Greece Seizes Russian Tanker as Part of EU Sanctions

Tuesday, 19 April, 2022

Greece has seized a Russian oil tanker off the island of Evia as part of European Union sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the Greek coast guard said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month the EU banned Russian-flagged vessels from the 27-nation bloc's ports, with some exemptions, as it adopted new sweeping sanctions against Russia.

The Russian-flagged Pegas, with 19 Russian crew members on board, was seized near Karystos on the southern coast of Evia, which lies just off the Greek mainland near the capital Athens.

"It has been seized as part of EU sanctions," a shipping ministry official said.

A coastguard official said the ship's oil cargo had not been confiscated.

The Pegas had earlier reported an engine problem. Rough seas forced it to moor just off Karystos where it was seized, the Athens News Agency reported.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3600091/greece-seizes-russian-tanker-part-eu-sanctions.

In Greece, 'vaccination selfies' anger unions, opposition

December 30, 2020

(AP) Greece’s center-right government says senior state officials will no longer be given priority for the COVID-19 vaccination after posts on social media by Cabinet ministers receiving the shot triggered a backlash from health care unions and opposition parties.

Aristotelia Peloni, a deputy government spokeswoman, said Wednesday that a plan to vaccinate 126 officials from the government and state-run organizations was being cut short after around half had received the shot.

It had been expected that a small number of senior officials would receive the vaccine publicly, as part of a plan to persuade everyone that it was safe and necessary, but the number of people on the list took many by surprise.

“These (vaccination) selfies were wrong. The symbolism around this issue has been exhausted at the highest level and nothing more was required.” Peloni told private Parapolitika radio. Greece’s prime minister, president, and the head of the armed forces were all vaccinated at the weekend at the start of a national rollout expected to last months in an effort to ease public concerns over the safety of the program.

They were followed by opposition party leaders as well as Cabinet ministers and other senior government officials — drawing criticism from medical workers’ unions. “Cabinet ministers and their general secretaries have been lining up for a selfie with the vaccine, while doctors, nurses and other front line workers may have to wait their turn until the end of summer to get vaccinated,” Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the left-wing opposition, said Tuesday after getting his own vaccine shot. “That’s not symbolism, it’s favoritism.”

Peloni, the government spokeswoman, said 66 officials had been vaccinated by midday Wednesday out of a total of 1,128 people who had received the vaccine. The last official on that list was the leader of the Greek Communist Party, Dimitris Koutsoumbas.

Greek nurse erects ICU at home to treat relatives with virus

December 30, 2020

AGIOS ATHANASIOS, Greece (AP) — What does a medical professional do when his wife and in-laws contract the disease at the center of a months-long pandemic? Gabriel Tachtatzoglou, a critical care nurse, did not feel good about the treatment options available in Greece's second-largest city when his wife, both her parents and her brother came down with COVID-19 in November. Thessaloniki has been among the areas of Greece with the most confirmed coronavirus cases, and hospital intensive care units were filling up.

Tachtatzoglou, who had to quarantine and could not go to work once his relatives tested positive for the virus, decided to put his ICU experience to use by looking after them himself. That decision, his family says, probably saved their lives.

“If we had gone to the hospital, I don’t know where we would have ended up,” Polychoni Stergiou, the nurse's 64-year-old mother-in-law, said. “That didn’t happen, thanks to my son-in-law.” Tachtatzoglou set up a makeshift ICU in the downstairs apartment of his family's two-story home in the village of Agios Athanasios, located about 30 kilometers (nearly 20 miles) from the city. He rented, borrowed and modified the monitors, oxygen delivery machines and other equipment his loved ones might need.

He also improvised. Out of a hat stand, he fashioned an IV bag holder. At one point, the repurposed pole supported four bags dispensing antibiotics, fluids to address dehydration and fever-reducing medicine.

“I’ve been working in the intensive care ward for 20 years, and I didn’t want to put my in-laws through the psychological strain of separation. Plus, there was already a lot of pressure on the health service,” Tachtatzoglou told the AP in an interview.

In most countries, doctors and nurses are discouraged from treating close relatives and friends on the theory that emotional bonds could cloud their judgment and affect their skills. Tachtatzoglou says he remained in daily contact with doctors at Papageorgiou Hospital, the overwhelmed facility where he works, while caring for his sick family members, and that he would have hospitalized any of the four if they needed to be intubated..

“I looked after them up until the point where it would pose no danger," he said. "At all times, I was ready to move them to the hospital, if needed.” Greece, which has a population of 10.7 million, spent the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic with some of the lowest infection rates in Europe. As cold weather set in, the number of confirmed cases and virus-related deaths began doubling. The country's cumulative death toll in the pandemic went from 393 on Oct. 1 and 635 a month later to 2,517 on Dec.1. As of Tuesday, it stood at 4,730.

With ICU wards in Thessaloniki pushed to capacity, COVID-19 patients deemed too sick to a wait for a bed were taken to hospitals in other parts of Greece, riding in torpedo-shaped treatment capsules. Meanwhile, the situation for Tachtatzoglou’s family deteriorated as his wife and in-laws fell ill in alarming succession.

Tachtatzoglou said he agonized constantly over whether to transfer his relatives to hospitals in Thessaloniki, knowing it would mean they would not be able to see each other and might get moved to a hospitals farther away.

