Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has angrily defended his government’s immigration policy in a heated exchange with a Dutch journalist who accused him of lying over the alleged turning away of asylum seekers in the Aegean.
During a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, late on Tuesday, Mitsotakis was accused of “narcissistic abuse” with his denials that Greek authorities are refusing asylum seekers entry at its land and sea borders.
draadje met fragmenten. kijk, luister en zie vooral een groot schandaal dat de twee heren in hun antwoord op @IBeugel niet alleen draaien, maar vooral glashard staan te liegen. dát is pas insulting, @MinPres ! pic.twitter.com/rOnWzvAKqF
“There has been overwhelming evidence [about pushback], and you keep denying and lying. This is narcissistic abuse,” reporter, Ingeborg Beugel, said during question time.
“Why aren’t you being honest? Why don’t you just say, ‘Brussels left us alone, we waited for six years and nobody did anything to relocate refugees and, yes, I am now doing harsh, brutal pushbacks’?”
Some commentators criticised her tone as that of an activist not a journalist, while others noted that for the first time Mitsotakis had to face “real” questions.
Mitsotakis held a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, on Tuesday.
Clearly irate, Mitsotakis responded: “I understand that in the Netherlands you have a culture of asking direct questions to politicians, which I very much respect. What I will not accept is that in this office you will insult me or the Greek people with accusations and expressions that are not supported by material facts.”
Mitsotakis argued that the country deserved praise for saving “hundreds, if not thousands” of people at sea during the recent border crisis.
Incredible footage of the Greek PM shouting at a Dutch journalist, after she said he lied over refugee pushbacks.
He's not used to tough questions from the local media. Greece only beats Hungary on press freedom in the EU.
When Beugel attempted to interrupt him to say their living conditions were “appalling,” Mitsotakis bristled that she clearly hadn’t been to the new and “impeccable” EU-funded facility on Samos – a facility that aid groups have likened to a prison.
“Rather than putting the blame on Greece, you should put the blame on those who have been instrumentalising migration systematically, pushing people in [a] desperate situation from a safe country, because I need to remind you that people in Turkey are not in danger,” he said.
The Dutch PM defended his Greek counterpart’s response, saying Turkey is a safe country and emphasised that Greece is only trying to protect the EU external border.
Christos Tsiolkas has been crowned the winner of the $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature 2021 for his body of work, which has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature and to cultural and intellectual life.
Tsiolkas has written a number of novels, plays and screenplays, including Dead Europe, The Slap, Barracuda, Damascus, and a short-story collection, Merciless Gods. Just last week, he also released his latest novel, 7½.
At the online awards ceremony on Wednesday night, Tsiolkas paid tribute to his parents, saying his writing had been built on their sacrifices and struggles after they migrated from Greece to Melbourne.
The other writers shortlisted for the prize were poets PiO and Jodie Albiston, and children’s writer, poet and memoirist Maxine Beneba Clarke.
In a statement, Victoria’s Minister for Creative Industries, Danny Pearson MP congratulated the winners and finalists of the Prize and encouraged people to include the novels in their “summer reading list.”
📚The winner of the $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature 2021 is CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS for his outstanding body of work, contribution to Australian literature & to cultural and intellectual life. The Prize is supported by Major Partner, The Vera Moore Foundation. pic.twitter.com/cKdY7QIklo
“Thank you to the Melbourne Prize Trust for once again shining a light on our brightest creative minds and continuing to back creative careers – this support is more important than ever,” Minister Pearson said.
On the night, Evelyn Araluen was also named winner of the inaugural $20,000 Professional Development Award 2021 and Eloise Grills won the $15,000 Writer’s Prize 2021.
Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sport and Microsoft have announced the ‘Ancient Olympia: Common Grounds‘ initiative, a new collaboration to digitally preserve and restore ancient Olympia.
The program at ancient Olympia harnesses augmented reality technology that designers say has the potential to transform education, business and entertainment.
