Day: July 23, 2022

In response to a journalist’s question regarding the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s claims as regards minority education in Thrace, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexandros Papaioannou stated the following:

“Unfortunately, Ankara has entirely reversed reality once again in order to promote positions that do not stand up to scrutiny. We reject them in their entirety.

We underscore that the decision to suspend the operation of schools is taken applying exactly the same criteria throughout Greece, that is the non-completion of a minimum number of nine (9) students.

For the academic year 2022-2023, only in the Region of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace, in addition to the four (4) minority primary schools, the operation of twenty-nine (29) other non-minority primary schools is suspended as well.

Therefore, no one can claim discrimination against minority students.

These figures clearly demonstrate that the Greek State’s educational choices are made on an equal basis and without discrimination for all Greek citizens, with the sole aim of providing a high-quality education for the benefit of the pupils themselves.

Turkey should put an end to its misleading rhetoric and acknowledge the reality demonstrating that the Muslim Minority in Thrace, living in a free, democratic European country, enjoys fully its freedoms and rights, as do all Greek citizens.

On the contrary, the very few schools of the Greek minority in Turkey bear witness to the violent and systematic uprooting of Greeks from their ancestral lands.

We recall that in the coming school year, ninety-nine (99) primary schools will operate for the prosperous Muslim Minority in Thrace.

Only three (3) schools will operate in Istanbul, one (1) in Gökçeada (Imbros) and not even one in Bozcaada (Tenedos).

The Muslim Minority in Thrace numbers approximately 120,000 members.

The Greek Minority in Turkey does not exceed 3,000 people, while the two minorities were equal in number at the time the Treaty of Lausanne was signed.

Unfortunately for Turkey, the numbers themselves betray the irrefutable truth when it comes to who respects and applies the Lausanne Treaty.

The Hellenic Republic is a European state governed by the Rule of Law that fully protects and guarantees the human rights and freedoms of its citizens.”

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called on the United States and Russia to hold peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, adding that Kyiv cannot win against Moscow’s larger force.

During a July 23 speech delivered in neighboring Romania, Orban also criticized the European Union’s strategy of imposing sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, saying it is hurting the bloc.

“Only Russian-U.S. talks can put an end to the conflict because Russia wants security guarantees” only Washington can give, Orban said.

The United States and its Western allies were engaged in intense, monthslong negotiations with Russia over the Kremlin’s security concerns when President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine on February 24 on the false premise of protecting Russian-speakers in the Donbas.

A nationalist who has repeatedly clashed with the EU over his increasing authoritarian rule at home, Orban has been a thorn in the bloc’s side since the war began, undermining the image of a West completely united against Kremlin aggression.

The 59-year-old Hungarian leader has held up EU energy sanctions against Russia and criticized Western military assistance to Ukraine. The 27-member EU requires unanimity for many decisions.

The EU earlier this month imposed its seventh round of sanctions against Russia as it seeks to weaken the Kremlin’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine.

While the sanctions have severely hurt Russia’s economy, they have also helped drive up energy prices, slowing the EU economy and pushing it toward recession. Russia had been the largest supplier of energy to the EU prior to the war.

During his speech in Romania, Orban highlighted the economic impact on the EU and said the bloc needs a new strategy for dealing with Russia and the war.

The Hungarian leader said the EU “should not side with the Ukrainians, but position itself” between both Kyiv and Moscow.

The EU sanctions “will not change” the course of the war and “the Ukrainians will not come out victorious,” he said, pointing to the Russian military’s “asymmetrical dominance.”

Along with other EU leaders, Orban initially condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but he has maintained an ambiguous position on the conflict in recent months, even sending his foreign minister to Moscow to negotiate for more gas imports.

Hungary is among the European nations most dependent on Russian natural gas, receiving about 85 percent of its needs from the Kremlin-controlled Gazprom company.

With European natural gas prices up nearly fivefold over the past year due in large part to the war in Ukraine, Orban has been forced to scrap a decade-long cap on gas and power prices for higher-usage households.

The price caps helped Orban secure reelection in 2014 and had been a key point of his election campaign in April, when he won a fourth consecutive term in office.

The 59-year-old ultraconservative leader also defended his vision of an “unmixed Hungarian race” as he criticized mixing with “non-Europeans.”

“We move, we work elsewhere, we mix within Europe,” he said at the Baile Tusnad Summer University in Romania’s Transylvania region, home to a large Hungarian community.

“But we don’t want to be a mixed race”, a “multiethnic” people who would mix with “non-Europeans,” he said.

The Hungarian premier has targeted migrants from Africa and the Middle East, as well as NGOs that support them, restricting the right to seek asylum and putting up barriers at borders.

The European Court of Justice has condemned Hungary several times as a result.

