Authorities vowed the 10 suspected human traffickers they arrested would be ‘severely punished’.
Pakistan authorities have arrested 10 alleged human traffickers after it emerged that many of the dozens of migrants and refugees who drowned off the coast of Greece were from the South Asian nation currently in the midst of an unprecedented economic and political crisis, officials said on Sunday.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also ordered an immediate crackdown on agents engaged in people smuggling, saying they would be “severely punished”.
The federal investigation agency arrested the suspected human traffickers from different parts of the Islamabad-controlled part of Kashmir – also known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir – and another from Karachi airport, who was trying to flee abroad, local TV Geo News reported.
At least dozens of Pakistani nationals onboard
Every year, thousands of young Pakistanis embark on perilous journeys attempting to enter Europe without proper documents in search of a better life.
Reports indicate there were at least dozens of Pakistanis onboard the trawler that sank off Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula on Wednesday, killing at least 78 people with hundreds more missing.
Young men, primarily from eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, often use a route through Iran, Libya, Turkey, and Greece to enter Europe.
Local media published estimates that 298 Pakistanis might have died in the Greek boat disaster, 135 from the Pakistani side of Kashmir. Other reports suggested there were about 400 Pakistani nationals onboard. Al Jazeera could not independently verify these numbers.
Human trafficking seems to be going on with impunity in #Pakistan. Apparently nearly 400 people on board in boat carrying refugees to Greece were from Pakistan with more than 298 reported dead. The appalling conditions in which people were transported, resulting in the tragic… pic.twitter.com/2brFP4Inj4
On Saturday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 12 nationals had survived, but they had no information on how many were onboard the boat.
An immigration official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the figure could surpass 200.
In a joint statement, the International Organization for Migration and UN Refugee Agency said between 400 to 750 people in total were believed to be aboard the ferry.
Adil Hussain from Pakistan shows a photo of his brother that he says was onboard the ship that sunk off the coast of Greece. June 16, 2023 [Louiza Vradi/Reuters]
DNA-matching needed to identify deceased
The 10 suspected human traffickers “are presently under investigation for their involvement in facilitating the entire process,” said Chaudhary Shaukat, a local official from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
“The Prime Minister has given a firm directive to intensify efforts in combating individuals involved in the heinous crime of human trafficking,” his office said in a statement.
The foreign ministry spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, said in a statement that Pakistan’s embassy in Greece remains in contact with the Greek authorities to identify the 78 recovered bodies.
“At this stage, we are unable to verify the number and identity of Pakistani nationals among the deceased,” she said, adding that the identification process will take place through DNA-matching.
Hundreds of people remain missing after a migrant ship went down off the south coast of Greece on Wednesday, as criticism mounted over Europe’s years-long failure to prevent such tragedies.
Rescuers pulled 104 survivors from the water and later recovered 78 bodies, but have not located any more since late Wednesday. The Greek coast guard said the search-and-rescue operation would continue beyond the standard 72 hours.
In a joint statement Friday, two United Nations agencies — the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees — said that the boat was believed to be carrying anywhere from 400 to 750 people, and that “hundreds remain missing, and feared dead.”
The U.N. statement said that the boat had been in distress since Tuesday, but that a search and rescue operation was not initiated until it capsized on Wednesday.
Migrants rescued from a boat that sank off the south coast of Greece carrying hundreds of people on June 14 were placed inside a warehouse in Kalamata.
Angelos Tzortzinis / Afp / Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Patrol boats and a helicopter spent Friday scouring the area of the Mediterranean Sea where the packed fishing vessel capsized.
Nine people —all men from Egypt, ranging in age from 20 to 40— were arrested and charged Friday with people smuggling and participating in a criminal enterprise. Twenty-seven of the survivors remain hospitalized, health officials said. The smuggling suspects are due to appear in court Monday.
Greek coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou said that coast guard and private ships repeatedly offered by radio and loudspeaker to help the vessel Wednesday while it was in international waters, heading from Libya to Italy, but they were rejected.
Alexiou argued that any effort to tow the overcrowded trawler or move hundreds of unwilling people onto nearby ships would have been too dangerous.
“When you … try forcibly to tie up to it or to attach a mooring rope, you will have a disturbance, and the people will surge — which, unfortunately is what happened in the end,” Alexiou told state-run ERT TV. “You will have caused the accident.”
Alexiou also said that, after accepting food from a merchant ship, the trawler’s passengers rejected a rope from a second merchant ship “because they thought the whole process was a way for us to take them to Greece.”
Greek authorities sent the first ship, the tanker Lucky Sailor, to give the migrants food and water.
The company managing the tanker said Friday that the people on board “were very hesitant to receive any assistance, and at any attempt of approach the boat started to maneuver away.”
Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Limited said in a statement that the people on the trawler were eventually persuaded to accept supplies.
The survivors were all boys and men from Egypt, Pakistan, Syria and the Palestinian territories. Alexiou, citing survivor accounts, said passengers in the hold of the fishing boat included women and children but that the number of missing still remained unclear.
Experts said maritime law obligated Greek authorities to attempt a rescue.
They definitely “had a duty to start rescue procedures” given the condition of the vessel, said Erik Røsæg of the University of Oslo’s Institute of Private Law. He said a refusal of assistance can be overruled if deemed unreasonable, as it appeared to have been on Wednesday.
The U.N. agencies said that timely maritime search and rescues are “a legal and humanitarian imperative” and called for “urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths at sea.”
Flavio Di Giacomo of the Mediterranean office of the U.N. migration agency tweeted that all migrant boats should be considered dangerous and rescued immediately because “even when they appear to have no problems, in a few minutes they can sink.”
A group of nongovernmental organizations, including Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, said the EU should “stop seeing solutions solely in the dismantling” of smuggling networks, and set up state-led search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
“The Greek government had specific responsibilities toward every passenger on the vessel, which was clearly in distress,” Adriana Tidona of Amnesty International said. “This is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions, all the more so because it was entirely preventable.”
Greece and other southern EU nations that typically are the first destinations for Europe-bound asylum-seekers traveling by sea have toughened border protection measures in recent years, extending walls and intensifying maritime patrols.
“This is a European problem. I think it’s time for Europe to be able, in solidarity, to define an effective migration policy for these kinds of situations not to happen again,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York late Thursday.
The EU’s executive commission says the 27-nation bloc is close to an agreement on how member countries can share responsibility in caring for migrants and refugees who undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.
A judicial investigation is also underway into the causes of the sinking. Greek officials say the vessel capsized minutes after it lost power, speculating that panic among the passengers may have caused the boat to list and roll over.
Most of the survivors were being moved Friday from a storage hangar at the southern port of Kalamata —where relatives also gathered to look for loved ones— to migrant shelters near Athens.
Abdo Sheikhi, a Kurdish Syrian living in Germany, traveled to Kalamata to find out what happened to five family members who were on the boat.
On Friday, he discovered that only his younger brother Ali and another relative had survived. He managed to speak on the phone to Ali, who had been moved to the camp near Athens.
“(Ali) told me he jumped (off the) ship while the others could not jump,” Sheikhi said. “They were scared. They were holding on to the boat as it swayed.”
Officials at a state-run morgue outside Athens photographed the faces of the victims and gathered DNA samples to start the identification process.
The deadliest capsizing of a migrant boat occurred when a vessel went down off the coast of Libya en route to Italy in April 2015, killing an estimated 1,100 people.
Anger is growing over the handling of a migrant boat disaster off Greece last week that has become one of the biggest tragedies in the Mediterranean in years. The calamity is dominating the country’s political agenda a week ahead of snap elections.
The Hellenic Coast Guard is facing increasing questions over its response to the fishing boat that sank off Greece’s southern peninsula on Wednesday, leading to the death of possibly hundreds of migrants. Nearly 80 people are known to have perished in the wreck and hundreds are still missing, according to the U.N.’s migration and refugee agencies.
Critics say that the Greek authorities should have acted faster to keep the vessel from capsizing. There are testimonies from survivors that the Coast Guard tied up to the vessel and attempted to pull it, causing the boat to sway, which the Greek authorities strongly deny.
The boat may have been carrying as many as 750 passengers, including women and children, according to reports. Many of them were trapped underneath the deck in the sinking, according to Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. “The ship was heavily overcrowded,” Frontex said.
About 100 people are known to have survived the sinking. Authorities continued to search for victims and survivors over the weekend.
The disaster may be “the worst tragedy ever” in the Mediterranean Sea, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Friday. She said there has been a massive increase in the number of migrant boats heading from Libya to Europe since the start of the year.
Frontex said in a statement on Friday that no agency plane or boat was present at the time of the capsizing on Wednesday. The agency said it alerted the Greek and Italian authorities about the vessel after a Frontex plane spotted it, but the Greek officials waved off an offer of additional help.
Greece has been at the forefront of Europe’s migration crisis since 2015, when hundreds of thousands of people from the Middle East, Asia and Africa traveled thousands of miles across the Continent hoping to claim asylum.
Migration and border security have been key issues in the Greek political debate. Following Wednesday’s wreck, they have jumped to the top of the agenda, a week before national elections on June 25.
