By Steve Frangos Special to The National Herald Greeks have always been dancers. One of the most enduring stereotypic images of contempo- rary Greek Americans shows them dancing to their hearts’ content. If there is one thing that can be said indisputably about Greek public and private entertainment, it is this: Greeks really like to dance. Knowing this inherent love of dance it is extremely curious, then, why, with so many self-proclaimed experts on Modern Greek music in North America, has not one of them paid systematic attention to the actual dancers? Oh, to be sure, there is always some obligatory mention about the complexities in Greek dance rhythms, but nothing about the dancers themselves, or even about the various and sundry setting for Greek dance. I’m speaking here of traditional Greek folkdance. I want to rough- ly outline the early history of Greek dance in a professional set- ting, and in the local community. But I also want to take up a notch. I want to discuss public dance. DANCING AT KASTONGADI The earliest eyewitness ac- counts of Greeks dancing in North America, aptly enough, were at kastongadi. “Kastongadi” was the Greek American term for the Cas- tle Garden building on Ellis Is- land. Those Greek immigrants wishing to enter the port of New York City, and therefore the Unit- ed States of America, in the late 1880’s and early 1900’s, had to go through the long lines at kastonga- di. In 1888, American observers had no clue as to what the Greeks were up to the first time Greek dance was recorded. “It was gener- ally supposed that they (the Greeks) were engaged in a reli- gious ceremony of some sort.” The steamship Rhaetia had landed at Castle Garden with a party of 250 Greeks, 67 of whom were men. For reasons not explained in the news account, the Greeks were de- tained. How did the Greeks re- spond to this quarantine? “A dozen of them joining hands, all but the two end men, formed a semicircle, and walked very sedately from left to right, By Ben Ross The Independent I am in a cave in Crete. This is not in itself surprising. Crete is, af- ter all, an island of many caves, af- ter all, some of them grand, deep and mysterious. For example, a few kilometers away is the Dikteon Cave, which is a cave with a car park, an entrance fee and a history steeped in Greek myth. Zeus is supposed to have been born there. There are handrails to guide you and your fellow travelers as you troop down into a vast stone throat of ancient stalactites and stalag- mites, and a café where you can buy sandwiches afterwards. It's a baroque sort of cave and you can see why Rhea (Zeus' moth- er) picked the place out for the lit- tle chap's arrival. There's even what looks like an ancient birthing pool at the bottom, now lined with low-denomination coins. No, the surprising thing about my cave is that, for a cave often fre- quented by foreign visitors, it's ex- tremely pokey and a bit damp. It's also very dark. A man of few words and a grub- by plastic bag full of bike lights ac- costed me at the entrance. He'd held up a finger: "One eu- ro," he said. I handed over the required change, and he gave me a light, which didn't work. Neither did the next one. Luckily, the third gave off a feeble yellow glow which seemed adequate (at least to him) and he beckoned me inside. To enter the Trapeza Cave, which you will find near the tiny town of Tzermiado on Crete's La- sithi Plateau, is to unpeel one of the last layers of human history on the island. Fall down through the centuries, back beyond the heyday of the Ot- toman Empire and of the Vene- tians, past Byzantium and beyond to the Romans and the Ancient Greeks – all of whom very evidently left their mark on Crete – and you reach the era of Europe's most an- cient culture, the Minoans. But even the Minoans are not as an- cient as the people who once lived here. The man with the bag of lights points to a dark corner, "Skeleton here." And then to another, "Skele- ton here." And another, "Family skeleton here. Mother and father." There's nothing much to see, just dark patches of earth in the gloom, the bones themselves hav- By Evan C. Lambrou Special to The National Herald NEW YORK – Hot on the cam- paign trail, California State Trea- surer Phil Angelides, who is seek- ing to displace Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of the country’s most populous state, met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair last weekend and took the op- portunity to discuss the Cyprus is- sue, among other matters. Mr. Angelides, the first Greek American ever elected to a statewide office in California, in- formed members of the Greek American press that he urged Mr. Blair on July 29 “to use all his good offices to facilitate a solution for the reunification of Cyprus, with- out the intrusion of foreign occupa- tion troops.” He said he exhorted Mr. Blair to also seek a solution which would “provide for the compensation of loss of property” for Greek Cypri- ots who were forced to flee from Turkish soldiers when Turkey in- vaded the island republic in July 1974, 32 years ago. Mr. Angelides told the Greek American press that Mr. Blair said progress hinged on Turkey’s future accession to the European Union, but that the British prime minister expressed optimism about an even- tual solution to the Cyprus prob- lem. “I found him to be very hopeful about Turkey’s eventual admission to the E.U., and about progress on the Cyprus issue,” Mr. Angelides said, adding that Mr. Blair was “keenly interested” in learning more about the Greek American community. “I let him know that ours is a di- verse and well-educated communi- ty, with strong involvement across the American political spectrum. And he seemed genuinely glad to learn about my grandparents, and how they came to this country. He was also keenly interested to learn more about our community; how Greek Americans across the coun- try have been supporting my cam- paign; and how the community has played an instrumental role in help- ing me get this far,” Mr. Angelides said. Mr. Angelides came back from behind to beat his rival, California State Controller Steve Westly, and secured the Democratic Party’s gu- bernatorial nomination in Califor- nia, emerging with a hard-fought 47.9 percent of the vote to Mr. Westly’s 43.4 percent in the Demo- cratic Primary on June 6. I’M GOING TO WIN Mr. Angelides, whose campaign has raised $2.1 million since the Primary, is a little behind Mr. Schwarzenegger on the fundraising side of the race at the moment (Arnold has a reported $3.4 million in his war chest). But Mr. An- gelides told the Greek American press he felt very confident about ultimate victory this coming November, adding that Greek American support stands to play a key role in his campaign’s success. “We’re not worried about rais- ing the necessary funds to run this campaign. The governor had no primary to worry about, so he did- n’t have to spend any campaign money like we did. We’re very con- fident that we’ll have all the re- sources we need, and again, I’d like to take this opportunity to state By Thomas Heath The Washington Post Ted Leonsis was cruising the Caribbean on his yacht a couple of years ago, poring over old newspa- pers, when he noticed an obituary for Iris Chang, author of "The Rape of Nanking," the bestseller about the killing of 300,000 Chi- nese by the Japanese army in 1937. The story stuck with him, and after he read Chang's book, his preoccupation with the tale grew. Then he pulled out his checkbook. Two million dollars later, hav- ing pulled together a film crew and navigated the bureaucracy in Chi- na, Leonsis' documentary about the incident is nearing completion. Though he calls the project a "labor of love," he is also hoping it can find enough of an audience to turn a profit – and give him broad- er access to a Chinese market where memories of Nanking re- main raw. Chinese television rights to the show have been sold, and Leonsis said he hopes to use local DVD sales as an advertising plat- form for businesses which want to break into the Chinese market. The film, still untitled, chroni- cles the story of a dozen Western- ers, including a Nazi businessman, who risked their lives and used their influence in Nanking in De- cember 1937 to create a safe zone to protect 250,000 Chinese (the city is now known as Nanjing). Phil Angelides Meets with Tony Blair in California AOL’s Leonsis Turns to Making Movies Early Greek Dancers Make A Splash in North America By Dimitri Soultogiannis Special to The National Herald WASHINGTON, D.C. – Geor- gia Psychogios of Westmont, Illi- nois was elected the new grand president of the Daughters of Penelope, the women’s affiliate organization of the AHEPA fami- ly, succeeding Mary Boufis Filou of Islip, New York. Mrs. Psychogios was elected by members of the organization last Saturday, July 29, at the tail end of AHEPA’s 84th annual Supreme Convention which was held in Hollywood, Florida last week. She was officially installed, along with AHEPA Supreme President Gus James II and the newly elected presidents for the Sons of Pericles and the Maids of Athena (the young men’s and women’s arms of AHEPA and the Daughters of Penelope, respec- tively). “I’m very happy to follow the footsteps of Mary Filou, this won- derful president and person who has always supported, in every way, the Daughters of Penelope. Thank you for electing me to be your new grand president. I’ll do my best to make this year as pro- ductive and successful as I can for our organization,” Mrs. Psycho- gios said. Daughters, Sons & Maids Action Phil Angelides, right, California State Treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial nominee, points out San Francisco’s skyline to British Prime Minister Tony Blair during Blair’s visit to the city last Saturday, July 29. Angelides spoke to the British Prime Minister about Cyprus and the Greek American community. A Venetian fort in Iraklion, the capital of Crete. In ancient times, Iraklion served as the port of Knossos. During four (14th-17th) centuries of Venetian occupation, many buildings were erected which today remain excellent examples of Crete's Venetian architecture from that period. Delving Deeply into Crete’s Civilized Past AP/NOAH BERGER Continued on page 5 Continued on page 2 Continued on page 10 Continued on page 3 Continued on page 4 The National Herald a b VOL. 9, ISSUE 460 A WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION AUGUST 5, 2006 $1.00 - GREECE: 1.75 Euro www.thenationalherald.com *080506* By Jennifer L. Boen The News-Sentinel FORT WAYNE, Ind. – At 86, Christine Chakeres has plenty of time to smell the roses. "Roses are her favorite," says her nephew, Nick Nicolas of Fort Wayne. Nico- las knows because for the nearly four years his aunt has lived at Re- gency Place nursing home on 6006 Brandy Chase Cove, he has rarely missed a daily visit, often visiting several times a day. He also takes her for ice cream or to his home nearby. Together, they walk through the yard, Chak- eres bending over to touch the flowers while Nicolas gently takes her arm to ensure she keeps her balance. In the past, he has en- joyed walking with her along the path in Regency Place's courtyard. "But I can't do that anymore," he says. In March, Nicolas re- ceived a letter from Regency Place Executive Director Susan Ebbing telling him he could no longer visit his aunt when and where he want- ed. In May, after Nicolas filed a complaint, the Indiana State De- partment of Health cited the 160- bed home for failing to allow Nico- las reasonable access and visita- tion rights to his aunt. State sur- veyors also cited Regency Place for failing to provide medically re- lated social services to Chakeres, who has early- to mid-stage de- mentia, and who became dis- traught when her nephew was no longer allowed to put her to bed at night, something he had done for more than three years. Nursing Home Blocks Man From Visiting Beloved Aunt Continued on page 3 By Dimitri Soultogiannis Special to The National Herald WASHINGTON, D.C. – Gus J. James II of Virginia Beach was re- elected to serve a second on-year term as supreme president of the order of AHEPA for the 2006- 2007, defeating former Supreme Vice President Ike Gulas of Birm- ingham, Alabama by 40 votes, with a total of some 320 delegates cast- ing votes. The results were historic for AHEPA. Mr. James is only the fifth person to serve as AHEPA’s top man for more than one year since 1962, and is the first supreme president elected to a second term since Dr. Spiro J. Macris, who served from 1994 to 1996. The elections took place during AHEPA’s 84th annual Supreme Convention in Hollywood, Florida last Saturday, July 29. More than 2,100 people registered for the week-long event. Mr. James was officially in- stalled last Sunday, July 30, along with the rest of the Supreme Lodge and Board of Directors. During the installation ceremony, he stated his objectives to make AHEPA (American Hellenic Edu- cational Progressive Association) a more relevant organization on the international, as well as the do- mestic, front. “I am honored to be given the unique opportunity to serve as supreme president for a second consecutive term. I will continue to work hard promoting AHEPA AHEPA Re-Elects Gus James Continued on page 4
Transcript
By Steve FrangosSpecial to The National Herald
Greeks have always beendancers. One of the most enduringstereotypic images of contempo-rary Greek Americans shows themdancing to their hearts’ content. Ifthere is one thing that can be saidindisputably about Greek publicand private entertainment, it is
this: Greeks really like to dance.Knowing this inherent love of
dance it is extremely curious, then,why, with so many self-proclaimedexperts on Modern Greek music inNorth America, has not one ofthem paid systematic attention tothe actual dancers?
Oh, to be sure, there is alwayssome obligatory mention aboutthe complexities in Greek dancerhythms, but nothing about thedancers themselves, or even aboutthe various and sundry setting forGreek dance.
I’m speaking here of traditionalGreek folkdance. I want to rough-ly outline the early history ofGreek dance in a professional set-ting, and in the local community.But I also want to take up a notch.I want to discuss public dance.
counts of Greeks dancing in NorthAmerica, aptly enough, were atkastongadi. “Kastongadi” was theGreek American term for the Cas-tle Garden building on Ellis Is-land. Those Greek immigrantswishing to enter the port of NewYork City, and therefore the Unit-ed States of America, in the late1880’s and early 1900’s, had to gothrough the long lines at kastonga-di.
In 1888, American observershad no clue as to what the Greekswere up to the first time Greekdance was recorded. “It was gener-ally supposed that they (theGreeks) were engaged in a reli-gious ceremony of some sort.” Thesteamship Rhaetia had landed atCastle Garden with a party of 250Greeks, 67 of whom were men.For reasons not explained in thenews account, the Greeks were de-tained. How did the Greeks re-spond to this quarantine?
“A dozen of them joininghands, all but the two end men,formed a semicircle, and walkedvery sedately from left to right,
By Ben RossThe Independent
I am in a cave in Crete. This isnot in itself surprising. Crete is, af-ter all, an island of many caves, af-ter all, some of them grand, deepand mysterious.
For example, a few kilometersaway is the Dikteon Cave, which isa cave with a car park, an entrancefee and a history steeped in Greekmyth. Zeus is supposed to havebeen born there.
There are handrails to guide youand your fellow travelers as youtroop down into a vast stone throatof ancient stalactites and stalag-mites, and a café where you can buysandwiches afterwards.
It's a baroque sort of cave andyou can see why Rhea (Zeus' moth-er) picked the place out for the lit-tle chap's arrival.
There's even what looks like anancient birthing pool at the bottom,now lined with low-denominationcoins.
No, the surprising thing aboutmy cave is that, for a cave often fre-quented by foreign visitors, it's ex-tremely pokey and a bit damp. It'salso very dark.
A man of few words and a grub-by plastic bag full of bike lights ac-costed me at the entrance.
He'd held up a finger: "One eu-ro," he said.
I handed over the requiredchange, and he gave me a light,which didn't work. Neither did thenext one. Luckily, the third gave offa feeble yellow glow which seemedadequate (at least to him) and hebeckoned me inside.
To enter the Trapeza Cave,which you will find near the tinytown of Tzermiado on Crete's La-sithi Plateau, is to unpeel one of thelast layers of human history on the
island.Fall down through the centuries,
back beyond the heyday of the Ot-toman Empire and of the Vene-tians, past Byzantium and beyondto the Romans and the AncientGreeks – all of whom very evidentlyleft their mark on Crete – and youreach the era of Europe's most an-cient culture, the Minoans. Buteven the Minoans are not as an-cient as the people who once lived
here.The man with the bag of lights
points to a dark corner, "Skeletonhere." And then to another, "Skele-ton here."
And another, "Family skeletonhere. Mother and father."
There's nothing much to see,just dark patches of earth in thegloom, the bones themselves hav-
By Evan C. LambrouSpecial to The National Herald
NEW YORK – Hot on the cam-paign trail, California State Trea-surer Phil Angelides, who is seek-ing to displace ArnoldSchwarzenegger as governor of thecountry’s most populous state, metwith British Prime Minister TonyBlair last weekend and took the op-portunity to discuss the Cyprus is-sue, among other matters.
Mr. Angelides, the first GreekAmerican ever elected to astatewide office in California, in-formed members of the GreekAmerican press that he urged Mr.Blair on July 29 “to use all his goodoffices to facilitate a solution forthe reunification of Cyprus, with-out the intrusion of foreign occupa-tion troops.”
He said he exhorted Mr. Blair toalso seek a solution which would“provide for the compensation ofloss of property” for Greek Cypri-ots who were forced to flee fromTurkish soldiers when Turkey in-vaded the island republic in July1974, 32 years ago.
Mr. Angelides told the GreekAmerican press that Mr. Blair saidprogress hinged on Turkey’s futureaccession to the European Union,but that the British prime ministerexpressed optimism about an even-tual solution to the Cyprus prob-lem.
“I found him to be very hopefulabout Turkey’s eventual admissionto the E.U., and about progress onthe Cyprus issue,” Mr. Angelidessaid, adding that Mr. Blair was“keenly interested” in learningmore about the Greek Americancommunity.
“I let him know that ours is a di-
verse and well-educated communi-ty, with strong involvement acrossthe American political spectrum.And he seemed genuinely glad tolearn about my grandparents, andhow they came to this country. Hewas also keenly interested to learnmore about our community; howGreek Americans across the coun-try have been supporting my cam-paign; and how the community hasplayed an instrumental role in help-ing me get this far,” Mr. Angelidessaid.
Mr. Angelides came back frombehind to beat his rival, CaliforniaState Controller Steve Westly, andsecured the Democratic Party’s gu-bernatorial nomination in Califor-nia, emerging with a hard-fought47.9 percent of the vote to Mr.Westly’s 43.4 percent in the Demo-cratic Primary on June 6.
has raised $2.1 million since thePrimary, is a little behind Mr.Schwarzenegger on the fundraisingside of the race at the moment(Arnold has a reported $3.4 millionin his war chest). But Mr. An-gelides told the Greek Americanpress he felt very confident aboutultimate victory this comingNovember, adding that GreekAmerican support stands to play akey role in his campaign’s success.
“We’re not worried about rais-ing the necessary funds to run thiscampaign. The governor had noprimary to worry about, so he did-n’t have to spend any campaignmoney like we did. We’re very con-fident that we’ll have all the re-sources we need, and again, I’d liketo take this opportunity to state
By Thomas HeathThe Washington Post
Ted Leonsis was cruising theCaribbean on his yacht a couple ofyears ago, poring over old newspa-pers, when he noticed an obituaryfor Iris Chang, author of "TheRape of Nanking," the bestsellerabout the killing of 300,000 Chi-nese by the Japanese army in 1937.