“We were reduced to tears. There were times when I was desperate, and I was really afraid I would lose them,” the nurse said. They all pulled through, although Tachtatzoglou eventually became infected with the virus himself.

“I took precautions when I treated them, but I didn’t have the personal protection gear you find in hospitals," he said. "That’s probably how I got sick."

No cafes, no tourists: Virus empties streets of old Athens

December 25, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — It’s been a while since visitors to Greece sought out souvenirs in Athens’ oldest neighborhood. The winding streets of Plaka, laid out long before the city imported a grid system, are lined with closed stores behind aluminum shutters. The coronavirus pandemic has kept tourists away from the historic city center that forms a semi-circle around the Acropolis, and the area remained unusually devoid of pedestrians and motorists before Christmas.

In their absence, ancient monuments are a little easier to make out from a distance, fewer horns are sounding in traffic and homeless cats parked in front of cafes are a little less aloof. Greece so far has imposed two nationwide lockdowns since the start of the pandemic. The first, in the spring, kept the country’s infection rates low. Authorities ordered the second in response to a rapid post-summer rise in reported cases and as of Christmas Eve has seen 4,4,57 confirmed virus-related deaths.

The restrictions have closed bars, restaurants, coffee shops and many other businesses considered non-essential but which make up a large slice of Greece’s tourism-dependent economy. The number of visitors traveling to the country plummeted 76.1% during the first 10 months of 2020 compared to a year earlier. Spending sank 77%, according to central bank data released this week.

Greece is expected to see a 10.5% contraction of its gross domestic product this year compared to the forecasted EU average of 7.4%, while its debt-to-GDP ratio is set to surge to a staggering 208.9%.

In Athens, rare snow blankets Acropolis, halts vaccinations

February 16, 2021

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Heavy snowfall blanketed the Acropolis and other ancient monuments in Athens, caused power cuts and halted COVID-19 vaccinations in the Greek capital on Tuesday as the weather brought many services across the country to a standstill.

Greek media reported that three deaths in separate parts of the country were linked with the bad weather. State ERT TV said two elderly men with breathing problems died after their mechanical respiratory aids stopped working due to power cuts, and a farmer on the island of Crete was found dead in a snow-covered area near his sheepfold.

While western Europe got some respite from winter weather, temperatures plunged in the southeast of the continent and storms also battered Turkey. The snow, an unusual sight in the Greek capital of more than 3 million residents, also stopped most public transport services. Hundreds of toppled trees downed power cables, causing blackouts in several suburbs, while one area on the city's northern fringes was declared in a state of emergency for the next month. Some of the affected suburbs were also left without water.

Snow is common in Greece’s mountains and in the north of the country, but much rarer in the capital. Some Athenians emerged cautiously outside, snapping photos on balconies and in the streets. The snow arrived as Athens and several other parts of Greece remain in lockdown to curb coronavirus infections. Schools and most stores are closed, and residents must stay indoors during a nightly curfew.

Some children skipped online classes Tuesday to play in the snow. Adults also went out to play, with some digging out skis to use on the capital’s hilly slopes. One man skied along Pnyx hill in central Athens, near the Acropolis.

Norwegian Ambassador Frode Overland Andersen tweeted a video of himself skiing down a hill in the suburb of Filothei with his teenage daughter. “Challenge accepted,” he wrote, after a friend in Oslo challenged him to prove it really was possible to ski in Athens.

“It was the best day at my home office during the lockdown so far,” the ambassador told The Associated Press. “Sadly, my skis took a rather hard beating, so I will be waxing and prepping for next season.”

Outside the parliament building, orange snowplows cleared streets of ice and snow, while presidential guards, dressed in traditional pleated kilts and pompom-tipped shoes, were given heavy woolen overcoats.

The cold snap, which has already caused snowstorms around much of Europe, kept temperatures hovering around freezing in Athens on Tuesday but was expected to lift abruptly with highs of 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit) expected on Thursday.

In neighboring Turkey, heavy snow and blizzards forced the closure of a highway in northwest Turkey. Around 600 vehicles were stranded on a nine-kilometer (six-mile) stretch of the snow-covered road, and another 800 other vehicles were stranded elsewhere, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Sections of Greece’s main north-south highway were also closed until early Wednesday, leaving about 300 lorry drivers stranded at a highway access point outside Thessaloniki, in northern Greece. Most ferry services to the islands were canceled, while flights from regional airports to Athens were disrupted.

Greek Fire Service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis said the service had received hundreds of calls for assistance in greater Athens. “The calls mainly concerned downed trees and transporting people stuck in their vehicles to a safe place, but also to transport kidney dialysis patients to receive treatment,” he told state TV.

“Vaccinations have been postponed, but we have helped transport doctors and medical staff where they are needed, and we helped power technicians get to damaged electricity pylons in areas where access was difficult,” Vathrakoyiannis said.

Power and water cuts were also reported in central Greece. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with emergency response leaders to assist residents in blacked-out areas and villages cut off by the snow.

“We obviously recommend great care be taken in all movement, all unnecessary movement should be avoided,” Mitsotakis said after the meeting, adding that authorities were doing everything they could to keep the roads open and to restore power to areas without electricity.

“I think we will all show patience as we deal with a phenomenon that is truly unprecedented,” he added.

After vote, Greece to double reach of western coastal waters

January 20, 2021

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Lawmakers in Greece Wednesday overwhelmingly approved legislation to extend the country's territorial waters along its western coastline from six to 12 nautical miles. In the 284-0 vote, representatives of four opposition parties backed the center-right government, while members of the Greek Communist Party abstained.

