Greek Tourism Minister, Vassilis Kikilias, arrived in the Turkish city of Izmir on Tuesday, heading the Greek delegation to the 4th Session of the Joint Tourism Committee and the 9th Greek-Turkish Forum on Tourism.
The last meeting of the Joint Tourism Committee and the Forum on Tourism had taken place in Athens in October 2011.
During the meeting, Kikilias stressed that the tourism sector was one in which Turkey and Greece could cooperate.
Greek Tourism Minister, Vassilis Kikilias, at the meeting.
“We live in sensitive times, which are occasionally difficult, but we must all agree that tourism and travel is the framework in which we can and shall be able to work together even better and cooperate,” the Tourism Minister said in his address.
Kikilias also welcomed the fact that the joint committee and forum were meeting again in a constructive way after 10 years and said that Greece’s goal was to increase the number of cities and islands that are linked by ferries.
“If I had to prioritise our goals based on the pandemic and respect for health and hygiene protocols… it would be to reduce bureaucracy and facilitate travel from Turkey to Greece but also from Greece to Turkey,” he said.
The Tourism Minister also added that visitors from Turkey were “welcome, quality tourists” and that Greece wanted to increase the tourist flow from Turkey.
In response, Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, referred to the importance of developing cooperation between the two countries in the tourism sector and the benefits this will bring for their relations.
Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.
Ersoy also stressed the significance of a temporary visa and how useful this will be for Turkish travellers to the Greek islands.
The meeting ended with the signing of a memorandum of cooperation in tourism issues between the two countries.
Some 20,000 people marched peacefully through Athens on Wednesday to mark the 48th anniversary of a bloody anti-dictatorship uprising in 1973, according to AP News.
More than 5,000 police were deployed to keep order. They were supported by drones, a helicopter and water cannons as violence regularly breaks out during the annual march to the US Embassy in Athens.
A similar demonstration was held in Greece’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki, with about 14,000 participants. The march ended peacefully, but afterwards masked youths threw petrol bombs at police who responded with tear gas and a water cannon. No injuries or arrests were reported.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said the 1973 uprising reinforced the country’s “daily commitment to a secure democracy.”
“48 years since the historic uprising of the Polytechnic, we remember and honour. We inspire and dare. We think and move on! The messages of those great moments are being transformed, today, into a daily orientation towards a secure democracy,” Mitsotakis wrote.
48 χρόνια από την ιστορική εξέγερση του Πολυτεχνείου, θυμόμαστε και τιμούμε. Εμπνεόμαστε και τολμούμε. Συλλογιζόμαστε και προχωρούμε! Τα μηνύματα εκείνων των μεγάλων στιγμών μετατρέπονται, σήμερα, σε καθημερινό προσανατολισμό προς μία ασφαλή Δημοκρατία. https://t.co/5JWlmBL6rspic.twitter.com/cm7N4kQC4X
Elsewhere, Greek President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, laid a wreath at a memorial to the victims of the uprising.
“We honour the victims, the students and all the fighters who stood up against violence and anomy. Their sacrifices, just like their love for freedom and democracy, continue to inspire us,” Sakellaroupoulou said on the day.
The Greek president also stressed the importance of supporting young people and their “expectations for a better future.”
“The young men and women of today, who after the economic crisis are also having to deal with the pandemic, are required to make their way in a world full of challenges and uncertainties,” she said.
Sakellaropoulou at a memorial service.
“It is our duty to stand by them and to support their expectations for a better future, in the context of an open society that includes as all.”
The anniversary commemorates the 1973 student-led pro-democracy protests at the Athens Polytechnic which were crushed by police and troops sent by the military regime. Officers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators and bystanders near the Polytechnic, and an army tank smashed in the gates of the university complex behind which many students were gathered.
At least 20 are thought to have been killed, though the precise death toll of the November 1973 events remains unknown.