The story stuck with him, andafter he read Chang's book, hispreoccupation with the tale grew.Then he pulled out his checkbook.
Two million dollars later, hav-ing pulled together a film crew andnavigated the bureaucracy in Chi-na, Leonsis' documentary aboutthe incident is nearing completion.
Though he calls the project a"labor of love," he is also hoping itcan find enough of an audience toturn a profit – and give him broad-er access to a Chinese marketwhere memories of Nanking re-main raw. Chinese television rightsto the show have been sold, andLeonsis said he hopes to use localDVD sales as an advertising plat-form for businesses which want tobreak into the Chinese market.
The film, still untitled, chroni-cles the story of a dozen Western-ers, including a Nazi businessman,who risked their lives and usedtheir influence in Nanking in De-cember 1937 to create a safe zoneto protect 250,000 Chinese (thecity is now known as Nanjing).
By Dimitri SoultogiannisSpecial to The National Herald
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Geor-gia Psychogios of Westmont, Illi-nois was elected the new grandpresident of the Daughters ofPenelope, the women’s affiliateorganization of the AHEPA fami-ly, succeeding Mary Boufis Filouof Islip, New York.
Mrs. Psychogios was elected bymembers of the organization last
Saturday, July 29, at the tail end ofAHEPA’s 84th annual SupremeConvention which was held inHollywood, Florida last week.
She was officially installed,along with AHEPA SupremePresident Gus James II and thenewly elected presidents for theSons of Pericles and the Maids ofAthena (the young men’s andwomen’s arms of AHEPA and theDaughters of Penelope, respec-tively).
“I’m very happy to follow thefootsteps of Mary Filou, this won-derful president and person whohas always supported, in everyway, the Daughters of Penelope.Thank you for electing me to beyour new grand president. I’ll domy best to make this year as pro-ductive and successful as I can forour organization,” Mrs. Psycho-gios said.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – At 86,Christine Chakeres has plenty oftime to smell the roses. "Roses areher favorite," says her nephew,Nick Nicolas of Fort Wayne. Nico-las knows because for the nearlyfour years his aunt has lived at Re-gency Place nursing home on 6006Brandy Chase Cove, he has rarelymissed a daily visit, often visitingseveral times a day.
He also takes her for ice creamor to his home nearby. Together,they walk through the yard, Chak-eres bending over to touch theflowers while Nicolas gently takesher arm to ensure she keeps herbalance. In the past, he has en-joyed walking with her along thepath in Regency Place's courtyard.
"But I can't do that anymore,"he says. In March, Nicolas re-ceived a letter from Regency PlaceExecutive Director Susan Ebbingtelling him he could no longer visithis aunt when and where he want-ed.
In May, after Nicolas filed acomplaint, the Indiana State De-partment of Health cited the 160-bed home for failing to allow Nico-las reasonable access and visita-tion rights to his aunt. State sur-veyors also cited Regency Placefor failing to provide medically re-lated social services to Chakeres,who has early- to mid-stage de-mentia, and who became dis-traught when her nephew was nolonger allowed to put her to bed atnight, something he had done formore than three years.
By Dimitri SoultogiannisSpecial to The National Herald
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Gus J.James II of Virginia Beach was re-elected to serve a second on-yearterm as supreme president of theorder of AHEPA for the 2006-2007, defeating former SupremeVice President Ike Gulas of Birm-ingham, Alabama by 40 votes, witha total of some 320 delegates cast-ing votes.
The results were historic forAHEPA. Mr. James is only the
fifth person to serve as AHEPA’stop man for more than one yearsince 1962, and is the first supremepresident elected to a second termsince Dr. Spiro J. Macris, whoserved from 1994 to 1996.
The elections took place duringAHEPA’s 84th annual SupremeConvention in Hollywood, Floridalast Saturday, July 29. More than2,100 people registered for theweek-long event.
Mr. James was officially in-stalled last Sunday, July 30, alongwith the rest of the Supreme
Lodge and Board of Directors.During the installation ceremony,he stated his objectives to makeAHEPA (American Hellenic Edu-cational Progressive Association)a more relevant organization onthe international, as well as the do-mestic, front.
“I am honored to be given theunique opportunity to serve assupreme president for a secondconsecutive term. I will continueto work hard promoting AHEPA
AAHHEEPPAA RRee--EElleeccttss GGuuss JJaammeess
Continued on page 4
that I hope the Greek Americancommunity continues to wade in.The community’s support makes adifference,” Mr. Angelides said.
“I believe I’m going to win thisrace for a number of reasons. Inmost of the major polls, for exam-ple, the governor, whose celebritystatus makes him known to every-body in the state, doesn’t manageto get more than 42-45 percent ofthe people polled saying they wanthim re-elected,” he added. “I’m theunderdog right now, and I’ve beenthere before, but I also believe inthe Hellenic spirit, which is a partof me. It runs in our veins, andthat’s what makes us fight to over-come the odds.”
Meeting with Mr. Blair was justpart of being the future governor,apparently.
Mr. Blair was on his first visit toCalifornia for a little bit of every-thing: serious environmental dis-cussions and business meetings; atour of Silicon Valley; a foreign af-fairs speech to the World AffairsCouncil; a city-to-city agreementsigned at UCLA between LondonMayor Ken Livingstone and LosAngeles Mayor Antonio Vil-laraigosa aimed at reducing green-house gases – and an eclectic gath-ering in posh Pebble Beach.
The private event, a five-daymanagement retreat for 250 execu-tives of Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorporation, brought together aVIP guest list to chat about issueslike global warming, volunteerism,technology and politics – formerPresident Bill Clinton, former VicePresident Al Gore, former HouseSpeaker Newt Gingrich, formerHarvard University PresidentLawrence Summers, Israeli VicePremier Shimon Peres, Oakland
A’s General Manager Billy Beaneand U2 lead singer and internation-al do-gooder Bono, among them.
Mr. Schwarzenegger, Califor-nia’s Republican governor, who wascelebrating his 59th birthday lastSunday, July 30, introduced Mr.Blair at the event, which was spon-sored by Mr. Murdoch, a generousdonor to the GOP whose mega-cor-poration owns FOX News, 20thCentury Fox, DirecTV and morethan 175 newspapers worldwide –including the New York Post – witha total circulation of 40 million.
While Mr. Blair was in Califor-nia, Mr. Schwarzenegger’s aidespresented the governator as “aleader on a variety of issues, obvi-ously with regard to global warmingand the environment.”
But Mr. Schwarzenegger’s cam-paign rhetoric does not stack up tothe reality of his record, Mr. An-gelides said.
“The governor’s statements onthe environment are his own hotair. He talks a good game, but whenthe rubber hits the road, he can’tback it up. The fact is, all the majorenvironmental groups are endors-ing me, not Arnold,” Mr. Angelidessaid.
As for environmental issues, Mr.Angelides said California, as thelargest state in the Union, has thepotential to play a leading role inhelping to ease global warming, cit-ing the differences between his po-sitions and those of his opponent.
“I support Proposition 87, theClean Alternative Energy Initiativeon the ballot, to help free Califor-nia from the grip of oil companiesand move California into a futureof clean, alternative fuels. The gov-ernor is against it. But Proposition87 would provide $400 million per
year over ten years to reduce Cali-fornia’s consumption of petroleumby 25 percent,” he said.
“The average price of premiumgasoline in California today is awhopping $3.55 per gallon, and ex-perts say it may top $4 per gallon injust the next few weeks. California’sworking families – and our fragile
economy – are feeling the econom-ic pain of skyrocketing energyprices. That’s why we need bothprotection from price gouging to-day, and an opportunity to movebeyond the oil economy in the fu-ture. I support making oil compa-nies contribute to reduce our oildependence and make Californiathe global leader in clean energy,cleaner air, cheaper fuel prices andgreater energy independence.
Arnold may have painted his cam-paign bus green, but he’s sidingwith Big Oil in opposing Proposi-tion 87,” Mr. Angelides said.
“Second, I support the cleanemissions legislation. The governoris trying to weaken it, and is busytrying to gut it. Third, as governor, Iwould sponsor measures requiring
automakers in California to manu-facture vehicles which would runon alternative, cleaner-burning fu-els, not just gasoline. Again, Arnoldand Big Oil are on the wrong sideof this issue,” he said.
With gasoline prices and energyuse reaching record highs, and inthe wake of blackouts throughoutCalifornia, Mr. Angelides blastedMr. Schwarzenegger for failing tokeep the state free from energy
shortages, and outlined his actionplan to attract more power to thestate.
“Arnold promised us in 2004,‘Trust me. Everything will be undercontrol. Your lights will stay on.’But for three years, he has beensinging the music of California’sderegulation scheme, thwarting ef-
forts to create an environment thatattracts clean power to California.It’s time to send a strong signal tothe market that the failed deregula-tion experiment of Enron, GeorgeBush and the energy power piratesis over once and for all,” he said.
If elected, Mr. Angelides saidthat, within 100 days of taking of-fice, he will unveil a plan which willensure the state has sufficient pow-er, with a 15 percent reserve – along
with much-needed improvementsto the transmission grid – to pro-vide adequate power to protectCalifornia’s families, businessesand economy.
He also promised to reinvigo-rate the California Consumer Pow-er & Conservation Financing Au-thority to build and invest in newpower plants if the utilities and en-ergy generators fail to do so, and tofinance transmission improve-ments to protect California’s con-sumers and residents from pricemanipulation, gouging and black-outs.
The Authority would also fi-nance large-scale solar and renew-able power projects to meet and ex-ceed the state’s renewable energyportfolio standards, he added.
Mr. Angelides has won a num-ber of awards for his environmentalleadership, including GlobalGreen’s Local EnvironmentalLeadership Award, the AmericanPlanning Association’s 2000 Plan-ning Vision California Award, theCalifornia League of ConservationVoters’ Environmental LeadershipAward, and the Congress for theNew Urbanism’s Lifetime Achieve-ment Award.
As Treasurer, he launched theGreen Wave Initiative, which hasled California’s pension funds to in-vest $1.5 billion in renewable ener-gy and environmental technologies,and to push corporations to combatglobal warming. He has also creat-ed programs and policies to curbsprawl; clean up toxic contamina-tion; and promote sustainable de-velopment practices, as well as en-courage the development of fuel-efficient vehicles.
The heat was intense outsidelast Sunday, but inside Titan Foodson 31st Street in Astoria it was cool,with customers scooping up olives,ordering cheeses and grabbingpackages of imported Greek spe-cialties.
It was a big difference from theprevious week, when the neighbor-hood institution was closed for sixdays during a blackout and lostmore than $200,000 in goods andsales. Still, store manager DemetrisKosmides, 45, said the businesswasn't out of trouble yet.
With the coming week's weatherexpected to hover close to 100 de-grees, northwestern Queens busi-ness owners were not only worriedabout recouping lost revenue, butwere also wary of another poweroutage. "We just filled the storewith merchandise," said Kosmides."We can not afford a second powerfailure."
Down the street at Mike's Din-er, co-owner Kostas Pavlakos, 47,said that people were nervous be-cause Consolidated Edison did nottell businesses how long the powerwas going to be out the first time,and owners could not adequatelyprepare for the crisis. "Who's goingto tell us it's not going to happenagain," Pavlakos asked?
Con Ed expected to set a new
record for power usage this pastweek, perhaps more than 13,400megawatts, which would beat thecurrent record of 13,059 megawattsset on July 27, 2005, according toCon Ed spokesman Michael Clen-denin.
During the recent heat wave,which knocked out parts of theLong Island City network earlierthis month, usage peaked at 12,829megawatts on July 18. Con Ed isclosely monitoring the still power-fragile area. "We'll be doing a lot ofwork in that area for many weeks,and we're going to do our very bestto make sure that the power stayson," Clendenin said.
Con Ed will have hundreds ofcrews "in that part of the networkaround the clock," he said. "We'llbe able to respond to anything thatmight come up very quickly. Weonly ask people in that communityto conserve as they have been."
NNOOTT EEVVEENN AA DDEENNTTAlong the streets of Astoria,
however, the same refrain washeard from small businesses. In ad-dition to apprehension about an-other potential power failure, own-ers were mostly worried about re-couping their already extensivelosses. Many said the city's $10,000in emergency loans and Con Ed's$7,000 of reimbursements wouldn'teven make a dent.
United States Senator CharlesSchumer (D-New York) called for
a federal investigation into the NewYork outages, as well as into black-outs which, in past weeks, shutpower off from hundreds of thou-sands in Saint Louis and parts ofCalifornia. "I want to look at ConEd particularly, because they'vedone such a poor job on its face,"Schumer said, adding that the in-vestigation should scrutinize howderegulation may have contributedto the problem. "I want to see, giventhe number of blackouts this Sum-mer, if it's endemic throughout theindustry," he said.
Michael DiStefano and FrancoTreglia, owners of Cold StoneCreamery at 31st Street and Dit-mars Boulevard in Astoria, saidtheir store is still closed, and theycan't afford to take out anotherloan after investing $400,000 tostart the franchise. "I can't make upfor these losses," DiStefano said.
At the Greek Music & Video Su-perstore on 31st Street in Astoria(near 28th Avenue), owner MichaelPeters, 49, said his business lost $20-25 thousand from burned-out com-puter servers, alarm systems and airconditioners. "This blackout gave usa good kick in the behind," he said."Some people are just not going torecuperate."
Nicolas, a freelance photogra-pher and architectural graphic de-signer, thought the issue was re-solved – until he received anotherletter from Ebbing in July. The let-ter said the limits on when hecould visit had been lifted, exceptthat he could see his aunt only in alounge area. He is not allowed tovisit her in any dining room or inthe courtyard. If he wants to visitChakeres in her room, she mustrequest the visit, something a per-son with dementia might have dif-ficulty doing.
In a faxed statement on the sur-vey findings, Regency Place re-sponded: "Resident care and safe-ty is our number-one concern. Noone has been barred from visitingany of our residents, and we arecurrently in compliance with allapplicable regulations."
MMUUSSTT AALLLLOOWW AACCCCEESSSSNicolas, who has power of at-
torney for his aunt, wants full ac-cess under the law to visit her. Hewould like to keep her at RegencyPlace. She now knows it as home."It might upset her to have tomove," he said.
State Long-Term Care Om-budsman Arlene Franklin con-curs: "For persons with dementia,it is very confusing to have tomove."
Each year, she says, her officesees two or three cases of nursinghomes refusing to allow visits by afamily member, "but we very rarelysee restrictions on a power-of-at-torney or guardian."
"The regs say residents have theright to see visitors. For (a facility)to limit where a person can visit,and that the resident must requestthe person to visit in her room, isnot appropriate. They don't haveto request it."
Federal regulations on nursinghomes receiving Medicaid orMedicare payments, as Regencydoes, say, "The facility must pro-vide reasonable access to any resi-dent by any entity or individualthat provides health, social, legalor other services to the resident,subject to the resident's right todeny or withdraw consent at anytime."
In their investigation of Nico-las' complaint, surveyors asked
more than a dozen staff memberswhether he was a problem tothem, to other residents or toChakeres. All but three who werequestioned said they had no prob-lems or concerns with Nicolas.
One staff member said Nicolastalks to residents about other resi-dents, "and stands at the nursingstation and appears to be listen-ing." But that staff person said sheknew of no resident who had com-plained.
Another employee said Nicolasmade staff "uncomfortable," and athird employee said, "He has an at-titude. He's trying to catch us do-ing something wrong." Offering adifferent viewpoint, a nurse said,"He is just overly concerned withhis aunt. I understand his con-cerns."
Nicolas said he was "shocked"at the restrictions placed uponhim, and at Ebbing's allegationsthat his frequent visits constituted"deliberate harassment of facilitystaff" and a "disruption of facilityoperations," as the March 7 letter
stated."I have always been very in-
volved with my aunt," he said, not-ing she has only him and his sister,who is busy with a family of herown, to look after her. "We'reGreek. This is what we do. Wetake care of each other."
Nicolas, who is single, cared forhis mother for several years beforeher death, and looked after Chak-eres' brother, now deceased, whowas a resident at Regency Place.
"For the most part, the carethere has been very good. She'sgot some excellent nurses," hesaid. Over the years, other resi-dents have come to know him, hesays, speaking with him about theirphysical ailments, the weather orwhatever is on their minds. "I'vebonded with staff and residents. Ithink that's a threat to certain peo-ple."
IINNCCRREEAASSEEDD AANNXXIIEETTYYDuring the period when Ebbing
refused to allow Nicolas to visit hisaunt in the evenings and put her tobed, state surveyors noted she ex-
perienced increased anxiety andbehavioral problems. She was ob-served getting out of bed over andover, asking to call her nephew.
Surveyors said the home failedto provide "psycho-social supportto residents and their families,"and that doing so was an "essentialfunction."
Regency Place, owned by Kin-dred Healthcare of Louisville,Kentucky, fared well in its most re-cent annual survey from the Indi-ana Department of Health in De-cember, scoring a 5, better thanthe average of 29 (the lower thescore, the better).
Four complaints against the fa-cility were substantiated in 2005,three of them during the May in-spection; the one not involvingChakeres happened when a resi-dent who had suffered a strokewas dropped off at a hospitalemergency room with no staff ac-companying her.
"It's got Germany. It's gotJapan. It's got an invasion that hadterrible consequences to the Chi-nese people, and it's a story thathasn't been told," said the 50-year-old vice chairman of America On-line, who said he was drawn to thetale because "it's mostly about sim-ple people who rose to the occa-sion and did a great thing."
The film's success depends onwhether a story of horrific violenceultimately makes audiences feelgood, Leonsis said. He compares itto Steven Spielberg's "Schindler'sList," which dealt with one herowho saved many from the Holo-caust.
"The risk is we don't execute itwell enough that the goodnessdoesn't seep through," Leonsissaid. To help position the film,Leonsis has already selected itsmarketing slogan: "What wouldyou have done?"