Although the move does not directly affect an ongoing maritime boundary dispute with Turkey to the east, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament that Greece was adopting a more assertive foreign policy.

“It's a clear message to those who are trying to deprive our country of this right,” Mitsotakis said. Greece’s western coastline faces Italy and borders Albania at its northern tip. But the expansion is aimed at underscoring the country’s right to implement the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which set the 12-mile limit in 1982.

Greece and Turkey, neighbors and NATO allies, are at odds over sea boundaries and mineral rights in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean in a dispute that caused a tense military standoff last year.

Under pressure from western allies, Turkey and Greece will resume talks aimed at reducing tensions on Jan. 25, restarting a process that was suspended five years ago. Turkey says an extension of Greece’s territorial waters eastward would be considered an act of war, arguing that Greek islands would effectively block its access to the Aegean. The longstanding dispute between the two countries has been fueled by the discovery of large offshore gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean in recent years.

Greece has signed recent agreements with Italy and Egypt for the delineation of maritime exploration rights and is in talks with Albania to take a maritime boundary dispute to an international court.

Greece imposes lockdown to avoid worst at hospitals

November 05, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — With a surge in coronavirus cases straining health systems in many European countries, Greece announced a nationwide lockdown Thursday in the hopes of stemming a rising tide of patients before its hospitals come under “unbearable” pressure.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that he acted before infection rates reached the levels seen in many neighboring countries because, after years of financial crises that have damaged its health system, it couldn't afford to wait as long to impose restrictions as others had.

“We must stop this wave,” Mitsotakis said. “I chose once again to take drastic measures sooner rather than later.” Before the outbreak, Greece had one of the lowest rates of intensive-care beds per capita in Europe. It has since doubled the number to 1,013. But, of the 348 beds dedicated to coronavirus cases, only 128 remain unoccupied.

It's unlikely that number would've been enough to cope with what Mitsotakis said could be 1,000 new hospital admissions over the next 10 days, of which about 150 would likely have required ICU treatment.

On Wednesday, Greece announced a record 18 daily deaths and 2,646 new cases bringing the total confirmed cases to just under 47,000 and deaths to 673 in this country of nearly 11 million. Greece's rolling average of daily new cases is just over 17 per 100,000 people, as compared to 33 in the United Kingdom, about 47 in Italy and 68 in France. But the prime minister warned Greece also had less margin to respond.

Countries across Europe have imposed tighter restrictions in recent days, but some experts felt those measures were too slow in coming. Britain's own lockdown kicked in Thursday, shuttering restaurants, hairdressers and clothing stores until at least Dec. 2. The lockdown decision was an about-face for the government, which had earlier advocated a targeted regional response to the pandemic.

Italy, too, has held off on a nationwide closure, but the government announced that four regions will be put under “red-zone” lockdown for at least two weeks starting Friday, with severe limits imposed when people can leave home. Germany and France have also put some kind of shutdown into effect over the past week.

In Greece, Mitsotakis explained that he acted relatively earlier than others because he could not take the risk of waiting to see whether the effects of measures taken recently would work. “It could be the case that the measures would have worked, but if they didn’t, then in 15 days the pressure that would have been exerted on the health system would be unbearable,” he said. “That is something that, I will say it again, I can in no way allow.”

The lockdown takes effect at daybreak on Saturday across the country and will last until the end of the month. People will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, physical exercise and medical reasons — and only after sending a text message to authorities.

Shops will shut, although supermarkets and other food stores will remain open. Restaurants will operate on a delivery-only basis. The measures mirror Greece's spring lockdown that was credited with keeping the number of infections, deaths and serious COVID-19-related illnesses low.

The main difference this time around is that that kindergartens, primary schools and all grades in special education schools will remain open. High schools will operate by remote learning. Borders will remain open, but anyone arriving from abroad will have to have proof of a negative coronavirus test, Civil Protection Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias said.

The lockdown comes just ahead of the crucial Christmas shopping season, and Mitsotakis announced additional measures to buoy the economy. He said workers suspended from their jobs will receive an 800-euro ($950) stipend — 300 euros more than what the government doled out in the spring. Mitsotakis also announced an extension of unemployment benefits.

Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras outlined other measures, with a total cost of 3.3 billion euros ($3.9 billion). They include the extension of payment deadlines for taxes and loans. Staikouras said measures taken to tackle the pandemic so far in Greece amount to more than 6% of gross domestic product.

Greece's lockdown comes as daily infection rates in other European countries kept setting new records. Germany, which this week enacted a monthlong partial lockdown, recorded nearly 20,000 new coronavirus cases in one day Thursday, its highest level yet.

Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic also registered new daily coronavirus infection records on Thursday. “The situation is quickly changing from difficult to catastrophic. The outbreak is unfolding at the speed of a hurricane,” Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, France is considering tightening a monthlong partial lockdown to stop fast-rising virus hospitalizations and deaths. Despite signs that the country's infection rate is starting to dip, it remains very high. More disconcertingly, COVID-19 patients now occupy more than 80% of France’s ICU beds, according to the public health agency, a proportion that is still rising quickly.

Paris hospitals are at 92% capacity with 1,050 COVID patients in intensive care and another 600 patients in ICU with other ailments, Paris region health service chief Aurelien Rousseau told public broadcaster France-Info on Thursday.