Some photographs taken by the then AP Greek photoreporter Aristotle Sarrikostas, together with the film of just 35 seconds of the Dutch cameraman Albert Courant, proved to be irrefutable documents and contradicted the original statement of the Colonel’s Junta that “nothing happened at the Polytechnic University”.
The only photoreporter who captured the moment of the invasion of the tank at the dawn of November 17, 1973, unfolds his memories and recounts in his own words the events of that evening.
“It was a suicide mission”
“It was five – six in the afternoon. It was dark. After I had taken several photos around the Polytechnic, I returned to the offices of The Associated Press, situated at the end of Academy Street-near the Parliament House, so that I could send the material to AP headquarters in New York. Back then, to send a black and white photo via transmitter and telephone line, it took 21 minutes! Today to send a photo it takes under 5 seconds.
Early on we photographed everything we could. And you know it wasn’t easy with the police, the army and the provocateurs to flash-photograph everything that was going on. It was like a suicide mission.
Take a picture of a police officer hitting students on the head with batons and sticks? That was impossible! They would of arrested me and send me to Bouboulinas (the security headquarters that was close to the Polytechnic).
Around 9pm, I heard a noise, a loud rumble.
They were the crawlers of the tanks, coming down Panepistimiou Street to go to the Polytechnic.
I immediately called my manager, Phil Dopoulos, who as soon as he heard the noise told me to leave immediately. I didn’t refuse, of course, but I needed someone with me. It was too dangerous to walk around in the dark. So I persuaded him to come with me.”
“We found ourselves in the middle of the phalanx”
“My manager had a Jaguar, with English plates. We got into his car and going down Americis Street we found ourselves facing the convoy of tanks.
As we were heading to the Polytechnic we were approached by a police patrol car. His driver – at the threat of a revolver – was cursing us and asking us to leave at once. The manager scared me. My reaction was instinctive.
I lowered the window of the car, looked at him, put my finger in front of my mouth, and with a long-drawn “Shhh,” I asked him to be silent! He was shocked.
He turned to his colleague and they drove off. Maybe when they saw the English Jaguar plates they thought we were the CIA or the Intelligence Service!
“I hid the films in my underwear”
“Moving between the tanks we reached Patision Street (the Road where the Polytechnic is located).
All tanks were set up in front of the Polytechnic with the searchlights on. We stood in a place about 40 meters from the main gate in Stournari Street. It was full of policemen, soldiers and provocateurs, whom I knew – they were wearing civilian clothes.
They were the ones who beat people with batons. As I was photographing, I was approached by a police officer.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, “You’re going to sit here and I will be watching you.” When he spoke to me he was heard by the rest of the police officers and soldiers close by. I was taking pictures without a flash.
“As many as I could and when a film finished, I would hide it in my socks, in my underwear. I gave some to my manager as well. I thought that was the only way to save the material.”
“The time of the invasion”
“I was nearby and I heard the students shouting at the police officers: “we are unarmed, we are brothers, come with us.” I could hear the sergeant in the main tank answering the radio. “Yes, sir. Yes, sir. At your command,” he was saying.
With the other hand he held a pistol. My manager walked out and I gave him all the film I had up to that time. It was midnight.
At 2:45am, on 17 November I saw the tank turning the turret in a contrasting direction from the main gate of the Polytechnic.
I thought it was going to turn and go away. This relief lasted for seconds because the tank suddenly accelerated releasing black smoke, and with tremendous force crashed on the main entrance, throwing the children who were upon the pillars of the gate on the ground, like oranges from the tree.
The tank broke through the iron door, crashed a Dean’s Mercedes that was just behind the door. The children who were on the sides of the door moved away. But you can imagine what happened to the ones that were up and behind the gate…”
“I was attacked”
“As soon as the main gate fell and police and soldiers entered the Polytechnic University, I changed position to have a better point of view. At one point I perceived two policemen with sticks approaching me.