Leonsis has had mixed successwhen venturing beyond AOL,where the value of his stock flirtedwith $1 billion before the companymerged with Time Warner. He haslost about $100 million on theNHL's Washington Capitals sincehe and fellow investors boughtthem from Abe Pollin in 1999.
His wooing of NBA greatMichael Jordan helped make theWashington Wizards a hot ticketfor four seasons, but the relation-ship ended badly when Pollin firedJordan.
This time, he's optimistic.Though the day of the block-
buster is hardly over, smaller inde-pendent films are proving success-ful in what Leonsis calls the "newHollywood," and some of his fel-low sports team owners have pre-ceded him in the industry.
NBA Dallas Mavericks OwnerMark Cuban has helped produceseveral films, including "Akeelahand the Bee," and owns part of theLandmark Theater chain, whichshows independent films. Philip F.Anschutz, who owns the StaplesCenter in Los Angeles and muchof Major League Soccer, has pro-duced "My Dog Skip" and other
movies.Such recent documentary hits
as "March of the Penguins,""Fahrenheit 9/11," "Super SizeMe," and the current "An Inconve-nient Truth," meanwhile, wereable to tap audiences attuned tothe subjects.
““NNIICCHHEEBBUUSSTTEERRSS””
Leonsis calls such films "niche-busters" because they generate in-tense interest among disparatesegments of society, adding up to abig audience. He and his team be-lieve their film has crossover ap-peal among several niche markets,including Chinese, Germans,Christians and even Japanese.
Case in point: There are 500million television households inChina, and the Chinese nationaltelevision network, CCTV, paidwhat Leonsis said was a "signifi-cant" advance for broadcast rightsto the film.
In addition, an estimated 65million Chinese live outside thecountry, and they may pay to seethe movie in a theater, buy a DVD,or watch on the Internet.
Moreover, because one of thechief heroes in the story is a Ger-
man businessman named JohnRabe, who headed the Nazi Partyin Nanking, there could be interestin Germany. Chang refers to Rabeas the "Oskar Schindler of China"in her book.
"The viewing public wantssomething, when they leave thetheater, that they can talk about
and feel good about," Leonsis said."For all the horror in Nanking, thisis ultimately a story about 12heroes who saved 250,000 peoplefrom certain death."
Because several of the heroesare American missionaries, Leon-sis' team thinks Christians aroundthe world will also embrace thefilm.
"This is ripped-from-the-head-line stuff," Leonsis said.
The Chinese initially discussedowning an interest in the film, butLeonsis said its credibility wouldbe enhanced if a third party toldthe story.
"They felt comfortable with ourcrew and they liked our motives,"Leonsis said. "They want this storyto be told by a Westerner."
Leonsis has not yet signed a dis-tribution deal, but will look for one
when he premieres the film. Hehopes to show it at the SundanceFilm Festival next January and theCannes festival next May.
Most documentaries are madewith relatively little money andbring in less than $1 million, ac-cording to Box Office Mojo, a web-site which follows movie revenue.
"To break even would be ex-traordinary," said Michael Jacobs,the executive producer for the filmand a former screenwriter.
Leonsis said any profit from thefilm will go toward creating a foun-dation for the victims and theiroffspring.
Photos, letters and other histor-ical evidence he assembled for thefilm will be donated to George-town University, where Leonsisstudied.
The film's crew included BillGuttentag, the director whoearned an Academy Award in2003 for "Twin Towers." Guttentagbrought along several associateswho he worked with on his othermovies, including director of pho-tography Buddy Squires, knownfor his work on Ken Burns' docu-mentaries on public television.
Grammy Award winner LouReed has been signed to write mu-sic for the film.
Creative Artists Associates, oneof the pre-eminent film dealmak-ers in Los Angeles, helped guideLeonsis through the moviemakingprocess. CAA set a budget; helpedhim find actors to narrate (includ-ing Ashley Judd); and advised himthat his best shot at financial suc-cess was making a great movie.
Leonsis has formed his ownproduction company, called Agape(Greek for "higher love"). If theproject is successful, he plans morefilms. One plan is for Agape to be-come a media platform for tellingother big human rights stories.
"This story is so rich, so life-al-tering with human rights, politics,religion and ordinary people asheroes, I know there are other bigstories out there that have thesesame qualities," he said.
August 8, 10CCaallvveerrttoonn,, NN..YY.. The All SaintsGreek Orthodox Monastery inCalverton, New York (1676 Mid-dle Road) will hold Paraclisis ser-vices on August 8 and 10 at 6:30PM. On Sundays starting August13, Orthros and Divine Liturgyservices will be held at 7:45 AMand 9 AM, respectively (coffeehour following Sunday services).For more information, call 631-265-0536.
August 7-18WWaasshhiinnggttoonn,, DD..CC.. Camp Shake-speare 2006. Focusing on theGreeks. Each summer, studentsages 10-18 converge on the Shake-speare Theatre Company to ex-plore the craft of acting with pro-fessional artists and educators in2-week sessions designed to en-hance understanding of theaterthrough performance. Session IVthis summer, Antigone by Sopho-cles, will explore another time pe-riod of classic theatre to providestudents with exposure to otherclassical performance styles. Formore info, please visit the web atwww.ShakespeareTheatre.org, orcall the Education Hotline at 202-547-5688.
August 18-20PPaawwttuucckkeett,, RR..II.. The Church ofthe Assumption of the VirginMary Celebrates its 79th AnnualFestival Grecian Festival at 97Walcott Street in Pawtucket,Rhode Island. A festival of familyfun. Experience Greek Culture inPawtucket, rain or shine, underthe tents. Admission is free andopen to the public. Ample park-ing. Shuttle bus service available.Enjoy Greek food and pastries;traditional dancing & dancedemonstrations; live music;Church tours and more. Special“kids activities” are planned.Greek Marketplace: indoor shop-ping with imported Greek gift-ware, Greek music, books foradults & children, cookbooks andmuch more. Enjoy aromaticGreek coffee and our specialty,Baklava Cheesecake. Sip a glass ofOuzo, Mavrodaphne or Metaxa.Sample the many traditionalmezedes (appetizers) and join usas we dance traditional Greekdances to the live rhythm of theBouzouki. Performances by theGreek Pride dance troupe, all infull ethnic costumes representingthe various regions of Greece, itsisland and mountain regions.Greek Island Trip Raffle: a 10-daytrip for two to Greece’s pic-turesque island of Skiathos at theNostos Luxury Hotel & Resort.Includes roundtrip airfare fromBoston, lodging and meals (dona-tion, $20 per ticket). Directions:Exit 28 off I-95 North or Exit 29off I-95 South. Follow signs. Formore information, call the church
at 401-725-3127, Elli Panichas at401-383-4711 or 401-943-1219, oremail [email protected].
September 15-17BBrrooookklliinnee,, MMaassss.. The Annuncia-tion Greek Orthodox Cathedral ofNew England in Boston presentsGreek Fest 2006. Come and enjoydelicious Greek food and drinks,gyros, pastries, loukoumades andtaverna. Dance to the music of theKostas Taslis Orchestra. Watchtraditional Greek Folk Dances.Also enjoy DJ, raffle, imports,jewelry, kids activities, flea marketand religious books and icons. Fri-day, Saturday and Sunday,September 15-17, from noon to 11PM. Free Parking. Free Admis-sion. Rain or Shine. Location: TheCathedral Center, 162 GoddardAvenue, Brookline, Mas-sachusetts near Holy Cross GreekOrthodox School of Theology.For more information, call 617-731-6633.
October 13AAlleexxaannddrriiaa,, VVaa.. The AmericanHellenic Institute 3rd AnnualBenefit Golf Tournament, at theGreendale Golf Course in Alexan-dria (6700 Telegraph Road, TEL:703-971-6170). Breakfast at 7:30AM. Shot-Gun Start at 8:30 AM.For more information, contactTaryn at 703-283-4770.
November 3-4PPoorrttllaanndd,, OOrree.. aanndd SSeeaattttllee,,WWaasshh.. “The Divine Liturgy byTchaikovsky,” the work whichopened the floodgates to new mu-sical creativity in the Russian Or-thodox Church. Presented byCapella Romana. Mark Bailey,Yale Russian Chorus, guest direc-tor. Friday, 8 PM, at St. Mary’sCathedral in Portland (1716 NWDavis Street). Saturday, 8 PM, atHoly Rosary Church in Seattle(4139 42nd Avenue SW). Formore information, call 503-236-8202 (Toll fee: 866-822-7735) orvisit the web at www.capellaro-mana.org.
Until November 26BBaallttiimmoorree,, MMdd.. An antiquities ex-hibition entitled “Things withWings: Mythological Figures inAncient Greek Art” is hosted atthe Walters Art Museum, 600North Charles Street in Balti-more. Exploring the various mani-festations of winged beings in an-cient Greek Art?(410) 547-9000or www.thewalters.org.
NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events section is acomplimentary service to theGreek American community. Allparishes, organizations and institu-tions are encouraged to e-mail theirinformation on any Greek-relatedevent to [email protected].
NEW YORK – Maybe it wasthe solid week of taking ice coldshowers, a novelty on that sizzlingfirst day of the Queens blackout,but a nasty ritual by the time hisseventh morning ablution withoutamenities rolled around, which leftState Assemblyman Michael N. Gi-anaris more than a little steamed.
Or maybe it was the fact thatwhen all things electric faded toblack at his home in Astoria on thenight of July 17, he was in videoheaven, in the midst of pitching aTom Glavine shutout on his MajorLeague Baseball 2K6 video base-ball game – brutal timing for anyMets lover.
He says it gets worse: When hedialed Consolidated Edison to askwhy his neighborhood’s power,along with his baseball mojo, hadvanished, he was connected with ageneric recording which assuredhim Con Ed was on the case. Thenit hung up on him. Politicians hatenot getting the last word in.
Talk about having multiple mo-tives for seeking vengeance againsthis very, very local utility company;the big blue power plants whichsupply 60 percent of the city’s elec-tricity loom just around the cornerfrom his home and his office. Heused to think of Con Ed as a prettyuseful neighbor. Not anymore.
Mr. Gianaris, a clean-shaven 36with or without hot water, was theguy caught smirking behind MayorMichael R. Bloomberg at the July24 news conference at which the
mayor gave Con Ed Chief Execu-tive Kevin Burke, a figurative paton the head for the company’s ef-forts to end the power failure whichmarooned 100,000 residents ofwestern Queens in utilities limbo.
A smirk may be worth a thou-sand words, but Mr. Gianaris, ac-companied by his fellowDemocrats, Councilors Eric N.Gioia and Peter F. Vallone Jr., al-so piped up to let it be known thatthey, unlike the mayor, were de-manding Mr. Burke’s head on aproverbial platter – or a manholecover, whichever was hotter. Theystill are.
and its mission domestically andabroad. I strongly believe this ef-fort will help AHEPA grow,” Mr.James said.
“This past year was a successfuland productive year for AHEPA,and even though I don’t want tobore you by going into detail of ev-ery single thing on my agenda fornext year, I’ll tell you this: Weneed to place AHEPA on the in-ternational map,” he added.
Mr. James also said AHEPAdeserves even greater recognitionby the United States Congress, aswell as the White House. “We areplanning to have multiple meet-ings in Washington, DC in orderto achieve this goal,” he said.
“If I’m going somewhere youwant to go, just hop on the bus andenjoy the ride,” Mr. James said to
delegates, emphasizing the needfor good communication betweenthe Supreme Lodge, local chaptersand all members across the coun-try.
Mr. James also thanked outgo-ing Supreme Lodge members, hiswife Helen, and his family for theirsupport. An attorney by profes-sion, he is President & CEO of theKaufman & Canoles law firm inNorfolk, Virginia.
Mr. James, whom many of thisyear’s Convention participants
said they held in high regard, is amember of the Robert E. LeeChapter #122 in Norfolk, one ofthe most vibrant chapters in theAHEPA family. He was born inthe Turkish-occupied Cypriot vil-lage of “Koma tou Yialou,” wherehis father and grandparents areburied. He left Cyprus at the ageof seven with his two sisters. He isa member of the Order of SaintAndrew the Apostle – Archons ofthe Ecumenical Patriarchate inConstantinople, and a member theAnnunciation Cathedral in Nor-folk.
Mr. Gulas, who had earlier toldthe National Herald he felt it wasnot right that Mr. James ran unop-posed last year, expressed goodsportsmanship, but added that theConvention could have been bet-ter attended by the AHEPA fami-ly’s youth: “Let me be the first to
congratulate Gus on his re-elec-tion and wish him the best. TheConvention was not as well-at-tended as I believed it should havebeen. Usually, there is an extraor-dinary showing by our youth at aresort site, but that wasn’t the casein Hollywood this year. The factthat we are not connecting withthese, our future members, re-mains a concern of mine,” he said.
When asked if he would seekthe organization’s top office nextyear, Mr. Gulas did not disclose
any intentions to do so, but said hewould focus on AHEPA’s civicconcerns: “As for my (future)plans, I will continue to work forAHEPA to allow it to remain vi-able for my children’s generation.I will focus my energy this year onthe Cooley’s Anemia Foundationand our CURE Campaign to com-bat this devastating illness,” hesaid.
According to AHEPA's officialpress release concerning the elec-tion results, “the balance of thenew Supreme Lodge is a blend ofveteran leadership combined withenergetic newcomers.”
They are as follows: SupremeVice President Gus Stefanadis;Supreme Treasurer Dr. JohnGrossomanides, Jr.; Supreme Sec-retary Nick Karacostas; SupremeGovernors Mark Alevizos, Antho-ny Drakos, Anthony Kouzounis,Michael Manios, Harry Psaltis,James Selimos, Spiro Vasilakisand Tom Cavalaris; CanadianPresident Fotis Antoniou;Supreme Counselor Chris Rockas;and Supreme Athletic DirectorDr. Monthe N. Kofos.
AHEPA held its Grand Ban-quet last Friday evening, July 28.His Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios of America flew infrom New York City in order to at-tend the event.
“It’s my pleasure to be amongyou tonight. This is a beautifulplace, and I am thankful for thisinvitation,” the Archbishop said.“AHEPA has come a long wayover the past few years. This greatorganization is not only promotingHellenism, but our Greek Ortho-dox faith, as well. It is an absolutenecessity to maintain and promoteHellenism in a society that iscalled ‘the melting pot.’ What hasmade this organization so verystrong over the past few years is itsstrong leadership. Its members arecommitted, dynamic people whocare deeply about the communityand their organization.”
AHEPA’s 84th annual Conven-tion was considered unique bymany who attended.
This year, for the first time, theConvention presented AHEPAEXPO, a unique trade show andexhibition promoting trade rela-tions between the American andCanadian Hellenic communities,which together exceed 2.5 million
people. The EXPO drew morethan 5,000 visitors.
Families had an opportunity toenjoy enjoyed the Hellenic Re-union Beach Cookout, a kid’s poolparty, a “Cruise to Nowhere,” andthe always-competitive backgam-mon tournament. Some enjoyedplaying in the annual golf tourna-
ment, while others registered forthe gourmet wine tasting/cookingclasses.
There were also a number ofspecial Convention sessions, in-cluding the Greek Language Semi-nar and the Hellenic Lawyers con-ference; conferences and work-shops; professional and personal
networking functions; and dailymeetings on issues pertaining toHellenic issues.
Delegates and Alternates,AHEPA members, friends andfamilies are now looking forwardto the 85th annual conventionwhich is expected to take place inDenver, Colorado next year.
“I’m also very excited to worktogether with Gus James, theSupreme President of AHEPA,”she added. Mr. James was re-elect-ed to a rare second consecutiveone-year term (see related story,this page).
Dr. Filou was unable to attendthe installation ceremonies lastSunday morning because of a fam-ily emergency.
The Daughters of Penelope wasfounded in 1929 in San Francisco,just a few years after AHEPA’sfounding. Today, the Daughters ofPenelope is a leading, educationaland cultural organization, withchapters throughout the UnitedStates, Canada and Greece.
The Daughters of Penelope’sobjectives are to promote the so-cial, ethical and intellectual inter-ests of its members; to perpetuatethe study of American ideals; toencourage Hellenic Studies; tocultivate citizenship and patrio-tism for the United States ofAmerica and other countrieswhere chapters exist; and to pre-serve the ideals and traditions ofHellenism as a contribution to thedevelopment of America.
A non-partisan and non-de-nominational group, all Daughtersof Penelope members participatein local chapters which conductmeetings and sponsor civic, educa-tional, charitable and social activi-ties.
Chapter officers are elected an-nually by their memberships. TheDaughters’ regional districts orga-nize regional seminars, confer-ences, events and fund drives. Dis-trict officers are elected annuallyat district conventions.
The Daughters also engage invarious local, regional and nation-al philanthropic projects. As aleading Greek American organiza-tion for women, the Daughters ofPenelope encourages its membersto participate in local communityprojects. Many achievements are amatter of record and are recog-nized nationwide.
The diversity and uniqueness of
the organization’s membershipcontinues to enhance its growth.
Some of the projects whichhave benefited through the gen-erosity of the Daughters of Pene-lope include the Barbara BushFoundation for Family Literacy,the Cooley’s Anemia Foundation,the Deborah Heart & Lung Hospi-tal, the Ellis Island Restoration,Holy Cross Greek OrthodoxSchool of Theology, the Papanico-laou Comprehensive Cancer Cen-ter, the Penelope Shelter for Bat-tered Women, the Ronald Mc-Donald House, Saint Basil’sAcademy, Save a Heart, SIDS(Sudden Infant Death Syndrome),juvenile diabetes, kidney disease,multiple sclerosis, Kalamataearthquake victims, local homelessshelters and sale of World War IIU.S. War Bonds.
SSOONNSS AANNDD MMAAIIDDSSElias Papadopoulos of Toron-
to, Ontario was elected the newsupreme president of the Sons ofPericles. He said he is looking for-ward to working with his brothersto help increase membership.
