Eurobank urges Athens to lift capital controls by early ...

Greece imposed capital controls and ordered banks to shut temporarily in June after the European Central Bank (ECB) refused to increase emergency funding ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.reuters.com

Syrian woman gives birth on GREEK island of Lesbos after arriving from Turkey

It comes days after the GREEK government announced its first so-called 'hotspot reception centre', which will register and identify migrants, would open ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dailymail.co.uk

Iceland's Of Monsters and Men at the GREEK Theatre

Of Monsters and Men is Iceland's second or third most popular musical export behind Björk. Once operating under the heavy foot-stomping influence ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com

'Most wanted' human trafficker arrested by GREEK coastguard off shores of Lesbos

The man, described as the GREEK coastguard's 'most wanted', is one of many traffickers profiteering from the desperation of those trying to escape war ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.itv.com

US diplomacy to push for the GREEK-Bulgarian gas pipeline

Washington has sent its special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, Amos Hochstein, to Athens, who will meet with GREEK Energy ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Tom Bouzalas still loves his wife Ethel who was pursued by ...

Husband of 'cake porn seductress' speaks out and reveals how he still loves his wife who was 'relentlessly pursued' by kinky Greek Orthodox priest

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dailymail.co.uk

The Boomerang Intellectual

Many intellectuals in East-Central Europe have traveled considerable ideological distances over the decades. The most common trajectory has been from the Left to the Right, as former Marxists were born again after 1989 as liberals, neo-liberals, neo-conservatives, just plain conservatives, and ideologues even further to the Right. Janos Kis in Hungary, who critiqued Marxism from the Left in the 1970s, became a prominent liberal in Hungary in the 1980s and 1990s. Mihailo Markovic, a member of the group of neo-Marxist philosophers known as Praxis, became a leading nationalist supporter of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. Former Polish United Workers' Party member Boleslav Tejkowski swung over to the far Right to create the Polish National Party, which has been infamous for its extreme nationalism and anti-Semitism. Gaspar Miklos Tamas, the Hungarian philosopher and political theorist who was born in Romania, also started out on the Left and moved steadily rightward. But unlike his intellectual cohort, he made an abrupt U-turn in the 21st century. "I've had this strange trajectory that I once called in an interview a boomerang: from the Left to the Right and back again," he told me in an interview in Budapest in August 2013. "But I did not land exactly in the same place. I was much more of an anarchist in my youth. And, strangely enough for a East European, I became a Marxist for the first time only in 2000 -- perhaps forced by circumstance but also by theoretical considerations." I first met Tamas in the 1990s, visiting him in Budapest to explore the possibility of his contributing to a book of essays on European nationalism. He ushered me into his study, which was not only book-lined but filled with towers of books, each stack devoted to a different project. That, for me, became the archetypal image of a European intellectual. What struck me on seeing him again was his adherence to what Tony Judt describes in the latest posthumous collection of his essays, _When the Facts Change_, as a willingness to alter one's understanding of reality when that reality evolves. "First of all, very simply, I had to understand why the new dispensation was so hated by everyone in the region," Tamas told me. "How is it possible that the regime that my generation of intellectuals so hated and suffered so much at the hands of would be rehabilitated by public opinion and seen unapologetically as the better way by a majority of people, including people on the Right? Of course, I don't happen to agree with that opinion. On balance, we are still slightly better off. But I couldn't ignore that view." The failure to thrive for so many people in the region was another fact he couldn't ignore. "Not only was the last quarter of a century of 'real socialism' the only version of the welfare state that the East had known, but it was perhaps the greatest explosion of East European culture in our history," he continued. "Also, it was the only period in which people could count on their lives getting a little better each year in economic and material terms. They also managed to achieve a little more liberty every year. So it was an era of progress. And there was also a feeling of security. And that's something we can't say about our own era." We talked about "pure capitalism," Left movements like Occupy, identity politics, what's happening in Greece, and much more. THE INTERVIEW _I don't know if you remember, but when we first met in 1993, you introduced me to a book that I didn't know about at the time. You told me it was a book that I had to read. It was called The Poverty of Liberalism. I dutifully went home and read it._ Robert Paul Wolff. _Exactly. It occurs to me that whenever people talk about meeting you and reading your writing, they talk about the political shift in your thinking. But at some level I see a continuity represented by that book. When I met you, you embraced a strong critique of liberalism. And you still have that critique._ Yes. At that time, of course I was intrigued as a liberal by an intelligent and persuasive critique. But now I am no longer a liberal, so of course my feelings are different, though I still like the book and I still like Robert Paul Wolff who is an undeservedly unknown author in America. In a way, I've had this strange trajectory that I once called in an interview a boomerang: from the Left to the Right and back again. But I did not land exactly in the same place. I was much more of an anarchist in my youth. And, strangely enough for a East European, I became a Marxist for the first time only in 2000 -- perhaps forced by circumstance but also by theoretical considerations. _And how would you describe those circumstances? Here in Hungary, in the region, or globally?