Greece is currently led by a caretaker government. Under the conservative New Democracy administration, in power until last month, the country adopted a tough migration policy. In late May, the EU urged Greece to launch a probe into alleged illegal deportations.
New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is expected to return to the prime minister’s office after the vote next Sunday, blasted criticism of the Greek authorities, saying it should instead be directed to the human traffickers, who he called “human scums.”
“It is very unfair for some so-called ‘people in solidarity’ [with refugees and migrants] to insinuate that the [Coast Guard] did not do its job. … These people are out there … battling the waves to rescue human lives and protect our borders,” Mitsotakis, who maintains a significant lead in the polls, said during a campaign event in Sparta on Saturday.
The Greek authorities claimed the people on board, some thought to be the smugglers who had arranged the boat from Libya, refused assistance and insisted on reaching Italy. So the Greek Coast Guard did not intervene, though it monitored the vessel for more than 15 hours before it eventually capsized.
“What orders did the authorities have, and they didn’t intervene because one of these ‘scums’ didn’t give them permission?” the left-wing Syriza party said in a statement. “Why was no order given to the lifeboat … to immediately assist in a rescue operation? … Why were life jackets not distributed … and why Frontex assistance was not requested?”
Alarm Phone, a network of activists that helps migrants in danger, said the Greek authorities had been alerted repeatedly many hours before the boat capsized and that there was insufficient rescue capacity.
According to a report by WDR citing migrants’ testimonies, attempts were made to tow the endangered vessel, but in the process the boat began to sway and sank. Similar testimonies by survivors appeared in Greek media.
A report on Greek website news247.gr said the vessel remained in the same spot off the town of Pylos for at least 11 hours before sinking. According to the report, the location on the chart suggests the vessel was not on a “steady course and speed” toward Italy, as the Greek Coast Guard said.
After initially saying that there was no effort to tow the boat, the Hellenic Coast Guard said on Friday that a patrol vessel approached and used a “small buoy” to engage the vessel in a procedure that lasted a few minutes and then was untied by the migrants themselves.
Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou defended the agency. “You cannot carry out a violent diversion on such a vessel with so many people on board, without them wanting to, without any sort of cooperation,” he said.
Alexiou said there is no video of the operation available.
Nine people, most of them from Egypt, were arrested over the capsizing, charged with forming a criminal organization with the purpose of illegal migrant trafficking, causing a shipwreck and endangering life. They will appear before a magistrate on Monday, according to Greek judicial authorities.
“Unfortunately, we have seen this coming because since the start of the year, there was a new modus operandi with these fishing boats leaving from the eastern part of Libya,” the EU’s Johansson told a press conference on Friday. “And we’ve seen an increase of 600 percent of these departures this year,” she added.
Greek Supreme Court Prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos has urged absolute secrecy in the investigations being conducted in relation to the shipwreck.
Thousands of people took to the streets in different cities in Greece last week to protest the handling of the incident and the migration policies of Greece and the EU. More protests were planned for Sunday.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The music from “Madame Butterfly” and other major operas is known to Greek audiences largely through the recorded performances of Maria Callas, the U.S.-born Greek artist who died in 1977 and is still revered here.
For theatergoers in Athens, watching the tragic story of the young geisha Cio-Cio-San unfold in Puccini’s emotionally charged classic has become a familiar favorite at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the stone theater the Romans built at the foot of the Acropolis more than 1,800 years ago.
Late Thursday, it hosted an open-air performance of “Madame Butterfly” to launch Greece’s main summer theater and arts festival, dedicated this year to Callas and the century since her birth in Manhattan on Dec. 2, 1923. She died of a heart attack at her home in Paris at age 53.
Officially known as the Athens-Epidaurus Festival, the summer concerts and plays are also held at the ancient theater of Epidaurus, the UNESCO world heritage site in southern Greece. Much of the program was chosen to complement the centenary celebrations.
Ticket sales from June performances by an opera world power couple, French tenor Roberto Alagna and Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, will help fund the planned summer opening of a Callas Museum in central Athens, according to festival artistic director Katerina Evangelatos.
“It’s all part of the year’s celebrations marking the 100 years … since the birth of the great diva of opera,” Evangelatos said.
Finally free of constraints imposed by the pandemic, the festival has been expanded this year to include new venues and additional collaboration with overseas artists, festivals and theater companies. Organizers also created a new online platform to help Greek performers seek opportunities abroad.
“One of the main objectives of the festival has always been to be outward-looking,” Evangelatos told reporters during a recent presentation of this year’s festival. “We don’t want to just bring artists from abroad, we want to build collaboration and relationships.”
The lineup this year includes the superstar Chinese pianist Lang Lang, the German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, classical pianist and conductor Christoph Eschenbach and the pioneering German electronic band Kraftwerk, as well as a performance by Icelandic band Sigur Ros with the London Contemporary Orchestra.
The Greek National Opera produced “Madame Butterfly,” choosing French director Olivier Py and the Italian choreographer Daniel Izzo. The title role was given to soprano Anna Sohn, who on Thursday gave the first of four scheduled performances.
Sohn partnered with Italian tenor Andrea Carè for a sparse interpretation of the Italian classic, featuring giant helium-filled balloons, dancers in head-to-toe white makeup and time-bending backdrops that included scenes of Japan’s World War II nuclear devastation and modern banner ads for major U.S. commercial brands.
Publicist Constance Shuman, who promotes the work of the Greek National Opera in the United States, said a performance by the company was a fitting start for the festival in the year marking what would have been Callas’ 100th birthday.
Born Maria Kalogeropoulos, the singer made her professional debut with the GNO in Athens as an 18-year-old student.
“When she became internationally known, she always came back here, and she really is emblematic of what this opera company is about,” Shuman said.
“This is the opening of the Maria Callas year, but her early years are not known about by a lot of people,” she said. “So this is a chance to tell people about how Greece and the Greek National Opera contributed to her becoming Maria Callas.”
The EU is creating a new sanctions weapon, but is afraid to load it.
After adopting 10 sanctions packages following Russia’s attempted invasion of Ukraine, the EU is now designing a new mechanism to punish countries that enable sanctions evasion. If third countries, for example in Central Asia, fail to comply with Western sanctions against Moscow or can’t explain a sudden rise in trade in banned goods, they would face EU punishment.
The sanctions have so far been effective in curbing direct exports of sanctions from the EU to Russia, according to new research by a group of European experts, while the increase in imports from non-sanctioning countries has substituted no more than a quarter of missing volumes.
But there has been a spike in volumes of certain items previously sold to Russia being exported to neighboring or nearby countries like Turkey, Kazakhstan and Armenia. The evidence here points to the rerouting of popular consumer electronics like cell phones and computers — but microchips that might be of military use may also be slipping through the net.
One recent investigation has, meanwhile, found evidence that sensitive technologies — such as drones and microelectronics — have found their way to Russia through third countries like Kazakhstan with the help of local companies founded by Russian owners.
By putting a gun on the table, the EU hopes more countries will comply.
But that proposal is now being watered down, according to the latest version of the draft proposal, dated Wednesday and seen by POLITICO.
This comes after concerns expressed by several EU countries, including heavy-hitter Germany. They fear such a mechanism would hurt diplomatic relations, and even drive countries into the arms of Russia and China. Rather than hitting the countries that are allowing sanctioned goods to be re-exported to Russia, Berlin is proposing to focus on companies, according to an earlier discussion document dated May 5 and seen by POLITICO.
To win over the skeptics, the European Commission has included more safeguards.
The most recent version of the sanctions proposal sets out a more careful and step-by-step approach before targeting third countries. For example, it classifies such steps as “exceptional, last resort measures.” And, as a latest change to the draft, the Commission would have to demonstrate that “alternative measures taken have been ineffective” before punishing third countries.
This is the second time the Commission has been introducing extra safeguards in the proposal to accommodate countries’ concerns, even though sanctions experts have warned that the threat of the instrument has to be credible enough in order for it to work.
The anti-circumvention ban is not the only outstanding issue. Greece and Hungary are still holding out over Ukraine listing some of their companies as “war sponsors.” Athens and Budapest want some of their companies struck off this list before they will agree to the sanctions package.
EU countries now hope to get a deal on the package done next week, three EU diplomats said. There will be consultations ahead of the next discussion by EU envoys on June 7. “An agreement is within reach,” said one of them, while adding that the exact timing is “still hard to predict.”
ATHENS — Greece’s parliament was dissolved Monday, less than 24 hours after convening, paving the way for a new election on June 25.
Under a decree signed by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, caretaker Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas and Cabinet ministers, the next parliament will convene on July 3.
No party achieved an overall majority in the national election on May 21, which was held under a simple proportional representation system; there was no attempt to form a coalition.
The conservative New Democracy party achieved a landslide victory, getting 40.79 percent of the vote — but that was not enough to form a single-party government.
The next election will be contested under a different system that grants the winning party up to 50 bonus parliamentary seats; that gives the conservative New Democracy an edge to form a majority government.
However, the number of parties that make it into parliament will be crucial to determining the makeup of the eventual majority. The more parties pass the 3 percent threshold needed to win seats in parliament, the higher the share of the vote needed for an outright majority.