“This year, we look forward toanother successful year for theSons of Pericles. Our priority,once again, is membership. Ourtheme this year reflects how theSupreme Lodge feels about beinga Son: ‘Greek by Birth – Sons byChoice.’ “We are very proud to beSons of Pericles, and all aspects ofthe Order make the Sons the mostdiverse and unique Greek Ameri-can organization for young men,”he said.
Eleven young Greek Ameri-cans first conceived of the idea andorganized the Sons of Pericles. To-gether with the aid of some Ahep-ans from the Manchester, NewHampshire chapter, these youngmen were the first members of theOrder and are known collectivelyas the Mother Lodge of the Sonsof Pericles.
The first chapter named itselfthe “Queen City Chapter.” Its firstofficers were installed in February1926. Within a year, the first na-tional convention was held in Low-ell, Massachusetts, with 14 chap-
ters in the fraternity. In 1928, the Sons were recog-
nized as the Junior Order ofAHEPA, in Detroit. At theSupreme Convention in Akron,Ohio in 1932, the Order eventuallyexpanded its jurisdiction to Mon-treal, Quebec.
In 1938, an excursion to Greecegave the Sons the inspiration forthe first of many national projects.A visit to Missolonghi inspired thededication of a monument to theheroes of the Greek Revolution.After approval of both Houses ofCongress, the monument was pre-sented as an expression of good-will from America to Greece. In1985 the Sons of Pericles raised$10,000 to bring the Greek SpecialOlympics team to the WinterGames in Utah.
Maria Panagiotou of Albany,New York was elected grand presi-dent of the Maids of Athena. Sheemphasized the spirit of unityamong women in the Greek
American community.“It is my honor and pleasure to
serve you as the new Maids ofAthena grand president. MariaMastrokyriakos, my predecessor,has done such a wonderful job asyour president this past year,”Miss Panagiotou said during theinstallation ceremony. “GreekAmerican women have proven onmultiple occasions that we areunited.”
The Maids of Athena wasfounded in July 1930 by thenAHEPA Supreme PresidentThomas Lentgis. At that time, thefirst chapter, “Sparta 1,” wasfounded with 12 original members.A charter was granted in Novem-ber 1937. Charters were thengranted to “Alethea 2” in Seattle,“Diana 3” in Portland, Oregonand “Ariadne 4” in Vancouver,British Columbia. By the end of1937, there were 20 chapters and atotal membership of 444.
The Maids’ first constitutionand ritual were authored in 1935.At the 1950 Supreme Conventionin Cleveland, the Maids officiallybecame the Junior Auxiliary of theDaughters of Penelope. In 1953,the first National Convention ofthe Maids of Athena was held inHouston. The first Maids ofAthena Grand Lodge was electedin 1954 at the Pittsburgh Conven-tion.
In 1971, the Sons of Periclesand Maids of Athena undertookthe same national project for thefirst time, raising more than$30,000 for multiple sclerosis. Al-so, the national newsletter, Eleft-heri Zoi, came into prominence.
In 1982, the Sons and Maids, incontinued cooperation, held theirfirst biennial Youth Salute. Thefirst honoree was U.S. SenatorPaul Sarbanes of Maryland, with1972 Democratic Vice Presiden-tial Nominee Sargent Shriver(1984), journalist Ike Pappas(1986) and Congressman GeorgeGekas of Pennsylvania (1988) tofollow.
Together, both youth organiza-tions have several thousand mem-bers.
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while the right-end man wentthrough the most extravagant ca-pers. During this dance, if it couldbe called a dance, all sang in a verymonotonous tone, repeating thesame words over and over. The ag-ile right-end man suited his actionsto the words, evidently, and at theproper periods leaped in the air,threw his feet sideways and turnedaround, regaining his feet with afling under the arm of his nextcomrade, to whom he was joinedby a handkerchief instead of clasp-ing his hand. At intervals the endman was relieved until all hadbeen given a chance to caper. Theykept up this demonstration forover two hours, while their com-panions gazed on in admiration,and the emigrants outside the en-closure jeered at them and mim-icked their chant (New YorkTimes, May 7, 1888).”
The next account may be tied tothe World’s Fair, which was justthen being mounted in Chicago.The “dance der ventre” is whatWestern Europeans in the late1880’s and early 1900’s called allforms of what is today known asbelly dancing.
“A party of five Egyptians andtwo Grecian dancers were amongthe passengers who were landedon Ellis Island yesterday from thesteerage of the steamship Obdam.They come to this country to intro-duce a new dance – “der ventre,”they call it – the feature of which isa sensuous, swaying movement ofthe body, which is said to havemade quite a hit among the sensa-tion-loving Parisians. Four of theEastern visitors are dusky-facedyoung men.
One of the others is a hand-some Greek girl. The other twoare daughters of the Nile. The par-ty is in charge of Stamadi Polenei,a young Grecian woman. Shecame in the saloon of the Obdam.She did not call at the island forher charges yesterday, and theywere consequently detained (NewYork Times December 3, 1892).”
The real question here is whowas Stamadi Polenei? Was she al-
so a dancer? Was she a promoter?LLIITTTTLLEE EEGGYYPPTT
Ever since 1893, when GeorgePangalos, the Greek businessmanfrom Constantinople, first intro-duced Balkan and Middle Easterndancers to North America via theWorld’s Fair Columbian Exposi-tion in Chicago, this centuries-olddance form has met both heartfeltacceptance and open disdain. Thevarious dancers, even the mediacreated figure of “Little Egypt,”were all the rage from May 1 toOctober 31, 1893 when the Chica-go World’s Fair was host to 27 mil-lion visitors – nearly one quarter ofthe country’s population at thetime.
The overwhelming popularityof the Midway on which the vari-ous foreign theaters were foundhad a huge influence on popularculture in the 20th Century. Notonly did the “… display of ‘nativevillages’ on the Midway of Chica-go’s 1893 Columbian Expositioninspired circuses to enlarge theirown displays of tribal people.
The Midway also stimulatedthe idea for a collective amuse-ment company… and the carnival,as we know it, was born. Bringingcakes, rides, food, music and the-atrical entertainment into onecomplex was an idea heartily ap-proved by the entertainers andtheater managers who peopled theMidway and the Wild West Show.By the turn of the century, the firstpermanent iteration of the con-cept of the Midway was estab-lished at Coney Island, New Yorkand has been followed by scores ofpermanent amusement and themeparks throughout the country – in-cluding Disneyland and DisneyWorld (www.xroads.virginia.edu).”
Little Egypt was the stage namefor at least two popular exoticdancers: Ashea Wabe, who dancedat the Seeley banquet in Chicago(causing a scandal at the time),and Frieda Mahzar Spyropoulos(died, 1937), both appeared (asdid other women dancers) in theEgyptian Theatre on the Fair’sMidway. Frieda Mahzar married ayoung Greek who was a vendor atthe Fair: Andrew Spyropoulos
(1882-1955). AALLRREEAADDYY EESSTTAABBLLIISSHHEEDDWhat few Greek Americans to-
day realize is that there was al-ready an established form of“Greek dance” when their ances-tors arrived in North America.These Greek dances were most of-ten performed by the youngdaughters of America’s upperclasses, who would don gauzywhite costumes and perform“Greek Suites” of classical dances.These dances were inspired byIsadora Duncan’s free interpreta-tion of classical Greek dances, af-ter she studied dance figures onthe classical vases at the BritishMuseum. These dances were verypopular among the upper classesin the Roaring Twenties.
Not everyone cared for thesefree interpretations of classicaldance. Edna St. Vincent Millay(1892-1950), the renowned Ameri-can poet, once complained: “I amtired of the Greek dance. I amtired of a group of respectableyoung women garbed in pastelshades of home-dyed cheesecloth,limping discreetly about, in reti-cent abandon, to the tune of some-thing or other in three-four time. Iam tired of the curved elbow, thedangling hand, the lifted knee, thethrown-back head, the partedmouth, the inarticulate bust re-strained by a bath-cord… the lookthat registers horror, the look thatregisters woe, the look that regis-ters that Spring is here… Why is itthe girls of so many of our bestfamilies, the hope of our land, asyou might say, insist upon gettingall safety-pinned up into severalyards of mosquito-netting… (andthen are found) standing aroundsomebody’s golf links?”
This sort of dancing was far dif-ferent from the Greek dancing onecould see during this same periodin any Greektown in the nation.Louis Adamic (1899-1951), theSlovenian American who wroteextensively on the 1880-1920 mas-sive wave of immigrants to theUnited States, offered this de-scription of the urban American“Greek dance” one could see bythe late 1900’s (interestingly,
Adamic uses the Bulgarian term,“kyotchek” for belly dancing):
“In large cities like Chicago,Detroit and St. Louis, where thereare large colonies of Balkan immi-grants, there are coffeehouses forthe different strata of immigrantsociety-dingy places for the menialworkers and luxuriously appointedparlors that cater to the intelli-gentsia and the business class. Acoffeehouse is generally located ina big hall, either on the first or sec-ond floor of a building. It is fur-nished with marbled-topped tablesand chairs with wire-twisted legs…at the back of the hall, there is asmall kitchen where the proprietorbrews the coffee and the tea whichhe himself serves to his patrons.Lokum, baklava and other Orien-tal delicacies are also served, inaddition to bottled American softdrinks… The kyotchek troupe (i.e.,the belly dance ensemble appear-ing in these coffeehouses) consistsof two girls and three men, the lat-ter making the orchestra of a vio-lin, a clarinet and a xylophone.The girls, mostly American-born,schooled by the managers to singobscene Turkish and Greek songs,and to dance the sensuous ky-otchek, are generally plump ofbody – a discernment on the partof the producers, they having tak-en into consideration the tastes ofthe patrons…
The troupes now form in Chica-go and first present themselves tothe critical eyes of the ChicagoGreeks. If the girls ‘can do theirstuff’ and meet the approval of theblasé Chicago first-nighters, theyare instantly booked for long peri-ods… with contracts for extendedand profitable visits to Detroit andother Midwest cities.”
As we can see, it is not so diffi-cult to locate eyewitness accountsof Greeks dancing from 1888 untilthe very early 1920’s. How muchmore Greek American history isjust waiting to be rediscovered andbrought to our collective atten-tion?
By Theodore KalmoukosSpecial to The National Herald
BOSTON – The Mayor ofNashville, Tennessee (known asthe “Athens of the South”), theHonorable Bill Purcell, had onlywords of praise for Greece, theGreek American community andHellenism in general.
In an interview with the Nation-al Herald, Mayor Purcell, a promi-nent and acknowledged Phil-Hel-lene in the southern states, wasfriendly, accessible and enthusias-tic about Nashville.
Mayor Purcell considered thepresence of representatives fromparishes throughout the UnitedStates during the biennial Clergy-Laity Congress in Nashville a cou-ple of weeks ago an event of greatsignificance for his city, and saidhe was deeply impressed by Arch-bishop Demetrios of America,adding that he holds theParthenon’s replica in Nashville,which has become a symbol for allpeople who love liberty, educationand spirituality. The text of the in-terview follows:
TTNNHH:: How do you feel aboutthe fact that the Greek OrthodoxChurch of America is having its bi-ennial Clergy-Laity Congress inyour city?
PPUURRCCEELLLL:: I am genuinely ex-cited for this Congress to be here. Ithink it’s a great honor for us; infact, as it was explained to me, thisis the smallest city in terms of pop-ulation that was ever chosen tohost a Clergy-Laity meeting. I alsobelieve that our Greek Orthodoxcommunity here is actually thesmallest community of any of thecities where the Clergy-Laity hasbeen held before. It was great hon-or and a vote of confidence forboth the community and FatherMarc Arey, as well as forNashville. The organizers believedthat we could do it, and they wereright.
TTNNHH:: Would you talk to usabout your fair city?
PPUURRCCEELLLL:: Nashville today isat its peak performance as a city.We’re at a moment in our historywhen we are doing more thingsright and receiving more nationalattention than ever before, andwhen the successes here are in-creasingly visible literally around
the world. We are number-one inexpansion and relocation of busi-ness; number-one this year as oneof the most livable places, so forme, it’s the perfect time for anyoneto come to Nashville. What madeus more excited about the meetingoccurring here was the first visit ofHis Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios to Nashville, when wehosted the local Clergy-Laity As-sembly of the Detroit Metropolisalmost two years ago. I was sodeeply impressed by His Emi-nence; by his love for the Church;his love for everyone in the
Church; and frankly, his love forall people of God. And that feelinghas stayed with me.
TTNNHH:: You paid a visit to him inNew York also.
PPUURRCCEELLLL:: I did. In fact hisvisit here was so memorable to me,that when we went to New YorkCity for the annual country musicawards show, there were only twopeople that I visited there. Onewas Mayor Bloomberg and theother was Archbishop Demetrios.They were actually on the top ofmy list, and I felt good to have thatchance to visit both of them. I hadno idea that they were not onlyneighbors, but also friends.
TTNNHH:: What do you hear fromyour citizens here in Nashville?What are they saying about theGreek Orthodox Clergy-LaityCongress?
PPUURRCCEELLLL:: Initially, there wassome surprise, perhaps, that wewere chosen. We have, for a longtime, rejoiced at being called “theAthens of the South,” and that ofcourse came from the presence ofthe Parthenon replica here, as wellas our interest in education. Ithink this year’s Clergy-LaityCongress has made our connec-tion with Athens and Greece more
real than before. It has been a great way to high-
light not simply the architecturalconnections, but the human andspiritual connections between thiscountry and Greece, and peoplehere and the Orthodox Church inthe world.
TTNNHH:: What does the presenceof the Parthenon replica mean tothe city, and to you personally?
PPUURRCCEELLLL:: We recognize thatwe have something very specialthere – the only full-size replica ofthe Parthenon in the world. Weknew, really from the start, at thecentennial 110 years ago, when webuilt that Parthenon, that the city
recognized there was somethingspecial about the Parthenon andits symbolic meaning. There werea number of other symbols andbuildings that were created at thetime of the centennial celebration,and now the only one that hasbeen preserved from that time wasthis Parthenon. I don’t think thatthey understood the power of thatsymbol, but over time, Nashvillecame to be a place of learning; ofclassical interest; of connection tohistory and to the past, with appre-ciation for historic architecture. Ithink it reveals all of the word’scultures and the importance of itall to us, and I hope, as others herebelieve, it can be used as a way forus to better connect ourselves withAthens and with the originalParthenon – with the history andthe people of Greece.
TTNNHH:: Above and beyond eco-nomical growth, what do you thinkis the uniqueness of your city cul-turally, intellectually and spiritual-ly?
PPUURRCCEELLLL:: That’s a very goodand deep question. As a city, weare distinguished by the fact thatwe are delivering those things thatpeople need from a city – in aplace that people want to be, butyour question assumes more thanthat. Nashville has been, from anearly stage, a place that is incredi-bly welcoming and uniquely inclu-sive, and this has been especiallytrue in matters of faith. In mattersof religion, there is no city than Iknow in America that has attract-ed more headquarters of religiousgroups and religious organiza-tions. Many of them are Protes-tant, but it has always been a placethat has encouraged everyone whowanted to be here.
TTNNHH:: What do you mean?PPUURRCCEELLLL:: This is an especial-
ly welcoming city. The last twoyears, we have been chosen thefriendliest city in America. I wasn’tborn here. I was born in Philadel-phia. I entered law school here. Iwas elected to the State Legisla-ture. I was the Majority Leader inthe Tennessee House of Repre-sentatives for six years, and thenthree years later, I ran for mayor.My predecessor (Phil Bredesen)was from upstate New York. Hewas mayor for eight years, and nowhe is governor of the state.
BBAAYYEETTIISS,, NNIICCKK – The Recordreported that Nick Bayetis, 81, ofHackensack, New Jersey diedWednesday, July 26. Before retir-ing, he was manager of dealercomputer services for Ford Mo-tors. He was a U.S. Navy veteranof World War II and a member ofVFW Post 7408 in Maywood, NewJersey. He was a member ofAHEPA and Saint AthanasiosGreek Orthodox Church in Para-mus, New Jersey. Arrangementswere by the Vander Plaat Memori-al Home in Paramus.
DDAAVVLLOOPPOOUULLOOSS,, PPEETTRROOSS –The Chicago Tribune reported onJuly 28 that Petros Davlopoulos,32, devoted son of Dean and Anas-tasia Davlopoulos (nee Ligdopou-los); dear brother of Demetrios,George, Christos (Giannoula) andKonstantinos Davlopoulos; andfond uncle of Anastasia and Kata-rina passed away. Visitation wason Sunday afternoon, July 30, atthe Smith-Corcoran FuneralHome in Chicago. Funeral ser-vices were held on Monday morn-ing, July 31, at Saint DemetriosGreek Orthodox Church in Chica-go. Burial was at Elmwood Ceme-tery. In lieu of flowers, memorialdonations to his family would beappreciated. Arrangements wereby John G. Adinamis (TEL: 773-736-3833).
KKOOTTIINNAASS,, GGEEOORRGGEETTTTAA –– TheChicago Tribune reported on July28 that Georgetta "Georgia" Koti-nas (nee Filaretos) passed away.She was the loving mother ofWilliam (Jeanette) Kotinas of Ar-vada, Colorado and Demetre"Jean" Kotinas of Phoenix, Ari-zona; devoted daughter of the lateConstantine and Stella Grumbos;proud grandmother of MicheleMarie (Timothy) Harrelson; greatgrandmother of Mark Daniel andRachel Marie Harrelson; dear sis-ter of Chris (Maria), Peter(Josephine) Grumbos, Georgia(the late Robert) Fabro and thelate Bessie Anton; and fond auntof many nieces and nephews. Shewas a member of the HellenicGolden Circle of the HellenicFoundation. Visitation was on Fri-
day afternoon, July 28, at theSmith-Corcoran Funeral Home inChicago. Funeral services wereheld on Saturday morning, July 29,at Saint Demetrios Greek Ortho-dox Church in Chicago. Burial wasat Elmwood Cemetery. In lieu offlowers, donations to the HellenicFoundation or Saint DemetriosChurch would be appreciated. Ar-rangements were by John G Adi-namis (TEL: 773-736-3833).