“There is unprecedented pressure, on hospitals and medics,” Rousseau said. “We have reached the alert level, because to manage, every day we have to cancel a bit more activity” like pre-programmed surgeries.

Hadjicostis reported from Nicosia, Cyprus.

Greece, Egypt seek Biden role in East Mediterranean dispute

November 11, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister said Wednesday that he expects U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration to play a more active role in attempting to calm tension in the eastern Mediterranean.

“We have every reason to welcome, along with all our partners in the region, the return of the United States to its central role as a leader of NATO,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after a meeting in Athens on Wednesday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.

Greece and Egypt are at odds with Turkey in a volatile maritime boundary dispute in the eastern Mediterranean over rights to search for and exploit natural gas deposits. The European Union and the United States have both criticized Turkey’s ongoing maritime research missions in waters where Greece asserts jurisdiction. But Athens says it expects a Biden administration to be more engaged in the dispute.

“I believe that Greece and Egypt will welcome and have a positive attitude toward the determination of America’s contribution to the events of the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean in our troubled region,” Mitsotakis said.

The dispute between Greece and Turkey triggered a major military buildup over the summer that raised concerns of military confrontation. Turkey argues that Greek islands along its coastline are blocking its access to undersea gas deposits and that boundaries should be set around the mainland and not include the islands. A Turkish research vessel, the Oruc Reis, is currently continuing a survey in a maritime area between Turkey's coast, southeast Greek islands, and Cyprus. Greece’s Foreign Ministry condemned a new notification to mariners by Turkey extending the research through Nov. 23, which it said covered an area of the Greek continental shelf.

The ministry said Turkey was “repeatedly violating the International Law of the sea and undermining peace and stability in the region.” Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias had given instructions for a complaint to be lodged with Turkey over the move, the ministry said. Turkey’s behavior, it said, “pushes further away any prospects of a constructive dialogue” between Greece and Turkey. Michael Carpenter, a foreign policy advisor to Biden, said that the new administration could seek closer cooperation with France, Germany and other European nations in its policy concerning Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I do think and I am hopeful that when a President Erdogan sees a united front, that suggests that there is room for cooperation, but also that there are very negative consequences to pursuing a more aggressive policy, then he will have a rethink,” said Carpenter, managing director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

He made the remarks Monday, speaking by video link at a diplomatic conference organized in Greece. In Athens for a two-day visit, el-Sisi also met with Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, while Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will sit down with Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in the evening.

In August, Greece and Egypt signed a maritime deal demarcating the two countries’ maritime boundaries and setting out respective exclusive economic zones for the exploitation of resources such as oil and gas drilling.

The agreement, which remains partial, angered Turkey, which has accused Greece of trying to grab an unfair share of resources in the eastern Mediterranean. The Greece-Egypt deal was widely seen as a response to a disputed agreement reached earlier between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based administration that increased tension in the region.

Greece, Cyprus and Egypt widely criticized the deal between Ankara and Tripoli, saying it infringed on their economic rights.

Fire burns tents, structures in Greek refugee camp

November 11, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A fire has burnt through tents and some structures in a refugee camp on the eastern Greek island of Samos. There were no immediate reports of any injuries. The fire department said the blaze, which broke out Wednesday morning, was limited in size and was tackled by 18 firefighters using nine vehicles. There was no immediate information on how many tents were destroyed.

Many of the tents are packed closely together in the overcrowded camp, and camping gas cannisters the residents use for cooking caused small explosions. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the fire. More than 3,800 people live in and around the Samos camp, a facility originally built to house just under 650.

In September, a series of fires destroyed Greece’s largest refugee camp, Moria, on the nearby island of Lesbos, leaving more than 10,000 people in need of emergency shelter. Greek authorities had said those blazes had been deliberately set by a small group of the camp’s residents protesting isolation and lockdown orders imposed after a coronavirus outbreak in the camp.

Greece is one of the main routes into the European Union of people fleeing poverty and conflict in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The vast majority head to eastern Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast.

Egypt's president in Greece on 1st visit since maritime deal

November 11, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Egypt’s president is meeting with Greek officials in Athens on Wednesday, in his first visit to the southern European nation since the two countries signed a deal demarcating maritime boundaries between them in the eastern Mediterranean.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was holding talks with the Greek president and prime minister in the morning, while Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will sit down with Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in the evening.

In August, Greece and Egypt signed a maritime deal demarcating the two countries’ maritime boundaries and setting out respective exclusive economic zones for the exploitation of resources such as oil and gas drilling. The agreement angered Turkey, which has accused Greece of trying to grab an unfair share of resources in the eastern Mediterranean.

Tension has been high between Greece and Turkey, both NATO members, with Ankara sending a seismic research vessel into areas that Athens claims is over its own continental shelf. The dispute has led to both countries’ warships facing off in the eastern Mediterranean, and raised fears it could lead to open conflict.

The Greece-Egypt deal was widely seen as a response to a disputed agreement reached earlier between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based administration that increased tension in the region. Greece, Cyprus and Egypt widely criticized the deal between Ankara and Tripoli, saying it infringed on their economic rights.

Death toll reaches 30 in quake that hit Turkey, Greek island

October 31, 2020

IZMIR, Turkey (AP) — Three young children and their mother were rescued alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in western Turkey on Saturday, some 23 hours after a powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea killed at least 30 people and injured more than 800 others.