On May 21, two parties barely missed the cutoff, with 2.9 percent support; if they pass that baseline on June 25, it could raise the threshold for a party to achieve an overall majority to about 39 percent.
The conservatives are appealing to voters not to take the result for granted and head back to polls, while opposition leaders called on them to snip New Democracy’s lead and avoid the prospect of a dominant majority government with no significant opposition.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his conservative party had unleashed a “political earthquake” with a thumping win in Sunday’s election, but hinted that he would seek another election in order to secure an absolute majority that would allow the party to govern alone.
With most votes counted, his New Democracy party was on 40.8 percent of the votes – a 20-point lead over the left wing Syriza party of Alexis Tsipras, which had 20.1 percent.
Despite the clear lead, projections from Greece’s interior ministry showed New Democracy falling six seats sort of an outright majority in parliament, leaving Mitsotakis with the choice of building a coalition or bringing about a new ballot for a decisive result.
The 55-year-old made clear his preference.
“The citizens want a strong government with a four-year horizon,” he said.
“Today’s political earthquake calls on all of us to speed up the process for a definitive government solution,” he added.
Tsipras also indicated a new vote was likely, saying “the electoral cycle is not over yet”.
The next battle, he said, will be “critical and final”.
Supporters of the New Democracy party were in a celebratory mood as exit polls suggested they were well ahead in the election [Louiza Vradi/Reuters]
From Monday, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give the top three parties – New Democracy, Syriza and the Socialist PASOK – three days each in turn to form a coalition government.
If they all fail, Sakellaropoulou will appoint a caretaker government to prepare new elections about a month later.
Earlier in the day, as exit polls suggested New Democracy was on track to emerge as the biggest party in parliament, officials indicated it would prefer to seek a second vote.
“We have said that we want to govern outright because that would ensure stability and the way forward. So we have the right to ask the Greek people for that in the next election,” Public Order Minister Takis Theodorikakos said on Skai television shortly after polls closed Sunday evening.
The election was held under a new law of proportional representation, which makes it particularly difficult for any one party to win enough parliamentary seats to form a government on its own.
If a second election is held, probably in late June or early July, the law will change again, shifting to a system that rewards the leading party with bonus seats and making it easier for the front-runner to secure a parliamentary majority.
Political disengagement among youth
Sunday’s election is the first in Greece since its economy ceased being under strict supervision by international lenders who had provided bailout funds during the country’s nearly decade-long financial crisis.
Mitsotakis, a 55-year-old Harvard-educated former banking executive and McKinsey consultant, won the last election in 2019 on a promise of business-oriented reforms and has vowed to continue tax cuts, boost investments and bolster middle-class employment.
His popularity took a hit following a February 28 rail disaster that killed 57 people after an intercity passenger train was accidentally put on the same rail line as an oncoming freight train. It was later revealed that train stations were poorly staffed and safety infrastructure broken and outdated.
Thousands of people, many of them university students like the railway disaster victims, staged rallies across Greek cities in protest at what they saw as negligence on the part of the government.
Still, with the economy growing at 5.9 percent in 2022, and unemployment and inflation falling, opinion polls showed the prime minister steadily ahead in the run-up to the election.
George Tzogopoulos, lecturer at the Democritus University of Thrace, told Al Jazeera that young people were dissatisfied with the political class as a whole. “But what happened is that they didn’t show up and vote, they expressed their anger with demonstrations or through social media [instead],” he said.
“This is how New Democracy managed to score such an impressive success,” Tzogopoulos added.
Turnout reached 60 percent, with abstentions lower than earlier feared.
Welcoming the results, 62-year-old retiree Glykeria Tzima said: “Democracy won today – not only New Democracy, but democracy as a whole.
“We want to see a continuation of what was created in the last four years and leave the toxicity behind us. We, us Greeks, went through tough times and we saw that with this government and this prime minister, we have a future.”
University student Petros Apostolakis, however, disappointed.
“I’m not very happy [with the results…] For the past few years, I’ve seen [the] New Democracy party implementing agendas that have nothing to do with the interests of my generation,” he told Al Jazeera in Athens, citing climate change and the steep housing prices as some of the issues that had been neglected.
Tsipras was prime minister during some of the most tumultuous years of Greece’s economic crisis, but the 48-year-old struggled to regain the wide support he enjoyed when he swept to power in 2015 on a promise of reversing bailout-imposed austerity measures.
In some areas the party trailed the third-ranked but once-dominant Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), led by 44-year-old Nikos Androulakis.
Senior Syriza official Dimitris Papadimoulis, a European Parliament vice-president, told state TV ERT that if confirmed, the result would be “significantly far” from the party’s goals and would mark a failure to rally opposition to the government.
PASOK is likely to be at the centre of any coalition talks although any discussions are likely to be challenging.
Androulakis has a poor relationship with Mitsotakis, who he accuses of covering up a wiretapping scandal in which his phone was targeted for surveillance.
His relationship with Tsipras – who he has accused of trying to poach PASOK voters – is also rocky.
ATHENS — Greece’s conservative ruling party achieved a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, but it will have to wait for a second vote later this summer in its bid to secure an outright majority.
The New Democracy party of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis managed to gain a double-digit lead over its main rival, the left-wing Syriza party, and was missing only a few seats for a majority even with the new proportional representation system, according to early results.
“The political earthquake that occurred today calls on all of us to accelerate the process for a final governmental solution,” Mitsotakis declared Sunday evening from his party headquarters.
“The data from the ballot box is catalytic — it proves that New Democracy has the approval to govern independently and strongly and they demanded it emphatically, in an absolute way,” he said.
With 75 percent of the votes counted, New Democracy was poised to get 40.8 percent of the vote and 145 seats in the 300-seat parliament. Syriza was lagging with only 20.1 percent and 72 seats, while the Socialist Pasok party had 11.7 percent and 42 seats. The Communists KKE had 7.1 percent and 25 seats and the nationalist Greek Solution 4.5 percent and 16 seats.
Three smaller parties that initially looked poised to get 3 percent and top the threshold to make it to parliament, eventually scored lower. The participation rate was at 59.2 percent, the Interior Ministry reported.
Nonetheless, New Democracy didn’t gather the percentage of votes — 45 percent — needed to win an outright majority.
Mitsotakis managed to gain among voters despite his premiership being burdened with a spying scandal, spiraling inflation and mounting concerns over the rule of law.
“Our collective bodies will be convened immediately in order to evaluate the election results,” said Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, calling the results extremely negative for his party.
However, he said “the election cycle is not yet over, as there will probably be a second election and therefore, we do not have the time to wait. We must immediately make all changes necessary, in order to give the best possible conditions to the next crucial and final electoral battle.”
“It is a devastating outcome for the opposition, especially for Syriza,” said Wolfango Piccoli, co-founder of risk analysis company Teneo.
“It will take a long time for the main opposition party to recover, leaving New Democracy in a position to dominate Greek politics and run the government with no meaningful scrutiny,” he said.
“The outcome of today’s vote will be welcome by investors, but ND’s dominance of the political system together with a weak opposition may raise concerns about clientelism and the quality of policy-making,” Piccoli added.
“The resounding victory of New Democracy sends a clear and undisputed message all over Europe,” said Thanasis Bakolas, the center-right European People’s Party secretary general, adding that this is the first time since 2000 in Greece that the incumbent government emerges stronger after its term.
“A message to Brussels? — Today’s electoral result is a clear message against all those outside Greece who have consistently questioned the quality of Greek democracy and the will of the Greek people,” Bakolas added.
Starting from Monday, each of the three leading parties will get the mandate to form a government, starting with the winner, before passing to the second and then third party. Each one will have up to three days to try to form a government.
If there is no agreement on a coalition, the parliament elected on Sunday will be sworn in and then dissolved, paving the way for a second round of elections to take place and a caretaker government will be sworn in.
Bolstered by his triumph, Mitsotakis is expected to immediately seek a second vote, rejecting the option of a coalition after this first round of voting.
That means Greeks will probably head to the ballot boxes again on June 25 or July 2, with New Democracy poised to gain an outright majority, thanks to a system that grants the winning party in the second round up to 50 bonus seats.
ATHENS — The biggest crime in Greece? The state of the police force.
That’s according to opposition politicians, who are putting security and law enforcement center-stage ahead of this month’s national election.
Syriza, the leftist main opposition party, accuses the conservative New Democracy, which is hoping for another term in office after the May 21 vote, of allowing the police to become run by organized crime gangs. The conservative government maintains a lead in the polls, although a second round will likely be needed and is penciled in for July 2.
“The Greek police are collaborating with the crime instead of fighting crime,” Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras said, adding that the “Greek mafia is in the police.”
For sure, Greek police have been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons of late, thanks to the alleged involvement of police officials in mafia gangs profiting from illegal brothels and casinos; the murder of a 16-year-old Roma boy during a police chase; an alleged rape in a central Athens police department; and complaints of police brutality.
The Greek police force has a long history of corruption and excessive use of force but since New Democracy was elected in 2019 — at least in part on a law-and-order platform — complaints have soared.
