Saturday 12 December 2004

Greek police destroy makeshift bomb in Athens

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police have destroyed a makeshift bomb outside the headquarters of a construction company in southern Athens following an anonymous phone call, police officials say.
"An anonymous caller phoned a newspaper giving a 15-minute deadline for the bomb to explode," a police official said on Saturday. "He did not say who had placed the bomb or why."
Bomb squads cordoned off the area around the company building in the Kalamaki neighbourhood and proceeded with a controlled explosion after the deadline passed without any blast.
The official said there were no damages or injuries and the yet unknown explosive device was of minor strength.
The construction firm, Olympiaki Techniki, was at the centre of a political storm earlier this year when several then ruling socialist deputies were accused of attempting to pass legislation that would favour the company.

 

Monday the 29th of November 2004








 

Greek Lawyers Halt 'Alexander' Legal Row

ATHENS, Greece - A group of Greek lawyers angry at the portrayal of Alexander the Great as a bisexual in the Hollywood movie "Alexander" suspended legal action Tuesday after conceding they had not watched the film.
Court officials said the group of 25 lawyers withdrew a request to delay the movie's screening in Greece.
The Oliver Stone epic starring Colin Farrell as the warrior king opened to mixed reviews in the United States
The lawyers argue there is no historical evidence supporting claims that Alexander had male lovers. They had demanded the movie's release be delayed until its producers agreed to include a disclaimer explaining that the film is a fictional portrayal of Alexander's life.
But they agreed to suspend the action until watching a preview screening of "Alexander" later this week.
Alexander the Great, who carved out a vast empire east of Greece before his death at age 32, is idolized in this nation as a symbol of its ancient glory. No less than 29 streets in Athens are named after him.
So when Oliver Stone’s new epic about the conqueror’s life depicted him as a bisexual who has a fling with his childhood friend Hephaestion, the portrayal hit a raw nerve in a nation where homophobic attitudes remain widespread.
A group of 25 Greek lawyers has threatened to sue the movie’s producers over what they describe as a distortion of history — but insist the protest is not aimed at gays.
“I want to stress we have nothing against gays or lesbians. We respect their rights as (we do) everybody else’s,” said Yiannis Varnakos, the head of the lawyers’ group.
“We would have reacted the same way if the issue didn’t involve homosexuality,” he said. “We just don’t want a distortion of historical facts.”
The lawyers are calling on the filmmakers, Warner Bros., to carry a disclaimer that the movie is a fictional portrayal of Alexander’s life.
Gay rights campaigners have condemned the lawyers’ campaign, contending it is a clear case of homophobia disguised as a quest for historical truth. “When it comes to these sorts of matters, Greece is stuck in the Middle Ages,” said Athanassios Vessis, manager of the only gay bookstore in Greece. “Everyone knows homosexuality was something natural in ancient Greece,” he said. “I don’t see the reason for all the fuss.”
The debate centered mostly around his homosexuality. In Stone’s 173-minute film, Alexander has an intimate relationship with childhood friend and cavalry commander Hephaestion.
Historians say ancient Greek men often had sexual partners of either gender and many argue Alexander was no exception. Stone’s consultant on the movie, British historian Robert Lane Fox, wrote in his 1973 book, “Alexander the Great”: “Alexander was only defeated once, the Cynic philosophers said long after his death, and that was by Hephaestion’s thighs.”
Varnakos challenged Fox to explain his conclusions, since none of the sources of Alexander’s contemporaries survive.
Suggestions that Alexander had male lovers, he said, are based on accounts given more than 300 years after his death.
 

Thuesday the 25th of November 2004

Greece seeks to defend language

ATHENS (AP) - Greece said today it will join the Organisation of La Francophonie, or French-speaking nations, to help protect itself and Europe from domination by a single language - a reference to English.
Although Greece did not openly name English, Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said that his government "believes in multilingualism".
"We want to join this organisation because we don't want a monopoly by a single language but to have many," Koumoutsakos said.
He added that Greece would join the organisation during its two-day summit tomorrow in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. "We need to express ourselves in many languages," he said. "Anything that can be done not to go to a single language must be taken."
Though there are no figures available, English has in recent years dominated as the second language of choice in Greece.
La Francophonie was created 10 years ago to promote French culture and language. The group numbers 49 countries, including French-influenced countries from Canada to Vietnam. Most of them are former French-speaking colonies in Africa.

Sunday the 24th of October 2004

New Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria enthroned : Theodore II

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AFP) -  The Greek Orthodox Church's new Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, Theodore II, was enthroned in this coastal city in northern Egypt. Greek President Costis Stefanopoulos attended the three-hour-long ceremony, which took place at the seat of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, one of the branches of Eastern Orthodoxy. Around 2,000 Orthodox worshippers crammed into the nave and galleries of the Al-Bishara Church in Alexandria's central Raml neighbourhood for the ceremony. Hundreds of others, mainly worshippers who travelled from Greece or members of Alexandria's small Greek community, watched the ceremony on a huge screen set up outisde the church for the occasion.
Theodore II, who also has the title of pope, succeeds Petros VII, who died last month with 16 other people in a Greek army helicopter crash off Mount Athos in northeastern Greece.
The new patriarch entered the church in a procession of priests holding three-pronged candlesticks before donning a gold-embroidered red robe.
His lengthy speech was often interrupted by cheers from a boisterous congregation to which the patriarch responded by waving at the crowd.
Christian Coptic Pope Shenuda III, Alexandria Governor Abdul Salam al-Mahgub, as well as Vatican representatives, also attended the ceremony during which Theodore II was crowned and received the patriarchal crosier. Aged 50, he becomes the second most senior figure in the Orthodox hierarchy after Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople (Istanbul).
A funeral was held in Cairo on September 15 four days after the death of the Cypriot-born Petros, who was greatly respected for his work on improving Orthodox relations with the Coptic and Roman Catholic Churches, as well as for humanitarian commitments in Africa.
Theodore II was chosen on October 9 by a college made up of the 13 metropolitans of the Holy synod of the patriarchy of Alexandria. There are an estimated 50,000 Greek Orthodox in Egypt, whose total population is over 70 million.
Theodore was born on the island of Crete in 1954 and consecrated a deacon in 1975 and a bishop in 1978. He studied theology at the University of Salonika in northern Greece and worked for the archbishop of Sfakia in Crete before leaving Greece in 1985 to serve the patriarchate of Alexandria.
He was elected metropolitan of Cameroon in 1997 and of Zimbabwe in 2002.
 

Thursday the 21th of October 2004

Burial Site Found Near Ancient Olympia

ATHENS (AP) -  Archaeologists have discovered ancient graves during excavations near Ancient Olympia, the hallowed site where the Olympic Games were born in 776 BC, the Culture Ministry said on Thursday.
The 25 limestone graves date back to the Neolithic era - roughly 4000 BC to 2000 BC - and were found during construction work 322 kilometres southwest of Athens.
The ministry said each grave was used to bury three to five people, but as many as 10 in one case. Also found inside the graves were amphorae -or two-handled ceramic jars - and jewelry buried along with the dead.
"Bones have been preserved in excellent condition, along with grave offerings ... that will yield significant information about the society of this prehistoric settlement," a ministry statement said.

 

Tuesday the 19th of October 2004

Fisherman nets 2,400-year-old Greek statue

ATHENS (AP) - The remains of a 2,400-year-old bronze statue are displayed in this handout photo released by the Greek culture ministry in Athens on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2004.
The statue was found by a fisherman earlier this month near the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos.
The Greek Culture Ministry says it's missing a head, an arm and a leg, but it's still quite a find. Experts think the statue is of a young athlete, given the fact that it is naked, its stance indicates movement, and that there's a great deal of anatomical detail.
It is about four-feet-eight-inches tall and weighs nearly 155 pounds.
The fisherman handed the statue over the the port authority on October 15th, then it was taken to Athens under police guard.
 