The culture ministry helped Microsoft map and build virtual representations at Olympia, the original site of the Olympic Games.
The image of an ancient temple is reflected on a mixed-reality HoloLens headset worn by museum technician Kostas Baskakis as a projection of Ancient Olympia is seen in the background at the Olympic Museum in Athens. Photo: AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis.
“It’s a milestone… that helped us bring technology and culture and history together so we can preserve it,” Microsoft President, Brad Smith, said in a video message at the launch event.
Users can tour the site remotely or in person with an online presentation and an augmented-like mobile app at Olympia, seeing a virtual re-creation of temples and competition areas as they walk through the ruins.
At the Olympic Museum in Athens, they can use Microsoft’s mixed-reality HoloLens headsets that overlay visual information on top of what the viewer sees.
Today we launched ‘Ancient Olympia – Common Grounds’. A unique collaboration with Microsoft that is harnessing the power of tech and opening up a completely new way of experiencing what our cultural heritage is all about. It’s incredible. https://t.co/sWpESmjycDpic.twitter.com/Y1uxCj8LNu
“[It is] a unique collaboration with Microsoft that is harnessing the power of tech and opening up a completely new way of experiencing what our cultural heritage is all about. It’s incredible,” Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said on Twitter after the launch.
Microsoft started the project 18 months ago, scouring Olympia with drones and sensors, after reaching an agreement with the Greek government to build three data centers in greater Athens in an investment to reach up to $1 billion.
Bond University director of the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare and clinical epidemiologist Paul Glasziou is among them.
Glasziou collaborated on one of the first reviews of the critical question of how many people who contracted Covid-19 were asymptomatic.
The 2020 paper was picked up by the World Health Organisation.
He also co-wrote a highly cited paper with colleague Iain Chalmers in 2019.
“We calculated that about 85 percent of research goes to waste because of nonpublication, poor reporting, or avoidable serious flaws in the design of the research,” Glasziou tells the Australian.
Pharmacology and pharmacy researcher Arthur Christopoulos was recognised in the health and medical sciences category.
Professor Christopoulos is a leading figure in pharmacology and is Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University.
“Ever since I was in high school I wanted to be a pharmacist. There is a rich history here of primary health care that always drew me to the profession,” he said in a Monash article.
As the son of Greek migrants, Christopoulos is highly rewarded for his study of the G protein-coupled receptors, the largest class of protein targets for medicinal agents.
“I studied hard and I found that I loved it. What I was drawn towards in particular was pharmacology; the science of how drugs work,” he said.
UNSW’s Nicole Kessissoglou was recognised in the acoustics and sound category.
Her research interests include structural vibration and transmission, fluid-structure interaction, and active noise and vibration control.
She is the author of several journal articles, books, and papers.
Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos has ruled out buying nuclear submarines from the US or UK.
He suggested the vast bulk of the new fleet promised under the AUKUS security pact would be built in South Australia.
“This is not about cannibalising American and British submarine fleets or taking the next one that comes off the assembly line or anything like that,” he said, speaking as part of an online panel at the Hudson Institute on Tuesday.
“This is about developing a capability, which augments what is available to allies and partners in the region.”
Sinodinos said the government hoped to sort out the details of construction in sooner than 18 months.
“We‘re hoping to do it as quickly as possible and not have to use the full 18 months,” he said, referencing the 18 month period in the deal.
“We‘ve got people coming into the embassy, help with this work here in Washington, the White House, the Pentagon is staffing up as well.”
“The UK is doing the same thing.”
“So watch this space.”
Twelve new submarines were being constructed in Adelaide by French shipbuilder Naval Group, but that project is now likely to be scrapped (Commonwealth of Australia: Navy Imagery Unit)
Submarine workers in South Australia will be reassured and the capability of the Australian submarine industry and workforce will be under the microscope.
The Ambassador said the submarines would enable Australia to “project power”, but shouldn’t be seen as a threat to China.
“We want to move on. We‘re happy to have a dialogue, a dialogue without preconditions. And we want to just normalise relations again. This is not about us seeking to regime change or anything like that,” Sinodinos said.