In recent protests following a deadly train crash, police were accused of using unjustified violence during peaceful rallies, with several videos exposing the brutality. In one case, police officers sped toward a group of peaceful protestors on motorcycles and threw firecrackers at their feet. Prosecutors have ordered an investigation after a police tow truck drove at high speed into dumpsters being wheeled into the middle of a street by protesters.
The chief of police, Konstantinos Skoumas, was replaced in March. In an open letter, Skoumas defended his record and blamed politicians for forcing him out, saying he wouldn’t be “anyone’s scapegoat,” and arguing that his actions “caused strong resentment in certain centers of power, which, as a result, led to the violent termination of my term of office.”
The opposition blames both the police and the interior ministry that oversees it. “Impunity, the cultivation of an omertà mentality, the lack of accountability, are unfortunately characteristic of the way the Greek police operates, with the tolerance, if not the complicity, of the ministry,” said Giorgos Kaminis of the socialist Pasok party.
Minister of Civil Protection Takis Theodorikakos hit back, calling Syriza’s accusations “slanderous” and “nationally damaging,” as they could potentially scare away tourists.
“Our daily concern in practice is the safety of citizens, which is why we put an end to the lawlessness and delinquency,” he said on a recent visit to a police station. “This is why in 2022 the Greek police arrested 7,000 illegal migrants in the Attica [region that includes Athens], and now we are placing 600 new special guards at the Attica police stations,” Theodorikakos said, adding that Greece is a safe country.
Government spokesman Akis Skertsos said on Monday that there has been a reduction in all medium and low crime rates during the government’s term. Comparing January to August of 2019 to the same period in 2022 there has been a 15 percent reduction in thefts and 35 percent reduction in robberies.
Complaints on the rise
In 2022, preliminary data from the Greek Ombudsman showed a 50 percent rise in citizens’ complaints against the police compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, and a 14 percent rise in incidents of racially motivated police actions.
“The tone set by the political as well as the natural, operational leadership of the security forces undoubtedly plays a vital role” in these increases, Greek Ombudsman Andreas Pottakis told POLITICO. Pottakis said the government’s attitude toward the police was “overly supportive” and could “be misinterpreted” by officers, making them think they have “carte blanche” to do whatever they want.
One of the government’s first tasks after taking office four years ago was to revive a police motorcycle unit that had been disbanded under the previous Syriza government over human rights violations. Many of the 1,500 recruits were drafted from the ranks of military special forces, bypassing the police academy.
New Democracy’s efforts to establish the first university police force in Europe also failed. Α special unit with 1,000 officers was set up in September but still hasn’t set foot on campuses. The idea is so unpopular that on the rare occasions officers from the unit have ventured near universities, they have been accompanied by riot police. Some 600 officers meant for the uni police have already been transferred to other departments, the police confirmed.
Last month, an officer fired his gun into the air outside Athens University of Economics and Business in the center of the capital during clashes with hooded, masked youths.
Theodorikakos, the interior minister, said such incidents happened because, in the pre-election period, some people want to “blow up the political climate.” He added that some people “even want him dead,” a comment that was heavily criticized by the opposition.
“Let’s stop playing games at the expense of the seriousness of the issues, as [Prime Minister Kyriakos] Mitsotakis did with the university police,” said Pasok leader Nikos Androulakis. “He made a body which was paid for by the Greek taxpayers, did nothing of substance, and instead of apologizing he continues doing the same.”
Abuses of power
Police have also been accused of resorting to violence and intimidation to hamper journalists covering demonstrations and the refugee crisis on the country’s islands.
“We have cases of police officers arresting and even stripping lawyers and journalists off their clothes or humiliating them even though their professional identity is made known,” Pottakis, the ombudsman, said. “Young people are mainly targeted. The age element seems to act as an encouragement.”
Last December a 16-year-old Roma boy died after being shot in the head by police chasing him after he fled a petrol station allegedly without paying for €20 of fuel.
A 19-year-old girl reported she had been raped in a station by two policemen who filmed their actions in the main central police department last year. The officers involved said the sex was consensual. They have been suspended pending an investigation.
“We are heading from one fiasco to another,” said Syriza MP Christos Spirtzis. “Where are the internal investigations that have been conducted? There is no information, no one has been punished.”
Such investigations have, however, been launched. In January, Supreme Court prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos and Interior Minister Theodorikakos ordered an investigation into the relationship between senior police officials and members of the mafia, after leaked conversations showed gang leaders negotiating with officers about continuing their activities undisturbed.
Posters of the communist party in Thessaloniki | Sakis Mitrolodis/AFP via Getty Images
This was not the first report linking the police with organized crime.
Active and retired police officers stand accused, together with mafia members, of widespread corruption, with the criminal organization alleged to be running a protection racket involving 900 businesses — from clubs to brothels and casinos — with a turnover of at least €1 million per month.
Investigative website Reporters United revealed that one official implicated in the racket was promoted to director of the Attica Security Department, one of the most important positions in the fight against organized crime. Police later said they weren’t aware of the allegations against the officer.
“Citizens’ trust relationship with the police is broken when those who break their oath are not punished,” the ombudsman said.
Athens, Greece – When Notis Mitarakis took the job of migration minister, he received a baptism of fire.
In January 2020, even before he was sworn in, Mitarakis visited his constituency of Chios.
There were 100,000 asylum seekers in Greece, and half of them lived on the five eastern Aegean islands that had Reception and Identification Centres, including Chios. On average, there were almost 10,000 monthly new arrivals from Turkey.
A crowd of angry islanders greeted him outside the town hall, where he was to attend a special municipal council on what to do about thousands of refugees who had overflowed from the official camp and were living in squats on the beach and in town.
Mitarakis’s bodyguards ushered him inside the building and tried to close the doors, but the crowd pushed them open, smashing the glass.
It was a similar tale on Samos a few days later.
“We want them off the island. We don’t want them here,” a woman told Mitarakis as he tried to reason with a jeering congregation.
After that, Mitarakis did not even try visiting Lesvos, the north Aegean island that has absorbed about half of the asylum seekers crossing over from Turkey for the past 10 years.
But on May 12 this year, it was a very different story.
‘Exceptionally proud’
Mitarakis and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stood on a makeshift stage amid the ruins of Moria camp on Lesvos, once one of the largest refugee camps in Europe, along with the island’s mayor.
Before dozens of local dignitaries, the mayor thanked them and presented them with gifts.
“Ι am exceptionally proud that I kept my commitment to local communities to solve this issue,” said Mitsotakis.
“We implemented a firm but fair policy on migration. We protected our country’s borders both on land and at sea, and reduced irregular arrivals by 90 percent. We proved that the sea has borders, and those borders can and must be guarded,” he said, his last words drowned out by applause.
The mayor of Lesvos presents Prime Minister Mitsotakis with gifts, thanking him for the government policy of moving refugees away from the island’s capital, Mytilene [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]
Mitarakis put numbers on that policy.
“During the government of Syriza [2015-19], 643,000 asylum seekers arrived on Lesvos, whereas since 2019, arrivals were 11,630,” he said.
The ruling New Democracy conservatives face a tough re-election on May 21, and see migration policy as one of their strong suits.
Greece has implemented a tough border policy many humanitarian groups and search-and-rescue watchdogs have said amounts to illegal pushbacks of potential asylum seekers at sea.
Under the Geneva Convention of 1951, supplicants may not be turned back at the border if they are seeking protection from political or religious persecution.
The Greek Border Guards and the coastguard often have not bothered to ask them, say critics.
Beating, detention, theft
Al Jazeera has reported on firsthand accounts of beatings, arbitrary detention and theft of personal belongings.
It had not always been this way. While refugee numbers were manageable, Lesvos was hospitable.
The mayor turned over a summer camp for school children and a driving school to be used as refugee housing.
A network of volunteers, formed during the post-2008 global financial crisis to help Greek families that went hungry, gathered food, medicine and clothing for refugees instead.
By 2020, the islands with reception centres had begun to feel they were pawns in a political power game between Turkey and the European Union.
When New Democracy fast-tracked new asylum applications, applicants who had been waiting for years marched through the capital of Lesvos, Mytilene, fuelling a movement among locals to shut down Moria, just 4km (2.4 miles) away.
The turning point for Greek policy came in March 2020, when Turkey unilaterally withdrew from an agreement with the EU to hold back irregular migrants.
Thousands attempted to storm the Greek land border at the Evros River, nearly overwhelming Greek police.
Security crisis
Greece saw Turkey’s move as a test of its reflexes, and thenceforth treated refugees as a security crisis more than a humanitarian one.
In September of that year, Moria was set ablaze. Police arrested a dozen Afghan refugees on charges of arson, but some islanders suspect that locals put them up to it.
“[Some people] created problems to mobilise others against them. They said these people brought AIDS, brought Ebola, they will sleep with your women. And it worked, and they turned the population against them,” Christos Moumtzis, a jeweller, told Al Jazeera.
“They are trying to assimilate the [migrants] in Greece, to have relationships, children, a mixed-up situation, a sort of marriage [of populations],” said shop owner Thanos Mitropoulos.
“I see many [refugees] with Greek girls, walking hand in hand, in a relationship.”
