The exhibition was opened on the National Remembrance Day for the Genocide of the Greek of Asia Minor.
During the opening night, Mitsotakis gave a speech and praised the contribution of Pontian refugees from Asia Minor to Greece at that time.
Η πραγματική αναμέτρηση μιας χώρας είναι με το παρελθόν και το μέλλον της. Μπορεί τον Σεπτέμβριο του ‘22 ο Ελληνισμός να έχασε μία απ’ τις πιο δημιουργικές του εστίες. Αμέσως μετά όμως η χώρα έμαθε να κερδίζει τη μάχη της ευημερίας της. https://t.co/EHn6vfsqO1pic.twitter.com/FYMWTjBbUW
The Greek Prime Minister also emphasised that every great setback can be followed by a greater national success, and that today the “Great Idea” is not associated with geographical possessions but with “Greater Greece.”
“The real confrontation of a country is with its past and its future. Hellenism may have lost one of its most creative foci in September 1922. Soon after, however, the country learned to win the battle for its prosperity,” Mitsotakis said.
Mitsotakis speaking at the exhibition opening.
Next, the Prime Minister referred to the efforts of the Greek state and Eleftherios Venizelos to deal with the resettlement of millions of refugees through the Lausanne Treaty – which Turkey continues to revise to this day.
“Since then, the Treaty of Lausanne has governed our co-existence with our neighbours… despite the fact that Turkey has violated it by uprooting the Greek element of Constantinople, Imbros and Tenedos,” Mitsotakis said.
“The other side of the Aegean should realise, however, that the nearly one century of validity of this Treaty will be succeeded by many more. This is what history and geography, legitimacy and international stability require.”
As many as 750,000 mourners are expected to walk through Westminster Hall to pay their final respects, ABC News has reported. As of 5pm, a government tracker said the queue was 4.5 kilometres long.
The Queen’s coffin made its way to Westminster Hall earlier today from Buckingham Palace on a horse-drawn gun carriage.
King Charles III walked directly behind, flanked by other senior royals including his two sons Prince William and Prince Harry.
King Charles III, Prince William and Prince Harry walked behind Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin. Photo: ABC News.
The procession route took the coffin from Buckingham Palace through the Queen’s Gardens, up The Mall, along Horse Guards Road and through Horse Guards Arch.
It then turned south at Whitehall, down Parliament Street, through Parliament Square and New Palace Yard to arrive at Westminster Hall — a journey of 2 kilometres.
Draped in the Royal Standard, Her Majesty The Queen's coffin is taken in Procession to Westminster Hall. pic.twitter.com/m19YFYQuWv
Upon arrival in Westminster Hall, the coffin, which was draped in the Royal Standard, was placed onto a raised platform known as a catafalque and topped with the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre.
After the coffin was placed on the platform, a 20-minute service was held in Westminster Hall for members of the royal family.
Those who have patiently lined up to see the Queen lying in state will now be able to visit the hall 24 hours a day to pay their respects until Monday.
The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins. Photo: AP: Yui Mok/Pool Photo.
Legendary Greek actress Irene Papas has passed away at the age of 96, the Greek Culture Ministry announced.
The actress starred in over 70 films in a career spanning more than 50 years.
In 1961, Pappas starred in The Guns of Navarone and in 1964 in Cacoyannis’ Zorba the Greek, which catapulted her into international stardom. One of her last film appearances was in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin in 2001.
In 1995, she received the award of Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by the then Greek President Kostis Stefanopoulos.
In 2018, it was announced that she had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for five years.
Both recipients are based in NSW with Supertee founder, Jason Sotiris, recognised as Westfield Parramatta’s Local Hero and social worker, Katrina Ikonomou, recognised as Westfield Sydney’s Local Hero.
In congratulating the Local Heroes, Scentre Group National Community Experience Manager, Pam Wilson, described the recipients as “inspirational,” noting the awards “continue to recognise and reward everyday people doing extraordinary work in our communities.”
Jason Sotiris – SuperTee (Westfield Parramatta, NSW)
2022 Westfield Parramatta Local Hero, Jason Sotiris.
Devoted dad, Jason Sotiris, is bringing a little joy to children in hospital with his free superhero garments. So far, his Supertee charity has given away 8000 garments, which make life easier for hospital staff and bedside parents with their cape that transforms into a bib and openings for tubes.