_ In the region and globally. First of all, very simply, I had to understand why the new dispensation was so hated by everyone in the region. How is it possible that the regime that my generation of intellectuals so hated and suffered so much at the hands of would be rehabilitated by public opinion and seen unapologetically as the better way by a majority of people, including people on the Right? Of course, I don't happen to agree with that opinion. On balance, we are still slightly better off. But I couldn't ignore that view. Not only was the last quarter of a century of "real socialism" the only version of the welfare state that the East had known, but it was perhaps the greatest explosion of East European culture in our history. Also, it was the only period in which people could count on their lives getting a little better each year in economic and material terms. They also managed to achieve a little more liberty every year. So it was an era of progress. And there was also a feeling of security. And that's something we can't say about our own era. Although I can't concur with all the feelings of my compatriots about the leadership of those years, one thing is certain: those were adults. Nobody can say of Kadar, of Ulbricht, even of Gierek that they were not grownups. They were serious, illusionless, mundane, prosaic, sometime cynical uncles. They certainly lacked creativity. But when people want to be safe, if anybody has to look after them, which we didn't necessarily like, they should be circumspect and reasonable. And we don't have that with this government. I could go on. Many democrats often overlook this instinct for security. I don't concur. I don't really want to be looked after in this way, or at least not much. But if it must take place it would be nice if it happened in a loving community. But next time. Still, these expectations and demands of my fellow Hungarians, Romanians, and Poles are entirely reasonable. So, I had to think about this. I'm one of the founding fathers of this ill-starred republic. So, I should feel guilty. I'm responsible. Of course, I wasn't one of the top leaders. On the contrary. But I played my little part. We'd heard about the anarchy of the market, and the unpredictable post-modern character of market activity, and egotism, and class rule, and the separation of high and low culture. Now this experience has been brought here to us. We have here people who are extremely selfish, whose conduct in this region exemplifies social Darwinism at its worst. If you meet some of these rapacious beasts, they would compare with mafiosos, people without any morals. Of course, the next generation of capitalists won't remember any of this: they'll be just regulation genuine capitalists. But our own homegrown mafiosos, our bank managers and daylight robbers, even they still have nostalgia for more humane versions of society. And when they tell audiences of students in their early twenties that 1989 was, despite everything, an advance, the audiences laugh at them. The students were born after the changes, that's one thing. The second thing is that telling people lies in such hard times has proven to be insufficient. Preaching liberty has not only proved to be theoretically difficult but morally unacceptable. People sacrificed their best years to this utopia. Many of those in the system were certainly sincere, meant well, and all that. But that's no excuse. When people in the national press have complained that some important section of East European public opinion after 1989 was "undemocratic," it was just not right. We should take into consideration that this is not 1929 Berlin. This is not a generation of people who want to conquer and who are prepared to triumph against the lesser tribes. No, these are disenchanted, impoverished, desperate people who are clutching at straws and are meanwhile saying nasty things. Without any doubt, this frightens me too, since they are probably preparing to kill me first! But we are members of the same community, so I do understand them. They think that they are being punished for being what they are. But first of all they are not being punished. Things are happening to them because they happen to be in a place where the welfare state has denied them things in a particularly radical way. Strangely enough, more of the social state as it's called in Europe remains in the West than remains in the East. I have an essay called "Capitalism: Pure and Simple" from 10 years ago in which I try to explain why our capitalism is so uncaged. We are the purists. In the West, especially but not exclusively in Western Europe, capitalism is not uncaged. On its right there's a tradition -- the Church tradition, conservative high culture, and this and that -- that provides some kind of resistance. And on the left, trade unions still exist although they're weak at the moment. But here, we have no resistance. There's no ancien regime, no Left, no Communist or socialist movement. The whole horizon is filled with capitalism. There's nothing else. _The field of battle is empty. They came with the troops and there's no one to oppose them._ Precisely. It was thus prepared by the late state socialist regime. They were of course modernizing and secularizing, and they wouldn't allow a workers' movement. Especially near the end it was a very rational conservative regime that repudiated its own socialist history. So, if an American wants to experience pure capitalism, they should leave Chicago and come to Budapest. No local politician in Illinois would be allowed to say the things that any Polish, Hungarian and Bulgarian politician says: "Oh, you have nothing to eat? Well, you should be more enterprising!" Try to say that in Chicago and you won't get reelected. They might think that... _You could say that in the economics department of the University of Chicago._ Yes, but that's all. Not on the streets. You can say it, but they won't reelect you. But this is one of the reasons that I'm trying to contribute to creating a new Central European Left. Who will resist the pure market society in Eastern Europe except the Left? I don't think that this market society can become popular. But the forces that will oppose it have not yet become visible. They are invisible, marginal. Who had even heard of Lenin in 1906? _The rhetoric coming out of the Fidesz government at the moment seems quite conflicted on this. You can find some echoes of the earlier neoliberal vision of Fidesz. On the other hand, and this could just be for political and not for ideological reasons, now you hear as well anti-IMF rhetoric, the threat to close the IMF office and pay back the loans, the demonizing of international capital as a raid against the Hungarian nation. It would seem as if the Fidesz government would like to have its cake and eat it too: to be both against international capital but impose some version of market capitalism simultaneously but a Hungarian version._ To read the rest of the interview, click here. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com