Many local businesses have profited from the cash handouts the EU has been giving asylum applicants while their claims are being processed, but they have had a souring effect on many.
“I think that many of them are lazy, they get subsidies, and they’ve learned to live with that. They pose for photographs … They don’t aspire to something more … I on the other hand have opened this shop, I have to keep it in business,” Mitropoulos said.
About 2,400 refugees remain on Lesvos today, a 10th of the number that lived in Moria, as the government moved most to the mainland and hired more lawyers to process their asylum applications.
Where Moria camp once stood, the government plans to build a conference centre, student housing and an innovation centre for the University of the Aegean, a music school and a sport centre. The summer camp and driving school, too, have been returned to the municipality.
The new refugee camp under construction at Greece’s Vastria can hold 5,000 people [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]
In their place, the government is constructing a vast new camp 40km (25 miles) away in the middle of a pine forest, well out of walking distance of Mytilene.
The camp at Vastria will have better amenities than Moria, or the current makeshift camp set up on an artillery range at Mavrovounio, but it will be surrounded by a patrolled, double chainlink fence topped with barbed wire – all paid for by the EU.
The policy on other islands has been similar, with former camps near urban centres being turned over to local authorities and replaced by more efficient, distant facilities.
Yet, such is the sensitivity over the presence of even the out-of-sight Vastria camp that Mitsotakis did not visit it, apparently not wishing to draw attention to it.
This government reflects the complete change in Europe’s refugee policy over the past few years.
It proudly proclaims that it has prevented 700,000 irregular entries during its term, protecting Europe’s open internal borders and abolishing the status of these east Aegean islands as Europe’s buffer zones.
Not everyone agrees with the new Greek – and EU policy.
“We can’t choose between the disgrace of Moria, or the prison of Mavrovounio, or the even worse camp at Vastria,” Communist MP Maria Komninaka told Al Jazeera.
“We believe that people should quickly receive their papers and move from the islands to the mainland and from there to the countries they’re trying to get to.”
“We’re moving beyond sea and sun. We want to prolong the tourism season in both time and space,” Olympia Anastasopoulou, secretary-general for tourism policy and development at Greece’s Ministry of Tourism, told CNBC Travel.
For that, the country is investing in its more remote locations, including Syros, Amorgos and Milos, as part of its “All you want is Greece” campaign.
To ease overtourism, popular hot spots such as Mykonos and Santorini are being repositioned as shoulder season destinations.
“It’s our goal for those islands to expand more in seasonality, too. We would like it for the tourism flows to be expanded in other months,” said Eleni Mitraki, director of tourism promotion at the Greek National Tourism Organization, noting the season could run March through November.
The plans coincide with the expansion of direct flights from the United States to Greece in March 2023.
Currently, Germany and the U.K. represent Greece’s largest inbound tourism markets by revenue, followed by the United States, France and Italy. However, Anastasopoulou said further growth from other markets, most notably Canada and India, is expected.
Here are CNBC Travel’s top picks to get you off the beaten track in Greece.
Located within Greece’s Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea, Kalymnos is famous for its sponge-diving — underwater diving to collect natural sponges from the seabed — which brought considerable wealth and recognition to the island in the previous century.
Kalymnos, part of Greece’s Dodecanese island chain, has become a famous destination for rock climbers.
Photobac | Istock | Getty Images
More recently, the island has become a world-renowned location for rock climbers, with more than 3,000 climbing routes spanning the numerous crags, caves and overhangs of its rugged landscape.
Kalymnos’ tourism season peaks in the fall with the Kalymnos Climbing Festival. But adventure junkies can get their kicks year-round, with a host of other activities including scuba diving, hiking and boating.
How to get there: Kalymnos can be easily reached by boat from nearby Kos, with crossings taking 45 minutes by ferry and 25 minutes by speedboat. In high season, it’s also accessible by plane from Athens.
Ios, also known as Io or Nio, is located between Santorini and Naxos, and was once seen exclusively as a party destination. But the Cyclades island has revamped its image over recent years to embrace its historical and natural attributes.
Home to one of Greece’s most ancient archaeological settlements, the Skarkos monument, Ios also boasts a strong connection to the Greek epic poet, Homer, who is said to have favored the island and, potentially, ended his days there.
Once known purely as a party island, Ios in the Cyclades is embracing its other attributes, including beautiful beaches and ancient Greek archaeological settlements.
Municipality of Ios
Alongside history, visitors to Ios can also explore its plentiful beaches, and hiking and diving spots, before tucking into some of the local cheeses for which the island is famed.
How to get there: There is no airport in Ios. The island can be accessed by ferry or speedboat from both Athens and the other Cyclades islands. It can also be reached by helicopter from Santorini.
Skopelos became famous as the filming location for the hit musical rom-com “Mamma Mia,” and has since emerged as a popular destination for weddings, honeymoons and movie tours.
Part of the Skopelos archipelago in the northwest Aegean Sea, the island combines stunning beaches and picturesque villages with a host of diving, yachting and cycling routes.
The Greek island of Skopelos is famous for being the filming location of hit musical rom-com “Mamma Mia,” with the clifftop Church of Agios Ioannis Kastri playing a starring role.
Constantinos-iliopoulos | Istock | Getty Images
Legend has it the island was founded by the son of the Greek god of wine. And though many of its vineyards were destroyed by pests in the 1940s, small-scale, domestic production continues to this day. Meanwhile, natively grown plums, almonds, chestnuts, figs, citrus fruits, olives adorn the local cuisine.
How to get there: Skopelos is reachable by ferry or speedboat from the port city of Volos on Greece’s mainland. Services run year-round, with additional routes from other islands added in high season.
One of biggest islands of the Cyclades and just two hours from the Greek mainland, mountainous Andros has a varied landscape of forests, waterfalls, beaches and local vegetation, making it ideal for an outdoor escape.
Andros, one of the biggest islands of the Cyclades, boasts a diverse landscape of waterfalls, forests and beaches, making it a haven for hikers.
Summerphotos | Istock | Getty Images
Visitors can explore the island via its large network of hiking trails, or try their hand at windsurfing or scuba diving, before sampling the local cuisine.
Arts and culture fans can check out Andros’ collection of monasteries, galleries and museums, including the Archaeological Museum of Andros and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
How to get there: There is no airport in Andros. The island can be reached by ferry from Rafina port on the outskirts of Athens.
One of the Dodecanese islands, Astypalea has a rich ancient history. But it is positioning itself firmly in the 21st century with the goal of becoming the first sustainable and smart island of the Mediterranean sea.
The Dodecanese island of Astypalea has ambitions to become the first sustainable and smart island of the Mediterranean sea.
Municipality of Astypalea
As part of a deal with the Greek government and Volkswagen, Astypalea plans to implement islandwide, zero-emission mobility by 2030, with traditional vehicle rentals to be replaced with electric cars, e-scooters and e-bikes. Elsewhere, charging points and renewable energy sources will also be added.
Tourists arriving on the so-called Butterfly Island can also enjoy its natural landscape, home to beautiful beaches, rocky hillsides and diverse flora and fauna, as well as its picturesque villages of bougainvillea-clad white houses.
How to get there: Astypalea is accessible from Athens by both ferry and plane.
Surrounded by a necklace of 24 islets with dozens of blue-green beaches, Lipsi in the Dodecanese is considered the Polynesia of the Aegean Sea and an eco-paradise.
An eco-paradise surrounded by 24 islets, Lipsi forms part of the Dodecanese island collection in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary
With a rich expanse of flora and fauna protected by the European Union, the island is home to diverse wildlife, including Mediterranean monk seals and sea turtles. Dolphins are also common in the area, and a new Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary for dolphins is set to open soon on the island.
Holidaymakers can enjoy days spent boating, diving, beach-dwelling and hiking, before tucking into seafood dishes and experiencing local festivals, such as August’s wine celebration.
How to get there: Lipsi is only accessible by ferry or speed boat, with regular services running from Athens and Leros.
Alonissos, part of the Sporades group of islands, is a diver’s paradise and the site of Greece’s first underwater museum. Featuring “Parthenon of the Wrecks,” one of the biggest Classical-era shipwrecks dating back to 425 B.C., the site offers recreational divers a unique insight into the region’s history.
Alonissos, part of the Sporades archipelago in the northwest Aegean Sea, is known for its diving spots, including Greece’s first underwater museum, the “Parthenon of the Wrecks.”
Kayaking, hiking and cycling are among the other activities available on the island, while museums and a local theater group showcase the island’s arts and culture scene.
How to get there: Alonissos can be accessed either by plane or by ferry from the ports of Volos, Agios Konstantinos and Kimi.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Pets will soon be allowed into more than 120 archaeological sites across Greece, the country’s Culture Ministry announced Thursday, although not in the Acropolis or some of the other top tourist draws.
The move, unanimously approved by the country’s powerful Central Archaeological Council, will relax current rules which only allow guide dogs for disabled visitors into archaeological sites. The ministry did not specify when the new regulations would be implemented.
The decision is “a first, but important, step toward harmonizing the framework of accessibility to monuments and archaeological sites with the standards of other European countries, where entry rules for pets already apply,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said in a ministry press release.