“They tried to hit me but I avoided the blows because I ducked in time. One of them pulled out a pistol and I started running zig zag because I thought he was going to shoot me. Luckily, he didn’t and today I’m here talking to you. I managed to get away.
I went back to the offices of The Associated Press to send the pictures of the tank’s invasion of the Polytechnic.”
“They cleaned the blood with hoses”
“Around 6am, I went out again. All Athens was covered by a heavy veil of smoke. The atmosphere was very heavy.
I went back to the Polytechnic University. It was messy. Discarded shoes, torn clothes, blood…
Police officers and firefighters were trying with hoses to wash the bloodstains that were on the streets and sidewalks”.
“My photos were irrefutable testimony”
“Around 11-12 in the morning the Deputy Prime Minister of the junta, Stylianos Pattakos, called journalists and photoreporters to tell us that absolutely nothing happened the previous night.
But a little later all the foreign newspapers were circulating with my pictures, which were irrefutable proof of the invasion of the Polytechnic.
Pattakos called us all back.
Greek and foreign correspondents and finally admitted it. “We had to step in to get rid of those brats,” he told us.
Fortunately there were these photographs, as was the film of the Dutch permanent correspondent in Athens, Albert Koeran, attesting to what had happened in Athens that night…”
South Australia’s North Ingle primary school principal, Dina Zunis (nee Stavrou) has received a prestigious honour at the South Australian Public Education Awards.
In a ceremony held on Friday, November 5, at the Adelaide Convention Centre the Greek Australian was the recipient of the Primary Leader of the Year Award.
“I am deeply honoured and proud to have been recognised for my work. I love working with children and help them progress with their learning and education,” Ms Zunis told The Greek Herald and stressed that the award is a result of hard work and the ongoing support of her family, mentors, the staff at North Ingle School and Preschool as well as the parent community.
The Primary Leader of the Year Award goes to Dina Zunis – Principal of North Ingle School, Congratulations Dina! #PublicEduAwards2021
“This award also acknowledges my personal history. I am the daughter of Greek migrant parents from the 60’s,” she said, reflecting on her heritage and the challenges she faced as a child of non-English speaking background.
“Born in Adelaide to Hristina and Vasilios Stavrou from the village of Kefalovriso, Argos, I commenced Prep at Prospect Demonstration School in 1971 without a word of English. My mother and my sister always encouraged me to seek my passion and give my best and my father encouraged me to be independent.”
Dina Zunis (second from L) with her parents and siblings
Ms Zunis said that from a child who used to run away from school because she didn’t understand the language, she became a studious student as she felt “supported and really cared for” by her teachers.
“All my schooling was through the public system. I am grateful for that and have fond memories of exceptional teachers who shaped my journey in education.”
Ms Zunis also made special mention to her late brother Spiro who stood by her side throughout her studies and was the one who helped her in maths and science as well as her husband Theo and her sons John, Chris & Billy who motivate and inspire her.
Minister for Education, John Gardner congratulated all the finalists for their exceptional work.
“This year’s winners and finalists strive to support every child and young person to be successful and deliver a world class education system for all South Australians,” Minister Gardner said.
“The awards provide an opportunity to reflect on our achievements, be proud of the work we’ve done and where we are heading together.
Last night was a very special evening for @edu_sagov as we celebrated outstanding examples of excellence in SA public education with the Public Education Awards.
“COVID has thrown some challenges at our educators and they have gone above and beyond to make sure education in South Australia keeps moving forward.
“We want every child and young person in our state, no matter what town or suburb they live in, or which classroom or kindy they attend, to be supported to fulfil their potential.
“Everyone in our state’s public education system is working together as a connected team towards one goal, to deliver world class education for all children and young people in South Australia.”
As an award winner, Ms Zunis will get $10,000 to be used for professional development.
“Whatever I do, I do with my whole heart, great passion and respect. These values I inherited from my parents and I try to model to my own children and students,” the Greek Australian principal concluded.