Greek Alternate FinMin: Despite Difficult Measures GREECE Will Exit Recession?

In the midst of high speculation that GREECE will miss deficit targets required in the Bailout Deal, Greek Alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Chouliarakis ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Is It Time to Invest in Greece?

Zacks Market Edge podcast tackles the tricky subject of the future of Greece.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.zacks.com

Latin is no GREEK to them

While the progression of jazz music in the age of digital download makes it accessible to a wider audience, it thereby banishes the 'elitist' notion ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.tribuneindia.com

Piper Perabo Shares Experiences Of Visiting Syrian Refugees In GREECE

Piper Perabo – in partnership with WhoSay and the International Rescue Committee – recently visited Syrian refugees in GREECE, and has written ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.looktothestars.org

Singapore, GREECE Enter Driverless Bus Fray

The future comes bearing gifts, namely the ability to take public transportation without awkward conversations with the driver about the weather or how ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.travelpulse.com

Local Photographer Captures Refugee Crisis In Turkey And GREECE Firsthand

In fact, he's returning to the shores of Skala, GREECE, this week for a second time in a month, to shoot and provide support in the most epic refugee ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.27east.com

Migrants Entering GREECE in Record Numbers

Though more than 710,000 migrants have reached Europe's shores this year, GREECE says it currently has no plans to conduct joint sea patrols with ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT maritime-executive.com

Why Are Two Beverage Giants Interested in GREEK Yogurt?

According to people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, the GREEK yogurt maker is looking to sell a minority stake of up to 20%, including debt, ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.insidermonkey.com

GREEK police's Delta squad to be disbanded

The police's motorcycle-riding Delta squad is to be disbanded, Alternate Minister for Citizens' Protection Nikos Toskas revealed on Tuesday.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Greece says no plan for sea patrols with Turkey over ...