MMAARRIISS,, EELLEEFFTTHHEERRIIAA –– TheTampa Tribune reported that Elef-teria Maris, 86, of New PortRichey, Florida died on Wednes-day, July 26, at the Marliere CareCenter in New Port Richey. Shewas born in Karpathos, Greece andmoved to Tarpon Springs from Ja-maica, New York in 1979, and thento New Port Richey this year. Shewas a homemaker and a member ofSaint Nicholas Greek OrthodoxCathedral in Tarpon Springs, andalso a member of the KarpathianSociety and Society of SPOA inKarpathos. She is survived by herdaughter, Sofia, of New PortRichey; three granddaughters,Elefteria Hotalen, Anna M. Goffand Sophia M. Matsangos; a grand-son, Benny Karas; and eight greatgrandchildren. Funeral serviceswere held on Friday afternoon, July28, at the Cathedral. Burial was atthe Cycadia Cemetery in TarponSprings. Arrangements were by theThomas B. Dobies Funeral Homein Tarpon Springs.
PPAAPPPPAASS,, RRUUTTHH CC.. – The SouthFlorida Sun-Sentinel reported thatRuth C. Pappas (nee Kanas), 98,formerly of Pompano Beach, Flori-da passed away at her residence onFriday, July 28. She was thebeloved wife of the late Charles A.Pappas, formerly of Staten Island.She is survived by her loving son,Demetrios (Jim) and wife Judie;grandchildren Deanna and James;and the beloved family companionJayne Gillespie and nieces andnephews. Calling hours were heldat the Baird-Case Jordan-FanninFuneral Home in Fort Lauderdale,Florida (TEL: 954-492-4000) onMonday evening, July 31. Funeralservices were held on Tuesday
morning, August 1, at SaintDemetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch in Fort Lauderdale. Burialwas at Forest Lawn Memorial Gar-dens-North in Pompano Beach,Florida.
PPAAPPPPAASS,, SSAAMMUUEELL JJ.. – The Bal-timore Sun reported that SamuelJ. Pappas passed away on July 28.He was the devoted father ofJames and John Pappas; belovedson of Harriet and the late JamesPappas; and the dear brother ofLeo J. Pappas. A Trisagion servicewas held at the Leonard J. RuckFuneral Home in Echodale, Mary-land on Sunday evening, July 30.Mr. Pappas will lie in state at SaintDemetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch In Baltimore on Mondaymorning, July 31. Burial was at theadjoining cemetery.
PPEETTSSOOUULLIISS,, NNAAPPOOLLEEAANN KK.. –The Duluth News-Tribune report-ed on July 29 that Napoleon K. Pet-soulis, 80, of Duluth, Minnesotapassed away. Funeral services wereheld on Saturday morning, July 29,at the Twelve Holy Apostles GreekOrthodox Church in Duluth, withRev. Tim Sas officiating. Burial wasthat afternoon at the Saint Mary'sGreek Orthodox Church section atLakewood Cemetery in Minneapo-lis. Arrangements were by theDougherty Funeral Home (TEL:218-727-3555).
that George N. Psyllas, 52, passedaway on July 27. He was the lovingson of Nick and Stathoula Psyllas;father to Nickolaos, John, Eliza-beth, Christopher, Nicole and Ed-ward; grandfather to Kaley; broth-er to Fotini (Andreas) Karpouzos,Koula (Andreas) Papanastasiou,Bill Psyllas and John Psyllas. He isalso survived by many cousins,nieces and nephews. A Trisagionservice was held on Sunday, July30, at the Assumption Greek Or-thodox Cathedral in Denver, withfuneral services on Monday morn-ing, July 31, at the Cathedral.
VVRROOUUSSTTOOUURRIISS,, BBEEAATTRRIICCEE ––The Chicago Tribune reported onJuly 9 that Beatrice "Beka" Vrous-touris (nee Cromydas) passedaway. She was the cherished wifeof the late George Vroustouris;devoted mother of Dr. Margot(Dr. Nicholas Kordos) Touris,Dorothea Touris and Alexander(Lori) Vroustouris; fond grand-mother of Nicole Alexa, Peter,Alexandra and Gus; loving sisterof the late Demetri, the lateSophia and the late Ifegenia; fondaunt of many nieces and nephews;and friend to many. Funeral ser-vices were held at Saint DemetriosGreek Orthodox Church in Chica-go on Monday morning, July 10.Burial was at Memorial ParkCemetery. At her request, kindlyomit flowers. Donations to St.Demetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch (TEL: 773-561-5992) orthe charity of one's choice wouldbe appreciated. Funeral arrange-ments were under the direction ofGeorge W.M. Vergos (TEL: 847-768-5800).
XXEENNOOFFAANNEESS,, RREEVV.. GGEEOORRGGEE AA..– The Star Ledger reported thatFather George A. Xenofanes, 70,of Galloway, New Jersey died athis home on Sunday, July 30. Bornon October 26, 1935 in Newark, heattended Farleigh Dickinson Uni-versity, where he earned a bache-lor’s degree in Industrial Engi-neering and a master’s in BusinessAdministration. Father Xenofanesworked for numerous industrialcompanies over the years, but inthe early 1990’s, he received a call-ing to serve God and the GreekOrthodox Church. He attendedthe Saint Sophia Ukrainian Ortho-dox Seminary. He was ordained tothe Diaconate in 1995, and to thePresbyterate in 1996. He became apriest serving the Greek OrthodoxChurch in America, serving as pas-tor of Saint Nicholas Greek Or-thodox Church in Atlantic City forthe past few years. He loved hisHellenic traditions, his family and,most importantly, his Church. Hewas a member of AHEPA andother cultural organizations. Fa-ther Xenofanes is survived by hisbeloved wife, PresvyteraStavroula, and numerous relativeshere and in Greece. Visitation washeld at Saint Nicholas Church onMonday afternoon and evening,July 31. A Divine Liturgy in FatherXenofanes’ memory was held onTuesday morning, August 1, at theChurch, followed by a funeral ser-vice afterwards. Burial was at Lau-rel Memorial Park in Pomona,New Jersey. Arrangements wereby the Jeffries-Keates FuneralHome, a Life Celebration funeralhome in Northfield, New Jersey.In lieu of flowers, donations in Fa-ther Xenofanes’ memory may bemade to Saint Nicholas Greek Or-thodox Church (13 S. Mount Ver-
non Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ09401, TEL: 609-348-3495).
ZZAAHHAARRIIAASS,, EEPPAAMMIINNOONNDDAASS –The Greensboro News & Recordreported that Epaminondas Za-harias, 75, of Liberty, North Car-olina died at his home on Wednes-day, July 26. Burial was at theGilmore Memorial Park in Julian,North Carolina. Mr. Zaharias wasborn on September 24, 1930 inGreece to Christo and VenetiaParas Zaharias. He was employedas a chef in the restaurant industry.He is survived by his wife Doris ofLiberty; his daughters Lydia,Venetia and Maria Zaharias; hisson Christo Zaharias of NewYork; his brothers Peter Paras,John Zaharias; his sister DespinaZaharias of Greece; and his grand-children, Zoe Cheyenne Zaharias,Michael Long and David Long.Funeral services were held on Sat-urday morning, July 29, at theDormition of the TheotokosGreek Orthodox Church inGreensboro, North Carolina withthe Rev. Dionysios Listermann-
Vierling officiating. Arrangementswere by the Loflin Funeral Homein Liberty.
ZZIIMMMMAARR,, SSOOPPHHIIAA – The Chica-go Tribune reported on July 2 thatSophia Zimmar (nee Kanellis), 91,passed away. She was the belovedwife of the late Peter Zimmar; lov-ing mother of George (Doulie),Peggy (and the late David) Zim-mar; proud grandmother of Sofiaand Peter Zimmar; dear sister ofAngeliki (and the late Frank)Nicholas, Matina (George) Isiari-otis and John (Annetta) Kanellis;and the fond aunt of many niecesand nephews both stateside and inGreece. She was a member ofPhiloptochos. Funeral serviceswere held on Monday morning,July 3, at the Annunciation GreekOrthodox Cathedral in Chicago.Burial was at Elmwood Cemetery.Kindly omit flowers. Memorials tothe Annunciation Cathedral ap-preciated (1017 N. LaSalle, Chica-go, IL 60610). Arrangements wereby John G. Adinamis (TEL: 773-736-3833).
6 OBITUARIES/CLASSIFIEDS THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 5, 2006
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By Kyung M. SongSeattle Times
KIRKLAND, Wash. – Anasta-sios "Tasso" Tsantilas was a proudGreek American. But pragmatismbeat out patriotism when heopened a restaurant in Kirkland in1973 and named it Athens Pizza &Spaghetti House.
The restaurant's fare was moreItalian than Greek, a concession totaste buds unaccustomed to Hel-lenic cuisine. But Mr. Tsantilaswas among the first Northwestrestaurateurs to serve grinders:foot-long hot submarine sand-
wiches, then popular mostly on theEast Coast.
Mr. Tsantilas' business savvyspawned two more family restau-rants in Auburn, Washington andDes Moines, Iowa. But he heldfirm to his roots as a poor immi-grant. Though he did well enoughto retire at 45, he had few hobbiesand drove a sensible Nissan Sen-tra.
"His life revolved around familyand work," said Janny Devekos, hisoldest child. "That's all it was."
Mr. Tsantilas died on Friday,July 21, after being diagnosed withleukemia in January. He was 72.
Born in Sparta 1934, Mr. Tsan-tilas immigrated to Montreal at 20years of age, and worked as a jani-tor, dishwasher, tailor and taxidriver – often at the same time. Hemarried a Greek woman, VoulaManolakos, later that year.
The family moved to Belling-ham, Washington where Mr. Tsan-tilas found work in a tailor shop.But he soon decided to move toMassachusetts to join his youngerbrother, who owned a pizza parlor.Mr. Tsantilas then opened his ownhole-in-the-wall pizza joint inSouthbridge, Massachusetts.
"He always wanted to open a
restaurant," said George Tsantilas,his youngest son. He said his fa-ther was driven less by a passionfor Greek food than by a desire tosucceed in America.
Mr. Tsantilas moved the familyagain in the late 1960's, this timeto open a pizza place in MountVernon, Washington because hiswife had family in Washingtonstate. In 1973, he opened AthensPizza on Central Way in down-town Kirkland.
Mr. Tsantilas sold the Kirklandrestaurant in 1980 and opened an-other Athens Pizza & SpaghettiHouse in Auburn – for the chal-
lenge of opening another restau-rant.
But in 1994, the new owners ofthe Kirkland restaurant werestruggling, so they sold it back tothe Tsantilas family. It was operat-ed by Janny Devekos and her hus-band, George, under the nameAcropolis Pizza & Pasta until2004, when her younger brother,George Tsantilas, took over.George Tsantilas had operatedAthens Pizza & Pasta in DesMoines from 2000 to 2004.
Janny and George's sister, Eu-genia, and her husband, SpiroAlexopoulos, own Rhodes Pizza
Pasta in Sedro-Woolley in SkagitCounty, Washington.
In addition to his wife and threechildren, Mr. Tsantilas is survivedby his daughter in-law, Eftychia"Happy" Tsantilas, ten grandchil-dren and a great grandson. His el-dest son, Christos, died in 1980.
Funeral services were held onTuesday, July 25. Memorial dona-tions may be made to SaintDemetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch (2100 Boyer Avenue E.,Seattle, WA 98112).
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THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 5, 2006 GREECE/CYPRUS 7
CONSTANTINOPLE (AP) –A Turkish court dropped a lawsuitagainst novelist Orhan Pamuk lastFriday, July 28, rejecting a com-pensation demand by nationalistsfrom the author for claiming thatTurkey had killed more than 1 mil-lion Armenians and more than30,000 Kurds.
Nationalist attorney KemalKerincsiz and five other national-ists, all members of an ultra-rightwing lawyers group known asthe Turkish Jurists' Union, wereseeking 6,000 Turkish Lira($4,500) each from Pamuk accus-ing him of "insulting, humiliatingand making false accusations."
Pamuk was quoted as telling aSwiss newspaper that: "Thirtythousand Kurds and 1 million Ar-menians were killed in these lands,and nobody but me dares to talkabout it."
Kemal Kerincsiz had instigatedan earlier high-profile court caseagainst Pamuk for the same com-ments, but those charges weredropped earlier this year, underharsh criticism from the EuropeanUnion, which Turkey hopes tojoin.
Turkey is still trying dozens ofjournalists or authors for theirwritings or speeches, however.
Turkish authorities have put a
string of Turkish writers and jour-nalists on trial for expressing opin-ions, despite pressure from theEuropean Union – which Turkeyofficially aspires to join – to scraprepressive laws.
The prosecutor's office formal-ly opened a lawsuit last Friday, Ju-ly 28, against a University of Ari-zona assistant professor oncharges of "insulting Turkishness."The case against Elif Shafak, aTurkish citizen, was opened after acourt approved the indictment.
That case was also initiated byKerincsiz.
Shafak will stand trial (thoughno trial date was set) because ofthe words uttered by fictional Ar-menian characters in her novel,"The Bastard of Istanbul," a bookshe wrote while she was living inTucson, Arizona.
The book is a story about anArmenian family in San Franciscoand a Turkish family in Con-stantinople (present-day Istanbul)whose lives intersect over ninedecades.
In the book, an Armenian char-acter says, "I am the grandchild ofgenocide survivors who lost alltheir relatives in the hands ofTurkish butchers in 1915."
Kerincsiz presented the above-cited passage cited as evidence
against the author. Shafak had ar-gued that comments made by fic-tional characters could not be usedto press charges, and the case wasthrown out, but an appeals courtoverruled that decision.
Armenians steadfastly maintainthat as many as 1.5 million of theirancestors were killed in an orga-nized genocidal campaign byTurkish authorities, and havepushed for recognition of thekillings as genocide around theworld.
Turkey vehemently denies thatthe killing of Armenians aroundthe time of World War I was geno-cide.
Turkey acknowledges that largenumbers of Armenians died, butsays the overall figure is inflated,and that the deaths occurred dueto civil unrest during the collapseof the Ottoman Empire.
By Shafer’s own admission, ref-erences to the slaughter of some1.5 million Armenians by Turkishauthorities during and after WorldWar I are, "difficult to digest" be-cause the overwhelming majorityof Turks deny that the genocidetook place.
The book has nonethelesstopped best-seller lists, sellingmore than 50,000 copies since itspublication in March.
On July 27, meanwhile, anotherTurkish writer was acquitted inAnkara of turning people againstmilitary service by defending aconscientious objector in herweekly magazine column. Humanrights groups hailed the decisionas a victory for freedom of expres-sion in Turkey.
A court in Constantinopleruled that Perihan Magden's arti-cle amounted to "heavy criticismconveyed within the scope of free-dom of expression," and did notconstitute a crime.
Magden faced up to three yearsin prison if she was convicted.Rights groups praised the verdict.
The lack of "press freedomshad become unbearable in recentmonths and put Turkey in a humil-iating position," said AhmetAbakay, head of the Contempo-rary Journalists' Association. "Iwant to congratulate the judgewho made this decision. It shouldbe an example to other judges andprosecutors."
Magden is the second defen-dant to be acquitted in recentmonths.
In November, a court acquittedInternet journalist RahmiYildirim of charges of insulting themilitary. In her column, publishedin the weekly Yeni Aktuel maga-zine in December, Magden de-fended conscientious objectorMehmet Tarhan, who was sen-tenced to a record four-year termin a military prison for disobedi-ence after refusing to wear his mil-itary uniform.
Magden argued that Turkeyneeded to establish a civilian ser-vice as an alternative to compulso-ry military conscription (conscrip-tion in Turkey is obligatory formen over 20, and the country doesnot recognize the right to consci-entious objection. Objectors alsohave been prosecuted on chargesof turning people against the mili-tary).
On July 25, a high court con-firmed a six-month prison sen-tence imposed on Armenian-
Turkish journalist Hrant Dink forattempting to influence the judi-ciary after his newspaper ran arti-cles criticizing the law that makesit a crime to insult Turkishness.
Dink, an ethnic Armenian jour-nalist, was given a six-month jailsentence for writing an article, inwhich he exhorted Armenians toovercome their hatred of Turks.The article was construed as an in-sult to Turks.
The court postponed Dink'ssentence and asked a local court toreview the case. Rehn said the rul-ing could serve as an example andset a precedent for similar cases inthe future.
According to the Turkish Pub-lishers' Association, 47 writers arebeing prosecuted on charges thatinclude insulting Kemal Ataturk,the founder of the modern Turk-ish state, and "inciting racial ha-tred."
The cases fly in the face ofbroad reforms introduced in 2002which helped persuade the Euro-pean Union to open long-delayedmembership talks with Turkey.The EU repeatedly has warnedthat it could suspend the talks ifTurkey continues to breach acces-sion requirements.
Ragip Zarakolu, president ofthe Publishers' Association, saidsuch works are gaining a wider au-dience because more Turks areseeking to explore their country'spast.
But the books continue to facea nationalist backlash.
Zarakolu is facing three courtcases over books he has published.Two of them deal with the Arme-nian Genocide.
Turkish Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan's government hassaid it has no plans to change lawsgoverning expression, arguing thatinappropriate charges are eventu-ally dropped and defendants areacquitted.
EU officials argue that, even ifthe charges are dropped, thethreat of prosecution remains adeterrent to people freely express-ing their opinions.
Olli Rehn, the European offi-cial supervising membership talks,said Turkish courts were failing tocomply with European Unionstandards.
Rehn's statement came after acourt confirmed the Dink convic-tion.
Shafak says she believes thewave of prosecutions is part of abroader campaign by those whooppose EU membership.
"In my country, there is a clashof opinions between those whowant Turkey to join the EuropeanUnion and become a more opensociety, and those who want tokeep Turkey as an insular, xeno-phobic, nationalist and closed so-ciety," she said.