The Friday afternoon quake that struck Turkey’s Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos registered a magnitude that Turkish authorities put at 6.6 while other seismology institutes said it measured 6.9. It toppled buildings in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, and triggered a small tsunami in the Seferihisar district and on the Greek island. Hundreds of aftershocks followed.

At least 28 people were killed in Izmir, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted. Among them was an elderly woman who drowned in the tsunami. But rescue teams on Saturday made contact with 38-year old Seher Perincek and her four children — ages 3, 7 and 10-year-old twins — inside a fallen building in Izmir and cleared a corridor to bring them out.

One by one, the mother and three of her children were removed from the rubble as rescuers applauded or hugged. Efforts were still underway to rescue the remaining child, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The survivors, including 10-year-old Elzem Perincek, were moved into ambulances on stretchers. The girl was speaking and said one of her feet hurt. “I’m fine; I was rescued because only one of my feet was pinned. That foot really hurt,” she said.

Earlier Saturday, search-and-rescue teams working on eight collapsed buildings lifted teenager Inci Okan out of the rubble of a devastated eight-floor apartment block. Her dog, Fistik, or Pistachio, was also rescued, Turkish media reported.

A video showed a female rescuer trying to calm down the 16-year-old girl under the rubble as she inserted a catheter. “I'm so scared,” the girl cried. “Can you hold my hand?” “We are going to get out of here soon,” the rescuer, Edanur Dogan, said. “Your mother is waiting outside for you.”

Friends and relatives waited outside the building for news of loved ones still trapped inside, including employees of a dental clinic that was located on the ground floor. Two other women, aged 53 and 35, were brought out from the rubble of another toppled two-story building earlier on Saturday.

In all, around 100 people have been rescued since the earthquake, Murat Kurum, the environment and urban planning minister, told reporters. It was unclear how many more people were trapped under buildings that were leveled.

Some 5,000 rescue personnel were working on the ground, Kurum said. Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD, said 885 people were injured in Izmir and three other provinces. The health minister said seven people were being treated in intensive care, with three of them in critical condition.

Two teenagers were killed on Samos after being struck by a collapsing wall. At least 19 people were injured on the island, with two, including a 14-year-old, being airlifted to Athens and seven hospitalized on the island, health authorities said.

The small tsunami that hit the Turkish coast also affected Samos, with seawater flooding streets in the main harbor town of Vathi. Authorities warned people to stay away from the coast and from potentially damaged buildings.

The earthquake, which the Istanbul-based Kandilli Institute said had a magnitude of 6.9, was centered in the Aegean northeast of Samos. AFAD said it measured 6.6. and hit at a depth of some 16 kilometers (10 miles).

It was felt across the eastern Greek islands and as far as Athens and in Bulgaria. In Turkey, it shook the regions of Aegean and Marmara, including Istanbul. Turkey is crossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. In 1999, two powerful quakes killed some 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey. Earthquakes are frequent in Greece as well.

Authorities warned residents in Izmir not to return to damaged buildings, saying they could collapse in strong aftershocks. Many people spent the night out in the streets, too frightened to return to their homes, even if they sustained no damage.

In a show of solidarity rare in recent months of tense bilateral relations, Greek and Turkish government officials issued mutual messages of solidarity, and the leaders of Greece and Turkey held a telephone conversation.

"I thank President Erdogan for his positive response to my call,” the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Saturday before traveling to Samos, where he visited the families of the teenagers who were killed.

Relations between Turkey and Greece have been particularly tense, with warships from both facing off in the eastern Mediterranean in a dispute over maritime boundaries and energy exploration rights. The ongoing tension has led to fears of open conflict between the two neighbors and nominal NATO allies.

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey and Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul. Ayse Wieting contributed from Istanbul and Demetris Nellas from Athens.

Turkey says Greece failed to fulfill promises, vows response

October 14, 2020

ANKAR, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused Greece and Cyprus of failing to fulfill “promises” made during negotiations within the European Union and NATO and said his country would continue to give them “the response they deserve."

Erdogan’s comments came days after Ankara redeployed its search vessel, Oruc Reis, for a new energy exploration mission in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean, reigniting tensions with Greece and Cyprus over sea boundaries and exploration rights. Turkish media reports said two navy frigates are shadowing the search vessel.

Those tensions had flared up over the summer, prompting a military buildup, bellicose rhetoric and fears of a confrontation between the two NATO members and historic regional rivals. “Our Oruc Reis has returned to its duty in the Mediterranean,” Erdogan told legislators of his ruling party in a speech in parliament. “We will continue to give the response they deserve on the field, to Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration who have not kept their promises during talks within the EU and NATO platforms.”

He didn't spell out what the promises were but Turkish officials have been accusing Greek officials of engaging in a series of “provocations” despite efforts to revive the so-called exploratory talks between the neighbors that were aimed at resolving disputes and were last held in 2016.

Greece’s government said, meanwhile, that it wouldn't take part in planned exploratory talks with Turkey as long as the survey mission was in progress. “It is impossible to hold talks about a (maritime region) when a survey in that region is underway,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas told private Skai television.

Heiko Maas, the foreign minister of Germany, which has been mediating between Athens and Ankara in a bid to east the tensions, criticized Turkey on Tuesday for taking “unilateral steps” in the eastern Mediterranean which he said were undercutting efforts to deescalate tensions. The U.S. State Department issued a statement deploring Turkey’s move.