The council approved the entry of pets provided they are kept on a leash no more than one meter (3 feet) long, or carried by their owners in a pouch or a pet carrying case. Owners will also need to show their pet’s health certificate and carry the necessary accessories to pick up their animal’s droppings in order to be allowed entry, the ministry said. Larger dogs will have to be muzzled.
But some of the most popular archaeological sites, such as the Acropolis of Athens, Knossos in Crete, Ancient Olympia or Delphi, which tend to get very crowded, will still remain pet-free, as will ancient theaters, temples, graves and monuments with mosaic floors.
Cages will be installed at the entrances of more than 110 other archaeological sites, the ministry said, so owners can park their pets during their visit.
Tourism is one of Greece’s main industries, generating billions of euros in revenue each year.
Six Leopard tanks have left Spain and are on their way to Ukraine to ramp up its military capacity, Reuters reports.
The tanks have been loaded onto cargo vessel on Friday and will be shipped by sea to Poland, according to the news agency.
At the end of February, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that he would send a total of 10 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. He faced opposition from far-left Podemos, the junior partner in his ruling coalition, which has warned this will only escalate the war and has instead pressed for peace talks.
Western allies have been ramping up the supply of military hardware to Ukraine as it prepares to face a potential renewed Russian offensive this spring. Germany hesitated for months on whether to send its tanks to Ukraine, eventually giving in to international pressure.
Now, leaked U.S. cables revealed that alongside Spain, also Germany, Norway, Portugal, Greece and Finland are planning to send tanks to the invaded country.
The model of tank Spain is shipping is among the older ones the country possesses, German media outlet ZDF said. The Western European country owns almost 350 Leopard 2 tanks in total.
For Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, next month’s election is of massive historical significance.
It falls 100 years after the foundation of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s secular republic and, if Erdoğan wins, he will be empowered to put even more of his stamp on the trajectory of a geostrategic heavyweight of 85 million people. The fear in the West is that he will see this as his moment to push toward an increasingly religiously conservative model, characterized by regional confrontationalism, with greater political powers centered around himself.
The election will weigh heavily on security in Europe and the Middle East. Who is elected stands to define: Turkey’s role in the NATO alliance; its relationship with the U.S., the EU and Russia; migration policy; Ankara’s role in the war in Ukraine; and how it handles tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The May 14 vote is expected to be the most hotly contested race in Erdoğan’s 20-year rule — as the country grapples with years of economic mismanagement and the fallout from a devastating earthquake.
He will face an opposition aligned behind Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, nicknamed the “Turkish Gandhi,” who is promising big changes. Polls suggest Kılıçdaroğlu has eked out a lead, but Erdoğan is a hardened election campaigner, with the full might of the state and its institutions at his back.
“There will be a change from an authoritarian single-man rule, towards a kind of a teamwork, which is a much more democratic process,” Ünal Çeviköz, chief foreign policy adviser to Kılıçdaroğlu told POLITICO. “Kılıçdaroğlu will be the maestro of that team.”
Here are the key foreign policy topics in play in the vote:
EU and Turkish accession talks
Turkey’s opposition is confident it can unfreeze European Union accession talks — at a standstill since 2018 over the country’s democratic backsliding — by introducing liberalizing reforms in terms of rule of law, media freedoms and depoliticization of the judiciary.
The opposition camp also promises to implement European Court of Human Rights decisions calling for the release of two of Erdoğan’s best-known jailed opponents: the co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party Selahattin Demirtaş and human rights defender Osman Kavala.
“This will simply give the message to all our allies, and all the European countries, that Turkey is back on track to democracy,” Çeviköz said.
Even under a new administration, however, the task of reopening the talks on Turkey’s EU accession is tricky.
Turkey’s opposition is aligned behind Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, nicknamed the “Turkish Gandhi” | Burak Kara/Getty Images
Anti-Western feeling in Turkey is very strong across the political spectrum, argued Wolfango Piccoli, co-founder of risk analysis company Teneo.
“Foreign policy will depend on the coherence of the coalition,” he said. “This is a coalition of parties who have nothing in common apart from the desire to get rid of Erdoğan. They’ve got a very different agenda, and this will have an impact in foreign policy.”
“The relationship is largely comatose, and has been for some time, so, they will keep it on life support,” he said, adding that any new government would have so many internal problems to deal with that its primary focus would be domestic.
Europe also seems unprepared to handle a new Turkey, with a group of countries — most prominently France and Austria — being particularly opposed to the idea of rekindling ties.
“They are used to the idea of a non-aligned Turkey, that has departed from EU norms and values and is doing its own course,” said Aslı Aydıntaşbaş a visiting fellow at Brookings. “If the opposition forms a government, it will seek a European identity and we don’t know Europe’s answer to that; whether it could be accession or a new security framework that includes Turkey.”
“Obviously the erosion of trust has been mutual,” said former Turkish diplomat Sinan Ülgen, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Europe think tank, arguing that despite reticence about Turkish accession, there are other areas where a complementary and mutually beneficiary framework could be built, like the customs union, visa liberalization, cooperation on climate, security and defense, and the migration agreement.
The opposition will indeed seek to revisit the 2016 agreement with the EU on migration, Çeviköz said.
“Our migration policy has to be coordinated with the EU,” he said. “Many countries in Europe see Turkey as a kind of a pool, where migrants coming from the east can be contained and this is something that Turkey, of course cannot accept,” he said but added. “This doesn’t mean that Turkey should open its borders and make the migrants flow into Europe. But we need to coordinate and develop a common migration policy.”
NATO and the US
After initially imposing a veto, Turkey finally gave the green light to Finland’s NATO membership on March 30.
But the opposition is also pledging to go further and end the Turkish veto on Sweden, saying that this would be possible by the alliance’s annual gathering on July 11. “If you carry your bilateral problems into a multilateral organization, such as NATO, then you are creating a kind of a polarization with all the other members of NATO with your country,” Çeviköz said.
A protester pushes a cart with a RRecep Tayyip Erdoğan doll during an anti-NATO and anti-Turkey demonstration in Sweden | Jonas Gratzer/Getty Images
A reelected Erdoğan could also feel sufficiently empowered to let Sweden in, many insiders argue. NATO allies did, after all, play a significant role in earthquake aid. Turkish presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın says that the door is not closed to Sweden, but insists the onus is on Stockholm to determine how things proceed.
Turkey’s military relationship with the U.S. soured sharply in 2019 when Ankara purchased the Russian-made S-400 missile system, a move the U.S. said would put NATO aircraft flying over Turkey at risk. In response, the U.S. kicked Ankara out of the F-35 jet fighter program and slapped sanctions on the Turkish defense industry.
A meeting in late March between Kılıçdaroğlu and the U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Jeff Flake infuriated Erdoğan, who saw it as an intervention in the elections and pledged to “close the door” to the U.S. envoy. “We need to teach the United States a lesson in this elections,” the irate president told voters.
In its policy platform, the opposition makes a clear reference to its desire to return to the F-35 program.
Russia and the war in Ukraine
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Turkey presented itself as a middleman. It continues to supply weapons — most significantly Bayraktar drones — to Ukraine, while refusing to sanction Russia. It has also brokered a U.N. deal that allows Ukrainian grain exports to pass through the blockaded Black Sea.
Highlighting his strategic high-wire act on Russia, after green-lighting Finland’s NATO accession and hinting Sweden could also follow, Erdoğan is now suggesting that Turkey could be the first NATO member to host Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Maybe there is a possibility” that Putin may travel to Turkey on April 27 for the inauguration of the country’s first nuclear power reactor built by Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom, he said.
Çeviköz said that under Kılıçdaroğlu’s leadership, Turkey would be willing to continue to act as a mediator and extend the grain deal, but would place more stress on Ankara’s status as a NATO member.
“We will simply emphasize the fact that Turkey is a member of NATO, and in our discussions with Russia, we will certainly look for a relationship among equals, but we will also remind Russia that Turkey is a member of NATO,” he said.
Turkey’s relationship with Russia has become very much driven by the relationship between Putin and Erdoğan and this needs to change, Ülgen argued.
Turkey brokered a U.N. deal that allows Ukrainian grain exports to pass through the blockaded Black Sea | Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images
“No other Turkish leader would have the same type of relationship with Putin, it would be more distant,” he said. “It does not mean that Turkey would align itself with the sanctions; it would not. But nonetheless, the relationship would be more transparent.”
Syria and migration
The role of Turkey in Syria is highly dependent on how it can address the issue of Syrians living in Turkey, the opposition says.
Turkey hosts some 4 million Syrians and many Turks, battling a major cost-of-living crisis, are becoming increasingly hostile. Kılıçdaroğlu has pledged to create opportunities and the conditions for the voluntary return of Syrians.
“Our approach would be to rehabilitate the Syrian economy and to create the conditions for voluntary returns,” Çeviköz said, adding that this would require an international burden-sharing, but also establishing dialogue with Damascus.
Erdoğan is also trying to establish a rapprochement with Syria but Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he will only meet the Turkish president when Ankara is ready to completely withdraw its military from northern Syria.
“A new Turkish government will be more eager to essentially shake hands with Assad,” said Ülgen. “But this will remain a thorny issue because there will be conditions attached on the side of Syria to this normalization.”