Tuesday the 28th of September 2004
 

The Paralympic flag is carried during the closing ceremony for the 2004 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Athens, Greece, on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004
 

Paralympics celebrations cancelled

Monday the 20th of September 2004

Please do touch the objects : Athens tactual museum for the blind

ATHENS (AFP) - A small museum in Athens offers blind people a rare chance to literally get in touch with great works of art otherwise kept from them behind plexiglas and protected by hi-tech sensors.
"Thank you for helping us discover so much," an anonymous French visitor noted in the guestbook of the Tactual Museum in the Athens quarter of Kallithea.
"If you want to see the Venus de Milo you have to go to the Louvre in Paris. But if you want to touch her you'd better come here," Dimitra Asideri, the museum's director.
Opened in 1984, the museum displays exact, original-size plaster copies of more than 80 works of ancient Greek masterpieces and bas-relief representations, including famous statues such as the Venus de Milo, the Charioteer of Delphi and the Zeus or Poseidon of Artemision.
Accessible clay models of the Athens Acropolis with its landmark Parthenon temple are also on show.
Adjacent inscriptions in the Greek version of the Braille language for the blind describe the exhibits. Since the Athens Paralympics began last Friday, non-Greek visitors receive headphones offering guided tours in English.
"Contrary to other institutions, we actually encourage visitors to touch the exhibits. To our knowledge, there are just four or five museums like ours across the world," Asideris said.
"It is so nice to be in a museum when they don't shout at you for getting near the exhibits," read the guestbook inscription of Nigel Howard, another visitor.
"Every museum in the world should have a room with replicas for the visually-impaired," said Asideri.
"I remember once, when I was in the British Museum in London, I simply refused to leave if they did not allow me to touch the ancient Greek marbles they have there," she said laughing.
The Tactual Museum is located in the old offices of the Lighthouse for the Blind, a US-sponsored group founded in 1946 to offer jobs and services to visually-impaired people in devastated post-war Greece.
Damaged in a severe earthquake in 1999, the museum reopened in March, just six months before the Paralympics.
A separate room opened specially for last month's Olympics, and the Paralympics. It features carved maps and pictures for the blind depicting the Games' mascots and all competition sites in their greater Athens area. In their midst stands a replica of one of the most celebrated ancient sculptures, the Hermes of Praxiteles.
"That was the most expensive remake we have. It cost around 7,500 euros (9,100 dollars)," Asideri said.
All the sculptures remakes were made by a state-authorized workshop of Greece's Culture Ministry. The museum relies entirely on volunteers for its operation. It extends to two floors and is -- naturally -- accessible to people in wheelchairs.

Friday the 17th of September 2004

Yiorgos Toptsis, a Greek Paralympian, lights the Olympic Flame in the Athens Olympic stadium during the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games
 

Opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games : Athens throws Paralympic party for largest games ever

ATHENS  welcomed the 12th Paralympic Games with a spectacular Opening Ceremony, in the Olympic Stadium where 3.837 athletes, representing a record number of 136 nations, paraded.
A plane tree, 25 metres tall, and a sun along with the basic elements of nature (water, fire, earth and wind) were part of the simple and anthropocentric Ceremony. Afroditi Simiti, Giannis Zouganelis and Sophia Roboli were the Masters of the Ceremony, while Vicky Leandros and Marios Frangoulis also took part.
3,000 volunteers were present in this Ceremony as well, having again a significant role to play.
The President of the Greek Republic, Costis Stephanopoulos declared the opening of the Games, while the President of ATHENS 2004 Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and the President of the International Paralympic Committee Phil Craven addressed the public.
The Paralympic flame was lit impressively by Georgios Toptsis, Greek Athletics athlete of Long Jump. The lighting of the Stadium’s Cauldron signaled the start of the Games.



                                               

 

Saturday the 11th of September 2004
 

Greece Declares Three Days of Mourning

Sunday the 29th of August 2004

Clotusing Ceremony in Athens

ATHENS (AFP) - The 2004 Olympic Games came to a close with the men's marathon celebrating ancient Greece but with the modern curses of security and drugs casting final, depressing clouds over the showpiece.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge told thousands of athletes and spectators at the lavish closing ceremony that the war on drugs was being won despite the final day being marred by two more doping cases as well as an embarrassing security breach.
With the action rounded-up, Rogge was left to praise the Games which had been dogged by spiralling costs and construction delays.
"These were the Games where it became increasingly difficult to cheat and where clean athletes were better protected," Rogge told the closing ceremony at a packed Olympic Stadium.
"These were the Games where you, the athletes, have touched our hearts by your performances, your joys and your tears. "These were unforgettable, dream Games." Rogge also praised the Greek organisers.
"You have won. You have won by brilliantly meeting the tough challenge of holding the Games. He ended in the traditional way. "I declare the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad closed and I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Beijing to celebrate with us there the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
Greek music and dance kicked off an evening of celebration before the flame was extinguished and the flag lowered.
A firework display welcomed the athletes into the Olympic Stadium. The torch has now been passed to China as Beijing prepares to host the Games in 2008.
Despite pre-Games fears over construction and security, the Athens Olympics have generally been hailed as a success. In his closing speech, International Olympic committee president Jacques Rogge told the city: "You have won. "These were unforgettable, dream Games." And Athens Games boss Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki added: "The Olympics came home and we've shown the world the great things Greeks can do."
The opening of the Games was overshadowed by the missed drugs tests of Greek stars Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou.  And among a steady stream of failed drugs tests during the two-week event, three Olympic champions were stripped of their titles. "These Games were held in peace and brotherhood," he said.
"These were the Games where it became increasingly difficult to cheat and where clean athletes were better protected." Earlier in the Games, Rogge had described security, which saw athletes outnumbered seven to one by security personnel, as "flawless".
The ten year-old Fotini Papaleonidopoulou holds a lantern in the shape of a seed after lighting it from the Olympic cauldron.
Dancers danced, arms folded, legs kicking high, during an enactment of a traditional Greek wedding. Fireworks exploded over the stadium packed full with 70,000 fans who waved twinkling strobes they were given to light up the show.
China's capital city put on a short ceremony filled with a preview of what's to come. Chinese string instruments played and red-clad martial arts performers romped around the stage. Elaborately clad women wearing headdresses walked out on stilts. A giant, red lantern popped up and, while a young Chinese girl sang, a banner was unfurled that said "Welcome At the end, a chorus of popular Greek singers (Haris Alexiou, Dimitra Galani, Marinella, George Dalaras, Yiannis Parios, Sakis Rouvas, Anna Vissi, Alkistis Protopsalti and Antonis Remos) serenaded the crowd and 150,000 balloons were sent skyward. While the music blared, silver, blue and white confetti rained down as the athletes headed for the exits, saying goodbye to an Olympics that were spectacular and memorable, just like the city that hosted them to Beijing."

