In Brief
TALAT ATTACK
Accuses Nicosia of ‘racist’ policies Mehmet Ali Talat took up the Turkish-Cypriot leadership in the occupied north of Cyprus yesterday and immediately launched a verbal assault on Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos. He said that Papadopoulos was attempting to write Turkish Cypriots out of history and said that Nicosia should not use its EU membership to implement «racist» and «authoritarian» policies. Anarchist mob A small gang of suspected anarchist youths rampaged through Exarchia in central Athens early on Sunday, throwing Molotov cocktails and damaging five parked cars, police said. There were no injuries or arrests. New pope Education and Religion Minister Marietta Giannakou expressed Greece’s hope that Pope Benedict XVI would help enrich the dialogue between all the Christian faiths after representing the government at the pontiff’s enthronement in the Vatican yesterday. Illegal migrants A 37-year-old Turkish man, Mehmet Oulou, was arrested yesterday morning by the coast guard off Samos after allegedly disembarking 29 Afghani and Iraqi illegal immigrants onto the island from his 7-meter wooden boat. Meanwhile, on Saturday another 29 illegal immigrants in total were arrested by the coast guard, according to the Merchant Marine Ministry. Some 24 migrants were found in the back of a truck in Patras as it was about to board a ship. And five immigrants were found in Lesvos harbor after sailing there in dinghy from Turkey, authorities said. Armenian genocide Speaking at a remembrance ceremony yesterday marking 90 years since some 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks, Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said a similar disaster could be prevented through tolerance. «It is not certain we will not see a similar phenomenon unless we decide to tolerate those who truly caused it, since they have not assumed their responsibilities,» said Pavlopoulos. World record A Lesvos confectioner got into the record books yesterday for producing the world’s biggest Easter bun (tsoureki), measuring 50.4 meters in length and weighing 97 kilograms. Vassilis Pantazis used 70 kilos of flour, 20kg of eggs and 10kg of milk to make the bun, which was laid out in the island’s central market. Easter truce call Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Church of Greece, asked for his detractors to stop attacking the institution so that worshippers could enjoy Easter. «We also have rights in this land,» said Christodoulos, who has been under pressure the last few months after revelations about sexual and financial scandals within the Church. OBSEC The 12 member states of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation, including Greece, Turkey and Russia, signed an agreement in the northern city of Komotini on Saturday to work more closely in a number of fields, including public order and transport. The countries also agreed to expand ties with the EU through the development of energy networks, including new pipelines to Caspian Sea oil fields. Supermarket sweep Two hooded gunmen made off with 29,000 euros in cash on Saturday after holding up a security truck in Athens, police said. The pair targeted a security guard as he was coming out of Lidl supermarket in Peristeri, before speeding off on a motorcycle.