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece said on Tuesday it had no plan to carry out joint sea patrols with neighboring Turkey to stem an influx of migrants and refugees into Europe.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT news.yahoo.com

Modern London is the true heir of ancient GREECE

In fifth century BC GREECE, this gave rise to Aristophanes' Lysistrata — a translation of which by Germaine Greer opens in London this week, alongside ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ft.com

Moldova Joins EU’s CESEC Gas Connectivity Initiative

Moldova has joined the high-level group of CESEC, the gas connectivity initiative of the European Commission for central-eastern and southeastern Europe. “On 12 October, the Vice-President in charge of the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, witnessed the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding and its Action Plan by the Prime Minister of Moldova Valeriu Strelet”, the Commission said in a statement. The Commission set up CESEC high-level group in February to give a boost to diversification of gas routes and supply as well as gas market integration in the region. Work under the Central-Eastern and South-Eastern European Gas Connectivity (CESEC) initiative is focused on building new gas pipelines and making the best use of existing infrastructure. EU members Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are part of the CESEC high-level group. Non-EU Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine and now Moldova are also members of the group.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.novinite.com

ADEDY to protest outside GREEK Parliament on Friday

The umbrella union for GREEK civil servants, ADEDY, has called a rally for Friday evening to protest the measures set out in a multi-bill of so-called ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

GREEK ministry cleaners' appeal postponed until May

A Supreme Court hearing of the appeal of 397 Finance Ministry cleaners who were dismissed as part of cost-cutting plans by the previous ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Greektown Taverna brings taste of the Mediterranean to Ormond

… available CONTACT: 386-944-9526, greektowntaverna.comatch a video from Greektown Taverna at news-journalonline … from a backpacking trip through Greece and of his grandma who … octopus since I was in Greece last, back in the 1990s …

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com

Great Greek grub available outside of annual fest

… to other versions filled with Greek sausage served warm), and very … small Greek salad. The entrée menu has a lot of Greek favorites … something more familiar like their Greek chicken wraps. All the entrees …

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com

The global middle class is in a state of decay

Credit Suisse just released its annual global wealth report and, as usual, it's crammed full of interesting facts. Data on income is much easier to come by than data on wealth, and Credit Suisse's study is one of the few major efforts to track the distribution of private wealth. This year the investment bank looked at the persistent and worrying decline in the proportion of wealth owned by the middle class in different regions of the world. And everywhere you look, it's declining. It's true in Asia and Europe, where the middle-class wealth share started off high in 2000, and it's true of places like India and North America, where is was already much lower. The effect seems pretty constant across developing and developed economies: Only a handful of countries bucked the trend, and they're not all exactly shining examples of economic success:  In every region during 2000–2015, the rise in the aggregate wealth of the middle class was less than that at higher wealth levels and this was true of most countries, the exceptions being Colombia, Greece, Mexico and Poland where the split was roughly 60:40 in favor of the core middle class. Looking at the graph, it seems like there are two rough sections. Between 2000 and 2008, there seems to have been a little bit of slippage, but middle-class wealth levels were comparably stable. Since then, there's been a more obvious decline. Here's another snippet from the report: From 2008 onward, wealth growth has not allowed middle-class numbers to keep pace with population growth in the developing world. Furthermore, the distribution of wealth gains has shifted in favor of those at higher wealth levels. These two factors have combined to produce a decline in the share of middle-class wealth in every region since 2007 and a decline in all regions except China for the entire 2000–2015 period. The percentage decline since 2008 lies in a narrow range (9%– 13%) for most regions, but is higher in Latin America (16%) and highest of all in North America (17%). This pattern is repeated in most countries and provides support for the claim that the middle classes have been squeezed in recent years. This gives us an idea of what is happening on a statistical level. Though middle-class wealth has grown in total in most if not all of these regions, the _share _of the wealth has declined.  To adjust for the different income and wealth levels around the world, there's no single definition of "middle class," but rather a big range. Just $13,662 in assets will get you into the middle class in India, but you'd need at least $50,000 to be considered for the category in the United States. So the middle class isn't the same size around the world, either. 42.4% of Germans are counted as middle class, against just 5% of Egyptians. But there are common themes — they're substantially more likely to own property, and to be able to weather economic misfortune, with a cushion of wealth to fall back on.  In the advanced economies, there's one thing warping the shares a little. For the US, anyone with above $500,000 in wealth is considered too fortunate to be middle-class, a level which some people might dispute. That means anyone whose net wealth has crept above that point is not counted in any middle-class statistics. It's not a small share in some nations. In Italy, for example, 8.6% of people are considered to be "above middle class."  But it does mean that the wealth of the people leaving that category to climb upwards is significantly more than those moving _into _the middle class bracket at the other end.  It doesn't seem like the decline in the middle class share can be down to domestic policy changes, unless those policies are so universal that they've impacted on every country in the world. Though it's common to see specific governments blamed for changes in the distribution of income or wealth, when it's happening all around the world, you have to wonder to what extent they're in control. It seems likely that there's some much more systemic change to the global economy that's giving a particular advantage to the slivers of the population with so much asset wealth that they're no longer described as middle class.  The declining presence of the middle class in terms of the world's wealth is something that's likely to spark concern across the political spectrum — not just from leftists, who might fear the growing influence of the super-wealthy top sliver, but the right-wing advocates of a property-owning democracy. The idea of giving most ordinary families a political and economic stake in society certainly seems less meaningful if that stake is getting smaller and smaller.  Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Animated map shows where all the world's McDonald's are