Tensions between the two countries have deteriorated in recent years. We’re currently in the middle of a trade dispute with Beijing.
“We want to be able to … project our power further up rather than taking an approach that all our defence has to be a defence of the mainland,” Mr Sinodinos said, pointing out defence spending was increasing towards 2.5 per cent of GDP.
“We‘re doing that because we want to be more proactive in shaping the environment in our region … the challenge for us in the region today is not to sit back and be the passive recipient of whatever may be happening, but seeking to shape events.”
KAZ founder Peter Kazacos is using quantum security technology to upgrade the cryptography of Bitcoin.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin rely on cryptography to ensure security and trust and prevent breaches.
Kazacos says advances in technology present new risks for the cryptography of this new currency.
“…particularly with the advent of quantum computing, which could break current implementations of cryptography,” he said.
KAZ’s solution “uses quantum technology to upgrade the cryptography of existing protocols like Bitcoin and Ethereum,” Kazacos says.
KAZ proposes using quantum technology to protect against the threat of quantum computers.
“We are solving this [threat] by using real quantum phenomena, quantum tunneling of electrons which are totally unpredictable and entirely random to produce quantum cryptographic keys,” he said.
“If something is truly random it follows that it cannot be reverse-engineered and is theoretically impossible to breach.”
Cue the first crypto to use quantum tech: Quantum Assets Token.
“Quantum Assets on the Binance Smart Chain are the first crypto to adopt KAZ’s quantum technology and are using it to launch Quantum Bitcoin in a bid to ensure the cryptography of Bitcoin remains safe and secure.”
Quantum Digital Assets Limited is the corporation behind the recent launch of the Quantum Assets token on the Binance Smart Chain.
Quantum Assets is levering KAZ’s core platform quantum technology to launch Quantum BTC and Quantum ETH each on their own Quantum Mainnets, with more protocols to follow in the future.
“We are proud to be leveraging and deploying KAZ’s quantum technology security solution to bring the world Quantum Bitcoin,” a Quantum Assets spokesperson said.
South Australia’s Riverland produces 60 per cent of Australia’s wine, by volume, and many Greek families who migrated to the region from the 1950s to the 1970s have contributed to its recognition as the engine room of the country’s wine industry.
The Koutouzis family is one of them.
“My parents, Theodora and George, immigrated to Australia from the Peloponnese in the 1960s and 70s and they moved to the Riverland to work in factories and pick fruit,” John Koutouzis, the heart and soul of the family’s handcrafted boutique wine brand, Sixty Eight Roses, tells The Greek Herald.
From the mid 1900s many Greek arrivals in South Australia were employed on two-year contracts with the Australian government.
They worked in ship building in Whyalla, fishing in Port Lincoln and as fruit pickers and growers in the citrus, stone and dried fruit industries of Renmark and Berri. Others migrated to Port Pirie and joined the substantial Greek community already there.
In 1961 there were 9,528 Greek South Australians. By 1966 there were 14,660.
“My parents met each other in the factories in Berri in the early 1970s. They got married, had their first child and together they opened a Greek Deli. Shortly after, they sold the Deli and in the mid 70s, they bought the family farm at Chilton Road in Berri,” John said.
Theodora and George Koutouzis used to cut apricots by hand and then dry them in the sun
“We [John and his three siblings] grew up in a 20-acre farm full of different varieties of wine grapes, table grapes, dried apricots and peaches. It was a beautiful country lifestyle away from the big smoke among many other migrants and with an annual multicultural festival.”
The Koutouzis family business was and remains one of the biggest distributors and suppliers for major wineries and winemakers in the area.
Ditching the corporate life for winemaking
In the 2000’s after two significant droughts a global over supply of wine grape and the shortage of water saw the demise of Riverland’s wine industry boom.
It was then that the region’s multicultural community started to lose its vibrancy and colour.
