Greek law

Greeks place a high value on freedom and this leads them to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity - and therefore the sovereignty, territorial integrity and borders of the European Union - on the basis of international law and without making any concessions, President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos said in a message directed to neighbouring Turkey on Sunday,

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos stressed that Greece and Turkey have more in common than appearances might suggest in a televised exchange ahead of private talks with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildarim.

"There are more things that unite us than divide us," Pavlopoulos said, adding that "Greece is the door and the window of Turkey to the EU."

President Prokopis Pavlopoulos paid tribute on Tuesday to Stavros Zouganelis, the father of 19 children who died on Tuesday, as a globally emblematic figure.

The 89-year-old man had held the Guinness Book of Records for the number of children he fathered since 1984 with the same woman, Vasiliki Zouganeli, who died in 2014.

In a moving atmosphere, thousands of believers welcomed on Sunday in Saint (Agia) Barbara the Holy Relics of Saint (Agia) Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, from Venice to Athens along with a piece of Holy Wood. They both were brought from the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice were they are being kept.

The chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA), Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, and his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on Wednesday agreed to keep "an open channel of communication" to curb tensions in the Aegean.

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos reacted to the first round victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election hailing it as a victory of Europe against the "remnants of Nazism."

Independent centrist Macron topped Sunday's ballot, slightly ahead of far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen. A run-off vote will be held on May 7.

Every Wednesday, a 60-year-old man identified only by his initials - P.S. - attends a Greek language class in Tel Aviv. No one was surprised to see him take up the lessons, given the fact that P.S., who retired six months ago, is half-Greek.

"I started the process to acquire Greek citizenship 12 years ago," P.S. told Kathimerini in a recent interview.

A new bill foreseeing the granting of Greek citizenship to tens of thousands of second-generation immigrants was put up for public consultation on Thursday.

At least one of the parents of second generation migrants must have lived in Greece legally for at least five years before the child?s birth in the country for it to obtain Greek citizenship, according to a draft law due to be submitted to public consultation this week.

 Bill presented to Parliament sets schooling as main prerequisite for applications, scraps birthplace

By Yiannis Papadopoulos