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com

High Speculation Greece Will Miss Target On Bailout Actions Could Lead to More Austerity

The Greek government could soon be under pressure to consider additional reforms and measures to achieve the agreed fiscal targets of the bailout deal, Greek media reports. The representatives of Greece’s international creditors are currently in Athens in preparation of Friday’s parliament vote on a series of prior actions related to the bailout package . Greece’s supreme legislative body

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

European Commission President Pledges Assistance to Greece

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is committed to help Greece as the country is carrying out the agreements outlined in the new bailout package, Greek media reports. The Greek parliament will have to adopt a series of prior actions during Friday’s parliamentary vote if it is to receive 2 billion euros of bailout funds. The Greek government must implement

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Athens tells Merkel: Greek-Turkish joint patrols in the Aegean are out of question

Greek Foreign Ministry made it clear: there is no way that Germany or any other ‘partners’ or ‘neighbor’ like Turkey will be involved in the country’s borders protection in order to stop the refugees influx. A day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated to talk to Turkey to cooperate in […]

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.keeptalkinggreece.com

National Greek life award goes to Frostburg St. staffer ...

FROSTBURG — Jamie Winters, assistant director of Greek life at Frostburg State University, was presented with the Outstanding Campus Professional Award ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.times-news.com

Greek Fest! Mobile's annual celebration opens Thursday ...

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church present its 53rd annual Greek Fest Thursday through Saturday, a celebration of heritage, faith, community and food.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.al.com

Aid workers in GREECE brace for more migrants, despite worsening weather

LESBOS, GREECE – GREECE is bracing for thousands more Syrians and other people to land on Lesbos and other key island crossings from Turkey , as ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.catholicreview.org

Hot Movers Update: National Bank of GREECE (ADR) (NYSE:NBG), Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ ...

In current trade, National Bank of GREECE (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) shifted in green zone with rise of +2.83% TO $0.673. The company has a one year low of ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.wsnews4investors.com

Kid Arkade unveils smashing new banger 'GREECE 3000' [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Kid Arkade's new single "GREECE 3000" has just hit the airwaves… Wickedly addicting beats and high-energy grooves is what you can expect with ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theuntz.com

Refugee Crisis: GREECE Unwilling to Conduct Joint Sea Patrols with Turkey

Inspite of the refusal for joint sea patrols, GREECE is willing to help Turkey as well as other countries of the Middle East and is willing to cooperate ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

GREEK aid worker busts seven refugee myths

LESVOS, 13 October 2015 (IRIN) - Currently on leave from the UN emergency aid coordination body OCHA, GREEK humanitarian worker Fotini ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.irinnews.org

The GREEK Theatre's Backup GM

Today at 12 pm, company officials with SMG will announce their new hire to manage the GREEK Theatre. At a party during the International ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ampthemag.com