Aspen Medical provided St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner with workers who were “literally graduates”, with the majority having no experience in aged care.
The contractor was awarded millions to provide surge staff after the Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton stood the home’s entire workforce down on July 22 last year. Professor Sutton is due to give evidence at the inquest next Wednesday.
Neil Callagher, then head of the Commonwealth Aged Care COVID-19 Implementation Branch, said finding staff to attend to frail residents wasn’t easy.
Mr. Callagher told Victoria’s Coroners Court he was under the impression Aspen would be providing experienced aged care workers.
The inquest heard many of the workers never showed up or refused to take the job when learning the home was the site of an outbreak, and those who did were reduced to tears during their time at the home, according to The Australian.
The inquest into the deaths of 50 residents at the home in 2020 – Australia’s deadliest aged care COVID-19 outbreak – continues.
A local artist has taken his geometric style artworks to the streets of Canberra.
Yannis Pounartzis has unveiled his new mural ‘Pedestrian Strips’ on Scotts Crossing at the Canberra Centre.
“…the mural will create conversation and also enliven the space ahead of the expected busy Christmas shopping period,” the ACT Government writes on Facebook.
Yannis Pounartzis has unveiled his ‘Pedestrian Strips’ mural on Scotts Crossing at the Canberra Centre (Photos: yannipounartzis.com)
The mural is inspired by the pedestrian stripes on the road and is a teaser piece ahead of the Surface festival.
30 urban artists will transform the built environment of Braddon and Civic with urban art in March next year.
Yannis Pounartzis is an internationally recognised painter based in Canberra (Photo: yannipounartzis.com)
Pounartzis works in a “distinct style of minimalist abstract with a focus on geometric hard-edge, painted freehand”, his website reads.
His work was featured in the ABC Art Show, A-Z of Contemporary Art.
Pounartzis’ paintings have been exhibited in several international galleries and are held in private collections in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Berlin, and New York.
The Zavros family has been rescued by a police helicopter from the Simpson Desert.
Ori and Linsey, and their two children Zoe and Zane, became stuck in the desert last Friday and spent five days stranded after the roads were flooded by torrential rain.
“We feel safe now,” Mr. Zavros said.
“It’s been emotional, a bit of a rollercoaster but we got through it.”
The family has been on a camping trip around Australia in their customised camper van for the past year.
(Photo via Gabriella Marchant/ABC News)
They activated their emergency beacon last Friday morning when things took a turn for the worse.
“We were concerned that we might have got stuck there for a few weeks, worried about the heat,” Mr. Zavros said, as temperatures began to rise above 40 degrees Celsius.
“After the first couple of days, we sort of realised that we wanted to get out of there pretty quick.”
“Thankful that it’s over now.
Mr. Zavros said they kept their spirits up by eating icy poles and watching Bluey DVDs.
“We had a daily ritual where we would go for a walk in the morning and then have an icy pole at lunchtime and then go for walk in the afternoon when we could,” he said.
Emergency supplies have been air-dropped to the Zavros family, along with a satellite phone (Photo via Sky News)
Ms. Zavros said it had been an “adventure”.
“I don’t regret it, it was an adventure — I wouldn’t do it again,” she said.
“Little mistakes that we made that we wish we didn’t make but we wouldn’t change it, it’s shaped our trip,” Mr. Zavros said.
The couple said they would now have to find a way back to Perth.
“Go to Perth for Christmas and then once the truck has been recovered we will come back out and keep going,” Mr. Zavros said.
“I think we will crack a cold beer and a champagne.”
Maria Sakkari has secured her spot in the semifinals of the WTA in Mexico, while Stefanos Tsitsipas lost out in his opening match at the ATP Finals in Italy.
No. 4 seed Sakkari defeated top seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (8-6), 6-3 on Tuesday in the longest match of the tournament so far.
