White Tower from the city of Thessaloniki.

Bulgarian Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, praised the Greek stall in the exhibition during a meeting with the Greek ambassador to Sofia, Thrasyvoulos Stamatopoulos.

The exhibition emphasized the importance of the Bulgarian market concerning the tourism sector in Northern Greece. The cultural heritage of Greece is being presented and promoted through digital touring in the new museum of the Acropolis.

Traicho Traikov emphasized that there is the prospective for further cooperation in the tourism sector between Bulgaria and Greece.

On his part, the Greek diplomat underlined that the Bulgarian-Greek cooperation is not merely political and financial, but recently has become a cooperation on a national level.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Attend Grand National Assembly of Turkey

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Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is going to hold a talk during the Grand National Assembly of Turkey that will be held in Ankara.

It is the first time after the birth of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 that the Ecumenical Patriarch has been invited by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Patriarch Bartholomew is going to talk about the problems that minorities in Turkey are facing, as well the reopening of the Theological School in Halki.

Moreover, Patriarch Bartholomew is going to ask for the deletion of some offensive references to Greek, Armenian and Syrian Christians that have been included in school books, while he will discuss the public sector employment rate concerning minorities.

It is assumed that Turkey, by inviting the Patriarch, intends to redefine the hostile attitude towards Christian minorities, aiming at strengthening the rights and presence of minorities in Turkey.

Solidarity Towards Greek People in Italy

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The Greek Ambassador to Rome, Michalis Kampanis, had a meeting with representatives of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Italian Parliament, including Margherita Boniver, Ferdinando Adornato, Gianni Vernetti, Mario Di Napoli and Enrico Pianetta.

The representatives of the Committee have gone to the Greek Embassy in Rome in order to express their solidarity and support towards Greek people.

The Greek Ambassador to Rome informed the Committee about the voting on the new austerity plan and the new measures that will be imposed, and emphasized the continuous support of Greece on behalf of Italy.

Moreover, the President of the Italian Committee, Margherita Boniver, announced that an Italian Intergroup Delegation will visit the Greek Parliament in order to express its support to Greeks.

Lapo Pisteli, a member of the Italian Committee, stated that harsh economic and taxation measures are useful, but in the case of Greece these measures can kill Greece. “A Marshal plan is needed for the rescue of Greek country and its people”, Pisteli concluded.

Turkish Airlines To Cooperate With Tourism Organization of Chalkidiki

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During a press conference at the Holiday Inn Istanbul Hotel, Turkish Airlines announced their cooperation with the Tourism Organization of Chalkidiki in Greece.

This cooperation aims at promoting the Prefecture of Chalkidiki together with the city of Thessaloniki in the region of Turkey.

The beginning of the cooperation between Turkish Airlines and the Tourism Organization of Chalkidiki will further bring about an increase in tourist arrivals in Greece, especially for those who choose Turkish Airlines for their flight.

Finally, representatives of the Tourism Organization of Chalkidiki expressed their appreciation concerning the aviation company’s contribution to the further promotion of Chalkidiki.