      

Sunday the 29th of August 2004
 

Results of Olympic games

Here is the spreadsheet of the result from the Olympic games, here above are the 5 first nations.
To see the whole table, go and see Generalities/Greece of Today

Rank by gold	Country					Total
1	USA	United States	35	39	29	103
2	CHN	China	32	17	14	63
3	RUS	Russia	27	27	38	92
4	AUS	Australia	17	16	16	49
5	JPN	Japan	16	9	12	37

Friday the 13th of August 2004


 

                       
                                   

Greece dazzles world at opening ceremony

ATHENS (Reuters) - With the five Olympic rings ablaze in the middle of a manmade sea, the Summer Games returned to their birthplace Friday in an epic homecoming that joined the gods of ancient Greece and modern sport.
The biggest parade of nations in the games' history began with an announcer's cry of "Welcome back to Greece!" and culminated with a Greek windsurfing champion lighting the Olympic cauldron, which rose slowly at the end of a slender 102-foot arm to burn brightly above the stadium.
It was a moment many doubted Greek organizers could pull off, after years of worrisome delays and constant pressure to bolster the most expensive security network ever at the games.
The opening ceremony also closed an important circle in sports, from the Olympics' innocent rebirth in 1896 to the latest gathering of the world's greatest athletes under 202 flags in an age beset by fears of terrorism and instability.
"Greece is standing before you. We are ready. ... We have waited long for this moment," said the games' chief organizer, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, standing under a model of an olive tree in Olympic Stadium.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge urged athletes to "show us that sport unites by overriding national, political, religious and language barriers."
"We need peace, we need tolerance, we need brotherhood," he said.
At dusk, a countdown video filled the screen at the stadium -- whose new weblike canopy was bolted into place only last month. The numbers clicked down from 28: one second for each of the games scheduled since the first modern Olympiad in an all-marble arena in central Athens. Each tick of the clock was accompanied by the amplified sound of a human heartbeat.
Then, with a blast of fireworks ringing the stadium roof, the ceremony was fully under way. Minutes later, the five Olympic rings, representing the five continents of the world, were ablaze.
"We did it! We did it!" chanted a group of flag-waving Greeks in the stands.
A sign of the security measures floated overhead -- a blimp with supersensitive spyware. Outside the stadium sat symbols of the delays -- dirt expanses instead of landscaped paths, idle cranes and trees planted just last week.
Earlier, an IOC member who helped oversee the preparations noted how much was at stake if the Greeks failed. "I think you have saved Greece and saved the IOC from great humiliation," Alex Gilady told Athens organizers.
The spectacle of the opening ceremony -- tradition mixed with Las Vegas-style fanfare -- celebrated Greek history, culture and civilization.
After the burning Olympic flames subsided, a boy on a replica of a ship sailed into the arena, waving a small Greek flag. Then a centaur -- the mythological half-man, half-horse -- waded into the water and tossed a spear of light representing a javelin. From the center of the stadium rose a statue representing an ancient form from Greece's Cyclades islands. The form broke apart to reveal other figures from Greek history.
The ancient god of love, Eros, flew above two lovers dancing and playing in the water. Then Eros hovered over a procession of figures from Greek history -- from ancient vase paintings to a tribute to the Greek shepherd, Spiros Louis, who won the first Olympic marathon.
"The great moment has come!" cried the announcer. Moments later, the parade of nations began with the appearance of Greek weightlifter Pyrros Dimas, who is seeking his fourth consecutive gold medal at the games.
Greece, because of its links to the ancient games, entered first, as usual. But, as the host nation, the more than 440 Greek athletes also were the last into the stadium -- walking single file as the crowd chanted "Hellas, Hellas," as the country is called in Greek.
          

Friday the 30th of July 2004

Athens Declares Victory in Games Preparations

ATHENS (Reuters) - The final piece of the transport puzzle is in place after the opening of the rail link to the airport while the Olympic village welcomed its first athletes.
"Today is a great day, all venues have been delivered," Games general secretary Spyros Capralos told reporters.
"The Games have begun for us with the opening of the Olympic village."
Greek organizers were committed to handing over finished venues by the end of July and Capralos admitted that not all the stadiums had been completed ahead of the 16-day Games.
"Of course there is some work going on inside the venues," he said. Work is scheduled to continue until the last minute on the showpiece main stadium which will host the August 13 opening ceremony.
Athens will welcome 10,500 athletes from 202 nations and the first of these were finding their way around the 2,292-apartment athletes' village northwest of the capital. After years of criticism over in-fighting, bureaucracy and delays Greek ministers said Athens had triumphed against the odds.
Alternate Culture Minister Fani Palli-Petralia, in charge of Olympic preparations, said Athens was "ready from all perspectives" during a visit to the International Broadcast Center which will beam Games-time pictures to the world.
Transport Minister Michalis Liapis said the completion of the airport rail link was a vindication for Greek planners.
"Despite the fact that even a few months ago no one believed that the suburban rail would be completed, despite the serious concerns of the IOC .. we did it," said Liapis.
Organizers were shown a 'yellow card' by the IOC in 2000 and warned the Games could be taken away from the home of both the ancient and modern Olympics unless matters improved.
The Games' costs have soared to more than seven billion dollars, more than double those of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and 30 percent more than initially expected. The security plan alone will cost $1.2 billion.
The light rail line, that along with the expanded metro system will connect the new airport with the city center, was among the most troublesome infrastructure projects.
It joins the coastal tram, a refurbished electric train, expanded bus fleet and hundreds of kilometers of new roads to complete the Games-time transport network.
Teething troubles remain as the Greek capital and its four million inhabitants adjust to the new services.
Tram passengers have experienced bad delays while service to the airport will be limited for the first week of operation.
Greek organizers have appealed to Athenians not to use their cars to try to ease congestion ahead of the arrival of hundreds of thousands of tourists, officials and athletes.

 

Monday the 05th of july 2004




 

             

EURO 2004 : Greece Wins European Championship !
2004, Year of the Greece

ATHENS (Reuters) - Millions of Greeks around the world erupted in joyful celebration, hardly believing their eyes after Greece beat hosts Portugal in the Euro 2004 soccer final on Sunday.
"It is true, the dream is real, we are holding the Cup high up, we are in seventh heaven," screamed the commentator for Greek national TV, calling on all Greeks to party until morning.
"The Greek soul won, with a bit of help from the German method," said Aspasia Vlahou, on her way to central Athens to celebrate. "If you have faith, dreams really can come true."
The Greek squad, coached by German Otto Rehhagel, started the tournament as 80-1 outsiders and fought their way to the final past holders France and the fancied Czech Republic before beating the hosts 1-0 in the final.
In a well-rehearsed ritual, millions flooded streets and squares across Greece after the final whistle, draped in the national colors of blue-and-white, whistling, setting off fireworks and chanting the national anthem.
In Athens, a city supposedly under a partial security curtain before the August 13-29 Olympic Games (news - web sites), hundreds of thousands made their way downtown in cars, on mopeds and on foot, beeping car horns, waving flags and hugging total strangers.
Flares turned night to day around central Omonia square, where people climbed up statues, lamp posts and trees, raced their motorbikes in impromptu motorcades and joined marching bands in clapping and singing.
"Greeks know how to dream, tonight we will celebrate, Greece will burn, no one will go to work tomorrow," said civil servant Mary Makri.
Celebrations were triggered when a 57th-minute goal by Angelos Haristeas united Greeks in a collective scream of ecstasy.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis jumped up and down in the stands of the Luz stadium in Lisbon, clenching his fists and cheering.
"It was a crazy journey from the start, but the team believed in themselves and made all our dreams come true," said Periklis Giannaris, hoarse from cheering after the final whistle.
Greek police estimated that more than 250,000 people had gathered in downtown Athens by three am (8 p.m. EDT). No trouble was reported apart from minor injuries and a few damaged cars.
Celebrations spread to Greeks around the world, estimated to be around seven million people from New York to London and Melbourne.
"This is a victory for Greek people all over the world, we hope we have given them something of our joy and something to carry with them in the future," said Greece captain Theodoros Zagorakis.
Thousands of Greeks and Greece fans watching the match in central Berlin erupted in shouts of joy at the final whistle, shooting fireworks into the night sky.
"We're all Greeks today," said one of the 4,000 German fans cheering for Greece at Potsdamer Platz square.
"We have been shouting non-stop, we are going mad, we will flood the city," said Nikos Chatzigeorgiou, a student watching the game in London.
 