However, Piccoli from Teneo said voluntary returns of Syrians was “wishful thinking.”
“These are Syrians who have been living in Turkey for more than 10 years, their children have been going to school in Turkey from day one. So, the pledges of sending them back voluntarily, it is very questionable to what extent they can be implemented.”
Greece and the East Med
Turkey has stepped up its aggressive rhetoric against Greece in recent months, with the Erdoğan even warning that a missile could strike Athens.
But the prompt reaction by the Greek government and the Greek community to the recent devastating earthquakes in Turkey and a visit by the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias created a new backdrop for bilateral relations.
A Turkish drill ship before it leaves for gas exploration | Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images
Dendias, along with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, announced that Turkey would vote for Greece in its campaign for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council for 2025-26 and that Greece would support the Turkish candidacy for the General Secretariat of the International Maritime Organization.
In another sign of a thaw, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi visited Turkey this month, with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar saying he hoped that the Mediterranean and Aegean would be a “sea of friendship” between the two countries. Akar said he expected a moratorium with Greece in military and airforce exercises in the Aegean Sea between June 15 and September 15.
“Both countries are going to have elections, and probably they will have the elections on the same day. So, this will open a new horizon in front of both countries,” Çeviköz said.
“The rapprochement between Turkey and Greece in their bilateral problems [in the Aegean], will facilitate the coordination in addressing the other problems in the eastern Mediterranean, which is a more multilateral format,” he said. Disputes over maritime borders and energy exploration, for example, are common.
As far as Cyprus is concerned, Çeviköz said that it is important for Athens and Ankara not to intervene into the domestic politics of Cyprus and the “two peoples on the island should be given an opportunity to look at their problems bilaterally.”
However, analysts argue that Greece, Cyprus and the EastMed are fundamental for Turkey’s foreign policy and not much will change with another government. The difference will be more one of style.
“The approach to manage those differences will change very much. So, we will not hear aggressive rhetoric like: ‘We will come over one night,’” said Ülgen. “We’ll go back to a more mature, more diplomatic style of managing differences and disputes.”
“The NATO framework will be important, and the U.S. would have to do more in terms of re-establishing the sense of balance in the Aegean,” said Aydıntaşbaş. But, she argued, “you just cannot normalize your relations with Europe or the U.S., unless you’re willing to take that step with Greece.”
Not even a war has succeeded in pushing Europe’s biggest powers to reach their defense spending targets.
The Continent’s largest economies all fell short of a common goal of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense, according to a NATO report published Tuesday.
And across the entire military alliance, only seven out of 30 members spent at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense last year.
And although that amounts to billions, officials and experts warn the organization’s members will need to spend much more to assure its security.
The figures, all NATO estimates for 2022, show that while allies have been pouring significantly more money into their militaries for years, many are still largely lagging behind an alliance spending target, set in 2014, to spend 2 percent on defense within a decade.
Of 30 members, only Greece, Poland, the Baltic states, the United Kingdom and the United States spent more than 2 percent of their economic output on defense last year, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s annual report shows.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, whose country reached 2.12 percent last year according to the report, said on Tuesday that she was “quite shocked” when looking at who is and is not fulfilling the target.
“Come on, it’s not possible — I think everybody should understand, knowing and seeing what is happening in Ukraine, that we don’t have that time,” she told POLITICO.
The report does underscore, however, how NATO allies have been continuously investing and are now spending significantly more than when the target was first agreed.
“European Allies and Canada have increased defence spending for the eighth consecutive year,” the report said. “In total, over the last eight years, this increase added USD 350 billion for defence,” it added.
Plans to boost investment
Nevertheless, America remains NATO’s moneybags.
While the U.S. represents 54 percent of the alliance’s economic output, it contributes 70 percent of defense expenditure, the report noted.
The next-biggest spender, the U.K., amounted to about 6 percent of the alliance’s total spending, while Germany stood at around 5 percent.
A senior European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive alliance dynamics, said that what matters is the positive trajectory, and that many allies have plans in motion to boost investment.
“Some nations already announced at least 2.5 percent, several even higher … there are nations that have not met the ambition, but at least have a plan,” the diplomat said.
“The trend has been positive,” they said, although “we need to invest more.”
Indeed, there is an understanding within the alliance that promising to boost defense spending and actually doing it are not the same thing.
“Political proclamations about boosting defense capacities are welcome,” said a senior Central European defense official. Making pledges is easy, they added.
“But spending substantial extra money on defense is very difficult in practice,” the official said, pointing to numerous bottlenecks impacting European countries.
These include inefficient defense planning, a shortage of raw materials for production of weapons and ammunition, long procurement processes and limited production capacity that could take years to expand.
“Real defense spending will increase at some point, but it will take at least several years — provided the existing political will is sustained,” the official added.
Speaking on Tuesday, Stoltenberg praised allies for progress since 2014 — but told reporters that new pledges must now turn into real cash, contracts and equipment. The NATO chief also said that he will advocate for the alliance to agree on a more ambitious target that sets 2 percent as a minimum.
Multifaceted security challenges
Experts caution that percentages are far from the only measure that matters as the alliance grapples with developing security threats.
The debate over 2 percent “places greater focus on the inputs to the alliance’s collective security rather than the outputs,” said Seamus P. Daniels, a fellow focusing on defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
“NATO members need to invest the appropriate funding for defense,” he said, “but we should focus more on whether allies are providing modern capabilities and forces necessary for collective security efforts.”
Another European diplomat acknowledged hurdles on that front, such as Germany not yet having touched its new €100 billion military modernization fund. And some allies have been investing in costly equipment while lacking sufficient forces for possible operations.
But the diplomat also pointed out several factors pushing forward European investment in defense — including the economic benefits of spending money on defense and possible political shifts in the U.S.
And while officials and experts expect Washington to continue playing a leading role within NATO, there is a recognition that regardless of who is in the White House, America’s attention will be shifting ever more to Asia.
While the current U.S. administration has been highly supportive of NATO and is spending vast sums to help Ukraine, some voices — including Republican presidential contenders — have been questioning the outlay.
Russia’s war in Ukraine “has changed perceptions and everyone gets that [the] US has other priorities than Europe,” the second European diplomat noted.
There are “fears,” the diplomat said, linked to a possible “Republican comeback.”
Former University of Georgia football standout Jalen Carter was sentenced to probation on Thursday for his role in the January crash that killed his teammate and a team staffer.
The crash happened hours after the Bulldogs’ national championship victory parade.
Carter entered pleas of no contest Thursday to charges of racing and reckless driving, according to his attorney, Kim Stephens.
Carter was then sentenced to 12 months of probation, a $1,000 fine and 50 hours of community service and completion of a state-approved defensive driving course, the attorney said.
“Mr. Carter is happy and relieved to get this matter behind him, so now he can do what he needs to do for the NFL draft,” the lawyer said.
“He continues to grieve for the loss of his friends,” Stephens added.
Athens-Clarke County Solicitor General Will Fleenor confirmed the sentence and said Carter’s privilege to drive in Georgia has been suspended for 120 days.
Fleenor, in a statement, acknowledged questions about the severity of the charges and “whether more serious offenses occurred.” He said law enforcement officers evaluated the appropriateness of more serious charges.
“However, after consultation with the District Attorney’s Office, the Solicitor’s Office, and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, based on the evidence and applicable laws in this case, it was determined that the appropriate charges were the two traffic offenses that were resolved in court this morning,” the statement said.
Carter has been projected as a top pick in the NFL draft next month.
CNN has reached out to Athens Solicitor’s Office for comment.
Carter’s teammate Devin Willock and football team staff member Chandler LeCroy were killed in the January 15 crash, which happened hours after the team participated in a parade through campus to celebrate its second consecutive national title.
Carter turned himself in at the Athens-Clarke County Jail earlier this month on charges of reckless driving and racing.
LeCroy was driving a Ford SUV near the campus with Willock and two other members of the football program also in the vehicle, police said. The SUV was traveling “about 104 miles per hour” before it veered off the road and slammed into two power poles and several trees, Athens-Clarke County police said.
Authorities said Carter was driving a separate vehicle and he and LeCroy appeared to be racing.
Police said “both vehicles switched between lanes, drove in the center turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists, and drove at high rates of speed, in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other.”
Toxicology results show LeCroy, who was driving a university vehicle not authorized for use at the time of the crash, had a blood alcohol concentration of .197 – more than twice the legal limit in Georgia, police said.
Willock was ejected and died at the scene and LeCroy died at a local hospital. The two other passengers in the vehicle were injured, officials said.
Carter was a key part of Georgia’s vaunted defense that allowed the fewest rushing yards per game (77.1) in 2022 and was named to several All-America teams.
More than four months before the fatal crash, Carter had been issued three traffic citations – including one for speeding at nearly twice the legal limit, according to documents and body camera video obtained by CNN from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.
On September 22, Carter was stopped for speeding. An officer is heard on body camera footage telling him that he was “reckless,” and issued three traffic tickets
One ticket showed Carter was driving at 89 mph in a 45 mph zone. A second ticket cited him for having “material affixed” to his car which “obstructs vision.” A third citation was for an illegal windshield tint.