Support for EU membershipamong Turks plunged over the lastyear to 43 percent from 74 per-cent, according to one survey. Anda 13-nation Pew Global Attitudesreport released in June said only16 percent of Turks surveyed had afavorable opinion of Christians,while 15 percent had a favorableopinion of Jews.
Greece is littered with antiqui-ties and archaeological sites. Pro-tecting the huge number of sitesand antiquities is difficult.
An untold amount of Greekheritage has been lost to interna-tional smugglers, but now Greeceis fighting back, determined tobring its treasures home.
"Smuggling is a very big prob-lem, and it is becoming bigger bythe day. Everybody in Greece isdoing some kind of digging orlooting somewhere," according toYannis – the name he gives him-self – a key figure in the interna-tional smuggling network.
In an exclusive interview forBBC Radio 4's Crossing Conti-nents, conducted at a secret loca-tion, he revealed his insights.
"It starts at the top, from politi-cians down to ordinary people,and the motivation is always mon-ey. Everyone knows it's illegal.There's dirt on all layers of Greeksociety – a lot of dirt," he said.
The program met up with an-other man who operates incognito,but for the opposite reason – tocatch the thieves.
He is Major Yiorgos Gligores,head of the Art Crime Squad ofthe Greek police, and he is leadingthe current crackdown.
"People are not well-off today,"he said. "This is an alternative wayof making money. It's the same inTurkey, South America, Egypt andItaly, countries where there arelots of antiquities and lots of ruralpoverty. We are the 'source coun-tries' supplying to the 'consumercountries' like the U.S. and theU.K.," he said.
Greece has at least 3,000 muse-ums and open-air archaeological
sites, and about 20,000 shipwrecks.Protecting the antiquities and
stopping the looters has alwaysbeen difficult.
Greek laws governing the own-ership of antiquities are, in fact,very strict: Everything you find onGreek soil belongs to the state,and must be registered.
There is also the 1970 UN-ESCO Convention on CulturalProperty, which supports interna-tional cooperation on ownership.But in both cases, the problem hasbeen enforcement.
Two recent scandals have fo-cused Greek minds on protectingtheir property and on pursuing thelooters.
In the Spring, Gligores and histeam raided the Cycladic islandhomes of the American MarionTrue, a former antiquities curatorat the J. Paul Getty Museum inLos Angeles, and the home of thelate shipping magnate ChristosMichaelides.
More than 300 objects, alleged-ly unregistered, were seized andare currently being investigated.
Mrs. True is currently on trialin Rome for allegedly conspiringto receive stolen antiquities for theGetty Museum. She denies allwrongdoing.
Whatever the verdict, this is thefirst international trial of its kindin the trafficking of illegal antiqui-ties.
TTHHEE MMIIDDDDLLEEMMAANNYannis, the middleman turned
police informer, told the programhow the network operates.
"The looter often knows themiddleman, so he may smuggle toorder. The antiquities, and then goabroad – usually first to dealers inSwitzerland and Germany. Thishappens by lorry and by boat," hesaid.
"Thousands of trucks leaveGreece every day, and the objectsare hidden in boxes and food, likewatermelons. Some objects, suchas Cycladic figurines, can fetchmillions. They are among the mostvaluable antiquities in Greece to-day," he added.
When asked whether he accept-ed responsibility for his crimes,Yannis replied, "First of all, I amnot a looter. I was a middleman.It's the state I blame, and the manygray areas in the law. Even if anobject is ultimately declared 'le-gal,' and has been bought via a bigauction house or dealer, it has of-ten arrived there via illegal digsand dealing.
Governments and museums allover the world are aware of this,and often turn a blind eye. I can'tname names, but I know politi-cians who are involved, either di-rectly or indirectly, in this trade.Some of the world's biggest muse-ums have not explained how theygot their acquisitions, so we haveto assume that these objects havebeen smuggled."
Greece is now putting pressureon museums and collectors to re-turn disputed artifacts. The inter-national consequences of Greece'scrackdown are huge.
In July, the Getty Museumpromised to return two statues. Itis expected that more museumswill follow suit.
Success depends to a large ex-tent on Gligores, a man with a mis-sion. How does he operate?
"As with police all over theworld, we work with our sources.We get tip-offs. Most of the time, Ipose as a buyer or dealer – which iswhy I work undercover and don'tappear in public," he said.
"I spent a long time studyingGreek antiquities when I got this
job. I have to know the prices onthe market. I have to be a good ac-tor, too. I have to know how thelooters think and act. They mustbelieve in me. It's the way youdress, the car you drive, and theplaces you go. You can't pretendto be a millionaire and take themto a small café for lunch. You haveto take them somewhere posh," headded.
But when he was asked whetherhe had the resources and staff tosupport his campaign, the ebul-lient Gligores was subdued.
"We have a total of 27 police of-ficers in the Art Crime Squad. It isnot enough, and there should bemore.
I'd like more police, obviously,and more cars, a helicopter per-haps, and everything that moderntechnology provides. They have allthat in Italy and it shows in theirsuccess.
But combating this crime can'tjust be left up to the Greeks. Nomatter what measures one countrytakes, this is an internationalcrime," he said.
Yannis agrees with Gligores onseveral points: They both loveGreek antiquities and think theyshould be returned to Greece.
"I regret what I did. During mywork, I fell in love with the antiqui-ties, and that's why I stopped.They must not leave this country.The trade is really dangerous to-day, and there are fewer dealers.The police are on their trail. Butpeople are still digging," he said.
NICOSIA (AP) – Hundreds ofpeople related to Americans whohave fled Lebanon are stranded inCyprus, packed in a makeshift ac-commodation center, ad unable toleave until their paperwork hasbeen processed.
United States Embassy officialsin Nicosia call them "the hard cas-es" – the ones who did not get on aflight home within a day of arrivingin Cyprus – and embassy officialssay they hope to process them andget them out in a matter of days.
Some have been there as longas eight days, families with smallchildren who sleep on camp bedsin large rooms, which they sharewith 250 or so other people. Theyhave little privacy, and their pa-tience is wearing thin.
"Every day we go ask them, andthey say 'in two days, in two days,' "said Mirvat Zamnun, 18, who, withher mother and brother, is hopingto return to Chicago, where theyonce lived.
United States State Depart-
ment officials in Washington didnot immediately return a call seek-ing comment.
"I'm worried about me. I'm notfeeling good," Siba Bazzi said, sit-ting at a table inside a restaurantat the evacuees' center at a fair-ground.
Eight months pregnant, she istoo tired to push away her 7-year-old twin boys, Ahmad and Khalil,a rambunctious pair who werepulling at her sleeves.
They are American – born inthe U.S.A. – but she is not, and be-cause of that, she has been waitingfor a visa, tired, miserable andworried.
"If I can't be with my husband,with my family, how should I feel,"she asked, smiling wanly.
About 5,800 miles away inMichigan, her husband TarekHissy, a Lebanese man with aBritish passport and a U.S. greencard, waits impatiently to see hisfamily.
II WWAANNTT MMYY FFAAMMIILLYY BBAACCKK"I'm just frustrated. I want my
wife back. I want my sons back,and I want my baby back," said
Hissy, who manages a chain ofArabic restaurants. He had notbeen in Lebanon with his family."All I'm doing now is waiting," headded.
Embassy officials are workinghard to make the evacuees com-fortable. The center, made up ofseveral pavilions, is air-condi-tioned and includes a restaurantwhere those who fled Lebanon candine for free.
Outside, children play soccerand mothers sit together, shieldingtheir eyes from the sun and shar-ing their stories.
But inside the pavilions, theyare in rooms packed with hun-dreds of camp beds, and many areforced to sleep in the hallways.The buildings are filled withsounds of screaming babies andchattering women. Pillows andsheets are piled up and strewn onthe floor.
The men, for the most part, sitquietly.
Bazzi, 28, arrived from Beiruton the USS Nashville.
"If my husband were here, Icould stay here one month," she
said. "It's so hard for me withoutmy husband, because the kidsdon't listen to me."
Bazzi is Lebanese, but grew upin Sierra Leone and then Congo.She joined relatives in the UnitedStates in 1998, where she marriedher husband. The twins were bornthere.
She had arrived in Michigan ona tourist visa, and stayed illegallyfor years.
Her immigration lawyer toldher that it would be best for her toleave the country while they triedto get her a green card, and shemoved to Lebanon in June.
Now, she is stuck.So is Amira Yassine, 15, who
has been at the center in Nicosiafor five days with her two siblingsand parents, hoping to join rela-tives in Florida. The children areAmerican, but their mother isColombian, and their father isLebanese.
"They give us food. They give usshelter. But the problem is, wedon't know how long we're goingto be here, and our family is reallyworried for us," she said.
8 EDITORIALS/LETTERS THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 5, 2006
When anti-war demonstrators toppled the statue of Harry S. Trumanon July 25, it sent shockwaves rippling through the heart of the GreekAmerican community. Senior officials in Washington, no doubt, took no-tice.
Immature stunts like these are always a setback in bilateral relationsbetween the United States and Greece. But they also can present an op-portunity to re-examine that relationship – on both sides of the Atlantic.
President Truman was a friend to Greece. The Truman Doctrine wasa policy which declared that the U.S. Government would support Greeceand Turkey with military and economic aid to prevent them from fallinginto the Soviet orbit. Truman insisted that, if Greece and Turkey did notreceive the aid they needed, they would inevitably fall to communism,with adverse consequences for the region.
The Truman Doctrine shifted American foreign policy towards theSoviet Union from détente to a policy of containment, and marked theU.S.’s official acknowledgement of the Cold War.
Taking down President Truman’s statue, a gift of the Greek Ameri-can community, was an affront.
With anti-war sentiments raging throughout Europe, and finding pas-sionate expression in Greece, it is clear that people are frustrated withthe horrible situation in Lebanon, and with American foreign policy to-ward the Middle East, in general.
But to take it out on a monument honoring a man who was a truefriend? How does that help?
One way to explain it is to point out that American foreign policy haschanged since Truman’s era, and that certain aspects of U.S. policy havenot exactly been favorable to Hellenic interests. So the symbol of Tru-man flies in the face of policies which are not consistent with his.
Is that what the vandals were thinking when they took down the stat-ue? Who knows? Perhaps some of them were thinking in those terms.
That does not excuse the hooliganism, however. Though they contin-ue to be practiced in the 21st Century, vandalism and violent demonstra-tions are a throwback to irresponsible mentalities of 30-40 years ago.
Hopefully, the U.S. Government understands this incident does notrepresent the attitude of either the current Greek Government or theGreek people as a whole.
Greece is a philanthropic country. Six Greek C-130 military transportplanes have carried humanitarian aid for Lebanon, so far, loaded with tonsof medical supplies, food and water sent by the Greek Foreign Ministry'sHellenic Aid service. That alone speaks volumes about the Greek nation.
As for the Greek Government, it would do well to save face by restor-ing the Truman Statue immediately, and to make sure it remains wellprotected. A senior-level official of the Karamanlis cabinet assured thisnewspaper that steps are being taken in this direction.
www.angelides.comWhen California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, the Democratic gu-
bernatorial nominee for his state, met with British Prime Minister TonyBlair last weekend, he wasted no time in using the opportunity to expressHellenic concerns, urging the British leader to help facilitate resolutionto the longstanding Cyprus dispute.
Not that we expect Mr. Blair to really do anything about it – British in-terests in Cyprus, not to mention the British Government’s duplicityover the years, dictate otherwise – but the point is, Mr. Angelidesdemonstrated his mettle as a political leader, not only as a person ofGreek heritage, but as an American.
Again, it can not be stressed often enough how important this race is.The governor of California, assuming he is an American-born citizen, isautomatically considered Presidential timber.
Any Presidential objectives on Mr. Angelides’ part are still a ways off,of course (he needs to focus on winning the governorship, so that he cancontinue ably serving his state), but the possibility should not be lost onthe Greek American community.
It is very important for us to help Mr. Angelides defeat ArnoldSchwarzenegger this fall, not only because Mr. Angelides is a GreekAmerican, but also because the incumbent has not performed well forour country’s most populous state.
In this week’s lead story, Mr. Angelides is telling us he needs the com-munity’s help to win. We should oblige him and contribute to his cam-paign. It’s easy. Just visit the web at www.angelides.com.
Finally getting it rightWith the re-election of Gus James as president of the largest Greek
American organization, AHEPA is finally getting it right.We have been arguing for a long time that, in order for AHEPA to
advance its mission effectively and successfully, one-year presidenciesare not sufficient.
On a practical level, it only makes sense for a willing and able personlike Mr. James to serve at least two years.
Elections are held at the annual Supreme Convention every July. Bythe time the new Supreme Lodge meets to commence with the upcomingyear’s business, it’s usually September. By March or April, the organiza-tion’s leadership starts thinking about the next convention. In otherwords, the new leadership doesn’t even really use an entire year to pro-mote its causes and agenda, but only eight months or so.
Change is good, but not if it happens too often or too soon.When a new president is elected each year, as has typically been the
case for the last 40-plus years, the ball is dropped, and another agenda ispursued because a new person is in charge.
Through his vigor and actions, Mr. James has demonstrated genuineinterest in re-energizing AHEPA, and largely because of him, the ball isrolling again. He deserved to be re-elected, and AHEPA needs him.
That is not to say AHEPA is a one-man show – only that any organi-zation requires consistent and stable leadership. And consistency andstability require more time than the typical one-year term.
Saving face
Peter Marudas isRight: PatriarchateNeeds New Advisors
To the Editor,
I read Peter Marudas’ two-partarticle on saving the endangeredEcumenical Patriarchate, whichwas printed in the May 13 and May20 editions of your newspaper, andI totally agree with him.
The point he made concerningthe Patriarch’s decision to visitwith Castro in Cuba while, at thesame time, requesting and needingthe United States’ assistance in re-opening the Halki theologicalschool in Turkey is a prime exam-ple of a major blunder.
It is obvious that better advisorsand more experienced talent are
needed at the Patriarchate.
Respectfully submitted,Leo Bournias
Grosse Point, Michigan
FYROM’s OngoingAtempts to FalsifyHistory a Problem
To the Editor:
In the July 15 edition’s pressclippings, Greek Ambassador tothe United States AlexandrosMallias refers to the problems inKosovo. He fails to mention theproblems created by the FormerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia(FYROM) with Greece, however.
The area now referred to asMacedonia was known as Vardars-
ka Banovina. Josip Broz Tito, for-mer dictator of Yugoslavia, re-named it the Yugoslav Republic ofMacedonia mainly because he hada territorial agenda.
His aim was to take over GreekMacedonia and its vital seaport ofThessaloniki.
FYROM’s current attempt tofalsify the history of Greek Mace-donia and its failure to negotiatethe name with Greece are also anindication that Tito’s territorial
plans have not changed, and havebeen adopted by his successors.
It should be noted that thecountry has been admitted to theUnited Nations as FYROM on thecondition that the name will be ne-gotiated with Greece. To date,FYROM has evaded negotiationswith Greece related to the issue.
Respectfully submitted,Athanasia Gregoriades
New York, New York
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By Dan BilefskyThe New York Times
BATMAN, Turkey – For Derya,a waiflike girl of 17, the order to killherself came from an uncle and wasdelivered in a text message to hercell phone. “You have blackenedour name,” it read. “Kill yourselfand clean our shame, or we will killyou first.”
Derya said her crime was to fallfor a boy she had met at school lastspring. She knew the risks: Heraunt had been killed by her grand-father for seeing a boy. But afterbeing cloistered and veiled for mostof her life, she said, she felt free forthe first time and wanted to expressher independence.
When news of the love affairspread to her family, she said, hermother warned her that her fatherwould kill her. But she refused tolisten. Then came the threateningtext messages, sent by her brothersand uncles, sometimes 15 a day.Derya said they were the equivalentof a death sentence.
Consumed by shame and fearingfor her life, she said, she decided tocarry out her family’s wishes. First,she said, she jumped into the TigrisRiver, but she survived. Next, shetried hanging herself, but an unclecut her down. Then she slashed herwrists with a kitchen knife.
“My family attacked my person-ality, and I felt I had committed thebiggest sin in the world,” she saidrecently from a women’s shelter,where she had traded in her veil fora T-shirt and jeans. She declined togive her last name for fear that herfamily was still hunting her. “I felt Ihad no right to dishonor my family;that I have no right to be alive. So Idecided to respect my family’s de-sire and to die.”
EEVVEERRYY FFEEWW WWEEEEKKSSEvery few weeks in Batman
(pronounced, bot-MON) and thesurrounding area in southeast Ana-tolia, which is poor, rural anddeeply influenced by conservativeIslam, a young woman tries to takeher life. Others have been stoned todeath, strangled, shot or buriedalive. Their offenses ranged fromstealing a glance at a boy to wearinga short skirt, wanting to go to the
movies, being raped by a strangeror relative, or having consensualsex.
Hoping to join the EuropeanUnion, Turkey has tightened thepunishment for attacks on womenand girls who have had such experi-ences. But the violence has contin-ued, if by different means: Parentsare trying to spare their sons fromthe harsh punishments associatedwith killing their sisters by pressingthe daughters to take their ownlives instead.
“Families of disgraced girls arechoosing between sacrificing a sonto a life in prison by designatinghim to kill his sister, or forcing theirdaughters to kill themselves,” saidYilmaz Akinci, who works for a ru-ral development group. “Ratherthan losing two children, most optfor the latter option.”
Women’s groups here say theevidence suggests that a growingnumber of girls considered to bedishonored are being locked in aroom for days with rat poison, a pis-tol or a rope, and told by their fami-lies that the only thing resting be-tween their disgrace and redemp-tion is death. Batman is a grim anddusty city of 250,000 people wherereligion is clashing with Turkey’sofficial secularism. The city wasfeatured in the latest novel by theTurkish writer Orhan Pamuk,“Snow,” which chronicled a jour-nalist’s investigation of a suicideepidemic among teenage girls.