Sunday the 04th of July 2004

Greece's German coach Otto Rehhagel and the goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis
 

EURO 2004 : Greece - Portugal : 1-0
Ancient Greece had 12 gods, modern Greece has 11

LISBON, Portugal - Greece achieved one of the biggest upsets in soccer history, winning the European Championship with a 1-0 victory Sunday over host Portugal on Angelos Charisteas' goal early in the second half.
Charisteas scored in the 57th minute on a header off a corner kick from Angelos Basinas.
Giourkas Seitaridis went on a speedy run down the right and was stopped by a fine block by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, with the ball rolling over the end line. Basinas floated the corner kick into the 6-yard box, and Charisteas timed his run perfectly to beat goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira from 5 yards.
The unheralded Greeks, a soccer outsider given little chance of advancing from a first-round group that included Spain and Portugal, had never won a game at a major championship before this tournament. The victory came just over a month before Athens hosts the Olympics, from Aug. 13-29.
Ronaldo nearly tied it with 16 minutes remaining but with goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis out of position, he lobbed the ball over the crossbar.
Traianos Dellas blocked Ronaldo's shot with 10 minutes to go, and Nikopolidis allowed a rebound of Ricardo Carvalho's 25-yard shot, but Portugal didn't have anyone in front.
Greece upset the Portuguese 2-1 in the tournament opener on June 12, ousted defending champion France 1-0 in the quarterfinals on a goal by Charisteas, then beat the favored Czech Republic 1-0 in the semifinals. Charisteas' goal was nearly identical to Traianos Dellas' header in overtime that beat the Czechs on Thursday.
Greece, led by Germany's Otto Rehhagel, became the first team to win the quadrennial European title with a foreign coach.





 

 
 

Sunday 04th of July 2004

EURO 2004 : final between Portugal-Greece

Thousands of Greeks are set to travel to Lisbon this weekend for Sunday's Euro 2004 final between Greece and Portugal.
The Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourism Agents reported yesterday that over 30,000 Greek fans have been trying to get a seat on one of the 40 charter flights to Portugal.
The Government said it had arranged for more than 2500 seats on Olympic Airlines charter flights and would provide fans with tickets for the final.
"Greeks prepare for an 'invasion' to Lisbon," said the daily To Vima. "By airplane, bus and cars, 25,000 Greeks in the grand final," the daily Ta Nea wrote.
Even Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis, a self proclaimed soccer fan, is planning to attend Sunday's final at the Stadium of Light.
But not all Greeks travelling to Lisbon will be able to find a ticket for the game.
The Greek soccer federation has received a total of 12,330 tickets, a number which may prove to small for the unprecedented demand.
For those staying at home, street parties are being organized in regardless of the result of the match. Several districts in Athens and in cities across the country are setting up large TV screens in squares, while street vendors are busy selling Greek flags.
 

Tuesday 1st of July 2004







 

Turtle conservation loses out to Olympics in Greece

ATHENS — Greece's endangered turtles are among the first losers at this summer's Olympics, as funding cuts have left nesting beaches at the mercy of uncontrolled tourism, environmental groups said on Wednesday.
The withdrawal of state funding to a marine park set aside for the turtles has left international volunteers in a pitch battle with tourism operators, conservationists said.
Staff at the National Marine Park on the island of Zakynthos stopped work in May after going unpaid for nine months.
Greece hosts the largest nesting population of the endangered Mediterranean loggerhead turtles whose hatching cycle coincides with the summer tourism season — and this year with the August 13 to 29 Athens Olympics.
"This is one of the worst ecological scandals in the European Union," said Lilli Venizelos from turtle conservation group Medasset. "The locals can see the state doesn't give a damn, so they've taken the law into their own hands."
Five beaches were protected by the park in Laganas Bay on the southern tip of the island. One of the beaches has 13 illegal buildings that authorities have failed to demolish.
Activists have reported speed boat races in the harbor and tourists swarming onto the beaches.
The WWF called on Greece to stop a tourist "free for all" from destroying crucial habitats.
Dimitris Dimopoulos from Achelon, the sea turtle protection society, said the government was blaming the crisis on preparations for the August 13-29 Athens Olympics.
"Things are out of control and the official excuse we keep hearing is, 'Sorry, guys, we are a new government and we have the Olympics right now,'" Dimopoulos said.
Loggerhead females start coming ashore to lay eggs by the end of May and finish nesting by the end of July, so hatching begins during the peak tourist season.
The protection of nesting sites on South Africa's Indian Ocean coast seems to have helped, with between 350 and 500 loggerheads tagged each season by scientists and their assistants compared to 200 or less in the 1960s, according to local wildlife officials.
 

Tuesday 1st of July 2004




 

EURO 2004 : Greece advanced to the final with a 1-0 victory in extra time

LISBON, Portugal -- The European Championships were supposed to be a minor diversion during Greece's Olympic summer. But as the nation prepares for Sunday's Euro 2004 final, soccer is suddenly on everybody's mind.
The wave of enthusiasm and patriotism that has swept over Greece in the past few weeks as its national soccer team kept advancing is a welcome change after months of uncertainty and international criticism over the state of Greece's preparations for the Aug. 13-29 Games.
Installing the roof over the Olympic stadium last month was a major symbolic achievement for Greece. The stunning run to the Euro 2004 final against Portugal on Sunday has boosted the nation's self-confidence even further.
"All the players and the coach acted as the best ambassadors for the Olympic Games," said Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the president of the Athens organizing committee. "They sent to the whole world an image of a Greece that is united, with discipline and teamwork, of a Greece that does not retreat before adversity, of a Greece that wins."
Many Greeks see the team as a role model for the nation — a tightly knit squad without ego problems.
"There's a good spirit in the team. We all play for each other; we all love each other," said midfielder Stylianos Giannakopoulos, who came on in the semifinals and joined the wild celebrations on the field following the 1-0 overtime victory over the Czech Republic.
Whatever happens on Sunday, enthusiasm will not be dampened in a nation that had never won a game in a major tournament until the start of Euro 2004 three weeks ago.
 

