THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN The oldest circulating Greek newspaper outside VEMA Greece MARCH 2017 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 E-mail: [email protected] DISCIPLINEOUR ARCHBISHOP’S IN THE VIEW HOME MESSAGE FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE 25th MARCH 1821 PAGE 5/21 WAR OF Parthenon voted the most beautiful building in the world The Parthenon has been v oted the mos t beautiful building in the w orld according to Business Insider, followed by The National Con- WORDS gress of Brazil in Bra-sília, The São Paulo Muse- um of Art (São Paulo, Brazil) and The Forbidden City Temple in Beijing, (China). Between Turkey and Greece PAGE 7/23 Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Ca vusoglu told CNN soglu’s threat that Turkey could set foot on the Imia isles Turk that the blame for the escalating war of words be- whenever desired. He said, “ther e is no w ay Cavusoglu tween Turkey and Greece lays in the hands of the Gr eek can step onto a Greek island. If the y want to they can Defense Minister, Panos Kammenos for making “provo- see. I’ll see how they will get off the island if they set foot cative” comments. there.” “That defense minister of that racist party is provok- The threats by Turkey regarding the Imia isles is a part ing,” Cavusoglu claimed on CNN Turk, whi le patting the of the irr edentist rhetoric of the Turkish gov ernment Turkish military on the back sa ying that thanks to the which claims tha t dozens of Gr eek islands ar e in f act calm demeanor of the Turkish arme d forces, further es- Turkish property, including Imia. caation such as an “accident” in the southeastern Aege- Back in December 2016 Turkish F oreign Minister Mev- an over the Imia islets has not occurred. lut Cavusoglu spoke in front of his country’s national as- “We don’t want (an accident) and we have many times sembly stating claims specifically to the Greek islands of warned,” Cavusoglu said during the interview. Imia, a pair of two small uninhabited isletsPAGE in the13 Aegean/29 In recent weeks tensions rose to new heights between Sea, saying, “There is no change in our policy r egarding Blessing and Official Opening the two countries as Kammenos responded to Cavu- Imia. Imia is Turkish land.” (Cont. p. 2/18) of Estia villas in Brisbane On Friday, 17th February His Grace Bishop Seraphim of Apollonia travelled to Brisbane to represent his Eminence Ar chbishop Stylianos for the ble ssing and of ficial opening of St John’s Community Care Estia villas. PAGE 13/29 Helen Stamelos, from Morely WA, talks about her incredible long life ‘How on earth can I still be Parnassos villages Easily accessible from Athens, this group of here at 110?’ small communities offers opportunities for hik- PAGE 10/26 ing or just sitting back and admiring nature. PAGE 16/32 MARCH 2017 2/18 TO BHMA The Greek Australian VEMA War of words between Turkey and Greece Cont. from page 1/17 Turkey’s claims to Greece’s Imia Isle have previously led the two countries to disputes which came extreme- ly close to an outbreak of military forces in both 1987 and as recently as 1996. Mitsotakis briefs EPP counterparts, EU and NATO about Turkey’s provocations New Democracy leader K yriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday he informed his counterparts at the European People’s Party (EPP) summit in Brussels as well as top EU and NATO officials about the recent spike in airspace violations in the Aegean by Turkey. Mitsotakis met with EU foreign policy chief F ederica Mogherini, the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, the President of the EU’s Military Com- mittee (EUMC) General Mikhail K ostarakos and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “I expressed to everyone my intense concern for the escalation of the provocations in the Aegean from Ankara and of course I informed them about Greece’s standard positions [on the issue],” he said, noting that for the first time Greece witnessed a military exercise of the Turkish Navy with real fire inside Greek waters. “Greece does not intend to be dragged into an esca- lation which, as it seems, the Turkish side wants. But it will not allow any provocation to go unanswered,” he Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (left) told CNN T urk that the blame for the escalating war of words between said and added Greece wants good neighborly relations Turkey and Greece lays in the hands of the Greek Defense Minister , Panos Kammenos (right) for making “provocative” with Turkey based on international law and treaties. comments. Lecture on the Antikythera Mechanism at the Greek Centre Melbourne Church still not satisfied with school religion A dispute between the Church of Greece and the gov- ernment, which