“After a while the community got smaller. The children of the people who migrated to the Riverland went to university and moved to big cities.”
In 2016 there were only 1,278 people of Greek descent living in the Murraylands and Riverland region.
The Koutouzis family having a traditional souvla on their farm for Easter, 1980s
John Koutouzis finished high school and then went to University of South Australia where he completed a commercial law degree.
“Then I went to the banking sector and corporate life in Adelaide and then to Melbourne for four years. But this lifestyle didn’t satisfy me at all,” he said.
“From a country boy, living in a farm to wearing a suit and being restricted to a 9-5 job wasn’t for me. So, in 2010 I left Melbourne and came back to the Riverland where I started working on the farms again.”
“It is the best decision I’ve made. On the farm I can be myself, work my own hours and have that freedom, fresh air and space.”
When Sixty Eight Roses Wines was born
The Riverland has been for some years now redefining itself as an inland cluster of viable, smart vineyards and wineries and has proven that resilience and perseverance is a key to success.
So has John, who left behind a busy lifestyle to go back to his roots and pursue his passion for organic, handmade wine.
“Growing up on the vineyard we grew a lot of red varieties, especially shiraz and grenache and we’d make wine every year. When I came back from Melbourne, I thought to make a ton. It became popular, I made some more and now I’m slowly branching to more varieties,” he said.
And this is how his brand, Sixty Eight Roses came about.
“We launched our product in February 2020 and in March the pandemic happened. We had to focus on domestic South Australian sales and branch our product locally because the big states were in lockdown. It was super stressful but this experience taught me how to be resourceful and resilient.”
South Australia has a new generation of winemakers who want to breathe new life into one of Australia’s oldest wine regions and John Koutouzis’ brand is certainly one to look out for.
“As a nano-producer I make roughly 2-3 tonnes per variety and I want to keep it quality high. I want it to be personal, handmade and something unique,” he said.
I asked him how he came up with the name of the brand.
“Sixty-eight is our farm allotment number,” he said.
“Our family home where we were born, grew up and lived is surrounded by so many varieties of roses that grow on our front yard. This is where I come home after a hard day’s work and I can switch off, I can relax and come up with ideas.”
For John and all the Greek Australian winemakers and producers who keep the family traditions going and create small brands with big impact I think we should raise a glass.
The Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) is calling on the federal government to negotiate a bilateral health care agreement with Greece.
Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke met with GCM President Bill Papastergiadis, as well as board members Marinis Pirpiris, Chris Sikavitsas, and Greek Centre director Jorge Menidis, at the GCM Greek Centre on Tuesday.
“The Morrison government and the Greek Community of Melbourne have had a strong relationship for a number of years and with the help of the Morrison government negotiations have commenced with the Greek state for a double taxation agreement,” Papastergiadis said.
(Photo: Supplied)
“This is fundamental for developing the relationship between two countries who have been allies in world wars, have a shared migration, but now, equally, will have a strong economic footing between the two countries.”
Minister Hawke outlined Australia’s close relationship with Greece.
“As Bill says, we continue to work closely with the Greek government,” said Minister Hawke, who was presented with a commemorative plaque.
(Photo: Supplied)
“We will work … with the Greek government, given our strong history, how long we’ve been partnering together; there are great arguments to fix these things that need fixing so that we can strengthen the relationships between our people on tax, in health, and all the things that are barriers for travel.”
“I look forward to those negotiations continuing.”
The GCM also announced it will host the Global Hellenic Medical Conference in September 2022.
Greece will launch a public campaign urging victims of domestic violence to “speak up” after a spate of femicides.
The initiative will try to ram home the message that there is help for women in abusive relationships, Greece’s gender equality minister told the Guardian.
“What we are seeing is very worrying, and our message is ‘speak up, we are here to assist’,” said Maria Syrengela.
“It’s very important that women understand the warning signs.”
Television channels, social media and the mainstream press will be enlisted as part of the effort to highlight a nationwide network of shelters and counselling centres set up to provide psychosocial and legal support.