Friday the 25th of June 2004

EURO 2004 : Greece Upsets France 1 - 0 - Quarterfinal 

LISBON (Reuters) - Greece upset defending champion France 1-0 in the European Championship quarterfinal to advance to the last four of a major tournament for the first time.
``All around the world from Rio to New York people will hear about this,'' Greece coach Otto Rehhagel told reporters at Lisbon's Estadio Jose Alvalade. ``This is huge for Greek football.''
Angelos Charisteas scored his second goal in the tournament and ended France's campaign to become the first team to win consecutive European titles. He rose unchallenged in the 65th minute and powered a header past goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. Greece was ranked 14th of 16 teams by U.K. bookmaker Ladbrokes at the start of Euro 2004, while France was the favorite. Host nation Portugal is the new favorite.
It was France's first defeat in a non-exhibition match in two years. The result is the latest surprise in a tournament that has seen European powerhouses such as record three-time champion Germany, two-time World Cup winner Italy, and Spain exit in the first stage.
``We will enjoy ourselves tonight, but we have to keep our feet on the ground and tomorrow start planning for the next game,'' Rehhagel said.
The next game is on Thursday, against the winner of Sunday's quarterfinal the Czech Republic.
France, whose coach Jacques Santini has already said he's going to start next season in charge of English Premiership club Tottenham Hotspur, struggled all tournament.
It needed two injury-time goals to beat England 2-1 in its opener, drew 2-2 with Croatia thanks to a late goal from David Trezeguet, who handled the ball first, and labored against underdog Switzerland before a late Thierry Henry brace sealed what Henry said was a ``flattering'' 3-1 score-line.
Henry has failed to find the form that made him the top scorer in the Premiership last season. He missed several opportunities against Switzerland and again tonight.
The Greeks continually posed the questions. Barthez kept France in the game in the first half, making saves from Themistoklis Nikolaidis and Konstantinos Katsouranis. He also tipped over a 35-yard volley from Panagiotis Fyssas.
Greece, a 13/2 chance to win tonight, dominated the first half and created several chances. After 14 minutes, Nikolaidis tested Barthez with a 20-yard shot, and a minute later he scrambled to his left to smother a Katsouranis effort that hit the inside of the post.
Henry had the best effort for France, heading just wide from a Bixente Lizarazu cross. After 35 minutes Fyssas controlled the ball on his chest and fired a volley that forced Barthez to stretch and tip the ball over the bar.
France started positively after the interval. Henry twice headed wide from eight yards, and he had a long-range shot blocked by Greece keeper Antonios Nikopolidis. Mihalis Kapsis headed behind to stop Trezeguet converting a cross from Henry.
Greece, which is playing in its first tournament since 1994, had never won a game at the European Championship or World Cup finals before the competition started. After beating Portugal in its opening game, this was its second success.
Greece secured victory as Theo Zagorakis flicked the ball over Lizarazu and chipped a cross into the penalty area for Charisteas to head into the top right corner of the net. France has now conceded in four successive games after not allowing a goal for a year.
``We knew we had to be completely focussed and concentrated the whole game but we played really well. We can do even better,'' said man of the match Charisteas. ``We are the surprise of the tournament.''
It caps a great season for the 24-year-old, who helped Werder Bremen claim a German league and cup double. He said that was a great achievement, though ``here I represent my country and my people which is why my joy is bigger.''
 

Friday the 25th of June 2004






 

Olympic torch comes to Paris


PARIS (AP) - The Olympic flame made a spectacular entrance Friday in the City of Light, with a torch-bearing judo champion swooping down from the roof of a sports stadium to launch its whirlwind tour of Paris.

David Douillet, a two-time Olympic gold winner, was lowered by rope from the roof of the futuristic Stade de France, where Paris hopes to host its own Olympic Games in 2012.

From the stadium, in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, the flame headed into the city, where it was to be feted by dancers from the Moulin Rouge and serenaded by accordion players.

The torchbearers will include an Israeli girl, who will pass the flame to a Palestinian boy.

The torch "is a testament to humanity and a message of peace," said Douillet.

The relay was to end on Friday evening with a light show at the Eiffel Tower. Paris, site of the 1900 and 1924 Olympics, is among the favourites to host the 2012 event.

The torch is on the final European leg of a 35-day journey around the world before the Olympics start Aug. 13 in Athens, Greece. It came to Paris from Switzerland and heads Saturday to London

Sunday the 20th of  June 2004






 

Euro 2004:  Greeks qualified for quaterfinal : the surprise of the tournament

LISBON, Portugal (AP)— Greece coach Otto Rehhagel said it would be an honor to play France in a friendly match, let alone in a European championship quarterfinal. The Greeks, the surprise of the tournament, play the defending champions on Friday in what critics believe could be the most lopsided matchup of the final eight.
"We are glad just to be playing the French because it is too expensive to organize a friendly match," the German coach said. Rehhagel's players went through a light workout Wednesday on the outskirts of Lisbon, transport by a bus bearing the logo: "Ancient Greece had 12 Gods. Modern Greece has 11." Stelios Giannakopoulos practiced alone nursing a calf injury as players talked up their chances. "Every team has its possibilities, and so do we," said midfielder Vassilis Tsiartas. "If you go into the game thinking you have no chance, then you will definitely lose. A lot of things have changed in football. There are not so many differences between teams. Now the big teams need to prove they belong where they are." They don't come much bigger than France. "We came here to be seen so that people know Greek football also exists," said goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis. "We are the outsiders for sure, but we will try the best we can. It is a good thing that we know the French players well. We know how they play and we know their particulars."
Nikopolidis says the team is excited to play the quarterfinal. That's understandable.
Greece has only appeared in two previous finals - the 1980 European championship and the 1994 World Cup. The Greeks never won a game. In Portugal, the team started with one of the biggest upsets in championship history, defeating host Portugal 2-1. The surprise win was followed by a come-from-behind 1-1 draw against Spain.
"The match against France is going to be a tough one. There are great players among them like Zidane, (David) Trezeguet and (Robert) Pires," Tsiartas said.
"However, the match is within our range if we avoid making mistakes. We will go onto the field and enjoy the game. Anything can happen in football. What matters is that we qualified," he added.
Indeed, the Greeks are well aware what can happen in soccer when a team goes into a match unfettered by pressure.
Virtually assured of a place in the quarterfinals, Greece laced up against already eliminated Russia in its last group A match, needing only a point to advance to the next round. The team conceded the quickest goal in championship history and was down another goal in just over 15 minutes.
Had Greece not struck one back to soften the defeat, they would have tumbled out of the first stage.
"I consider France one of the favorites to win Euro 2004," said striker Angelos Charisteas, who scored the equalizer against Spain. "They have the best player in the world, Zinedine Zidane, and to play such a team is certainly a challenge for us." "But we have got nothing to lose and we are going to be self-confident on the field, regardless of who our opponents are." Rehhagel, who is credited with taming the erratic Greek temperament and fusing it with some German rigor and discipline, has warned his players not to be spooked by the French.
"We know France has the best players in Europe, but we will go in with strength and passion and we have everything to win and nothing to lose." 
 

Tuesday 1st of June 2004


 

Presentation of the  the Olympic games tickets in Athens the 1st of June 2004. A total of 5.3 million tickets were set aside for Athens, 3 million for the public and 2.3 million for the 'Olympic family' of IOC officials, sponsors and others.

Thursday the 13th of May 2004

Greece condemns police station bombing

ATHENS, Greece (May 11, 9:55 am PDT) - The triple bombing of a police station last week was "high treason" that blackened Greece's image and its security efforts for the Olympics, the public order minister said Tuesday. The minister, Giorgos Voulgarakis, was in Washington for talks on efforts to safeguard the games when the bombings occurred May 5, the start of a 100-day countdown to the opening ceremony. Nobody was injured."Such events - no matter how small and isolated they are - amount to high treason," Voulgarakis said.
The blasts caused minor damage and were blamed by Greek authorities on local radical factions. No arrests have been made and there has been no claim of responsibility.
The bombings raised global concern about Greece's ability to protect the Aug. 13-29 Olympics.
On Tuesday, the Australian government upgraded its travel warning for citizens traveling to Greece and noted the "recent series of firebomb attacks."
Voulgarakis called the action "an exaggeration (that) does not reflect reality."
He described the bombings as a distraction and argued that a major increase in security costs and manpower announced this month mean Athens is "approaching the limits of absolute security."

He added there is a delay in installing the games' security system, now expected to be finished in early June instead of later this month.

Voulgarakis chaired a meeting Tuesday of top Olympic security planners, including cabinet ministers, Olympic organizers and top military officials ahead of a major planning exercise, named Olympic Guard 2, taking place from May 13-16 and involving American personnel.
He also briefed Premier Costas Caramanlis on his trip to the United States, which included meetings with Homeland Security Tom Ridge and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Athens has promised that mounting security will not hurt the atmosphere of the games.
But Amnesty International on Tuesday urged the government to scrap massive surveillance measures after the Olympics.
"Athens will be watched by thousands of cameras. These should be used exclusively for the security of the games and not for other purposes," Greek Amnesty spokesman Costis Papaioannou said. "Security aims should not be an excuse or an opportunity to implement measures that limit citizens' rights."
 

