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Ahead of the second round of local elections everyone was expecting New Democracy to cement its political dominance across Greece. Instead, New Democracy candidates suffered surprise defeats in key regions and municipalities, including Athens and Thessaloniki. This has many wondering if we are seeing the first cracks in New Democracy’s grip over Greek politics. At the same time, this was a good...

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With the second round of local elections set to take place on Sunday, ruling New Democracy, which posted a sweeping victory in the first round last week, is looking to build on this momentum to cement its dominance over Greece’s political scene. At the same time, the main opposition SYRIZA seems to be caught in a popularity rut, while Stefanos Kasselakis, its newly elected leader, is facing...

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Turkey’s President Erdogan appears to be shifting away from his initial moderate tone following the shocking Hamas terror attack this past weekend. Instead, he slammed Israel and the US this week over their response to this terrorist attack. At the same time, Erdogan vowed on Wednesday to escalate Ankara’s ongoing military campaign against the Kurds in northeast Syria even as Syrian Kurds...

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Greece’s prime minister was just in Varna this week for a trilateral meeting with his Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts. Aside from the expected discussion around expanding their energy cooperation to further decouple the region from Russian energy sources, the three leaders also looked into a proposal by Greece that would see Ukrainian grain shipped across the three countries and exported...

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The foreign ministers of Greece and Cyprus were just in Oman, where EU ministers met with their Gulf counterparts. Needless to say, the planned agenda got thrown out the window with the Hammas terrorist attack against Israel taking center stage. Following meetings in Oman, Greece’s Foreign Minister said he had been in talks with his counterparts from the Gulf and other Arab countries, and...

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This weekend Hamas - designated as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union, the UK, as well as other powers - launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, with its fighters entering communities near the Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of residents and taking dozens of hostages. While the attack has spawned fears of a wider Middle East war, it is also putting the spotlight...

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A firefight between Serb paramilitaries and Kosovo police at the end of September marked one of the worst episodes of violence in the country in years, raising questions about efforts to settle the Kosovo issue and whether future flare-ups of violence are on the horizon in the Western Balkans. Dimitar Bechev, a research fellow at Carnegie Europe, where he focuses on Central, Eastern, and...

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Local elections are taking place on Sunday in Greece, and Prime Minister Mitsotakis has been on the road campaigning for New Democracy candidates across the country. This is seen as the first big test for the government after Prime Minister Mitsotakis was overwhelmingly re-elected this summer, and comes after a few months of heavy criticism over its handling of multiple crises - from wildfires...

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Heatwaves around the Mediterranean - from Spain to Greece - have damaged olive harvests, with recent reports indicating that Europe has almost run out of local olive oil supplies. For its part, Greece- a key exporter of high quality extra virgin olive oil to the rest of the world - is expected to produce a third less than last year, and consumers are already experiencing significant price hikes...

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Azerbaijan’s military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh last month has seen discussions of war yet again echo across Turkey’s media landscape. As in 2020, pundits on Turkish television delighted in the use of Turkish-made weapons by Azerbaijan, whose victory is greeted as yet another triumph of the Turkish defense industry. This has put the spotlight on Turkey’s strong militarist tendencies,...

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With 2023 seeing a spike in arrivals on Europe’s shores and borders, migration is once again the pressing issue across the continent. The European Commission’s vice-president, Margaritis Schinas, has urged member states to finalize a crucial deal over migration reform, telling ministers that a unified plan would be a means of fighting back against a rising tide of populism and smuggling...

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The broad consensus today is that US-Greece relations are at an all time high. As the two countries deepen their ties, and as Greece takes on a more active role in the region as a key player, many are arguing that the “sky is the limit” when it comes to where the relationship could go. This was the focus of a recent policy paper Katerina Sokou wrote for ELIAMEP, titled US-Greece Relations:...

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Greece’s big economic success over the last years has been tourism, and, as tourists flock to Greece, so is foreign money. This is also coinciding with an increase in Greek homes going to foreign buyers, and in homeowners choosing to put their homes and apartments on platforms like Airbnb. As a result, average Greek property prices and rent have shot up, and many young Greeks fear that...

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Earlier this month at the G20 summit the US and the EU backed an ambitious plan to build an economic corridor linking Europe with the Middle East and India via rail and sea. Greece is set to play an important geostrategic role on this corridor, as Greek ports would serve as the gateway into Europe. The announcement at the G20 summit followed a trip that India’s Prime Minister Modi made to...

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In 2021, despite warnings about items from its collections being sold by private persons, the British Museum chose not to view the matter “with much alarm.” This summer it became known that more than 2,000 items were stolen from the British Museum over a long period of time. This undoubtedly raises questions about the safety of countless artifacts, and has some asking whether it will affect the...

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Reports indicate that after a number of delays Greece can expect movement on its request to purchase F-35 fighter jets in the coming weeks, with the Biden administration expected to send a formal notification to Congress. At the same time, October is shaping up to be a crucial month for the issue of the potential sale of F-16s to Turkey, as the US will be watching to see if Turkey’s Parliament,...

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This Sunday supporters of SYRIZA, Greece’s second largest party, will head to the polls to select a new leader, as Stefanos Kasselakis, the surprise winner in the first round elections, faces Effie Achtsioglou in what’s expected to be a close showdown that will define the future of the party. As the race for who will take the reins of SYRIZA heats up, Greeks have begun to look more closely into...

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Last week the Biden administration imposed sanctions on five Turkish companies and a Turkish national, accusing them of helping Russia evade sanctions and supporting Moscow in its war against Ukraine. US officials have repeatedly pushed Turkey to crack down on Russian circumvention of sanctions, particularly when it comes to the export of chemicals, microchips and other products that can be...

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On Wednesday Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held a much anticipated meeting with Turkish President Erdogan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The two leaders agreed to continue working to deepen the positive climate in Greek-Turkish relations that has been established this year, laid out a roadmap of contacts for the coming months, and discussed issues of common interest such as...

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As the week kicked off at the UN in New York, Turkish President Erdogan sat with PBS NewsHour for a one on one interview, where he talked about Turkey’s relations with the US, with Greece, the state of human rights in his country, and his ties to Putin’s Russia. Aside from his outbursts at journalist Amna Nawaz over her questions on human rights, Erdogan also raised eyebrows with his statements...

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