Only a Truly New Turkey Can Shed Light on the Ankara Massacre

The day after the massacre in Ankara, in which on Sunday at least 97 people were killed and hundreds injured, twelve-year-old Helin Hasret Şen died. According to her father, she went out to get bread from a bakery shop close to their house and was shot in the head by police. It happened in the Kurdish majority city of Diyarbakir, in a neighborhood where a curfew was declared a few days ago. Helin's father vowed to take the state to court and to fight a legal battle until justice is done. He better prepare for a long battle. After all, the problem with every political murder in Turkey, history has shown, is that they remain unsolved. Helin's death, which the local governor said was caused by gun fire from Kurdish militants, will remain a mystery for years to come. And so will the exact circumstances of the Ankara bombing, even though on first sight it seems ISIS is responsible. "The murder state will have to give account," masses shouted during funerals for the Ankara victims all over Turkey on Monday. They may believe ISIS carried out the bombing but they hold the AKP government at least co-responsible because it never took the fight against ISIS very seriously. Instead, it gave the terrorist group space to organize itself in Turkey and carry out its vicious attacks. It's reminiscent of the Suruc massacre, also most likely carried out by ISIS but often co-blamed on the AKP government. These masses too better practice their patience. > Turkey's constitution still embodies a state-centered structure > that leaves no room for heterogeneity and forces everyone into a > Turkish, Sunni Muslim identity. When the suicide bombers blew themselves up in Turkey's capital city of Ankara, people were gathering for a "Labor, Peace and Democracy" rally. The rally was organized by trade unions and several leftist political parties, among them the HDP, which has it's roots in the Kurdish political movement and which passed the election threshold of 10 percent in the general elections last June, robbing the ruling AKP of its majority in parliament. The protestors demanded an end to the war between the Kurdish armed movement the PKK and the Turkish army, which flared up again last July after a ceasefire of two and a half years. While the government seems to bet on more violence to end the insurgency of the PKK, the protestors are smarter than that: they demanded both parties get back to the negotiating table and solve the Kurdish issue with democratic reforms. While the PKK has said it is ready for a new ceasefire, the government has vowed to fight the PKK until the last of its fighters lays down his arms. The AKP government knows very well that its army cannot beat the PKK and vice versa -- the war of the last thirty years has made that very clear. But for the caretaker government, it's not about beating the PKK, but about a short-term goal: restore the AKP's majority in parliament. The violence is supposed to win over ultra-nationalist voters and to hurt the HDP vote but several polls show the strategy is not working. _Grieving loved ones laid to rest some of the victims of the double suicide bombings in Ankara, denouncing the government in the first funerals from modern Turkey's worst attack. (ILYAS AKENGIN/AFP/Getty Images)_ The goals of the Ankara protestors are both short-term and long-term. In the short term, they want an immediate end to the violence. In the long term, they want a democratic Turkey with a constitution reflecting the pluralist, multiethnic, multi-religious and multilingual country Turkey is. Written by generals after the infamous 1980 military coup, Turkey's constitution still embodies what Turkey has been since its foundation in 1923: a state-centered structure that leaves no room for heterogeneity and forces everyone into a Turkish, Sunni Muslim identity. Among all this destruction and mourning, the co-leader of the HDP, Selahattin Demirtas, has been showing himself as the statesman that Turkey is yearning for -- a role that President Tayyip Erdoğan is incapable of taking upon himself. Demirtas and his party are firmly rooted in the Kurdish political movement, and this movement has known for long that the solution to the oppression of the Kurds lies in more democracy for everybody. Demirtas emphasizes this in every interview he gives and every statement he makes. He has called for a new constitution, for example, but it wouldn't explicitly mention the Kurds. It would mention no group in particular and thus make everybody a fully fledged member of Turkish society, whether he is Turkish, Kurdish, Laz or Armenian; whether he is Sunni Muslim, Alevi, Jewish, Christian or an atheist; whether he is heterosexual, transsexual or gay; whether his mother tongue is Arabic, Turkish or Greek. > The Ankara protesters want a democratic Turkey with a constitution > reflecting the pluralist, multiethnic, multi-religious and > multilingual country Turkey is. Erdoğan cannot and will not be the leader that Turkey needs. Eventually, he will fall. As the polls so far show, his tactic of stepping up the war against the PKK to regain the majority in parliament isn't paying off. The AKP, good for 41 percent of the votes in June, has sunk well under 40 percent, and the HDP seems stable at 13 percent. The big question is what Erdoğan will do after a possible new defeat. Make way for a coalition government, thus letting go of his executive presidential ambitions? Sabotage coalition talks again in order to enforce third elections within a year? And if the latter, will he persist on the strategy he followed this summer, culminating in the chaos Turkey is in now, with those wanting sustainable peace and democracy holding him at least co-responsible for the Ankara massacre? Or is there a presidential advisor left who dares to challenge the leader and who is able to convince him to try peace for a change, even if it costs him his power? Only the last option will take Turkey to the next level. A radical break with the past is the only way to provide Helin's parents in Diyarbakir and the families of the Ankara massacre victims with the answers they deserve. The current state can't properly and convincingly investigate the political murders committed against its citizens. Only a truly new Turkey, based on pluralistic citizenship, can. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com

