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At the end of July, the leaders of Serbia, North Macedonia, and Albania met in Skopje, where they agreed to bolster regional economic integration, vowing to abolish border controls between their countries by January 2023. They named their initiative “Open Balkans” or “Mini-Schengen” – after the European Union’s free travel zone. The announcement comes as leaders in the Western Balkans are...

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This summer has highlighted a number of challenges the world is likely to face as a result of climate change - from the deadly floods in Germany and northern Europe, to heatwaves and wildfires that ravaged Greece, Turkey, and Mediterranean countries. Another area that is increasingly under pressure is the sea. This year, we witnessed a thick, slimy layer of so-called “sea snot” cover Turkey’s...

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On Tuesday Greece’s Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias unveiled a series of new public health safety measures that foresee tough restrictions on individuals that have not been vaccinated against Covid-19. The measures come as Greece continues to see a steady increase in confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths, as well as hospitalizations and intubations, over the past several weeks. Data shows...

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Since the beginning of August, Greece has battled devastating wildfires on the island of Evia, in the Peloponnese, and in Attica. The biggest disaster, however, took place in northern Evia, Greece's second-largest island. Over a million square meters of land has burned, destroying forests, homes and business, and killing thousands of animals in what Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called...

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HALC's Stathis Theodoropoulos discusses the Delta variant and the way out of the pandemic with HALC Board Member Dr. George Chiampas, assistant professor and attending physician in the department of emergency medicine at Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He is also the chief medical officer for US Soccer and serves as the Medical Director for the Bank of...

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HALC's Stathis Theodoropoulos interviews Kathimerini's Vassilis Nedos about his latest column, which focuses on the strain of denialism behind climate change and the pandemic.

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HALC's Stathis Theodoropoulos discusses Turkey's controversial drone program with HALC Executive Director Endy Zemenides.

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As fires continue to rage across Greece, HALC's Stathis Theodoropoulos interviews Petros Kasfikis, the Washington DC corresponding for the Athens News Agency and Mega TV to analyze the latest developments.

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50 years ago, the Turkish government closed the doors of Halki Seminary, an institution that served as the main school of theology for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, thus depriving the Ecumenical Patriarchate the ability to train Orthodox clergy in its historic home. In the decades since, the Hellenic community, religious freedom and human rights advocates, and even the US government have called...

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Armenia’s government said on Wednesday that three of its soldiers were killed after Azeri forces attacked Armenian positions near the border where clashes have become more frequent despite a ceasefire agreed to after Azerbaijan’s assault on Nagorno Karabakh last fall. Both sides later accepted a Russian ceasefire proposal to try to calm tensions. Meanwhile, this week the US House of...

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Over the last ten years, Tunisia has been viewed as the “lone success story” of the Arab Spring. The country was plunged into crisis earlier this week, however, after its president suspended parliament and dismissed Tunisia’s prime minister in a move denounced as a coup by Tunisia’s main political parties. Steven Cook, an expert on Arab and Turkish politics as well as US-Middle East policy,...

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Far-right groups have had a strong presence in recent rallies by anti-vaxx groups against government efforts to step up vaccination, as they see the pandemic and the social pressures it has created as an opportunity to regroup in the post-Golden Dawn era. In fact, according to police, around half of the some 3,500 people that gathered at a Syntagma Square demonstration last week belonged to...

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Across Turkish-occupied territories in northern Syria, a pattern of violence and criminality has been established, and Turkish-backed groups are accused of becoming criminal syndicates that kidnap for money and exploit citizens’ resources for their own gain. A recent piece in Al Monitor focuses on Afrin, the majority Kurdish enclave in northern Syria that has been occupied by Turkish-backed...

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Democratic and Republican senators voiced heavy criticism of Ankara on Wednesday during a hearing on US policy toward Turkey in which Victoria Nuland, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, testified. Key Senators called out Ankara for backsliding on human rights, undermining NATO, being an “aggressor” toward Greece and Cyprus, and much more. They also demanded more action from the...

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Turkish President Erdogan and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on Tuesday announced plans to reopen Varosha, part of the fenced off city of Famagusta in the occupied north of Cyprus. The move is in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, which call for Varosha to be handed over to UN administration, and to allow the original inhabitants to return to their homes. Cypriot President Nicos...

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This past Thursday marked the 5 year anniversary from the failed coup attempt that took place in Turkey which has since reshaped the country. The Erdogan government has used the failed coup to reshape the country's policies, institutions, political landscape and foreign posture, cracking down on dissidents both in Turkey and abroad. David Lepeska joins The Greek Current to discuss his latest...

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As the United States looks to navigate relations with Turkey, the lack of a clear destination for the relationship will result in a good deal of unpredictability and some level of instability in regions such as the Eastern Mediterranean. In his latest piece in Kathimerini, Endy Zemenides makes the case that this lack of predictability will pose a particular problem for Cyprus, where the United...

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Faced with a surge in coronavirus infections, Greece on Friday announced new rules for open air entertainment venues such as bars and nightclubs stipulating that customers must hold proof that they have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19. The new rules are designed to give more freedom to people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 and encourage others to get vaccinated as the...

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Turkey’s President Erdogan called Israel's new president, Isaac Herzog, on Monday to congratulate him on taking office. The call came amid strained relations between the two countries who expelled their ambassadors in 2018 after a bitter falling-out. Both sides emphasized the importance of Israeli-Turkish ties, but said the other must move first for any rapprochement. Dr. Michael Koplow joins...

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The kickoff of the Tokyo Olympic games is around the corner, and will take place amid high COVID infections and worry from the Japanese public and the medical establishment there. There are also concerns about the increasing cost of hosting the games. Given these challenges, could it be time to consider giving the Olympics a permanent home in Greece, rather than rotating the games to a...

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