Jason came up with the idea when his baby daughter Angela was seriously ill and the doctors told him she had a 20 per cent chance of surviving what was a rare, 1 in 100,000 disease: multi-system Langerhans cell histiocytosis.
Jason’s dream is for a Supertee to be available for any child given bad news in any hospital in Australia and with the newly awarded $20,000 grant, a further 445 Supertee Marvel edition garments will be delivered to the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
2022 Westfield Sydney Local Hero, Katrina Ikonomou.
Social worker, Katrina Ikonomou, is a proud Dharug woman who goes above and beyond to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children in the Inner West.
Katrina is the Dharug Clinical Manager at Gunawirra, a community-led organisation where cultural advisers and therapists work together to provide culturally appropriate healing services.
She plays a crucial role at Gunawirra, managing their programs that support young Aboriginal mothers and 26 preschool communities with speech therapy, art therapy, occupational therapy and social work services.
Katrina is highly respected for going above and beyond, and she is being recognised for her work during the COVID-19 lockdowns, where she tirelessly sourced computers, food and art supplies for families.
“I am passionate about my people, and I want women to feel supported so they can be the best mothers to their children,” Katrina says.
With the $20,000 grant, Gunawirra will be able to fund much-needed additional clinician time and invest in further training.
Westfield Local Hero Finalists
A further two Greek Australians from NSW were recognised in the awards as finalists and have received $5000 grants for their organisations.
Finalist for Westfield Miranda, Karen Tsoumbaras, works as an employment education and training manager at Project Youth and is a beacon of hope for hundreds of young people facing long-term unemployment. In her role, she guides people aged 12 to 24 to help them access education that improves their employment prospects.
The $5000 grant will be put towards the operational costs of Project Youth’s training and education programs, as well as the purchase of computers, work clothes and tools to be used by students.
Also receiving a $5000 grant was Westfield Bondi Junction’s finalist and Teach Us Consent founder, Chanel Contos.
Contos has changed the sexual consent narrative in the Eastern Suburbs and across Australia, helping sexual assault survivors find their voice and instigating education reform.
Following Chanel’s Teach Us Consent petition, consent education will be mandatory in Australian schools, starting early and continuing until Year 10.
Westfield Miranda finalist, Karen Tsoumbaras.Westfield Bondi Junction finalist, Chanel Contos.
When Greek Georgina Erisiotis and Turkish Yigit Gunduz met as teenagers at Saturday language school, the furthest thing from their minds was the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922 despite both their families being from there.
On different sides of history, there was initial resistance, but the couple’s love flourished and grew into a strong marriage with three children as the two families put aside politics, prejudice and the past.
Yigit, however, could not forget one story which pappou Vasilis Erisiotis (initially Taleporos) told him about another Greek-Turkish marriage in the family before the turbulence of the population exchange many years earlier – and he pledged to put things right.
Pappou Vasilis and his son-in-law Yigit Gunz.
“Georgina’s pappou told me of his aunt, who passed away after marrying a Turkish man in Smyrna. Their daughter, Emine, stayed back with her father, who remarried a Turkish woman,” Yigit told The Greek Herald.
“The rest of the family – the Greek side – left for Thessaloniki.”
In the 1970s, Mr Erisiotis visited Turkey, hired an interpreter and was able to locate his long, lost cousin. It was a happy reunion, they took photos and kept in touch for a while by writing letters, hers in Turkish and his in Greek, which others interpreted for them. After a while, they lost touch again.
Pappou, now in his 80s, continued to wonder what became of Emine. “I could tell that it was important to him from the way he told the story,” Yigit said, and he wanted to find out the rest of Emine’s story and to give pappou closure.
“The story played on my mind, and one night when I was struggling to sleep, I thought to try and find this person,” he added.
That night, Yigit found an online Turkish community for the town of Dikili, 30 minutes from Aivali, where you can catch the ferry to Mytilene.
“I joined the page because that’s where pappou said Emine lived. So I shared all the details I had and asked if anyone knew of her,” Yigit said.
