Category: EU Members

European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Turkey on 17 Dec. 2004

Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn says Istanbul will be Greek

More than 1000 Greeks gathered to commemorate for the loss of Istanbul to the Turks more than 550 years ago (!!!)Their leader made a speech in the street in front of 1000s and said that they will never rest `till the day they see Istanbul inside the map of Greece;

Quote: Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn says Istanbul will be Greek
The supporters of Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, which won nearly 7 percent of the vote in an inconclusive election on May 6, marched on May 30 chanting “Istanbul is Greek and will remain Greek.”Some 1,000 far-right Golden Dawn supporters gathered in Athens city center to protest the 559th anniversary of the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire and marked the date with a number of events held in the city on May 29.

Golden Dawn`s gypsy leader singing Greek national anthem;

Golden Dawn leader Nikos Mihaliolakos also said, “Istanbul is Greek and will remain Greek,” during the protest. The group chanted the national anthem and made the Nazi salute. June/01/2012 The gypsy neo-nazi speaks; The event ended with a moment of silence with nazi salutes of 1000s, then delusional Greek youth randomly attacked and injured five middle-eastern immigrant they found in the Athens subway in the same night, probably to soothe their anger on the weaklings;

Quote: Passengers of the Athens Piraeus Electric Railways (ISAP) witnessed several attacks against immigrants by supporters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn.On Tuesday night, 30th of May, a group of youngsters attacked a Pakistani immigrant on St Nicolas Electric Railways station deck, causing him multiple injuries. According to eye witnesses, the perpetrators were shouting slogans of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party. Police also examines that the perpetrators possibly came from Golden Dawn’s rally commemorating the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Subway passengers also witnessed other violent incidents against immigrants by supporters of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, who had participated earlier in their party’s rally in the Athens centre. Golden Dawn denied, in a statement, any involvement in violent incidents [1, 2 & 3]. Two days earlier (28.05.2012), a 33 year-old Bangladeshi immigrant was stabbed and robbed of 130euros in a wagon at Omonoia subway station. According to the Subway workers union, passengers witnessed the perpetrator shouting slogans of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party [1]. In another incident in Ilioupoli suburb, strangers attacked and injured an Iranian immigrant with a sharp object. Then, the offenders attacked and robbed a couple that was leaving in another floor of the building [2]. http://www.red-network.eu/?i=red-net…n.items&id=835

June 13, 2012
IT CAN’T HAPPEN TO ME. GUESS WHAT? IT WILL !!

IT CAN’T HAPPEN TO ME. GUESS WHAT? IT WILL!!

Chapter 13

QUANTITATIVE EASING: (QE) WAKE UP!

Quantitative easing one and two have sent us down the path the Japanese have trudged. It is well worn with no weeds or grass, just plain old dirt.

We had a depression right after WWI. Warren G. Harding was president. He said we could earn our way out. Harry Truman lost his men’s store and went to the library and read every book in it. Herbert Hoover tried the same thing, but when it came to his programs the democrats stalled his programs waiting for a new president. The new president (FDR) and his “New Deal” were working until he raised taxes in 1938. Someone had to pay.

My contention is this. The government is our parent or umpire. It sets the rules of “Fair Play”. They should be enforced and violators banned.

QE’s are a bureaucracy. This is how they started way back when.

When Marco Polo came back from China, he was imprisoned because the Chinese were so far ahead of the rest of the world. He wrote notes on toilet paper that were sneaked out and read by the public. He was eventually released and the rest is history.

So what happened to China? They had the wheel, gunpowder and paper before the rest of the people on earth- way before the year one.

I think it started in the Chi dynasty. They wanted the best and brightest of all of China to run the country. So they gave tests to every child all over the country and the winners were brought to the capital to learn and study. That they did. Then as they grew up they married. Their children were then sent to special schools so they could do better than the average Chinese child.

Guess what? The Chinese also invented bureaucracy! So the way we are going in the year 2012 we will be like China in 4025!

To jumpstart the economy we must institute a “FAIR PLAY” AND this will send 100,000’s of dollars to every citizen living in the United States of America. The proviso is that they must pay down all debts minus interest. Bring back the USURY Laws and spend the monies as they see fit while saving 10%.

Thus banks that are “TOO BIG TO FAIL” will all of a sudden be divesting themselves. Too many companies have over expanded and therefore they became protected by the government, because they were “TOO BIG TO FAIL”. BALDERDASH!!!!

If your neighbor borrowed money from you and was in trouble, would you not be happy to receive the principal BACK?