Ankara says the Oruc Reis was redeployed following provocative acts by Athens, including a decision to hold military drills in the Aegean Sea on Turkey’s main national holiday. During his speech, Erdogan also rebuffed international criticism over Turkey’s move to open the beachfront of Cyprus’ fenced-off suburb of Varosha in divided Cyprus’ breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.

“The fenced-off Varosha region belongs to the Turks of northern Cyprus. This should be known as such,” he said. Varosha remained off-limits and in Turkish military control after its Greek Cypriot residents fled before advancing troops in 1974 when Turkey invaded and sliced the island along ethnic lines after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Separately, Erdogan declared that he would on Saturday announce details of the discovery a new natural gas reserve off the Black Sea coast. In August, Turkey announced the discovery of 320 billion cubic meters of gas, which the country said would help ease the country’s dependence on imports.

Associated Press writer Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed to this report.

Greek, Turkish foreign ministers meet as tensions ease

October 08, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey have met on the sidelines of a conference in Slovakia and agreed to set a date for the start of a new round of exploratory talks between the two, officials said Wednesday.

A dispute between the two NATO allies and longtime rivals over maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean this summer led to fears of open conflict as warships from both sides faced off. Turkey’s foreign ministry released a short video of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusloglu meeting on the sidelines of the Globsec Forum in Bratislava. The atmosphere of what both sides said was a brief meeting appeared cordial and even jovial as the two, both wearing masks, bumped elbows, patted each other on the shoulder and stood at a table to talk. “We agreed that the exploratory and confidence-building talks should take place in the period ahead of us,” Cavusloglu said, adding that as host of the meeting, Turkey would be suggesting some dates.

“I told him that it is beneficial to continue a dialogue even under the most difficult conditions, and today, we reached an agreement on continuing (a dialogue),” he said. A Greek diplomatic official said the two agreed to set a date for the exploratory talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal the contents of the meeting. The talks will be the 61st round of a long-running process of talks between Greece and Turkey designed to reduce tension and improve relations that are often testy between the two neighbors.

At odds over a series of issues, including territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea, the two countries have come to the brink of war three times since the mid-1970s. Earlier this summer, Turkey sent a research vessel escorted by warships to prospect for energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean in an area Greece says is over its own continental shelf and where it claims exclusive economic rights.

Greece mobilized its own navy fleet and put its armed forces on standby. The tension has eased in recent weeks, with NATO helping set up a deconfliction mechanism whereby the Greek and Turkish militaries can communicate to avoid an accident that could lead to war and the two sides agree to restart their exploratory talks process.

Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.

2 dead, 1 missing after storm pounds central Greece

September 19, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Two people have died and one is reported missing in central Greece region of Thessaly after a storm pounded parts of the country overnight and caused flooding. Authorities identified the two victims as an elderly woman found dead in her flooded home and a 63-year-old shepherd who was swept by rising flood waters.

They said a woman who ignored firefighter and police instructions not to drive into an area where a bridge spans a river is missing. The country’s firefighting service said early Saturday that it had fielded almost 2,500 calls from trapped residents in central and western Greece or about removing fallen trees that were blocking roads or had caused property damage. The service reported rescuing more than 600 people.

Greece’s train operator, Trainose, said service linking southern and northern Greece was suspended. Water from a river that burst its banks damaged at least two bridges and several buildings, including the local health center in the Thessaly town of Mouzaki, which has collapsed. Parts of the stricken area are without electricity.

Migrants stranded at sea as powerful storm batters Greece

 September 18, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A boat carrying dozens of migrants was stranded at sea Friday as hurricane-force winds and heavy rain battered the western coast of Greece, causing power outages and road closures.

Coast guard officials said due to the high winds, rescue boats were so far unable to approach the vessel believed to be carrying more than 50 migrants south of Greece's Peloponnese region. A powerful tropical-like storm named Ianos battered the western islands of Zakynthos, Kefalonia, and Ithaki overnight, causing flash flooding, property damage, power outages, and road closures mostly from downed trees, police and local authorities said. No injuries were reported. The storm, with winds exceeding 110 kilometers per hour (70 miles per hour), reached the western mainland Friday. Computer models suggested that the storm would not directly affect Athens but heavy rainfall was also expected in the Greek capital. Schools and stores were closed, and ferry services were suspended in many areas in western Greece as authorities advised residents to remain indoors.

"We are expecting the storm to progress with the same intensity for the six to nine hours in western Greece and then, weakened, see it head southward,” Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said. “But areas that are not directly affected ... will see a large volume of water with heavy rainfall.”

Greek minister: 5,000 move into new refugee camp on Lesbos

 September 17, 2020

KARA TEPE, Greece (AP) — More than 5,000 asylum seekers left homeless after Greece's notoriously overcrowded Moria camp on the island of Lesbos burnt down have now been housed in a new facility, the country's migration minister said Thursday afternoon.

Speaking on the island, Notis Mitarachi said rapid coronavirus tests found 135 of the former residents of Moria positive for the coronavirus, and these people were being kept "in special areas where they receive the appropriate medical conditions."

More than 12,000 people had been sleeping rough by a roadside since the squalid Moria camp burnt down last week. Authorities said the fires were set deliberately by a small group of migrants angered by COVID-19 lockdown restrictions imposed after an outbreak in the camp. Six Afghans, including two minors, have been arrested on suspicion of arson.