Bodycam video from the stop showed Carter in the driver’s seat of a Black Jeep. The officer held up a radar gun showing a speed of 89 mph, according to the video.
Carter is seen on video, expressionless, as the officer named two other UGA athletes who he said he had recently stopped.
“Y’all need to slow down dude,” the officer is heard telling Carter, who didn’t respond.
“Look I don’t know if y’all need to send out a text or something to other teammates, but slow down,” the officer said, adding, “That was reckless.”
“When you’re around your teammates, tell them to slow down,” the officer said.
The officer then tested the tint on Carter’s vehicle – which he said is illegal in the state of Georgia. “The front windshield can’t have nothing on it. No material on it whatsoever, OK?”
“Your break is you’re not going to jail. That’s your break. Because that would make all kinds of news, alright?” the officer is heard telling Carter in the footage.
The player smiled nervously. “You’re getting a ticket for speeding,” the officer said.
The officer added, “Slow down OK. That’s all I ask.”
Greece’s prime minister has promised to improve the safety standards of the country’s railway system following its deadliest train crash on record which sparked mass protests.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis again apologized for last month’s incident, which saw a passenger train carrying mostly university students returning from a three-day public holiday collide with a freight train near the city of Larissa, leaving 57 people dead and dozens injured.
“I reiterate my public apology on behalf of all those who ruled the country for years, but mainly personally,” Mitsotakis said.
“I therefore assume responsibility. And we cannot, we do not want to, we must not hide behind a series of human errors,” he added.
The day after the deadly collision, Mitsotakis blamed “tragic human error,” sparking demonstrations against chronic faults in the railway system and demanding justice for the victims. In a change of tone, on Sunday he emphasized that Greece “cannot, will not, and must not hide behind human error.”
Speaking on Thursday, the Prime Minister promised “absolute transparency” and said that if the installation of digital control systems had been completed “this incident would have been practically impossible to have happened.”
The fact that this system “will be up and running in a few months from now is no excuse,” he added. “It makes my personal pain even greater as we didn’t get to install it before this tragic incident happened.”
Tens of thousands of people participated in protests organized by worker unions and student groups on Wednesday across major Greek cities, calling for government responsibility and better safety standards.
“This crime should not be covered up,” they chanted, holding signs with the names of those killed.
Further strikes are due in Greece to protest the fatal collision.
European Commission experts have met with the Greek government to discuss “the complete reorganization” of the Greek railway.
Mitsotakis said during the ministerial council that he has asked the commission for technical assistance and additional funding.
The Greek government was initially planning to hold elections in early April but is now widely expected to push it back until after Easter. Its term ends in July.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A stationmaster accused of causing Greece’s deadliest train disaster was charged with negligent homicide and jailed pending trial Sunday, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized for any responsibility Greece’s government may bear for the tragedy.
An examining magistrate and a prosecutor agreed that multiple counts of homicide as well as charges of causing bodily harm and endangering transportation safety should be brought against the railway employee.
At least 57 people, many of them in their teens and 20s, were killed when a northbound passenger train and a southbound freight train collided late Tuesday north of the city of Larissa, in central Greece.
The 59-year-old stationmaster allegedly directed the two trains traveling in opposite directions onto the same track. He spent 7 1/2 hours Sunday testifying about the events leading up to the crash before he was charged and ordered held.
“My client testified truthfully, without fearing if doing so would incriminate him,” Stephanos Pantzartzidis, the stationmaster’s lawyer, told reporters. “The decision (to jail him) was expected, given the importance of the case.”
Pantzartzidis implied that others besides his client share blame, saying that judges should investigate whether more than one stationmaster should have been working in Larissa at the time of the collision.
“For 20 minutes, he was in charge of (train) safety in all central Greece,” the lawyer said of his client.
Greek media have reported that the automated signaling system in the area of the crash was not functioning, making the stationmaster’s mistake possible. Stationmasters along that part of Greece’s main trunk line communicate with each other and with train drivers via two-way radios, and the switches are operated manually.
The prime minister promised a swift investigation of the collision and said the new Greek transportation minister would release a safety improvement plan. Once a new parliament is in place, a commission also will be named to investigate decades of mismanagement of the country’s railway system, Mitsotakis said.
In an initial statement Wednesday, Mitsotakis had said the crash resulted from a “tragic human error.” Opposition parties pounced on the remark, accusing the prime minister of trying to cover up the state’s role and making the inexperienced stationmaster a scapegoat.
“I owe everyone, and especially the victims’ relatives, a big apology, both personal and on behalf of all who governed the country for many years,” Mitsotakis wrote Sunday on Facebook. “In 2023, it is inconceivable that two trains move in different directions on the same track and no one notices. We cannot, we do not want to, and we must not hide behind the human error.”
Greece’s railways long suffered from chronic mismanagement, including lavish spending on projects that were eventually abandoned or significantly delayed, Greek media have reported in several exposes. With state railway company Hellenic Railways billions of euros in debt, maintenance work was put off, according to news reports.
A retired railway union leader, Panayotis Paraskevopoulos, told Greek newspaper Kathimerini that the signaling system in the area monitored by the Larissa stationmaster malfunctioned six years ago and was never repaired.
Police and prosecutors have not identified the stationmaster, in line with Greek law. However, Hellenic Railways, also known as OSE, revealed the stationmaster’s name Saturday, in an announcement suspending the company inspector who appointed him. The stationmaster also has been suspended.
Greek media have reported that the stationmaster, a former porter with the railway company, was transferred to a Ministry of Education desk job in 2011, when Greece’s creditors demanded reductions in the number of public employees. The 59-year-old was transferred back to the railway company in mid-2022 and started a 5-month course to train as a stationmaster.
Upon completing the course, he was assigned to Larissa on Jan. 23, according to his own Facebook post. However, he spent the next month month rotating among other stations before returning to Larissa in late February, days before the Feb. 28 collision, Greek media reported.
On Sunday, railway unions organized a protest rally in central Athens attended by about 12,000 people according to authorities.
Five people were arrested and seven police officers were injured when a group of more than 200 masked, black-clad individuals started throwing pieces of marble, rocks, bottles and firebombs at officers, who gave chase along a central avenue in the city while using tear gas and stun grenades.
In Thessaloniki, about 3,000 people attended two protest rallies. Several of the crash victims were students at the city’s Aristotle University, Greece’s largest, with over 50,000 students..
The larger protest, organized by left-wing activists, marched to a government building. No incidents were reported at that event.
In the other, staged by Communist Party members at the White Tower, the city’s signature monument, there was a brief scuffle with police when the protesters tried to place a banner on the monument.
“The Communist Party organized a symbolic protest today in front of the White Tower to denounce the crime in Tempe, because it is a premeditated crime, a crime committed by the company and the bourgeois state that supports these companies,” Giannis Delis, a communist lawmaker, told The Associated Press.
ATHENS — Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was attacked in central Athens late on Friday, suffering a broken nose, cuts and bruises.
The assault, which his party DiEM25 described as a “brazen fascist attack,” took place while Varoufakis was dining in the central Exarchia district with party members from all over Europe.
“A small group of thugs stormed the place shouting aggressively, falsely accusing him of signing off on Greece’s bailouts with the troika [the country’s bailout creditors],” DiEM25 said in a statement. “Varoufakis stood up to talk to them, but they immediately responded with violence, savagely beating him while filming the scene.”
Politicians from across the political spectrum swiftly condemned the assault in Varoufakis, the motorbike-riding, leather-jacket-wearing politician who became well-known as the country’s finance minister in 2015.
As part of the left-wing Syriza-led Greek government, Varoufakis battled the so-called troika and Europe-imposed austerity. While the Greek administration eventually capitulated and signed a bailout agreement, Varoufakis quit government and founded a cross-border far-left political movement, DiEM25.
“They were not anarchists, leftists, communists or members of any movement,” Varoufakis said in a tweet early Saturday. “Thugs for hire they were (and looked it), who clumsily invoked the lie that I sold out to the troika. We shall not let them divide us.”
The Exarchia neighborhood has a reputation for being a bastion of self-styled anarchists. Varoufakis was publicly harassed in 2015 while dining in the same district at the height of the financial crisis.
Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Takis Theodorikakos said police would take all measures to identify and arrest the perpetrators of Friday’s attack. He noted that the DiEM25 leader, “at his own initiative, was not accompanied by his personal police detail” while at the restaurant.
Greece has been hit by the biggest mass demonstrations since the eurozone crisis in recent days, as Greeks have taken to the streets almost on a daily basis to protest the country’s deadliest train crash, ramping up pressure on the conservative New Democracy government ahead of coming elections. The wave of public rage follows a train collision on February 28 that killed 57 people and raised profound questions about the management of the rail system.
The train crash has also sparked deeper questions about the functioning of the Greek state and fresh anger against the political system.
“Let us please stay focused: We are mourning the 57 victims of rail privatization. We support the spontaneous youth rallies, the greatest hope that Greece can change. See you at the demonstrations,” Varoufakis tweeted, as another big rally is scheduled for Sunday.