A BANK IS SUPOSSED TO BE THE PROTECTOR OF ONE’S MONEY. All those monstrous salaries could be used to pay dividends and interest on deposits. Banks who have honest earnings should then meet a standard where they qualify for salary increases based upon performance of the bank – not the stock price.

Our banking system needs reform from the bottom up. The Federal Reserve Act does not cover how banks are run internally. That is a positive.

We must self-regulate so that Congress is a happy bystander.

These chapters are “food for thought”. I try to keep them concise and swift in thought. It is up to you, dear reader, to embellish upon the themes.

June 11, 2012
Euro 2012: UEFA bosses accused of racism after ‘turning blind eye’ to abuse of black footballers

Football chiefs were today accused of “turning a blind eye” to racism after Dutch players were targeted with abuse.

Uefa finally admitted today there had been a racist incident after Dutch black players were subjected to monkey chants during a training session in Poland two days ago in the build-up to the opening games of the Euro 2012 tournament.

The racism row and violence against English-speaking fans threatened to overshadow the tournament even before it began this afternoon with the Poland against Greece game. The football authorities vowed to take action if there was a repeat of the abuse. But MPs and campaigners condemned them for not being tougher following the Dutch case which was initially played down.

Labour MP Diane Abbott said: “They are turning a blind eye. The danger is that by not acting, they leave the door open for further racial abuse of black and Asian players and fans.”

Piara Powar, the executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe, said: “We’re very clear with Uefa that any incident of this kind needs to be looked at.”

Conservative MP Mark Field, vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary football group, added: “I fear Uefa are trying to brush this under the carpet.”

In a statement today, Uefa accepted that there had been racist chants at Wisla’s Krakow ground as reported by the Dutch captain Mark van Bommel.

“Uefa has now been made aware that there were some isolated incidents of racist chanting,” it said.

As the England team gathered for a training session in Krakow, former captain Rio Ferdinand — whose brother Anton was allegedly racially abused during a match by England’s John Terry — tweeted: “Tell me I didn’t see this … the Dutch team getting abuse already? Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.”

Dutch football great Ruud Gullit added: “It’s sad. We don’t need this.”

Sports minister Hugh Robertson warned that discrimination must not be tolerated as fears grew that the tournament will be marred by racism or anti-Semitism.

He said: “Racism of any form is unacceptable on the football pitch or elsewhere. If it occurs I would expect the authorities to stamp down on it in the strongest possible terms.”

The Dutch FA has decided not to make an official complaint. But van Bommel, with the backing of the Dutch squad, insists players were targeted.

England have several black players including Ashley Young, Ashley Cole, Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The families of Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain have declined to travel to watch the matches because of fears over racism, and former player Sol Campbell advised fans to avoid the tournament because of race fears.

As the racism row grew, there were reports that local thugs attacked English-speaking fans last night — just hours before the start of the event being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

About 50 hooligans punched and kicked foreign football supporters speaking English and Russian as they drank in a pub in the central Polish city of Lodz.

Witnesses said young masked men wearing the club colours of local team LKS Lodz pulled up in cars next to a pub and attacked anyone in sight, throwing punches and kicks.

“When they started to hit out, we fled inside,” one victim said. “We barricaded the entrance. Some of us remained outside, and they got the brunt of the attack.”

Two men were injured and a Polish witness said: “They forced two younger men to the ground, with multiple attackers starting to punch and kick them. It was a horrible sight. I fumbled for my phone and called the police. They were lying motionless on the pavement. I thought they were dead.

“After a couple of minutes, one of them started to get up, and then the second. I was very relieved.”

British ministers are boycotting England’s group stage matches in protest at “selective justice” in Ukraine and because of the workload for the Olympics. The Government is concerned about the treatment of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

Ukraine’s ambassador to London, Vladimir Khandogiy, today criticised the British decision. “This reason for not attending is something that I don’t understand since I believe that sport and politics don’t mix,” he said.

Whitehall insiders stressed the Government was making a political statement through the boycott, backed by other EU nations.

A 22-year-old football fan in Krakow is in hospital after being attacked by hooligans wielding machetes in what was apparently a fight between fans of local clubs. Police spokesman Renata Kostecka said: “He suffered light cuts and a major wound to his thigh. He is still in hospital.”

Three men were arrested.

London Evening Standard

June 10, 2012
Greece-Turkey illegal migration sparks call for change in Schengen

Luxembourg The surge in illegal migrants across the porous border between Greece and Turkey was set to prompt European Union ministers to call for drastic changes to Europe’s visa-free Schengen area on Thursday.