Police launched an operation Thursday morning to persuade people to move from the roadside into the new camp in the island's Kara Tepe area. The operation included 70 female police officers and no violence was reported.

“As long as it is peaceful, we believe it is a good move,” said Astrid Castelein, head of the U.N. Refugee Agency’s office on Lesbos. “Here on the street it is a risk for security, for public health, and it’s not dignity which we need for everyone.”

The new site consists of large family tents erected in an old army firing range by the sea. By late Wednesday, it had a capacity of around 8,000 people, according to the UNHCR. New arrivals are tested for COVID-19, registered and assigned a tent.

“This is an operation for the protection of public health and with a clear humanitarian mission,” the police said in a statement. Moria had a capacity of just over 2,700 people, but more than 12,500 had been living in and around it when it burned down. The camp was held up by critics as a symbol of Europe’s failed migration policies.

“It is critical that Europe demonstrates tangible solidarity to the pressure that the Greek islands have had over the last few years,” said Mitarachi, the migration minister. The European Union is due to issue proposals to overhaul the bloc's migration policy next week in an effort to end years of division among member states. As a frontier state, Greece is pressing for increased participation by other EU members in relocation schemes — unpopular with many central and East European countries — but has also suggested that alternative obligations may be assigned to countries wishing to opt out of relocation.

Speaking at a debate in the European Parliament on the situation in Greece, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said that “there can be no more Morias,” and that it was time for a fresh start on migration.

Several EU members have offered to take in refugees from Greece, led by Germany which says it will take in 1,553 refugees from Greek island camps who have had their asylum applications approved.

Becatoros reported from Athens. Geir Moulson in Berlin, Raf Casert and Samuel Petrequin in Brussels, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed.

Greek police begin moving asylum-seekers into new camp

 September 17, 2020

KARA TEPE, Greece (AP) — A Greek police operation is underway on the island of Lesbos to move thousands of migrants and refugees left homeless after a fire destroyed their overcrowded camp into a new facility on the island.

Police said Thursday morning’s operation included 70 female police officers who were approaching asylum-seekers with the aim of persuading them to move to the new camp in the island’s Kara Tepe area. No violence was reported as the operation began.

The notoriously squalid Moria camp burned down last week in fires that Greek authorities said were deliberately set by a small group of the camp’s inhabitants angered by lockdown restrictions imposed after a coronavirus outbreak.

The blazes have left more than 1,200 people in need of emergency shelter. The vast majority have been sleeping rough by the side of a road leading from Moria to the island capital of Mytilene, erecting makeshift shelters made of sheets, blankets, reeds and cardboard.

The new camp consists of large family tents erected in a field by the sea. By Wednesday night, it had a capacity of around 8,000 people, according to the UN refugee agency, but only around 1,100 mostly vulnerable people had entered.

New arrivals are tested for the coronavirus, registered and assigned a tent. “This is an operation for the protection of public health and with a clear humanitarian content,” the police said in a statement.

Six Afghans, including two minors, were arrested on suspicion of causing last week’s fires at Moria. The blazes broke out after isolation orders were issued during a generalized camp lockdown, when 35 people tested positive for the coronavirus.

Moria had a capacity of just over 2,700 people, but more than 12,500 people had been living in and around it when it burned down. The camp and its squalid conditions were held up by critics as a symbol of Europe’s failed migration policies.

Lavrov: Russia ready to help ease Turkey-Greece tension

September 08, 2020

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Moscow is ready to help ease rising tensions over Turkey's search for energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean. Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is monitoring the situation in the region and would help start a “genuine dialogue” with all parties that would generate “mutually acceptable solutions.”

Lavrov was speaking after a meeting with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades during an official visit to the island nation. Greece and Turkey have been locked in a tense standoff in recent weeks as Turkish survey vessels and drill ships continue to prospect for gas in waters where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic rights.

Greek and Turkish armed forces have been conducting military exercises in the area in a show of muscle-flexing to underscore each side’s resolve. European Union members Greece and Cyprus accuse Turkey of violating international law and of “gunboat diplomacy.” Turkey insists it’s defending its rights and those of breakaway Turkish Cypriots on ethnically split Cyprus to their rightful share of the area’s potential gas deposits.

The EU is mulling imposing tougher sanctions on Turkey over its “illegal” actions if talks fail to end the standoff. Lavrov’s visit comes a month after Anastasiades asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to personally step in so that Turkey “is convinced to cease its unlawful actions.”

But Russia's top diplomat also expressed Moscow’s concern over what he said was U.S. attempts to stir up “conflict instead of peaceful solutions” in the eastern Mediterranean. Lavrov was alluding to Washington’s decision to partially lift an arms embargo on Cyprus that was designed to prevent an arms race hindering United Nations-facilitated talks to reunify the island.

The embargo was directed against the southern, Greek Cypriot part of the island, where Cyprus’ internationally-recognized government is seated. Washington said it was lifting the arms embargo against Cyprus for one year — with the option of renewal — to let it procure non-lethal equipment.

Turkey reacted angrily to the partial embargo lifting and announced that Russia would be conducting live-fire naval exercises this month in areas in the eastern Mediterranean where Turkish research vessels are prospecting for gas.