Thursday the 6th of May 2004

(L to R) Greek Premier Costas Karamanlis, his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, his wife Emine Erdogan and Karamanlis' wife Natassa admire a carpet, as they exhange gifts during a welcoming ceremony in the Greek premier's office in central Athens,




The Greek mayor of Athens Dora Bakoyannis (R) awards Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan the gold medal of merit, of the city of Athens, during a ceremony at city hall.
 

Turkey's PM Makes Landmark Visit to Greece

ATHENS - Turkey and Greece pledged on Friday to leave old rivalries behind and seek a "strategic partnership" at the start of a landmark visit to Athens by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Despite the failure last month of a U.N. bid to reunite Cyprus's Turkish and Greek communities, Erdogan's visit -- the first such trip in 16 years -- crowned a dramatic thaw in relations since 1999. "Let's leave the past behind us and look to the future. Let's build the future together," Erdogan told a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.
He said he supported the Greek prime minister's idea of what he called a "strategic partnership."
Karamanlis, in turn, said mutual relations have entered a "new orbit" and repeated his backing for Turkey's bid to join the European Union. Erdogan's visit was not expected to bring any specific progress on territorial disputes dividing the two states in the Aegean sea and both leaders side-stepped the issue, saying teams of experts continued their talks.
Erdogan, who is accompanied by about 100 Turkish entrepreneurs, has already built a good working relationship with Karamanlis, a fellow conservative, and both men are keen to keep the festering Cyprus dispute from upsetting their rapprochement. The signs of political change were already evident during the failed U.N. bid to reunite the Mediterranean island of Cyprus ahead of its accession to the EU on May 1.
The two nations have a long history of mistrust and enmity stretching back centuries. In modern times, the two NATO (news - web sites) allies have almost come to war on several occasions over territorial disputes, including Cyprus.
But the rapprochement of recent years increased bilateral trade, seen jumping to $2 billion this year from $500 million two years ago.
Turkey wants EU leaders to agree at a summit in December to set a date for the start of entry talks, long delayed over its poor human rights record.
Asked whether Turkey plans to reopen a Greek Orthodox seminary near Istanbul, Erdogan said: "(This issue) is on our agenda and we are making efforts to solve this problem because we have the political will and we don't want to carry such problems into the future."
The seminary, one of the main obstacles to Turkey's efforts to convince the EU it allows full religious freedom, was shut down in the 1970s.
On Saturday, Erdogan will become the first Turkish leader in more than 50 years to visit western Thrace, a region of northern Greece that is home to about 120,000 Turkish-speaking Muslims, who are a remnant of violent population exchanges in the 1920s.
Greece, sensitive to continued public suspicion of Turkey, identifies the minority as Muslim rather than ethnic Turkish, but several Muslim groups have battled for decades to have their name recognized as the "Turkish minority.

Wednesday the 5th of May 2004

Three Bombs Explode In Athens

ATHENS, - Three bombs have exploded outside a police station in Athens, Greece, but there are no reports of injuries. Authorities say the pre-dawn blasts -- which occurred over a span of 26 minutes -- came before events to mark 100 days left until the Olympics. An anonymous caller to an Athens newspaper warned of the attacks in advance, but gave no motive or claim of responsibility.
Greek media reported that the damage was extensive. Authorities cordoned off the area.
Greek authorities claimed they crippled domestic terrorism following the convictions in December of 19 members of a group blamed for 23 killings and dozens of other attacks since 1975.
An International Olympic Committee inspection team is scheduled to arrive in Athens on Monday for a final review of preparations.

 

Saturday the 24th of April 2004

Greek Cypriots rejected the plan 

NICOSIA (AFP) - Greek Cypriots massively rejected a UN peace plan, killing efforts to reunite Cyprus before it joins the European Union on May 1 even though nearly two-thirds of Turkish Cypriots accepted the deal.
By a majority of three to one, Greek Cypriots threw out the blueprint to end one of the world's most intractable disputes, blocking the north from enjoying its much craved EU membership and delaying reunification indefinitely.
The European Commission quickly said it "deeply regrets" the Greek Cypriot "no" and stood ready to reward the acceptance of the plan by Turkish Cypriots.
"The commission is ready to consider ways of further promoting economic development of the northern part of Cyprus," it added. Turkish Cypriot prime minister Mehmet Ali Talat said the international community should rectify "this ironic situation" under which the Greek Cypriots will still join the EU next week, and the Turkish Cypriots will be left out.
"The Turkish Cypriot people can no longer be seen as separatist or intransigent," he added.
He declined to say whether he could back the possibility of a second referendum on the Greek Cypriot side, but added: "We are not going to change our vision in favor of a solution. Our efforts will continue."
A statement read by UN envoy to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto said UN chief Kofi Annan "remains convinced that the settlement plan ... represents a fair, viable and carefully balanced compromise ...
"Clearly a large majority of the Greek Cypriot electorate did not share that judgement today.
"We hope that they may nevertheless arrive at a different view in the fullness of time after a profound and sober assessment of today's decision," the statement said, keeping alive hope of the Annan Plan being revived.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said: "We are dismayed by the situation. We sincerely wanted a solution to the conflict," adding that the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus had also shown it was "willing to reach an agreement."
Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos warned of tough days ahead after his community responded to his call to reject the plan.
"Tonight there are no winners and losers," he said. "This is not a night for celebration.
"I call upon Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to work together for a united Cyprus. The road ahead will not be paved with roses, but we will not be deterred," he said.
"We didn't say no to a solution, but no to this specific plan ... We want a solution above anything else."
He also reiterated a promise to extend an olive branch to Turkish Cypriots in order to accept them as equal citizens, but did not elaborate.
The president said the island's EU accession next Saturday would open "new horizons and prospects".
"Greek and Turkish Cypriots deserve a better fate and we will achieve it. This is not the end of the road, there will be a continuation. When we do say yes, it will be in the interests of Turkish Cypriots as well."
"There must be no uncertainty caused by futile attempts to force incompatible parties together," he told reporters, rejecting calls by proponents of the UN plan to resign.
The vote by Greek Cypriots was 75.83 percent against the plan and 24.17 percent in favour. In the north, 64.9 percent of Turkish Cypriots voted "yes" and 35.09 percent rejected the plan.
Many Greek Cypriots said they were proud to reject what they saw as an unfair plan that rewards Turkey's invasion of the island in 1974.
 

Friday the 9th of April 2004

Easter

Greek Orthodox Christians parade the Good Friday Epithaph in the Aegean Sea near a burning cross on an islet off the coast of the Island of Tinos, Greece some 90 Nautical miles west of Athens, on Good Friday April 9, 2004. The custom of parading the Epitaph through the sea started in 1991 when a young local man drowned on Good Friday while fishing in the area. Tinos is one of Orthodoxy's most sacred places is also home to the Ursulines Catholic Convent, and is the Cycladic island with the strongest Catholic tradition

Wednesday the 7th of April 2004

Earthquake Jolts Greece

A powerful earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit Western Greece at dawn.
The quake, which occurred at around 04.30 a.m. local and Bulgarian time, was registered 70 kilometers west of Florina town.
The epicenter of the tremor was located along the Greek-Albanian border.
No casualties or damages have been reported

Saturday the 3rd of April 2004

Most Cypriots oppose plan 

As up to 6,000 Greek-Cypriots demonstrated in Nicosia on Saturday against adoption of the United Nations peace plan, a new poll found that the deal will most likely be rejected south of the ceasefire line.
In the Turkish-occupied north, a narrow majority of the population was found to back the plan, according to a poll by a Turkish-Cypriot television channel on Saturday. The survey found that 51.1 percent of respondents backed the plan, and 48.7 percent did not.
Greek Cypriots polled by Greece’s opposed the UN plan, to the tune of 84.7 percent, although 31.9 percent said they were not familiar with the main points of the plan. Some 61.7 percent of Greek nationals polled said they would reject the plan were a referendum to be held in Greece. Furthermore, 91.5 percent of Greek Cypriots and 69.3 percent of Greeks described the plan as “unfair.”