Under proposals being considered by home affairs ministers meeting in Luxembourg, the 26 countries in the travel-free Schengen area may be allowed to restore border controls for up to a year under “exceptional circumstances”.

Among those circumstances, according to demands made by France and Germany earlier this year, are problems related to illegal immigration.

Migration has emerged as one of Europe’s most sensitive political issues amid the economic crisis.

Illegal crossings detected on the outer borders of the 26-nation area rose a sharp 35 per cent in 2011, from 104,000 the previous year to 141,000, largely due to flows across the Mediterranean from the Arab Spring upheavals, according to the EU’s Frontex agency manning the borders.

But the second biggest hot-spot was the border between Greece and Turkey, which registered 55,000 detections last year.

With low-cost flights to Turkey on the increase as war, chaos and poverty sends people fleeing hot-spots from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Somalia, the flow is forecast to increase.

A draft document does not spell out illegal migration as a reason to reintroduce checks and the EU’s home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem has said Schengen was never designed to control migration.

Government change

She also noted this week that since a joint letter from France and Germany was put to ministers in April, the French government has changed, with socialist President Francois Hollande in place of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy, chasing the far-right vote, in April threatened to pull out of the Schengen zone within a year failing improved action to keep out illegal migrants.

“For us, this letter no longer exists,” Malmstroem said.

“I’ve not yet discussed it with the new French government but I’m sure France will have a constructive approach at the next interior ministers’ meeting.”

Currently, the Schengen treaty allows renewal of border controls in the case of a terror or security threat thrown up by sports or other events.

But if agreed by the ministers, the draft rules would allow a state within the Schengen area to reimpose border controls for six months, renewable for another six when “exceptional circumstances” require it.

France took that liberty last year, temporarily closing its border with Italy when the Arab Spring revolts threw thousands across the Mediterranean into Italy and Greece.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has proposed however that states be enabled to close borders for five days in case of migratory pressure, but must seek permission from Brussels for longer periods.

via gulfnews : Greece-Turkey illegal migration sparks call for change in Schengen.

June 8, 2012
Turkey, Greece bridge cultural gap with romance

Romance and “clandestine relationships” between ordinary Greeks and Turks is again the vehicle for another big-budget Turkish romantic comedy. The theme is far from uncommon in real life.

By Menekse Tokyay and HK Tzanis for Southeast European Times in Istanbul and Athens — 21/05/12

”]“Iki Yaka Bir Ismail” (Two Shores, One Ismail), the new Turkish romance series — shot on location on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos (Mytilene) and in Aivali, across from the island in Turkey — was released earlier this month.

Playing on the theme of mixed marriage — this time between a Turkish fisherman and Greek island divorcee — it follows the wildly popular Turkish series “Yabanci Dama” (Foreign Groom), which debuted in 2004.

“For me, [mixed marriage] is no longer a taboo — I know of many Greeks now married to Turkish women, and quite a few Turkish men married to Greek wives. They live here in Mytilene, several in Aivali, in Larissa [in central Greece], everywhere,” according to actress Eleni Filini, one of the protagonists in the new series and a former beauty queen in the 1980s.

Take the real life couple of Aslihan Ozkara and Nikos Dimos, who met at a party a few years ago in Istanbul. In August 2008, the couple married in a surprise wedding held in the same Bosporus metropolis.

Ozkara told SETimes the fact that she and her husband hailed from different ethnic backgrounds meant nothing, as they are very similar as individuals.

Contrary to expectations, the marriage was well-received by their respective families.

“Probably because our families had lived abroad for a long time and were used to such mixed marriages, so it wasn’t perceived as something unusual,” she explained, adding that her husband’s family is also the product of a mixed marriage.

“So we, in a sense, continued a tradition. Nikos’ father was Greek and his mother Turkish. So, we didn’t see any weird reaction,” Ozkara said.

She added, however, that their marriage helped overcome certain latent and deeply rooted prejudices in their immediate social circles. “Through our marriage we tried to establish a bridge between these two cultures; to know each other and to understand each other in better ways,” she said.

Another successful “love story” from both sides of the Aegean is the Tsitselikis-Ozgunes family.

Meric Ozgunes and Constantinos Tsitselikis met at a Greek-Turkish civic dialogue workshop and currently live in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

“Our respective nationalities definitely did not lead us to have a negative perception [of each other]. We were already involved in Turkish-Greek issues and open to dialogue; and a lot more than our nationalities united us. We were, in any case, against nationalism and cherished multi-culturalism,” Ozgunes told SETimes.

