Greece's Chios island in state of emergency as wildfire ragesAthens, 25 July 2016 (MIA) - Greece has declared a state of emergency on the Aegean island of Chios, engulfed by a wildfire raging out of control, authorities said on Monday.
Dozens of firefighters and aircraft were deployed to fight the forest fire which broke out early on Monday, burning through olive groves and mastic trees, an important source of income for the island which has a population of about 52,000.
Smoke forced some people to flee their homes in two villages, but there has been no order to evacuate, the island's mayor, Manolis Vournous, told state television, Reuters reported.
Forest fires are common during the summer in Greece, where dry weather and strong winds can quickly fan fires, devastating large areas. Some 70 people were killed in 2007, during the most serious wildfire outbreak in decades. ba/15:57
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Albanian police finds refugees crossing in from Greece
Tirana, 25 July 2016 (MIA) - Albanian police stopped a BMW carrying nine Syrian citizens, including two women and two children, in the southern part of the country close to the border with Greece. It is believed that the refugees have crossed the Greek - Albanian border illegally and were planning to head north, toward Montenegro, and then further toward the core European Union countries.
The police action comes after 19 Afghan migrants were stopped near the northern city of Shkoder, close to Montenegro. Albania is becoming an alternative route for the smaller groups of refugees and migrants, who used to travel en masse through Macedonia, but now that that border is closed, they are trying different ways to reach Europe.cc/20:25
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Turkey will build new courthouse to put coup plotters to trial
Ankara, 25 July 2016 (MIA) - Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag announced that a new courthouse for the failed coup case against top military officials in an area of Ankara which was the site of the successful 1997 coup against then Prime Minister Necmetin Erbakan.
Bozdag said that currently there are not enough courthouses in Turkey to deal with the large number of cases that was brought against military officers and other persons who were charged over the coup. The new courthouse, Bozdag said, will have capacity to put to trial 900 people simultaneously and will have its own prison. The site will be symbolic, as it is in an area where the Turkish Army sent tanks to the streets to confront supporters of Prime Minister Erbakan. It was the last successful military coup in which the Army removed a Government which it found to be too religiously conservative.cc/20:44
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Erdogan says Turkish people want death penalty restored
Ankara, 26 July 2016 (MIA) - The Turkish people want the death penalty restored and those governing the country must listen to them, President Tayyip Erdogan said, despite European officials saying such a move would immediately stop Ankara's EU accession process, Reuters reports.
"What do the (Turkish) people say today?" Erdogan asked during an interview with German television station ARD that was broadcast on Monday.
"They want the death penalty reintroduced. And we as the government must listen to what the people say. We can't say 'no, that doesn't interest us.'"
Earlier, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that if Turkey reintroduces the death penalty - something the government has said it must consider, responding to calls from supporters at public rallies for coup leaders to be executed - it would stop the EU accession process immediately. ik/09:09
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Commissioner Hahn says EU's response on Turkey will be known in Autumn
Vienna, 26 July 2016 (MIA) - European Commissioner Johannes Hahn said that the EU should not make hasty decisions with regards to Turkey, and that the Autumn progress report will help make possible consequences after the failed military coup more clear. Hahn was an early critic of the response Turkish authorities made after the bloody attempt of the military to bring down the Government 10 days ago, and he blamed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of acting as if he has a pre-prepared list of officers, officials and journalists who need to be charged and fired.
Hahn warned that the possible re-introduction of the death penalty against the coup plotters will mean that Turkey will be out as an EU candidate country. The long stalled accession talks with Turkey were supposed to be restarted as part of the agreement that ended the 2015 migrant crisis, but that is doubtful now, after the attempted coup in which about 300 people were killed.
Hahn called on Turkey to allow OSCE to monitor the trials for the coup leaders to make sure that they will be fair. He also condemned what he called hasty decisions on the part of President Erdogan, warning they might have negative efects on the Turkish NGO sector and on the migrant crisis.cc/10:33
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Tsipras proposes changes on referendums, election of President, religious matters
Athens, 26 July 2016 (MIA) - Shortly after amending election rules to make it more difficult for the party that wins the elections to form a Government on its own, Greece's far left Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced for two new initiatives, that would introduce direct Presidential elections and would make referendums easier to organize on issues excluding fiscal policy.
Tsipras called for a change that would mean that, if Parliament fails to elect the President, the country would organize direct elections. His SYRIZA party won elections in 2015, after it blocked the election of the next President in Parliament, which under current laws prompts early general elections.
The Prime Prime Minister also asked that Greece moves toward a religiously neutral posture, from the current definition of it as a predominantly Orthodox Christian country. According to Tsipras, these changes need to be introduced in the constitution before 2021.
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