Thursday the 24th of March 2004

In a ceremony held at an altar to Hera, a Greek goddess worshipped in Olympia during the original games, the torch was lit by a Greek actress playing the role of a high priestess.

 

OLYMPY, Greek actress Thalia Prokopiou, playing the role of a high priestess, gives the Olympic flame to Greek javelin champion Costas Gatzioudis in the stadium of Ancient Olympia where the Olympics were born in 776 B.C. on Thursday, March 25, 2004. Gatzioudis was the first torchbearer in the relay for the Athens Games. More than 11,000 torchbearers will carry the flame in Greece and around the world. More than 3,600 will take part in the international portion of its journey, which includes 27 countries and covers a total of about 78,000 kilometers
Greek javelin champion Costas Gatzioudis, left, passes the Olympic flame to Russian Olympic swimming champion Alexander Popov in Ancient Olympia on Thursday, March 25, 2004. Gatzioudis was the first torch bearer in the relay for the Athens Games.
 

Thursday the 24th of March 2004

Ancient Olympians Feel Ignored by IOC

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece - Ancient Olympians are mad. Residents of this small, ancient village that gave birth to the Olympics 2,780 years ago feel they have been ignored by the International Olympic Committee (news - web sites). Now, as they host ceremonies to light the flame that will burn at the Athens Games, they are demanding a role in how decisions are made.
Today, Ancient Olympia is a small town of about 1,800 residents who mainly farm or live off the tourist trade.
"The IOC has the view that it owns the Olympic symbol, the Olympic history, the Olympic flame and that it is not the copyright of the Greeks," said Alexis Iliakopoulos, sitting in his souvenir shop in the town's center. "As a Greek citizen, and then as an Ancient Olympian, I don't like it."
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said officials visit the Olympic Academy every year for seminars about the history of the games.
"We are sorry and surprised to hear his (Skoularikis) comments given that the shot put will be taking place in Olympia," Davis said. "The IOC, along with everyone else, recognizes its significance and looks forward to that unique event."

 

Friday the 13th of March 2004



 

Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis (rear) escorts Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos

Greek, Turkish PMs set to attend Cyprus talks in Switzerland

The prime ministers of Greece and Turkey are set to attend four-way talks in Switzerland next week on a UN peace plan to reunify Cyprus in a bid to push forward the faltering peace process on the island.
The talks -- the second phase of a last-ditch UN initiative for a settlement before the island joins the European Union on May 1 -- are expected to start on March 23 in the resort of Burgenstock, near Lucerne, with the attendance of representatives from the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities. Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be joining the talks on March 28. A few hours later, Erdogan told reporters in western Turkey that he would join his newly-elected Greek Cypriot counterpart at the talks on March 28, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash angered Ankara Wednesday when he said he would boycott the meetings in Switzerland because he believed no progress would be possible due to what he called the intransigence of the Greek Cypriot side.
The prime minister of the breakaway Turkish statelet in northern Cyprus, Mehmet Ali Talat, and his aide Serdar Denktash -- the son of Rauf Denktash -- will represent the Turkish Cypriots in Switzerland instead, he said.
The Greek Cypriot side is expected to announce on Friday whether it will heed the UN invitation for the Switzerland talks, government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides told reporters in Nicosia.
Denktash and Greek Cypriot counterpart Tassos Papadopoulos have been holding UN-mediated talks in Nicosia since February 19 on the UN blueprint to reunify the island in a loose federation.
No tangible progress has so far been made in the deadlocked talks which will end on March 22.
Ankara has occupied northern Cyprus since 1974 when it intervened in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

Friday the 13th of March 2004

Greece Seeks More Security for Olympics

ATHENS, Greece - Greece asked NATO on Friday for help with Olympic security as nervous authorities deployed bomb squads and sniffer dogs at railroad stations after the deadly bombings in Spain.

Greek officials had previously said that NATO allies would be on standby in case of a terrorist attack or other crises during the Aug. 13-29 Olympic Games.
But the formal written appeal for help apparently reflected heightened concerns and still further efforts to bolster an already unprecedented Olympic security network.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said Greece asked the alliance for help "mainly in areas of aerial surveillance, joint monitoring of seas and protection against a chemical, biological and nuclear incident."
It was not clear when NATO would reply, but top alliance officials have not hesitated to pledge assistance in the past.
"NATO can assist. NATO will assist. NATO is in a position to assist," alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said last month in Athens.
Some NATO nations — France, Germany, Britain, Spain and the United States — are part of a seven-nation security advisory group working with Olympic planners. The other two countries are Israel and Australia.
U.S. and Greek forces also are taking part in a major security drill that wraps up later this month.
According to Defense Ministry sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, Greece will ask that NATO's Response Force and warships from NATO's standing Mediterranean fleet to take a direct security role for the games. The possible areas of responsibility was not immediately clear.
NATO's Response Force was established in October 2003 and is planned to have up to 22,000 personnel with joint air, maritime and land units.
"Authorities are taking all possible measures," said Col. Lefteris Ikonomou, Greek police spokesman.
According to authorities, special bomb squad units equipped with dogs were deployed at several major train stations in response to Wednesday's blasts in Madrid. Coast guard patrols were also intensified at "all ports of the country," a statement said.
"The fact that nothing has happened in Greece, doesn't mean that it will not happen," said Theodoros Kallitsis, assistant professor of criminology at the Greek Police Academy. "No matter how many guards and cameras you will place, the terrorist will still strike."
 

Tuesday the 9th  of March 2004

Greek Prime Minister-elect Costas Caramanlis, left, shakes hands with Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos at the presidential palace in Athens.

Greece's new government focuses on Olympics

ATHENS (AFP) - Greece's prime minister-elect Costas Karamanlis personally took charge of preparations for the Athens Olympics as the conservative leader presented a new government five months before the Games.
But the government also has to move forward difficult negotiations over reunifying divided Cyprus, and to that end Karamanlis appointed a seasoned diplomat to the post of foreign minister, 75-year-old Petros Molyviatis.
Molyviatis, who served in earlier conservative administrations in the late 1970s, will seek to reach an agreement with Turkey over the Mediterranean island in time for it to join the European Union (news - web sites) in two months.
But he is not expected to stay on for long, giving way to a younger successor in a reshuffle after the Olympics in august.
Karamanlis will head the government as well as the culture ministry, which oversees work for the Games in August. Several other senior members of his New Democracy party were named to key posts involved in the event.