A free helpline offering support has also been established.
The drive, described as unprecedented for Greece in scope and scale, will expand on a pilot programme activated during the pandemic, when cases of abuse, attributed to long months of confinement, began to soar.
“So often women have been scared to speak. It was such a taboo they remained silent,” Syrengela said.
“Now, even in the last village of Greece, we are saying there are services that can help, that they can start a new life.”
Greece’s gender equality minister Maria Syrengela (Photo: Maria Syrengela on Facebook)
Never has domestic violence been so publicly discussed in a country where entrenched patriarchal views have been slow to change and, outside towns and cities, traditional mores still hold sway.
“There’s been an increase in women coming in,” said Katerina Kostaki, a psychologist at a counselling centre off Syntagma Square in Athens.
“All these incidents have brought up a lot of angst and pain even for victims who may have completed their therapy.”
“Many feel guilt and shame that they are with violent men and anxiety they could be next [to be killed].”
From January to October this year, 12 women aged 19 to 75 were allegedly murdered by husbands or partners.
Femicides have not only piled pressure on the Greek government but led to fervent calls for changes to Greece’s penal code.
There are demands for femicides to be classified as a distinct crime to stop perpetrators using legal loopholes in an attempt to get more lenient sentences.
But Athens’ supreme court prosecutor weighed in last week, ordering jurists to fast-track cases of domestic abuse by adopting a system that would allow suspects to be indicted, arrested and tried within 48 hours of committing a crime.
The intervention was described as groundbreaking for a criminal justice system that is not only notoriously slow but regularly compared by legal experts to a relic of the 19th century.
“It’s a turning point,” said Maria Gavouneli, president of the Greek national commission for human rights.
“He has instructed prosecutors across the country to pay special attention to cases of domestic violence and reminded them of the [legal] toolbox.”
Greek prosecutors would now be encouraged to use every legal provision in the criminal code when dealing with femicides, Gavouneli said.
“They won’t just prosecute for murder but [will also] take aggravating circumstances into account. It’s very significant,” she says.
“The Greek justice system is extremely slow. It literally doesn’t work anymore.”
The government campaign is to be followed by other initiatives that will aim to convey the message that women are every bit equal to men.
Greece accused the Turkish coast guard on Tuesday of pushing migrants into Greek waters.
The Greek coast guard posted a video of Turkish patrol vessels accompanying an inflatable dinghy holding dozens of migrants to Lesbos early Tuesday.
They say they prevented the dinghy’s entry, and the Turkish guard eventually picked up the migrants after initially refusing to do so.
“(The video) shows, beyond any doubt, the clear attempts by Turkish coast guard craft, using dangerous maneuvers, to direct the dinghy that they are escorting towards Greek territorial waters so that they could illegally enter,” a Greek coast guard statement said.
Minister for merchant marine Yiannis Plakiotakis said Turkey “once again, behaved like a pirate state”.
“The European Union must exert much greater pressure on Turkey to comply with its international obligations,” he said.
Thousands of people fleeing conflict or poverty in the Mideast, Africa, and Asia try to enter Greece every year from regional rival Turkey. Under a 2016 agreement with the European Union, of which Greece is a member, Turkey vowed to stem the flow of migrants.
But Greece has repeatedly accused Turkey — which has its own large migrant population — of encouraging and facilitating the attempted crossings. Last year, tension spiked on their land border after Turkey waved thousands of migrants towards Greece and Greece deployed police and military to thwart what it called a “hybrid attack.”
Turkey, in turn, accuses Greece — which has stepped up its border patrols — of illegally sending back migrants who make it onto its territory.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis denied that claim during a press conference Tuesday, arguing that his government follows a “tough but fair” migration policy.
“We are intercepting boats that come from Turkey, as we have the right to do in accordance with European regulations, and waiting for the Turkish coast guard to come and pick them up to return them to Turkey,” he said.
Greece and Turkey, both NATO allies, are also at odds over undersea gas and oil exploration rights.