Emine in the middle, Pappou Vasilis on the left of her and his relative Barba Yannis on the right. Emine’s son is the young man crouching.
“Heaps of people started commenting.”
One man said he was a childhood friend of Ahmet, Emine’s son, and he gave Yigit the son’s number.
“I wanted to call there and then, but there was a time difference, so I had to wait,” Yigit said.
“When I finally called to ask about Emine, the son was baffled because he thought I was pappou’s grandson and couldn’t understand how it was that I spoke Turkish.”
Photos were sent of Emine, who had passed away in 2011, and in one of them Georgina recognised her parents and aunt. This year, when the Gunduz family went on a holiday to Greece and Turkey, Yigit was determined to meet the family and did some more detective work because the numbers he had were no longer valid.
“When I got through to Ahmet, he was on a tractor working on his olive grove,” Yigit said.
What was supposed to be a short visit ended up being a big family reunion as relatives from the Turkish side of Georgina’s family gathered together. Soon, there was FaceTiming with pappou and plenty of gifts offered to the long-lost relatives.
“They were so excited to see my wife and there was a resemblance to other members of the family. It was surreal for us and for them,” he said.
“We asked them how it was back when Emine’s mother, a Greek woman, had married a Turkish man. We were told that her father Teyfik kaptan was no ordinary citizen but had a shipping firm and was prominent in society.”
Emine, on the left and her friend.
Yigit said that the ordinary people could get on as neighbours. At some point, shortly after 1922, pappou’s father returned to his town of Dikili and stayed with his Turkish neighbour while another family got ferried out of his original house. His neighbour helped get his horse and cows back for him too. But when political tensions flared again, he had to leave – this time, permanently.
Yigit’s own family experienced trauma when the Greek army occupied his family’s town and burnt the neighbouring village on their retreat. Despite both families having ancestors that were affected by war and conflict, neither has hatred in their hearts.
“We both did DNA tests and found that we were a mix of the people that lived in that region throughout history,” Yigit said.
Georgina, Yigit, and their three children, aged six, four and eight months.
“There has been waves of migration in the world since the beginning of time, I believe the notion of a pure race is a fallacy and we all identify with the culture, language, and faith that we have been raised with and associate ourselves with. I identify firstly as a human. And as humans we want the same things in life, a safe environment for our family, security and a roof over our heads. Unfortunately, politics and how it plays out divides us and our opinions and our thoughts.”
Vasili and Emine may not have grown up together or played on the same streets as they were meant to, but if there’s any hope in this story of cousins torn apart, it’s Yigit and Georgina’s three children aged six, four and eight months. They understand Greek and Turkish and appreciate the rich cultural tapestry which is their heritage without bias, hatred or racism.
With doors opening at 6.30pm in The Hellenic Club of Canberra’s Olympus Room, attendees are in for a night filled with live Greek music by Kefi Band, entertainment by DJ Stavro, traditional flower throwing and a three-course meal.
Speaking with The Greek Herald, President of the Hellenic Youth Club of Canberra, Katherine Halikiotis, said: “Bouzouki Night will be our first major event since the COVID-19 shutdown.”
“We are beyond excited for what the night has in store for us and we cannot wait to see all 400 guests attending the evening,” Ms Halikiotis added.
“We would also like to extend a special thank you to all our official sponsors and donors who continue to show their support and have helped to make this event possible.”
For ticket details, contact hyc@hellenicclub.com.au
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the destruction of Smyrna, students of the school of the Greek Community of Melbourne (City Campus) partook in a series of special lessons honouring the city of Asia Minor.
The young students, under the guidance of their teacher, Vassiliki Lampropoulos, studied books, recipes, and music so they could remember the great city before its arson and destruction.
Through the lessons, the students developed an appreciation for the daily life of the city’s citizens to ensure the Hellenic culture of that time lives on.
In the kitchen, the students followed traditional recipes of the city, cooking and serving up soutzoukakia (Smyrna meatballs).
The aromas of cardamom and cumin alongside fresh herbs and sauce filled the room, taking the students on a historical expedition through food.
Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, met with Archbishop Makarios of Australia at the Maximos Mansion in Athens on Tuesday, September 13.