In the past six years, there havebeen 165 suicides or suicide at-tempts in Batman, 102 of them bywomen. As many as 36 women havekilled themselves since the start ofthis year, according to the UnitedNations. The organization esti-mates that 5,000 women are killedeach year around the world by rela-tives who accuse them of bringingdishonor on their families; the ma-jority of the killings are in the Mid-dle East.
Last month, the UN dispatcheda special envoy to Turkey to investi-gate. The envoy, Yakin Erturk,concluded that, while some suicideswere authentic, others appeared tobe “honor killings disguised as asuicide or an accident.”
“The calls keep coming,” said
Mehtap Ceylan, a member of Bat-man’s suicide prevention squad.She said she had very recently re-ceived a call about a 16-year-oldgirl who had committed suicide be-cause, the girl’s family said, theywould not let her wear jeans. Butwhen Ms. Ceylan visited the house,neighbors told her the girl had beena happy person, and had beenwearing jeans for years. “The storyjust doesn’t add up,” Ms. Ceylansaid. “The girl’s family says theirdaughter was eating breakfast,walked into the next room and puta gun to her head. They were actingas if nothing had happened.”
Psychologists here say social up-heavals in a region rocked by ter-rorism have played a role in the sui-cides. Many of the victims comefrom families in rural villages whohave been displaced from themountains to the cities because ofwarfare between Turkey and a Kur-dish guerrilla group which wants tocreate an independent state forKurds in southeastern Turkey.
Young women like Derya, whohave previously led protected livesunder the rigid moral strictures oftheir families and Islam, are sud-denly finding themselves in themodern Turkey of Internet datingand MTV. The shift can createdangerous tensions, sometimeslethal ones, between their familiesand the secular values of the repub-lic which those young women seekto embrace.
FFAAMMIILLYY CCOOUUNNCCIILLThe price can be heavy. When a
woman is suspected of engaging insexual relations out of wedlock, hermale relatives convene a familycouncil to decide her sentence.Once news of the family’s shamehas spread to the community, thefamily typically rules it is onlythrough death that its honor can berestored.
The E.U. has warned Turkeythat it is closely monitoring itsprogress on women’s rights andthat failure to progress could im-pede its drive to enter the union.
Until recently, a family memberof a dishonored girl, usually abrother younger than 18, wouldcarry out the death sentence andreceive a short prison sentence be-
cause of his youth. Sentences werealso reduced under the defensethat a relative had been provokedto commit murder. But in the pasttwo years, Turkey has revamped itspenal code and imposed life sen-tences for such killings, known ashonor killings, regardless of thekiller’s age. This has promptedsome families to take other steps,such as forcing their daughters tocommit suicide or killing them anddisguising the deaths as suicides.
In an effort to bring honorkillings out from underground, Ka-Mer, a local women’s group, hascreated a hotline for women whofear their lives are at risk. Ka-Merfinds shelter for the women andhelps them to apply to the courtsfor restraining orders against rela-tives who have threatened them.
Ayten Tekay, a caseworker forKa-Mer in Diyarbakir, the regionalcenter, said that of the 104 womenwho had called the group this year,more than half had been uneducat-ed and illiterate. She said that, insome cases, the families had notwanted to kill their relatives, butthat social pressure and incessantgossip had driven them to it. “Wehave to bring these killings outfrom the shadows and teach wom-en about their rights,” she said.“The laws have been changed, butthe culture here will not changeovernight.”
Derya, fiercely articulate andnewly invigorated after counseling,said she was determined to get onwith her life. “This region is reli-gious, and it is impossible to beyourself if you are a woman,” shesaid. “You can either escape byleaving your family and moving toanother town, or you can kill your-self.” Derya said the underlyingproblem was inequality betweenthe sexes, even though the prophetMuhammad argued in favor of em-powering women. “In my villageand in my father’s tribe, boys are inthe sky, while girls are treated as ifthey are under the earth,” she said.“As long as families do not trusttheir daughters, bad things will con-tinue to happen.”
The Muslim population ofAthens is finally going to get a placeof worship.
It has taken more than 70 years,fierce debate, protests and pleas,but finally, Athens, the only Euro-pean Union capital to lack a Mus-lim place of worship, is poised toget a mosque.
Greece's conservative govern-ment has ended the long-standingrow by naming a location for a "tza-mi" near the city center and pledg-ing to construct it with state funds.
"Our aim is to close this issue,"Public Works & Environment Min-ister George Souflias told a cabinetmeeting before it approved theplan. "And, so we have chosen topay for the mosque and build it inthe Botanikos area, on a site usedby the Hellenic Navy, near a metrostation currently under construc-tion."
The move settles a disputewhich not only strained Greece'straditionally tense ties with neigh-boring Turkey – and also its other-wise excellent relations with theArab world – but infuriated thecountry's growing community ofMuslim immigrants.
At over 200,000 strong (accord-ing to conservative estimates), the
Muslim population in Athens by farexceeds that of Sikhs and Hindusand the tiny Catholic, Jewish andProtestant minorities in the ancientcapital.
"We have asked for a tzami formany years, and now, with this de-cision, we have hope," said MazenRassas, a Palestinian who led thecampaign for the mosque's con-struction. "It is not out in the sticks,which had been our main con-tention before. It is easy to get to."
For the past 20 years, every Fri-day, Mr. Rassas, like thousands ofother faithful Muslims, has beenforced to visit a fetid basementgarage in a far-flung Athens suburbto worship.
Dozens of such makeshiftmosques operate in the backstreetsof the capital, human rights groupssay. That Muslims still had to "meetin secret, in locations unsuited toprayer," was a violation of their ba-sic human rights, the council of Eu-rope said in a report criticizingGreece for its lack of religious tol-erance earlier this year.
Not since the Ottomans evacu-ated Athens in 1821, bringing a500-year rule to an end, has an offi-cial mosque operated within thecity's confines. In 1939, by royal de-
cree and under pressure from Arabstates, the authorities approved theconstruction of a Muslim place ofworship. But after igniting thewrath of Greece's influential Or-thodox church, which protestedthat it was never consulted, theplans foundered on where to placethe mosque.
Anti-Muslim sentiment in a na-tion where an overwhelming 96%of its 11 million population are bap-tized Orthodox Christians, has alsobeen a major obstacle.
Old hatreds were recently ignit-ed when Dora Bakoyanni, Greece'sfirst female foreign minister, pro-posed that an 18th Century mosqueat the foot of the Acropolis be re-opened for Friday prayers. A pro-gressive, Mrs. Bakoyanni hoped thegesture would quell the disapprovalthat Turkey's leader, Recep TayyipErdogan, and other members ofthe Islamist government in Ankarawere voicing over the issue.
Instead, it unleashed a furorwithin Greece, with clerics arguingthat sanctioning a mosque so nearto the country's cathedral – letalone within sight of Pericles' iconicmasterpiece – would be both offen-sive and "confusing" for tourists.
In 2004, the suggestion that a
mosque be constructed nearAthens international airport – intime for the Olympics – met withsimilar outrage. The Church saidthe sight of a minaret and domewould make most visitors wonderwhether they had landed in an Is-lamic state. During the event, Mus-lim athletes and their trainers wereforced to worship in anothermakeshift mosque at the Olympicvillage.
With Greece's spiritual leader,Archbishop Christodoulos, givinghis blessing to the latest plans, offi-cials say they hope the mosque willbe built "within the next one or twoyears."
But Muslim disgruntlement isnot totally assuaged. There is stillthe little matter of whether a Sunnior Shia imam should be in chargeof the mosque, and the ongoing is-sue of where to bury dead Muslims.
"Our next move is to have ourown cemetery," Mr. Rassas said. "AMuslim can stop and pray in thestreets, if he needs to, but he can'tbury his dead just anywhere. Forthose of us who live in Greece, thatis also a very big problem."
In the epicenter of world atten-tion this week as a potential and ac-tual staging post for the stream ofevacuees pouring like blood frombombed-out Beirut, the endlesslydisputed island of Cyprus seemsnever more than a moment re-moved from the headlines.
But this time, the fighting is else-where, and Cyprus and Cypriotsare engaged, not in yet anotherrace-based battle for dominion onthe small eastern Mediterraneanterritory, but in an internationalrescue effort to help stranded vic-tims of the Israeli-Hezbollah con-flict – which is fitting, at least in theenclave of the so-called TurkishRepublic of Northern Cyprus,where exclusively Turkish residentswere celebrating Peace & FreedomDay last week.
Fitting… but not without someirony. For Peace & Freedom Day,July 20, marks the start of Turkey'smilitary intervention on Cyprus in1974, the so-called "Operation Atil-la," which the Turks say was under-taken to protect Turkish Cypriotsin the aftermath of the Greek-ledcoup on the island five days earlier.
For the past 32 years, Greek andTurkish Cypriots on the island havemaintained an uneasy standoff,with both sides claiming andcounter-claiming instances of mur-der, torture, property confiscationand ethnic cleansing.
And it has to be said, at present,the ideal of the reunification of theisland under one government au-thority does not seem a prospect.
But if the problems by whichCyprus is divided north from southcan ever be reconciled, the poten-tial for world tourism would beenormous, for there is so much tolike about the region.
Inside the TRNC (Turkish Re-public of Northern Cyprus, thebreakaway state recognized only byTurkey) at Girne (or Kyrenia, as itis known by Greek Cypriots), thewarm waters of the Mediterraneanlap a narrow, north-facing coastalplain which soars quickly into thesteep granite of the Five Finger
Mountains.Above the town, a giant silhou-
ette of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,head characteristically bowed, pipein hand, watches over all. In mid-Summer, a heat haze thickens theair and dulls the colors to umbertones of saffron, orange, soft yellowand brown which play in the smokylight. The war in Lebanon, barely200 kilometers away, seems impos-sible to believe. Fighting on Cyprusseems out of the question.
In Nicosia (or Lefkosa, as it iscalled in the TRNC), we stood onthe so-called Green Line, wherenorth and south watch one anotheruneasily. In the center of the city,the checkpoint – boom gate, uni-formed guards, national flags, justlike a Cold War movie set – bids tobe the friction point, the fault linebetween two sides keeping an un-steady balance. Yet we walk rightthrough.
No one asks for a passport. Wewalk about 100 meters until aGreek customs official puts hishand up.
"Do you have cigarettes," hewants to know. "You are permittedto bring in just 40 cigarettes."
He wants to know how we gotthere, which seems an odd inquiry,
given the fact there's only one wayin and we had arrived on foot.
He quotes a United Nations res-olution at us, and directs us to walkback again – which we do. But theborder issue is no trifling matter.
At present, it means the TRNCcan only be given a highly qualifiedrecommendation as a tourist desti-nation. If you have your passportstamped by TRNC customs offi-cials, it's Greece's official policythat you will not be admitted tosouthern Cyprus, nor to Greece it-self. So if you're planning the grandtour of Europe, a sojourn in theTRNC would need very carefulconsideration.
Cypriot nationality is a majorproblem also for the 200,000-oddethnically Turkish population ofthe TRNC. Recognized only byTurkey and by itself, the "Republic"can not issue passports, at least notpassports which would have any le-gitimacy at international borders.
Being unrecognized also impos-es huge disadvantages on the islandin terms of trading opportunities,commerce, financial investmentand infrastructure development.And it shows. Development hasbeen slow, and the average per cap-ital income is barely $10,000 per an-
num.Yet for all that, the warmth of
their welcome is unmistakable.There is also an appealing casual-ness about the Turkish approach tolife in the TRNC.
We travel to a mountain-topmonastery, Bellapais, the PeaceMonastery, south-east of Girne. It'san ancient, moody place which, hadit been in London, Paris or Rome,would be securely roped off and in-accessible. But in this little village,visitors can roam at will. In a cornerof the chapel, a lawnmower belong-ing to the caretaker stands incon-gruous next to a row of ancientpews. We make shift to gain accessto a semi-circular gallery above theatrium by moving one of the pews,and while we are up there, a sternvoice calls from below.
"You should not go up there," hetells us. "You should have seen theseat was there blocking the way."
"Sorry, we did not see," says EserTuran, a Turkish American maga-zine publisher (check outwww.turkuaz.us), who acts as inter-preter.
So no harm done. No dramas, aswe would say.
Opposite the monastery, there'san inviting restaurant. "If you like,
you can have a nice cold drink, hotdrink, lunch, dinner in our restau-rant on the nice terrace," states thesign standing outside.
Talk about a soft sell. Whocould possibly resist? And there's asense that being Australian is nodisadvantage in this place. En routeto Cyprus, a taxi driver in Istanbulexplains that Turks and Australianswere "blood brothers" because ofGallipoli – Cannakale, in Turkishlore. "We know about killing andwar," he says. "There's been toomuch."
Yet in the TRNC, there seemsno lack of enthusiasm for militaryfanfare. On Peace & Freedom Day,there's an amazing parade of im-maculately turned-out Turkish andCypriot troops goose-stepping pastin perfect precision.
Then come the tanks followedby armored personnel carriers,rocket launchers, heavy-caliber ma-chine guns mounted on camou-flaged vehicles, and field guns.There's a rousing military band, pa-triotic poetry recitations,parachutists, a fly-by of fighters information; the full-on military ex-travaganza.
But among it all, there's a troopof teenagers riding BMX bikes,showing off their skills. There's acrocodile of kids in national cos-tume. The local motorbike clubrides by, leading a parade of young-sters driving go-carts. The onlything missing was the juggler andthe columbine. The combined ef-fect is more carnival than carnage,more fun than frightening.
Like Turkey, the TNRC is no-tionally Islamic, but strictly secular,as guaranteed by the constitution.And in northern Cyprus, the head-scarf is a rarity, the burqua neverseen.
On the beach, young men andwomen recline in their swimsuitson cushions, and cocktails andbeers can be had from the kiosk.Very civilized. Restaurants andcafes abound. There are yachts tobe hired; guided tours to be taken;and a rich variety of sights and ex-periences from which to select.
Yet the underlying tension is un-mistakable. Politics is the staple of
conversation. Will Cyprus ever re-unify? Will Turkey be admitted as amember of the European Union?And what about Turkish PrimeMinister Recep Tayyip Erdogan?Is he truly committed to the secu-larism which most Turks hold verydear? What about America? Whatabout Great Britain? What aboutthe Middle East?
Conflict has been the constanton Cyprus since the time of the Ro-mans – through the crusades ofRichard I, the Lusignan Kings, theTurkoman rulers of Egypt, the Ot-tomans and the British. Againstthis background, the struggle foridentity, for a place in the world,continues to be the predominantsocial and cultural theme.
That people should talk about itis hardly any surprise. And every-where, the evidence of the ongoingproblems is apparent.
Famagusta, on the east coast ofthe island, is a walled town. It is thesetting of Othello, Shakespeare'stragic tale of love and betrayal.
Next to Famagusta is the newtown of Varosha; tall hotels fring-ing long sandy beaches – exceptthat it's completely abandoned.
It straddles the UN-patrolledbuffer zone, and its residents fledduring the fighting in 1974. Theysay there is washing still hanging onsome of the clotheslines, and im-maculate 1974-model cars remainlocked up in garages.
And on the way to Famagusta,there's a required stopover at"Musgrave." The guide says it's im-portant for us to see Musgrave.Quaint name, Musgrave. Some lit-tle village perhaps, with links to thetime of British (colonial) rule inCyprus?
"Musgrave" turns out to be amass grave in which the remains ofmore than 60 Turkish villagers,men women and children, had beenuncovered after the worst of thefighting in 1974.
A sobering, somber experience,and it made far-off Australia, for allthe seductive charms Cyprus hadoffered, seem the luckiest of lands.
The Paradox of Cyprus: A Mixture of Charm and Conflict
There are many signs on thehorizon indicating that Turkey isfacing another serious crisis thesedays. The new crisis is surprising, inthat it comes less than a year afterthe promising date of October 3,2005 when the European Uniongenerously decided to open officialnegotiations with Turkey for the ul-timate acceptance of this poor,populous, mostly Asiatic and Is-lamic country into the prosperous“Christian Club.”
It is doubtful that the upcomingelections this Fall will resolve thepresent crisis because it is not sim-ply political or economic in nature.Unlike many other crises whichTurkey has faced in the past – sincethe passing of the revered MustafaKemal Ataturk from the Turkishpolitical scene almost 70 years ego– the present crisis seems consider-ably more serious, for it is a pro-found crisis of orientation – truly anidentity crisis. The Turks must facethe following dilemma: Will theychoose to identify themselves withEurope and democracy, or withAsia and autocracy? The choice istheirs.
If they exercise the Europeanoption, the Turks should also startto behave accordingly; that is, likeEuropean gentlemen, especially to-wards other European countries,which are already members of theE.U., and be nice to them. Thiswould mean that they can not
threaten other members of theE.U. with war, or violate theirairspace or territorial waters, caus-ing constant tension and tragic acci-dents.
The Turks should learn the les-son (and the sooner they do so, thebetter for them) that, as potentialmembers of the European Union,they are expected to act rationallyand responsibly; otherwise, theymay never become fully acceptedinto the E.U., with all the painfulimplications such a negative out-come may have for their impover-ished country.
Acting rationally and responsi-bly for Turkey, as for other Euro-pean countries, would mean,among other things, that if a coun-try has a legitimate claims or differ-ences with another country, then itappeals to a court of law for peace-ful resolution of the problem. Oneshould not take up arms, northreaten to resort to use of force, inresolving presumed differenceswith other members of the E.U., inwhich one also desires membershipat the same time, inconsistently andirrationally. For the E.U. is basedon certain legal and moral princi-ples. All its members and potentialmembers must follow these princi-ples responsibly for the Union tocontinue to prosper. A potentialmember, who deliberately actsagainst such principles, can not ex-pect to be taken seriously, or be re-warded with membership at theend of the process.