Cyprus is striving to bolster relations with the U.S., but not at the expense of its ties with Moscow or Beijing, on whose support it often counts in the United Nations. The U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, Judith Garber, said the lifting of the embargo had no connection to “valued partner and ally” Turkey, but aimed to strengthen regional security and to “counter malign actors in the region.”

Garber said Washington waived a requirement that Cyprus cease to offer refueling and other port services to Russian warships, but that it would continue to “encourage” Cypriot government authorities to deny those services.

“We believe that Russia is playing a very destabilizing role in the region, especially in Syria,” Garber said.

Greece wants the EU to help run its island migrant camps

September 16, 2020

KARA TEPE, Greece (AP) — The Greek government on Tuesday urged the European Union to jointly run new refugee camps on Greece's eastern islands as part of an overhaul of the EU's migration policies. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made the proposal at an Athens meeting with European Council President Charles Michel as Greece works to house thousands of asylum-seekers left homeless after fires gutted the squalid, overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos.

The government says the fires were set deliberately by migrants protesting a coronavirus lockdown, and authorities on Tuesday announced the arrests of six suspects in the case. The suspects, all from Afghanistan, include two 17-year-olds who were transferred to mainland refugee camps after the fires. They were being questioned by police, who identified them using videos posted on social media and witness accounts.

Some 12,500 people fled last week's fires at the Moria camp. Most are still homeless and many are refusing to leave a road where they have camped out for almost a week, fearing they could be detained for months at a new camp the Greek army is building.

"We have already started the new facility, and that is where the flags of Greece and the European Union must fly,″ the Greek prime minister said. ″There must be shared responsibility not only for construction, but also for the operation of the camp.″

Michel, who flew to Lesbos after his talks in Athens, did not comment directly on Mitsotakis' proposal but said the EU was determined to show greater solidarity toward Greece. The EU's executive commission could present its proposals for revising the bloc's migration policies as early as next week. The plans are expected to include tougher border policing and more uniform asylum procedures across EU member nations.

“We know that it’s a very complex political debate ... but we need progress," Michel said. Germany said Tuesday it will take in 1,553 asylum-seekers -- 408 families with children -- from Greece who already have been granted protected status. This would not include asylum-seekers and migrants from Moria.

German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there need to be talks on “an overall European solution " to migration. Most of the 5,000 spaces in tents newly erected by the army on Lesbos remain empty, with only 800 migrants having agreed to relocate, officials said Tuesday. Greece’s migration minister said the government will use force, if necessary, to move homeless migrants into the tent city.

Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said it would take at least six months to build a permanent structure that will replace the Moria camp and it will be at a different location, acknowledging that Moria's migrants and refugees would spend the winter in tents.

New detention sites for asylum-seekers are also planned on four other Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea, replacing overcrowded open facilities. Late Tuesday, police said a wildfire broke out near a camp with 4,600 asylum-seekers on the eastern island of Samos but it was not immediately threatening the camp.

Gatopoulos reported from Athens. Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Greece: Fire sweeps through refugee camp on virus lockdown

September 09, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Fire swept through Greece's largest refugee camp, that had been placed under COVID-19 lockdown, leaving more than 12,000 migrants in emergency need of shelter on the island of Lesbos on Wednesday.

In dramatic scenes overnight, the migrants at Moria refugee camp fled fires that broke out at multiple points and gutted much of the camp and surrounding hillside olive groves. Protests also broke out involving migrants, riot police, and firefighters.

“It has been a very difficult night,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said, adding that a state on emergency would be declared later Wednesday on the island. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was convening an emergency ministerial meeting Wednesday morning to examine the situation in Moria and decide on measures to be taken, the prime minister's office said.

The commander of Greece's intelligence service, the civil protection head and the chief of defense general staff were participating in the meeting, the office said. European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, who is responsible for migration matters, tweeted that he had been in touch with Mitsotakis and “assured him that the European Commission is ready to assist Greece immediately at all levels at this difficult time.”

Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said she had “already agreed to finance the immediate transfer and accommodation on the mainland of the remaining 400 unaccompanied children and teenagers" who had been living in the camp.

“The safety and shelter of all people in Moria is the priority,” Johansson tweeted. Some 12,500 people were living at the Moria camp and the surrounding area, where additional restrictions have been imposed over the past week after a Somali man who had returned to the camp after being granted refugee status tested positive for the coronavirus.

There were no reports of injuries. The fires broke out overnight, police and fire officials on the island told The Associated Press, adding the cause of the blazes, as well as the full extent of the damage, remained unclear. They did not confirm local reports that the fires had been set deliberately in protest at the lockdown measures but said firefighters had “met resistance” from some camp residents.

Petsas said arson was being considered as a possible cause. Before dawn, riot police set up cordons along a highway near the camp to restrict the movements of migrants. Health authorities on Tuesday said 35 people at the camp had been confirmed infected with the virus so far after a major testing drive was ordered at the overcrowded facility. Those with confirmed infections were being kept in isolation at a separate site that was not affected by the fire, officials said.

Lesbos was Europe's busiest crossing point in 2015-16 for illegal migration during a massive westward movement of refugees, many fleeing war in Syria and Iraq and traveling through Turkey. After that wave of migration, Greece set up camps on Lesbos and four other islands, helped with European Union funding, and more recently also set up a network of camps on the mainland.

Firefighters on Lesbos were also battling two other forest fires on the west of the island Wednesday.