New Greek restaurant coming to Grovewood Gallery

A restaurant called Golden Fleece Slow Earth Kitchen is slated to open at Grovewood, taking over the space vacated in March by the long-running Grovewood Cafe.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.citizen-times.com

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Koutras’ response to yesterday’s statements from a spokesperson ...

“We would like to remind our friends and partners in the EU and NATO that, for years now, Greece, which is at the crossroads of the refugee crisis, has been underscoring the need for “coordinated” European action with regard to the management of the refugee and migration crisis. Action that consists in, among other things, strengthening FRONTEX, revision of the inapplicable status of the Dublin II agreement, the supporting of refugee transit and reception countries, the implementation of the Greek-Turkish readmission protocol and the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement.It has to be understood by everyone that Greece, at a huge...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.mfa.gr

GREECE 'can't discuss' Aegean refugee patrols with Turkey

GREECE on Tuesday dismissed a suggestion it should set up joint patrols in the Aegean Sea with regional rival Turkey, as Europe struggles to control ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.globalpost.com

GREECE Community Education to host holiday events

GREECE Community Education will host the following upcoming holiday-themed events at Odyssey Academy, 750 Maiden Lane. Stress Free Holiday ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greecepost.com

Research and Markets: GREECE Oil and Gas Market Insight and Outlook Report 2015-2025

The GREECE oil and gas report provides complete analysis and forecasts of GREECE upstream, downstream and midstream sectors. The research work ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businesswire.com

Wild aurochs-like cattle reintroduced in Czech Republic

MILOVICE, Czech Republic (AP) — Such an animal has not been seen on Czech territory for hundreds of years. A Dutch breeding program has recreated massive bovines closely related to aurochs, once the heaviest European land mammal and the wild ancestor of today's cattle that became extinct in the 17th century. It is believed they disappeared from what is now the Czech Republic in the 12th or 13th century. On Tuesday, a small herd was introduced to a Czech sanctuary as part of a project to use big-hoofed animals to maintain the steppe character of the former Milovice military base, 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Prague. The beasts joined a herd of 15 wild horses from Britain's Exmoor National Park that were moved here in January with a task to stop the spread of aggressive and evasive grasses and bushes, delicacies to the animals. The invasive plants began to grow after Soviet troops withdrew from the base in 1991, threatening the area's original plants and animals. After a nine-hour drive and few more minutes of hesitation, five cows and a bull — all calves— jumped out of a truck at dawn to take the first look at their new home. "They complement each other," said Dalibor Dostal, director of European Wildlife, the organization behind the project. He expects no conflicts between horses and cattle sharing the 40-hectare (99-acre) area. "While the wild horses prefer grasses, the aurochs like the bushes. They don't compete. Their combination forms a natural partnership such as it was in the wild nature for thousands years." The Dutch Taurus Foundation joined forces with the University of Wageningen and some other groups in the Tauros program, as the new animal is called, in 2008. With knowledge of the aurochs' DNA, the scientists analyzed some existing primitive cattle breeds that are similar to their extinct ancestors. They included Pajuna, Sayaguesa and Limia from Spain, Maremmana from Italy and Highlander from Scotland. Through cross-breeding, they have been working on reconstructing the original aurochs with the goal to have "the presence of the Tauros as a self-sufficient wild bovine grazer in herds of at least 150 animals each in several rewilding areas in Europe," Rewilding Europe, another organization involved, said on its Web site. "In a few generations, we should be able to get an animal that looks like the aurochs and also has the same impact on the environment," Dostal said. The Czech Republic is the first country in Central and Eastern Europe to receive the animals from the Netherlands, with Romania to follow. There are already herds in Portugal, Spain and Croatia. An aurochs bull could be about 180 centimeters (nearly six feet) tall, weigh a metric ton and have long, thick horns. The adult bulls turn from chestnut color to almost black with a typical white stripe along the spine; the cows are smaller and reddish-brown. Aurochs roamed most of the European continent as well in Northern Africa and Asia for several hundred thousand years. Their pictures appeared in a cave painting in France's Lascaux and entered the Greek mythology about founding Europe as Zeus kidnapped and seduced Europa in the form of an aurochs. Frans Jacobs, Dutch cattle rancher who raised the animals and transported them to the Czech Republic, said he believed they will avoid the fate of the aurochs, whose last individual is said to have died in 1627 in Poland. "They are supposed to be very strong cattle they eat whatever they can get," Jacobs said. "They will survive. They will survive us." Join the conversation about this story »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com