began last September when new teach- ing material for religion classes was distributed to On Monday, March 20, at 6:30 p.m., Professor Xeno- At the lecture the discussion will revolve around the schools, is continuing to cause problems in the relation- phon Moussas will present a lecture about the An- most basic question of how humans conceived, de- ship between the institutions. tikythera Mechanism at the Greek Centre, as part of the signed and constructed a mechanical Cosmos. The bid to change the content of the lessons so they Greek History and Culture Seminars offered by the The reveals in the lecture are results based on 12 moved away from the catechism and gave students a Greek Community of Melbourne. years of research by Professor Xenophon Moussas’ better understanding of other religions was one of the The Antikythera Mechanism is the oldest known com- team and especially on the latest readings and interpre- reasons that a bitter dispute broke out between the puter, even originally named tablet in Greek (“pinakid- tations of the manual of this ancient Greek computer. Greek Orthodox Church and the coalition, leading to ion” meaning little table, i.e. tablet). It was made during Professor Xenophon Moussas (University of Athens) is Nikos Filis being removed from his post as education the 2nd century BC somewhere in the Greek world and one of the protagonists of the study of the Antikythera minister. was found by sponge divers from Syme, in a huge ship- Mechanism. He is a space physicist, with research inter- The new textbooks have yet to be printed, leaving wreck of the 1st century BC on the island of An- ests including space and solar physics, planetology, teachers to work from photocopies provide by the Edu- tikythera. Ulysses mission, WIND/WAVES and STEREO space mis- cation Ministry. The government has appointed a team The ancient astronomical device displays the position sion, Solar Orbiter. of experts to draw up the teaching material for next of the Sun and the Moon in a map of the sky, the phase He has supervised 25 PhDs. Awards include: NASA year. It is believed that 80 percent of the content will of the Moon, the time of solar and lunar eclipses as well group achievement, Ulysses Mission, 2009, Geophysical consist of texts from the Bible. as the places these are visible on E arth. It is speculated Research Letters excellence in refereeing, American This satisfies one of the Church’s demands but it still that the Antikythera Mechanism probably worked like a Geophysical Union 2001, Hipparchus award, Arcadia, objects the idea of religious classes being optional in cuckoo clock, with a system of weights and counter- thens, 2010. He has also created exhibitions about the senior high school. weights and a water clock as regulator. Antikythera Mechanism around the world. MARCH 2017 The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 3/19 Swagger and gamesmanship By Nikos Konstandaras – Kathimerini, Athens In the fluid period we live in, with an increasingly aggressive and unpredictable neighbor, one would ex- pect the government to function carefully, to work out where the country stands in terms of strengths and alliances in the current balance. We would expect it to exhaust every method of diplomacy to show that it remains calm but ready, that its political parties are in unison, that its leadership is determined and in control. Turkey is in the whirlwind of Recep Tayyip Er- dogan’s referendum (on April 16), which has created so many dangerous variables that any neighbor would be wise to avoid becoming part of the problem – while preparing for all possibilities. The pompous statements, the swagger against Turkey, the clever predictions of what may occur, are no use. All they achieve is to unite (to the degree that this is still possible) our deeply divided neighbor. When the aggressive eruptions are from people who devoted themselves like few others to creating divi- sion in Greece, it is clear that the situation becomes more dangerous. The answer to President Erdogan and the Grey Wolves is to isolate Turkey by example, not become tangled in the dispute. Because it is Turkey which has the opportunity and the motive to embroil Greece in balance of power and overestimated the country’s When Athens’s moves are not devoted to showing dangerous adventures. But when politicians have strengths, when they were swept away by the flow of the international community and Ankara that Greece built their careers on hyperbole, it is unnatural to ex- things rather than making the necessary preparations will not be tricked into playing Turkey’s game, it will pect them to handle issues that are complicated and – or, simply, when luck was against them. be led to a battlefield that it does not control, where dangerous.