New Democracy's number two, Yiorgos Souflias, 63, was appointed to the environment and public works ministry, which is in charge of key Olympic projects, such as the construction of a roof above the main stadium and the marathon track. New Democracy's spokeswoman for Olympic Games (news - web sites), Fani Palli-Petralia, was appointed alternate minister for culture and is expected to ensure day-to-day supervision of works under Karamanlis.
Yiorgos Voulgarakis, 44, known as an effective organizer, was named minister for public order, tasked with ensuring security during the Games.
The appointments reflected the new government's commitment to make the Olympic Games a showcase for the country. The Olympics are of utmost national importance in Greece, birthplace of both the ancient and the modern Games.
During the campaign, Karamanlis had said he would postpone plans to cut the government's size so as to not upset preparations for the games.
Greece's new conservative leadership is not expected to depart radically from its socialist predecessor on policy. But it urgently needs to step up lagging preparations for the Games, notably the all-important issue of security during the Olympics. "All together, united, we will give our best, so that the Olympics will be the best and most secure ever," Karamanlis said after his victory Sunday.
International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) chief Jacques Rogge said Monday he was looking forward to "very positive steps" in preparations for the Olympics.
At 47 Greece's youngest prime minister since 1945, Karamanlis campaigned on a promise that the core of his cabinet would consist of people of his generation. The average age of the cabinet ministers is nearly 53 years.
After 20 years spent mostly in the opposition, 11 of the 18 designated ministers have no previous experience in government. The conservatives held office in Athens from 1974 to 1981 and from 1990 to 1993.
Karamanlis himself, a lawyer, has never held a government post.
Among the more experienced politicians are Molyviatis and Spilios Spiliotopoulos, 57, a former fighter pilot, the new defense minister.
Among the new faces is committed European Yiorgos Alogoskoufis, a 48-year-old economics professor, who was appointed as finance and economy minister with the mandate to cut red tape and simplify tax laws to attract foreign investment.
Karamanlis also resurrected the tourism ministry, an institution from the 1970s, to highlight his priority to capitalize on the country's natural beauty. The ministry will be headed by former Athens mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos.
Only one woman was appointed minister, Marietta Yiannakou-Koutsikou, 51, at education. Veteran politician Anna Psarouda-Benaki, 69, will become the Greek parliament's first female president.
New Democracy won 45 percent of the vote compared with close to 41 percent for the Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) which had ruled Greece for the past ten years.
 

Monday the 8th of March 2004

Results of the polls : Conservatives Seen Ending Greek Socialist Rule

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek conservatives were poised to end a decade of socialist rule Sunday with exit polls in the country's election all pointing to a resounding victory for New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis. With nearly 98 percent of votes counted, the New Democracy party led the Socialists 45.4 percent to 40.6 percent in Sunday's vote as part of a deep reshuffling of Greece's political order.
The elections for the 300-seat parliament put voters at a clear crossroads: Stick with the decade-old Socialist establishment or turn to the inexperienced conservatives.
The conservative New Democracy party had been consistently ahead in opinion polls with the Socialists widely perceived as rife with corruption, inefficiency and political arrogance after leading the country for all but three years since 1981.
President Costis Stephanopoulos asked Karamanlis, who at 47 is Greece's youngest prime minister since 1945, to form the new government.

Friday the 5th of March 2004

Fire in Hiliandari

A fire in a 900-year-old Serb monastery in Greece has destroyed priceless religious artefacts and 17th century wall paintings, said Greek officials yesterday.
The blaze, which began in a stove, ripped through the chapel, offices and monks' and visitors' rooms of the Hilandariou monastery on Mount Athos for almost 12 hours, the fire brigade said.
Reports said the monks, who managed to remove some artefacts, battled for hours before firefighters were called in.
Rescuers had to use boats because of the rugged terrain and lack of roads.
Hilandariou, which houses about 30 Serb monks, is one of 20 monastic communities on Greece's holy Mount Athos peninsula, a religious sanctuary set up more than 1,000 years ago, and regarded as the home of Orthodox Christianity.
Vojislav Kostunica, the Serbian prime minister, yesterday pledged help to restore the monastery.
 

Friday the 13th of February 2004

Greece and Turkey paralysed by snow

A snowstorm sweeping out of the Balkans disrupted travel across Turkey and Greece on Friday, forcing rescuers to call off the search for 20 crew members of a cargo ship that sank in the Black Sea.
The storm dumped up to 14 inches of snow in Istanbul, and lesser amounts fell in Athens, blanketing the Acropolis and other ancient monuments. Athens' airport was shut down, as was ferry service to several Greek islands, which also lost power.
Temperatures plunged to 15 in northern suburbs of the Greek capital - a 30-year record, and fell to zero in northern Greece. Istanbul recorded a low of 24.

Authorities canceled flights at Istanbul's main airport, stranding thousands of passengers. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who visited Turkey on Thursday, was among those stuck in Istanbul, the Anatolia news agency said. The storm closed roads and schools, knocked out power to some Istanbul neighborhoods and forced city officials to turn a sports complex into an emergency shelter for about 100 homeless people.
 

Friday the 13th of February 2004

Small Blast Mars Start of Cyprus Peace Talks

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek government spokesman said on Friday that Turkish and Greek Cypriots have accepted U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites)'s terms for relaunching a drive to reunite their divided island.
Annan had asked the two sides to accept or reject a plan for the conduct of final negotiations, aimed at reuniting Cyprus before it joins the European Union on May 1.
"Today a new historic opportunity to solve the Cyprus problem has arisen. There was a unified stance.... regarding the final efforts of the secretary general," Greek alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Yannitsis told reporters.
NICOSIA (Reuters) - Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders began fresh peace talks Thursday, just hours after a small blast damaged the home of the pro-reunification prime minister of the island's Turkish enclave.
"The talks have started," U.N. spokesman Brian Kelly said in Nicosia.
Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash met at an abandoned airport compound used by U.N. peacekeepers for what has been billed as the best chance to end three decades of bitter division. Talat was in the Turkish Cypriot delegation at the talks.
On the table is a U.N. blueprint for reunification in a loose power-sharing federation, with territory trade-offs and a gradual scaling down of Greek and Turkish forces on the heavily militarised Mediterranean island.
Both sides accept the plan as the basis for negotiations, but issues such as land exchanges and the return of refugees remain. "If this is a threat it will not get anywhere. It is a saddening thing that this has happened, but it does not scare us," Talat said in the statement before going into the talks. "They are trying to obstruct communal peace on Cyprus. They will in no way be successful," said Talat, who had been at his home in the coastal town of Kyrenia, north of the divided capital Nicosia, when the blast happened.
Talat, who became prime minister after last December's general election in the tiny enclave, is a strong supporter of the efforts to reunify Cyprus, split on ethnic lines since 1974.

Georges Papandreou elected leader to PASOK

George Papandreou, elected leader with more than a million members' votes, appears to fit the bill.
His surname may represent old times, being the son and grandson of two former prime ministers, but he plans a radical reform of the party. Most importantly, when the wider population is sceptical about a party whose old guard has been tainted by allegations of sleaze and complacency, Mr Papandreou's popularity appears to extend beyond grassroots socialists. He says the changes being made within the party, which has ruled Greece for almost 20 years, show Pasok can also change society. The "revolutionary" Mr Papandreou is said to be a calm, thoughtful and diplomatic politician in contrast to the flamboyant personalities of his father Andreas and grandfather George. George senior was prime minister of Greece twice.
His son Andreas was exiled from Greece in 1939 and went to the United States, where Mr Papandreou was born to an American mother in 1952. Mr Papandreou attended schools in Illinois, Sweden and Canada and received degrees from Amherst College, the London School of Economics and Harvard University. He speaks English, Greek and Swedish.
He returned to Greece after the restoration of democracy in 1974 and became involved with his father's party.
Mr Papandreou rose through the ranks of Pasok and was elected to parliament in 1981, the same year his father was elected prime minister. After a number of ministerial posts he was appointed foreign minister in 1999. He was also the minister responsible for the successful bid for 2004 Olympic Games. As foreign minister, he has helped ease long-standing tensions with neighbouring Turkey and improved relations with old rivals Albania and Bulgaria.
Mr Papandreou has also been closely involved in the efforts to resolve the issue of a divided Cyprus ahead of the island joining the European Union on 1 May.
But now, at home, the conservatives are slowly increasing their lead over the socialists, and using past corruption claims in their campaign to upset Pasok.
Mr Papandreou, with family credentials from the dynasty at the heart of the party, will have to convince the nation his plans for change will make enough of a difference.

 

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