Actor Daniel Craig inspects UN's demining work in Cyprus

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Daniel Craig's globetrotting has brought him to Cyprus — but not to film any scenes as super spy James Bond. The British actor was on the eastern Mediterranean island Tuesday to inspect the United Nations' work in clearing minefields, a vestige of the conflict that divided this island along ethnic lines more than four decades ago. The U.N. has removed more than 27,000 landmines from the island's buffer zone over the last decade but it's estimated that thousands more remain. The U.N. said Craig inspected a live minefield being cleared by a 20-strong Cambodian demining team from the U.N.'s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. Cambodia is still plagued by millions of undetected mines planted over three decades of strife that still injure and kill. "For these peacekeepers to take their expertise, gleaned over the last forty years in Cambodia, and make it available to the people of Cyprus, half-way around the world, is truly inspiring," Craig said, according to the U.N. He also toured the U.N.-controlled buffer zone that separates an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south from a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The actor's two-day Cyprus trip is his first since being appointed U.N. Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards. "I've much hope that I will be the first and last global advocate to see land mines on this beautiful island," said Craig. Talks aimed at reunifying Cyprus as a federation are expected to ramp up next month as the two sides tackle the issues that still separate them. Join the conversation about this story »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com

Hillsdale College's Fraternities And Sororities Named ...

HILLSDALE, Mich., Oct. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Hillsdale College has been named one of the 50 best colleges in the nation for Greek life, according to ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thestreet.com

Hillsdale College's Fraternities and Sororities Named Among the Best in the Nation for Greek Life

… ." "At Hillsdale College, Greek life complements the scholarly life … and current satisfaction with the Greek life experience, among other criteria … College students are members of Greek organizations. Hillsdale College has four …

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com

Global Stocks Stumble As Greece Debt Woes Escalate

… deadline for Greece? A: On Tuesday, the main part of Greece… rating for Greece. But the IMF won't give Greece more … Q: Will Greece leave the eurozone? A: Many see Greece's … , however, some experts think a Greek departure sets a bad precedent …

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com

Sororities prepare for Sigma Delta Tau's GREEK Grind

Sigma Delta Tau hosted its 10th Annual GREEK Grind on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014 at the Classic Center in Athens, GA.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.redandblack.com

GREEK system implements new changes to recruitment

Cal Poly Pomona's GREEK Council started its formal recruitment for fall 2015 with a new approach for some GREEK organizations. Every year during the ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thepolypost.com

Greek State Debt to Individuals Rises to €5.1 Billion

The debts of the Greek State to suppliers, service providers, security funds and individuals continue to mount and they have reached 5.1 billion euros, according to the finance ministry. The budget implementation figures given by the ministry show a debt of 5.1 billion euros at the end of August. State debt was 4.955 billion euros

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Privatizations: Russian & US companies race for Greek TRAINOSE

The privatization of Greek Railways TRAINOSE is developing into a Russian-American race as companies from both countries have expressed interest on the sale of 100% of TRAINOSE . Hellenic Public Assets Development Fund, the Greek Privatization Fund (TAIPED) has set the deadline for bid submissions for December 3rd. A delegation […]

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.keeptalkinggreece.com