The couple was married during an official wedding ceremony in 2005, conducted in both Turkish and Greek, in Thessaloniki. As the parents of young children, they have neither baptised the children in the Orthodox Christian faith or ceremoniously circumcised them, as per the Muslim ritual.

“We will leave this decision to their will,” Ozgunes explained.

Asked about reactions towards the marriage, Tsitselikis said both families were very respectful of their decision, with the only queries coming from acquaintances or neighbours, who asked about the ubiquitous issue of religion.

“We had to face questions regarding what religion our children would have, if we were to have any,” he said.

Tsitselikis and Ozgunes said they believe the impact of such marriages can only be measured on their immediate social and professional circles.

“It definitely allowed some people around us, such as relatives and neighbours, to come into contact with the ‘other’, to put flesh and bone to a ‘Turk’ or a ‘Greek’, and therefore, it helped break certain stereotypes,” Ozgunes explained.

Ayse Gunduz Hosgor, an expert on mixed marriages from the Ankara-based Middle East Technical University, underlined that mixed marriages are a contributing factor to integration for at least one of the two partners.

“When we discuss mixed marriages amongst different ethnicities, the level of education and professional sophistication are determinants in laying the groundwork for potential partners [of different cultures] to meet each other,” Hosgor told SETimes.

Nevertheless, she also pointed to the importance of religion when assessing the sustainability of such marriages.

Beyond the interest generated by real life mixed marriages, “Iki Yaka Bir Ismail” is already generating a tourism boon on Lesvos via a cascade of reservations by Turkish tourists, according to travel agency owner Aris Lazaris, who helped co-ordinate the series’ shooting on the large island, which the locals call Mytilene, after the name of the capital city.

“We went from hell in the off-season, due to the repercussions of the economic crisis and cancellations of reservations by foreign tour operators, to our phones ringing off the hooks,” the Mytilene entrepreneur said.

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.

via Turkey, Greece bridge cultural gap with romance (SETimes.com).

May 22, 2012
EU seeks fresh start with Turkey on membership bid

The EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fuele, is visiting Turkey in an attempt to give new impetus to Ankara’s stalled bid to join the bloc.

Turkey's chief negotiator Egemen Bagis: "Europe cannot be without Turkey"

Turkey opened accession talks with the EU in 2005, but they have been stalled for two years because some EU leaders oppose its membership and Turkey refuses to recognise Cyprus.

Both sides launched a new “positive agenda” in Ankara on Thursday.

The 27-nation EU is by far the largest consumer of Turkish exports.

“Our aim is to keep the accession process alive and put it properly back on track, after a period of stagnation which has been a source of frustration on both sides,” Mr Fuele said in Ankara.

The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Istanbul says the high hopes and euphoria that accompanied the start of Turkey’s EU accession talks seven years ago have collapsed into a mess of mutual recriminations.

It has been two years since Turkey opened any new negotiating chapters out of the 35 it needs to complete before it can join the EU. Only one chapter has been finished, and more than half are blocked.

With Cyprus about to take up the rotating presidency of the EU, relations will be even more strained, our correspondent says.

Turkey does not allow ships or planes from Cyprus to use its ports and airports. The division of Cyprus remains a major sticking point, with the Turkish-controlled north of the island recognised only by Ankara.

Flourishing trade

But in many areas the EU and Turkey already co-operate closely, such as foreign policy and energy. Businesses have thrived on the EU-Turkey customs union.

Despite frustration at the slow progress most Turkish politicians still insist EU membership is a goal worth pursuing, even if they have to wait many years to get there, Jonathan Head reports.

Eight joint working groups will be set up to address specific chapters of Turkey’s negotiations.

In a speech on Tuesday Mr Fuele highlighted the importance of Turkey’s constitutional reform.

“A new civilian constitution can act as a catalyst and provide a basis for further progress as regards the respect for fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey,” he said.

He also called for the customs union to be modernised and expanded.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was a prominent opponent of Turkey joining the EU. His successor Francois Hollande may be less hostile to Ankara’s bid.

This week Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that “with the coming to power of Mr Francois Hollande, we are all hoping that a new course in the Turkish-EU relations will gain momentum”.

According to the news website euobserver.com, the EU’s biggest embassy is in Ankara, with 137 staff. Next in terms of staff come the EU delegations to China (116) and Russia (102).

Turkey’s European Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis says “the new Europe cannot be without Turkey”.

“Until now, all countries that have started negotiations with the EU have become full members. Turkey will not be the first exception.”

via BBC News – EU seeks fresh start with Turkey on membership bid.

May 18, 2012