During the meeting, Mitsotakis and Archbishop Makarios spoke about Hellenism in Australia, as well as the work of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.
This meeting comes as Archbishop Makarios also met with Greece’s Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, last week to discuss “the precious spiritual work of the Archdiocese and its contribution in strengthening relations with the Greek diaspora in Australia.”
Ι met @GreeceMFA, in the presence of DFM @katsaniotis, with His Eminence Makarios Archbishop of Australia, to discuss the precious spiritual work of the Archdiocese & its contribution in strengthening relations with the 🇬🇷 diaspora in 🇦🇺. pic.twitter.com/WHkyljpkqz
During the three day visit, Archbishop Makarios celebrated the marriage of a Greek Australian couple and connected with the over 200 Australians of Kastellorizian heritage who are currently on the island.
Prominent Greek actor, director and politician Kostas Kazakos passed away on Tuesday in Athens at the age of 87.
He had been suffering from a chronic respiratory condition and had been a patient at Evangelismos Hospital in the Greek capital from July this year. His passing on Tuesday was attributed to multi-organ failure.
With great sadness have we learned of the passing of the legendary Kostas Kazakos.
An immense loss to his family, his friends and to the world.
Kazakos was born in 1935 in Pyrgos and at age 18 he moved to Athens with the intention of studying to become a teacher. However, due to his father’s leftist heritage, he was not allowed to.
He attended the Lykourgos Stavrakos School of Cinema and the Karolos Koun Drama School of Art Theater and made his stage debut three years later in 1957.
Throughout his early career, he worked with several theatre companies and booked supporting roles in films before his big break in 1967 when he earned the lead role in the movie “Kontserto gia Polyvola”, starring Tzeni Karezi.
Kostas Kazakos and Tzeni Karezi in Kontserto gia Polyvola (1967).
The pair married the following year and welcomed the birth of their son, Konstantinos, who is also an actor. Kosta and Tzeni were together for 24 years prior to her passing in 1992.
In 1997, Kazakos married the actress Jenny Jolia.
In the 2007 Greek legislative election, he was elected to the Greek Parliament as a candidate of the Communist Party of Greece and was re-elected in 2009.
A minute of silence was observed in Parliament in his memory on Tuesday.
‘An exuberant and dynamic personality‘
In a tweet posted early this morning, Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described Kazakos as an “exuberant and dynamic personality, who was constantly present in art, as well as in public life as a member of parliament.”
“Art and public life will miss his imposing appearance and his distinctive voice,” he added.
Με θλίψη πληροφορήθηκα τον θάνατο του Κώστα Καζάκου. Μιας πληθωρικής και δυναμικής προσωπικότητας, που υπήρξε διαρκώς παρούσα στην Τέχνη, όπως και στη δημόσια ζωή ως βουλευτής. Και από τις δύο θα λείψουν, τώρα, τόσο η επιβλητική του εμφάνιση, όσο και η χαρακτηριστική φωνή του.
In a statement, Greece’s Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni said he was a “great actor, director and teacher, totally dedicated to the theatrical art.”
“Together with Tzeni Karezis, they were one of the leading couples of Greek cinema and theatre, starring in some of the biggest film successes and in performances that have remained in the history of the Greek theatre scene,” she said.
“With his theatrical legacy, but also with his intense and lasting political activity, as a member of Parliament and as an active citizen, Kostas Kazakos leaves behind a great legacy. I express my deepest condolences to his family.”
Kosta and Tzeni Karezi with their son Konstantinos.
Despite being picked as one of the tournament’s favourites, Greece was overcome by home team underdog, Germany, who will now be advancing to their first semi-finals at FIBA EuroBasket since 2005.
Germany came out firing, establishing an early 22-11 cushion but through Giannis Antetokounmpo, the tides began to turn for Greece who, at halftime, held a 61-57 advantage.
In his 30 minutes of play, Antetokounmpo finished the game with 31 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals and 5 turnovers.
However, momentum completely swung back in favour of the hosts in the third, with a pivotal 20-1 run from Germany allowing them to take back total control. There was no letting up from that point on.
🇬🇷 The Greek Freak (31 PTS, 8 REB) did everything for his country but his efforts were not enough for Greece to pull it off in Berlin.