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036

Mr. Ambassador of Greece to the United Kingdom,

My dear Professor,

Dear friends,

It is a great pleasure for me to be here in London tonight, to honor Kypros Nicolaides, Professor of Fetal Medicine at King’s s College. The Professor was born in Cyprus, in Paphos, and has rightfully acquired the title of the “Father of Fetal Medicine”. Every year, he performs hundreds of complex operations, saving numerous lives. He has authored thousands of articles and more than 30 books. Allow me to share a few points from the outstanding resume of his: In 1986, he was appointed Director of the UK’s first Fetal Medicine unit. He has been a Professor of Fetal Medicine at King's College since 1992.

In 1995, he established the UK Charity, the ‘Fetal Medicine Foundation’, through which:

? over £45 million has been allocated to projects in more than 50 countries worldwide,

? scholarships are awarded to train medical trainees in fetal medicine; and

? a World Congress on Fetal Medicine is held annually.

I believe I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that Kypros Nicolaides honors the Hippocratic Oath through his medical practice and his extensive charity activity. And the Ambassador of Greece is not exaggerating when he says that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children all over the world, owe him their lives.

Furthermore, his activity has not been limited to what we define as the developed world. He has also financed the operation of embryonic medicine centers in developing countries such as Zimbabwe and Rwanda. He has granted scholarships to over 150 Greek doctors. He has also donated equipment to the Fetal Medicine Unit of Attikon Hospital. In recognition of his contribution, this Unit was renamed the Kypros Nicolaides Clinic in 2019.

Recently, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the establishment of Fetal Medicine / Prenatal Care Units in eight additional countries has been launched, within the framework of the Ministry's development aid (Hellenic Aid). These Units will be established in Albania, Armenia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, and Rwanda, with 100% funding from the Fetal Medicine Foundation, and with very many activities to be organized in all these countries.

Dear Friends,

The Professor has been honored, with high distinctions, by the international scientific community for his outstanding work, worthy of all praise and recognition. In 2020, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine of the United States of America. His homeland, Cyprus, has honored him with the Grand Cross of the Order of Archbishop Makarios III. In addition, he received the ARGO 2021 Science Prize, awarded to distinguished Greeks living abroad.

For all the reasons mentioned above, as well as many others that time does not permit me to mention, I have the distinct honor, on behalf of the H.E. President of the HellenicRepublic, to confer on him the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic

NEW DELHI, African swine fever (ASF) cases, have been reported from two farms in the southern Indian state of Kerala, officials said yesterday.

The cases were detected at Mananthavady in Wayanad district, about 468 km north of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala.

“The disease was detected among pigs of two farms in the district, and later confirmed after the samples were tested at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal,” an official at the district magistrate office in Wayanad said. “The samples were collected after pigs died last week.”

According to officials, measures have been taken to prevent the spread of the disease, and an order to cull pigs has been issued.

“After confirming the infection orders have been issued, to cull 300 pigs from all nearby farms to contain the infection. As per the guidelines, all pigs within a one-kilometre radius of the epicentre of the disease are to be culled, if there are reports of ASF,” a local media report said.

ASF cases have been reported from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam last week.

Experts say ASF does not affect humans. However, they could be the carriers of the virus.

Source: Nam News Network

NEW YORK — Two children have been diagnosed with monkeypox in the U.S., health officials said Friday.

One is a toddler in California and the other an infant who is not a U.S. resident but was tested while in Washington, D.C., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The children were described as being in good health and receiving treatment. How they caught the disease is being investigated, but officials think it was through household transmission.

Other details weren’t immediately disclosed.

Monkeypox is endemic in parts of Africa, but this year more than 15,000 cases have been reported in countries that historically don’t see the disease. In the U.S. and Europe, most infections have happened in men who have sex with men, though health officials have stressed that anyone can catch the virus.

In addition to the two pediatric cases, health officials said they were aware of at least eight women among the more than 2,800 U.S. cases reported so far.

While the virus has mostly been spreading among men who have sex with men, “I don’t think it’s surprising that we are occasionally going to see cases” outside that social network, the CDC’s Jennifer McQuiston told reporters Friday.

Officials have said the virus can spread through close personal contact, and via towels and bedding. That means it can happen in homes, likely through prolonged or intensive contact, said Dr. James Lawler, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

“People don’t crawl on each other’s beds unless they are living in the same house or family,” he said.

In Europe, there have been at least six monkeypox cases among kids 17 years old and younger.

This week, doctors in the Netherlands published a report of a boy who was seen at an Amsterdam hospital with about 20 red-brown bumps scattered across his body. It was monkeypox, and doctors said they could not determine how he got it.

In Africa, monkeypox infections in children have been more common, and doctors have noted higher proportions of severe cases and deaths in young children.

One reason may be that many older adults were vaccinated against smallpox as kids, likely giving them some protection against the related monkeypox virus, Lawler said.

Smallpox vaccinations were discontinued when the disease was eradicated about 40 years ago.

Source: Voice of America