Armed Robbery at Ancient Olympia Museum; Minister Quits

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Greek Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos resigned on Friday after masked armed robbers stole more than 60 ancient objects of “incalculable” value from a museum in Olympia.
Sixty-eight objects were whisked from a museum dedicated to the ancient Olympic Games after two masked men immobilized the museum’s sole female guard as she arrived to take over the early morning shift, officials said.
“There were two of them, and they had a gun,” Olympia Mayor Thymios Kotzias told Flash Radio.
“They immobilized the guard as the shift changed at 7am (0500 GMT), having previously knocked out the alarm,” he said.
“We must wait and see what the local archaeology supervisor will say, but the items were of incalculable value,” Kotzias said.
A government source said Geroulanos had submitted his resignation over the incident, but it was not immediately clear if it had been accepted by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.
Olympia, birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, is visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
The incident occurred at the town’s second museum, which showcases nearly 500 objects related to the Games, such as clay vessels and bronze discs used in the events, stone tablets and bronze statues of athletes.
Kotzias said no security staff are actually present between 6 and 7am, when the building is guarded by an electronic alarm.
“The museum had never been targeted before,” the mayor said.
The main Olympia museum, which is better guarded, features statues, architectural elements and offerings from the sprawling ancient complex where the Games were held from at least 776 BCE to 393 AD.
This is the second major theft to embarrass Greek culture officials in a month as the country grapples with its most serious debt crisis in decades.
In January, a painting personally gifted by Spanish-born master Pablo Picasso to Greece was stolen from the Athens National Gallery along with two other important artworks by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian and 16th century Italian painter Guglielmo Caccia, better known as Moncalvo.
In that case, the thief or thieves, had knocked out the alarm system and forced open a balcony door at the back of the building, which is located across from one of Athens top hotels.
The gallery was on reduced security staffing owing to a strike.
(source: AFP)

Greece Waits for EU's Answer: Pensions Cut, Military Spared

Greek pensioners who thought they'd been spared cuts now know otherwise

ATHENS – We’ve done our part, now you do yours, Greece has told leaders of the Eurozone and Troika who will decide whether the country gets a second bailout of $169 billion to complement a first ongoing series of $152 billion in rescue loans to keep the country from defaulting and being unable to pay workers and pensioners. European Union leaders were supposed to decide on Feb. 15 whether to release the money after Greece’s coalition government rammed through new austerity measures in the face of violent protests, but has kept Greece twisting in the wind, saying it may make up its mind in a meeting in Brussels on Feb. 20 – or maybe March 2, and even floating the idea that it may not decide until after Greece’s elections, tentatively set for some time in April or May.
All that delay has undermined the urgency to pass new cuts of up to 32 percent in the minimum wage and deprive private sector workers of bargaining fights, pushed through Parliament in one day by interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, who said Greece would have collapsed into chaos otherwise, and after Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said he wouldn’t have enough time to finish a deal to write down as much as 70 percent of Greece’s debt otherwise. Those deadlines have passed.
Leaders of the Troika of the EU-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank said they wanted written assurances from the coalition, now compromised of holdover ministers of the former ruling PASOK Socialists and their bitter rival New Democracy conservatives to uphold the reform measures, and got them. Then they said they wanted Greece to show how it would make $426 million more in cuts in the 2012 budget and got it when PASOK leader George Papandreou, the former Prime Minister hounded out of office late last year in the wake of two years of protests, riots and strikes against austerity measures and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras reneged on their promises not to allow cuts in pensions in return for cutting the minimum wage.
The newspaper Kathimerini reported that other cuts will come in special salaries, which include public sector wages for doctors, judges, diplomatic staff and the police. The cuts are expected to reach 10 percent and in some cases 20 percent of salaries and are set to come into effect on July 1, as opposed to September 1 as originally planned, and designed to save $118-$131 million, while another $65 million in cuts will be made in the health sector. Pensioners who thought they had been spared by pledges from Papandreou and Samaras will see their benefits cut a reported 15 percent while defense spending was exempted after the Troika rejected military cuts.
Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said Greece had no more loose ends. “The process for the new program and the cuts have been concluded,” he said. “There are no more economic issues outstanding.” He denied that some Eurozone finance ministers had suggested obtaining from Greece’s smaller parties a commitment to the package of austerity measures and structural reforms Parliament passed. He wouldn’t’ respond to a suggestion from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble that Greece should postpone elections planned for April and install a technocratic government instead. “It is absolutely up to Greece when to hold elections,” Kapsis said. Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager added to the pressure on Greece. “We’re back at square one,” he told Dutch MPs. “Greece is in a much worse state than had been anticipated at the time.” When Eurozone leaders agreed on more help for Greece in October, 2011 the country’s debt was expected to fall to 120 percent of GDP by 2020, which was taken to be the maximum threshold. The new level is now expected to be closer to 129 percent, according to the latest study by the IMF.