“It was a rollercoaster match from both of us,” said Sakkari, who had lost in her four previous meetings with the Belarusian.
“I was up a break, then she was up a break. It was just a matter of who took the chances. I think at the end I just played with my heart and fought well, just turned things around.”
Up north, Tsitsipas lost 6-4 6-4 against Russian Andrey Rublev on Monday in his third appearance at the tournament.
The world no. 4 has promised to turn things around and qualify for the semifinals.
“Despite the loss, I feel I will get more chances. I want to step it up and play better tennis next time,” Tsitsipas said after the match.
Pope Francis will visit Cyprus from 2 to 3 December and Greece from 4 to 6 December.
The Pope will meet with local authorities, religious leaders, attend liturgies and ecumenical encounters, and visit migrants in Lesbos.
On 2 December, he will arrive in Cyprus to meet with priests, consecrated persons, deacons, catechists, and members of Church associations present.
Later, the welcome ceremony will take place at the Presidential Palace of Nicosia, followed by a courtesy visit to the President of the Republic and a meeting with local authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps.
The following day, the Pope will make a courtesy visit to His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus at the Orthodox Archbishopric of Cyprus in Nicosia, followed by a meeting with the Holy Synod at the Orthodox Cathedral in Nicosia.
Later in the morning, he will preside over a Mass at the “GSP Stadium” in Nicosia.
In the afternoon he will hold an Ecumenical Prayer with Migrants at the Parish Church of the Holy Cross in Nicosia.
A child kisses the hand of Pope Francis, during a visit at the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece in April 2016 (Photo: Andrea Bonetti/Greek Prime Minister’s Office via AP)
On Saturday the Pope will arrive in Athens for a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Athens.
He will make a courtesy visit to the President of the Republic, meet with the Prime Minister, and then with local authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps.
The afternoon meetings include a courtesy visit to His Beatitude Hieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, at the Orthodox Archbishopric of Greece in Athens, followed by a meeting of both leaders with their respective entourages in the “Throne Room” of the Orthodox Archbishopric.
Later that day he will meet with the local Church community’s bishops, priests, religious, consecrated persons, seminarians, and catechists at the Cathedral of Saint Dionysius in Athens. Ending the evening, he will meet privately with members of the Society of Jesus at the Apostolic Nunciature in Athens.
On Sunday, the Pope will travel to Lesbos to visit with refugees at the “Reception and Identification Centre” in Mytilene town.
He returns to Athens in the afternoon when at 16:45 he will preside over a Mass at “Megaron Concert Hall”. In the evening he will welcome the courtesy visit of His Beatitude Hieronymous II at the Apostolic Nunciature in Athens.
On 6 December, Pope Francis will welcome the President of the Parliament at the Apostolic Nunciature and later meet with young people at Saint Dionysius School.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis that the repatriation of the Parthenon marbles is one for the British Museum.
Mitsotakis raised the issue with Johnson in Downing Street on Tuesday, Johnson’s office said.
“The Prime Minister (Johnson) said that he understood the strength of feeling of the Greek people on this issue, but reiterated the UK’s longstanding position that this matter is one for the trustees of the British Museum,” a statement said.
This contradicted Mitsotakis, who said last week the issue was a matter for negotiation between the two governments.
Known in Britain as the Elgin Marbles, the sculptures make up about half of a 160-meter frieze that adorned the Parthenon, a 5th century BC architectural masterpiece. Most of the other surviving sculptures are in Athens.
The British Museum says there are no current discussions with the Greek government on the issue. It says Elgin acted legally when he removed the sculptures from Athens, and they are “a vital element in this interconnected world collection”.
Johnson had told a Greek newspaper in March that the sculptures “were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the appropriate laws of the time and have been legally owned by the British Museum’s trustees since their acquisition”.
Mitsotakis told Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper last week that “the marbles were stolen in the 19th century, they belong in the Acropolis Museum and we need to discuss this issue in earnest.”
