Greeks

The Greek Diaspora in Australia is one of the largest ethnic communities in the world, with Melbourne, the capital of the state boasting the biggest ‘Greek’ city outside Greece, as it hosts approximately 300 thousand people of Greek origin.

Greek government prepares a plan to integrate refugee children into Greek schools accepting its fate to host for a long time and incorporate large groups of immigrants and refugees in Greece risking to alter the characteristics of many local communities and ignoring the long term implications of that decision, given that many European countries are refusing to share responsibility.

An estimated 83,201 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe between 1 January and 11 February, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on Friday.

Some 77,303 of those people, or 92% arrived on the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea from Turkey, IOM said in a news release.

Some 6000 Greek firms have relocated to Bulgaria over the last two years alone, English-language Kathimerini quotes a business representative as saying.

According to Giorgos Kavathas, who heads the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (GSEVEE), Greeks are behind some 60 000 new tax registrations and bank accounts in Greece's northern neighbor.

Fatalities among migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean in January topped 360 due to a particularly deadly final weekend of the month, when over 100 men, women in and children died in the waters off Greece, Turkey and Italy, the International Organization for Migrations said on Tuesday.

An online petition is calling for the Nobel Prize to be given to the Greeks of Lesbos due to their demonstration of compassion and sacrifice as thousands of refugees have inundated their island.

Activist group Avaaz hopes to gather more than 500,000 signatures by February 1. Already there are more than 351,000 signatures thus far. The organizers of the petition stress:

Greek authorities say a total of seven bodies, including those of two children, have been recovered from the sea off the eastern Aegean island of Kos after a boat carrying migrants or refugees sank early Jan. 27.

Rescue crews recovered the bodies of three men, two women, a boy and a girl. There were two survivors - a man and a woman.

The president of main opposition party New Democracy Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a message to Greek diaspora asking them to help change Greece.

In his statement on newspaper “National Herald” he stressed that he believes in national values and capabilities of the Greeks to save the country from decline, while he stressed that Greek diaspora’s help is more valuable than ever.

Greek authorities have denied any involvement in the Jan. 5 migrant tragedy in the Aegean Sea, citing reports in several Turkish media outlets to that end. 

British actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave is in Athens to be informed about the refugee crisis and visit refugee and migrant centers.