For Turkey, as for other poten-tial members of the EU, acting ra-tionally and responsibly should alsomean that one must honor signa-tures and keep promises officially,freely and publicly made. One mustlearn to play with the rules of thegame, in which one gets involvedvoluntarily. You do not have toplay in this or that ballgame, but ifyou want to participate, and decidefreely to play and win, then youmust kick the ball according to therules of the game. You certainly donot go about kicking players of oth-er teams, instead of the ball, withthe expectation that you would notbe punished for such reprehensiblebehavior. It would be completely il-logical for anyone to expect to berewarded, rather than punished,for such bad behavior. Yet lately,Turkey gives the impression that it
is doing exactly that.For example, respect
for the rights of religiousminorities is a funda-mental, and sane, E.U.principle. All E.U.members or potentialmembers must followthis principle. Eachshould try to accommo-date the needs of theirrespective minorities, orat least avoid deliberate-ly placing obstacles tothe free exercise of theirreligious freedom. InTurkey’s case, this prin-ciple is not followed. The TurkishGovernment’s attitude toward andtreatment of the Ecumenical Patri-archate of Constantinople clearlydemonstrates erratic and illogicalbehavior. For although Turkey hasrepeatedly promised over the past30 years to the Halki theologicalschool to reopen, those promises,under different pretexts, have notbeen kept. This tactic makes manypeople wonder about Turkishdiplomacy’s real goals, and its seri-ousness in making their country atrustworthy E.U. partner.
If Turkey was really seriousabout its European orientation, itwould be reasonable to expect thatTurkish diplomats would see thediplomatic value of the EcumenicalPatriarchate in helping their coun-try fulfill its European goals. Thereis no better strategy for Turkey,other than embracing the Patriar-chate, to convince the Europeansof Turkey’s readiness to commit it-self to behaving in accordance withdemocratic European values. Whynot, then, open the PatriarchalSeminary on Halki to Europeanand American students, and HagiaSophia to ecumenical Christian pil-grimage? Just consider how manyeuros and dollars those openingswould bring to Turkey, and howmuch goodwill would be generatedamong the Europeans, who will pe-riodically evaluate Turkey’sprogress towards meeting their ex-pectations by honoring its agree-ments.
Turkey’s historical debt to Or-thodox Christianity, to the Ecu-menical Patriarchate especially, isgreat. The fact that it managed topenetrate into Europe and keepthe Christian populations of
Greece and the Balkansunder the Ottoman yokefor half a millenniumwas due less to its mili-tary prowess, and moreto support, whichTurkey received fromthe Greek OrthodoxChurch and its leaders.Following the calamityof 1204, when RomanCatholic Crusaderssacked Greek OrthodoxConstantinople, the Em-peror “Equal to theApostles” and the Hier-archy of the Greek Or-
thodox Church in Constantinopledecided to welcome the MoslemAsiatic invaders, rather than theWestern Christian Crusaders. Thatdecision had tragic consequencesfor Christian Europe.
In recognition of that great ser-vice, and with real political insight,Mehmet the Conqueror followedthe prudent policy of granting cer-tain privileges to the Patriarchate.Thus, the Ottoman Empire, soonafter the fall of Constantinople in1453, developed into a sort of “con-dominium.” For as the Roman Em-pire was ruled by Roman Emperorsand Greek intellectuals for cen-turies, so too was the Ottoman Em-pire governed by Turkish Sultansand Greek Orthodox prelates anddiplomats. For this reason, it wasstable and long-lasting.
Given these historical facts,therefore, one would expect thatcurrent Turkish diplomacy wouldbe eager to utilize them in Turkey’sbid for membership in the E.U. Butit does not appear to be doing so,and this is puzzling to many ob-servers, especially friendly Greeksin Greece and in the Diaspora, whotry to help Turkey reach its statedgoal of becoming a full member ofthe European Union. Such mem-bership, it is believed, stands tobring significant political, culturaland economic benefits to the Turk-ish people. It would also promotethe cause of lasting peace in theturbulent region of Southeast Eu-rope, especially in the Balkans.
No one would expect the Turksto abandon Islam over night andconvert to Christianity in order tobecome legitimate partners in theChristian European Union. On theother hand, how could one under-
stand Turkish tactics? WhileTurkey seems eager to join theE.U., why does it not allow itsChristian communities, especiallythe Orthodox and the EcumenicalPatriarchate, to which Turkey owesso much, to play their respectiveand important roles in facilitatingand shortening Turkey’s long andpainful process towards E.U. acces-sion?
That is a good question, andsomebody in the Turkish Govern-ment must provide a reasonableanswer at some point, before it istoo late for Turkey and its Euro-pean dream. Otherwise, suspicionwill grow that perhaps Turkey doesnot really want to become part ofEurope. In that case, its flirtationwith the E.U. would seem to be justan expedient trick to give Islamicforces in Turkey time to take com-plete control of the country andmake it potentially a member of themilitant Islamic movement. Andthat, obviously, would be bad.
But as history suggests, that is al-so unfortunately an option forTurkey. That is the reason to em-phatically state that the time hascome for Turks to finally make uptheir minds and face the true dilem-ma. What do they really want? Dothey want to be in the E.U. as thenewest member at its long tail, ordo they prefer to be outside the Eu-ropean community and inside theupcoming third wave of militant Is-lam, potentially as its leader and setagainst Europe (“the infidel”)?The dilemma is crucial. But Turkeymust nonetheless decide.
If the Turks choose to take thepath toward militant Islam, withpretensions to its leadership for there-establishment of the Caliphate,they should know that this roadwould not be as easy for them as itwas in the 15th Century. For theywill have to face not only ShiiteIran, with its potential nuclear pow-er, but also fundamentalist SunniArabs, with their great zeal for holyjihad or self-immolation. Not manyTurks, especially those who have ac-quired a taste for European culturalrefinement, would be willing tomove in this dreadful direction, un-less they are caught up and movedby the rising tide of militant Islam.
If Turkey ultimately decides totake this option, however, by play-ing its Islamic card at the diplomat-
ic level, then there are several pos-sible consequences.
At the end of a long struggle,Turkey may succeed in establishingits hegemonic rule over otherMoslems in the greater MiddleEast and Central Asia. But this out-come is highly unlikely, given thepresent configuration of power inthose areas and the internal dy-namics of the fundamentalist Is-lamic movement.
It is more likely, however, that amove away from Europe and its po-litical, economic and cultural bene-fits would probably divide Turkeyinto two camps (leaving aside fornow the Kurds who, sooner or lat-er, will also find their road to free-dom). Turkey, then, would proba-bly, and naturally, be divided intotwo parts, one smaller and the oth-er larger.
The smaller part would likely bewestward-looking and European-leaning. It would consist of Jewish,Armenian, Greek and other Chris-tian or ex-Christian peoples, andperhaps some potential Christiansor ex-secularists, who could ulti-mately be incorporated in the E.U.and assimilate.
The larger part would consistmainly of those who identify withthe Islam and its traditions. It willbe eastward-looking and Asiatic-leaning, ready to fight and die inthe name of Allah. In this way,Ataturk’s dream to move the wholeof Turkey into Europe would havecome to an inglorious end. Like theformer Yugoslavia or SovietUnion, Turkey will, at long last, dis-solve into its natural components.
For this reason, friends ofTurkey would like the Turks tochoose the first option. But unlessthey do so soon, and unambiguous-ly, using the help of some Christianand European friends, they will on-ly have themselves and their blindleaders to blame when things startfalling apart in the near future. Thedilemma was there, the optionswere clear and known to them, andso their failure will have no excuse.
The National Herald welcomesmanuscripts representing a vari-ety of views for publication in itsView Points page. They should in-clude the writer’s name, address,and telephone number and beaddressed to the View Points Edi-tor, The National Herald, 37-1030th Street, Long Island City, NY11101. They can also be faxed to(718) 472-0510 or, preferably, e-mailed to [email protected]. Due to consid-erations of space we enforce astrict 1,400-word upper limit. Wereserve the right to edit for repet-itiveness, diction and syntax. Weregret that we are unable to ac-knowledge or return manuscripts,published or unpublished.
10 TRAVEL & TOURISM THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 5, 2006
ing been removed after their dis-covery.
However, the skeletons thatonce lay here dated back to Ne-olithic times – the remains, per-haps, of one of Crete's foundingfamilies.
The island is alive with this senseof the rise and fall of civilizations;of how each new era built on the re-mains of the last. And as youemerge blinking from this dank,cramped hole in the mountainside,you're left with a somber sense ofhow transient our own "modern"age might be.
Cheer up, though, because theview is spectacular.
The Lasithi Plateau is a vastagricultural plain, green with cropsand spotted with old windmills,which lies about 30 kilometers tothe east of the tourist hub of AgiosNikolaos in eastern Crete.
Getting there by car is tricky.Beyond the town of Neapoli, thenarrow road screams upwards intothe mountains, then wiggles along-side jagged peaks.
The plateau itself is stunning,
however, stretching lush and ver-dant as far as the eye can see andguarded on all sides by forbiddinggray shoulders of hills.
A loop of road encircles theplain and takes in various crum-bling villages, as well as slightlylarger hubs of Tzermiado, Psychro(for the Dikteon Cave) and AgiosGeorgios, all of which bask in asummer somnolence of ripeningcitrus fruit and braying donkeys.
Ancient, black-clad women totevast piles of vines on their heads.Oranges and bananas are for sale atthe side of the road.
It all seems centuries away fromthe bronzed outer layer of Crete'shistorical onion, which lies wayback on the northeastern coast.
Here, Crete very proudly cele-brates the 21st Century.
Our self-catering villa, set in asecluded bay east of Agios Niko-laos, is a lesson in modernity, fromits array of technology (Internet ac-cess, DVD player and the like), toits private pool and elegantly tiledterrace.
Here, sophisticated desires forindulgence and relaxation can rea-sonably assert themselves, perhaps
with a quick walk to the beach or afeast of meze and braised lamb atthe nearby hotel.
It's a world of poolside drinksand tennis lessons, scuba gear andpedalos and, as such, the contrastwith the island's interior life isbreathtaking.
Yet even here, Crete can cata-pult you thousands of years back-wards in the space of just a few kilo-meters.
The E75 highway drills deter-minedly along the full length of thenorth coast, but is regularly punc-tured by brown signs diverting youto sites of ancient archeological in-terest.
Even in the northeast of the is-land, where we concentrated ourefforts, it would have been easy tobecome blasé, were it not for thesheer mind-boggling antiquity ofthe ruins themselves.
Try Lato, for example, a Classi-cal settlement with astonishingviews down to Agios Nikolaos(once its harbor), which lies inlandon a green knoll.
PPLLAACCEE OOFF PPLLEEAASSUURREEHere, among olive trees and
grazing goats, the remains of a the-
atre clearly demonstrate that Cretehas been a place of pleasure forcenturies.
Or there's the Minoan town ofGournia, visible from the road tothe east of Istro, which dates to1,500 BC.
Even more impressive is the ru-ined Minoan palace which standsjust a few hundred meters from thetown of Malia, one of Crete's mostpopular package holiday destina-tions. A vast central square is shad-ed by huge amphoras standing likesentinels. Traces of halls, corridorsand staircases demonstrate a hum-bling complexity of design.
The biggest draw, however, isKnossos, a place steeped in legenduntil it was uncovered and partiallyrestored at the beginning of the20th Century.
The palace lies in a peaceful,pine-scented vale a few kilometersto the south of the capital Herak-lion, and even early in the day isbusy with time travelers gaping atits five-storey stonework. It's an un-mistakable monument to confi-dence and grandeur, making it allthe more astonishing that, until rel-atively recently, it had been erasedfrom the face of the Earth.
For history on a gentler scale,we venture to Kritsa, a tiny villagenear Lato's ruins.
A narrow road winds upwardsthrough the white-stuccoed housesand it's the perfect place to shop fortourist trinkets or just relax over asalad in its solitary square.
Despite the quiet, there's asense that things will get busierhere soon. A van loaded with chairsand tables passes through, its klax-on alerting local café owners to animminent sale of vital plastic furni-ture.
Below the village, the Byzantinechurch of Panagia Kyra provides asolemn contrast.
Low rise and rough on the out-side, it boasts incredibly intricatefrescoes inside which date back amere (in Cretan terms) 1,000 yearsor so.
Crete's multi-layered history isnowhere more apparent than atSpinalonga, the fortress-topped is-land reached from the small townof Elounda, to the north of AgiosNikolaos.
It began as a Venetian militaryoutpost in the 16th Century; wasoccupied by Turkey in the 19th; andeventually became, of all things,Europe's last leper colony whichclosed in 1953.
At each rebuilding, the old foun-dations were added and adapted tothe building's new role.
These days, a boat trip with amodest fee will give you an hour toexplore the tumbledown ruins. Asmall exhibition of photographsgives a poignant insight into thefamily lives of the lepers incarcerat-ed here.
After all that, return to the pre-sent for a while. Collect yourthoughts over a coffee and bougat-
sa (a sort of cheese pie) in Herak-lion's busy but beautiful PlatiaVenizelou, or buy lunch at one ofthe restaurants beside Agios Niko-laos' supposedly bottomless in-shore lake. Then take off to theshady date palms and overpricedbeers of Vai Beach at the far east ofthe island.
After all, if there's one thing theastonishing array of relics in Herak-lion's Archeological Museum tellsus about the life and death of civi-lizations, it's that we should seizeevery opportunity to enjoy Crete inthe here and now.
The Aldemar Royal Mare, nearthe village of Hersonyssos onCrete's northeast coast, is a five-star luxury hotel which has been de-signed to look like a picturesqueand upscale village, complete withmarbled walkways and pastel porti-cos.
The grounds, sloping down to-wards the Mediterranean, havebeen beautifully planted withpalms, geraniums and dark pinkclouds of bougainvillea. There iseven a little clock tower and a selec-tion of shops selling bikinis andjewelry.
Your main decision of the daymay be which of the many pools topatronize (the one with the littlebridge, the one with the palm treeor the beachy one that's ideal fortoddlers), where to stroll for lunchand dinner, or how cool you wantyour air-conditioned bedroom.
Those with a little more get-up-and-go can play squash, tennis, mi-ni-golf or table tennis. If you comeover all weary as you make yourway around, you can hail one of thebuggies driven by hotel staff. Andparents can be confident their chil-dren are completely safe here.
The Royal Mare has 353 roomsand a few more super-deluxe suites.It was apparently filled to capacity
when we went there for half-termweek, but there was never any senseof crowding: no scrambling forsunbeds; no jostling for taxis; noth-ing to dispel the feeling that wewere all being deliciously pam-pered. Even King Minos, the leg-endary ancient ruler of Crete,couldn't have asked for more.
The hotel also has a thalas-sotherapy spa, offering a range ofseawater treatments. The French,German and Italian guests couldn'twait to shell out for an anti-cellulitemassage, but it's still a little alien tosome of us Brits. It's also quitepricey. My first treatment was a 15-minute horizontal shower of warmseawater. Very pleasant but, atabout 17 GBP ($31.75), it may besomething you can live without. Idid enjoy the seaweed wrap, how-ever, once I stopped giggling overthe notion of being slathered insmelly green stuff and wrapped incling film.
Mountainous and beautiful,Crete is a surprisingly large islandso it's worth hiring a car. Wrench-ing ourselves from our luxuriousbase my two children, Amelia, 12,and Henry, 18, and his girlfriendPolly, and I drove along the coast toHeraklion, the busy but manage-able capital. Knossos, Crete'sprime archaeological site, is threemiles south. This was the heart ofthe Minoan civilization. You'll no
doubt recall the story of Theseus'battle with the Minotaur in thelabyrinth beneath the palace.
To be honest I've been to moreinteresting sites but it was on ourmust-do list. Drive further west,and you'll come to the old capital ofChania, with its Venetian and Ot-toman buildings and medieval har-
bor. It's a longer haul but has moreto offer than Knossos.
We also went on a hotel excur-sion – about 30 GBP ($56) perhead, excluding lunch – headingsouth to Lerapetra where wecaught a boat to Chryssi Island, atiny desert isle where you swim inthe Sea of Libya in waters of palest
emerald, and lounge on goldensands. It's ten degrees hotter therethan in the north.
Most days, we either walked ordrove to Hersonyssos, a pleasantseaside town where you can buy allthe fake Dolce & Gabbana T-shirtsyou would ever want for around 15GBP $28).
We often ate at the excellentAcropolis restaurant on theseafront. It was much cheaper thanthe hotel – about 7 GBP ($13) ahead including beer or wine – andvery friendly. We all liked tradition-al Greek food, but for those whomiss British nosh, you can also getwhat the menu sweetly describes asBeans on the Toast. We ate therethree times, and on the last nightthey treated us like their new bestfriends.
Slightly more expensive, butworth a visit, is the Petrino restau-rant in Old Hersonyssos with itsold-style wooden oven. We sat onthe terrace under lemon trees andwatched the stars come out.
We had one splendid evening atthe hotel's El Greco restaurantwhen they laid on an all-you-can-eatbarbecue, Greek singing and danc-ing. Amazingly, Henry and Pollyseemed completely content withwhat the hotel had to offer. For al-though it is a fairly sedate resort(blissfully so, to my way of think-ing), there is enough space and vari-ety – oh and a nightclub – to keepeveryone in the family happy.
For one more year, EvangelosTsantalis was the winery whichsecured the most awards at thisyear’s Thessaloniki InternationalWine Competition, adding a totalof 13 awards to its noteworthycollection.
One of Greece’s greatestwineries was once more at thetop of the scores, with 2 Gold and10 Silver Awards. KtimaGerovassiliou came in secondplace with 8 awards.
By winning the most awards atthis prestigious competition,Tsantalis once more confirms itsposition as “the most awarded
winery in Greece,” based on thecontinuous success of the wineryin all famous international com-petitions.
Evangelos Tsantalis also re-ceived a special award for Tsan-tali Cabernet Sauvignon Organic2003, as the red wine with thehighest score, produced from or-ganically-grown vineyards.
The complete list of TsantalisAwards at the 2006 ThessalonikiInternational Wine Competitionfollows:
