Eight Turkish military officers who fled last week&#39;s failed coup to Greece were moved to Athens today, a police source said, where authorities will examine their asylum pleas. 
 
&quot;They came to Athens this morning,&quot; the source said, without being able to confirm where the suspects are being held. 
 
&quot;I assume it&#39;s because their asylum cases will be examined here,&quot; the officer added. 
 
The eight men -- two commanders, four captains and two sergeants -- requested asylum in Greece after landing a military helicopter in the northern city of Alexandroupoli on Saturday. 
 
They were allowed to land after sending a distress signal to authorities, and claim they will not receive a fair trial in Turkey. 
 
A first ruling on the asylum applications is expected in early August. 
 
On Thursday, the Alexandroupoli court handed them suspended two-month prison sentences for illegally entering Greece. 
 
The sentences were suspended for a three-year period as the court took into account that the men felt threatened. 
 
In his defence, one of the Turkish officers told the court through a translator that he did not want to return home owing to &quot;indiscriminate&quot; arrests by Ankara authorities. 
 
&quot;We saw indiscriminate arrests of military personnel and we were afraid,&quot; the suspect said. 
 
The eight had been in police custody in the city of Kavala until today. 
 
The case threatens to strain ties between NATO allies Turkey and Greece, with Ankara labelling the eight &quot;terrorists&quot;. 
 
Turkey&#39;s ambassador has warned that failure to return the officers &quot;will not help&quot; ties. 
 
(AFP)&nbsp; 
 
&nbsp;

The case threatens to strain ties between NATO allies Turkey and Greece, with Ankara labeling the suspects 'terrorists'

Eight Turkish military officers who fled last week's failed coup to Greece were moved to Athens today, a police source said, where authorities will examine their asylum pleas. "They came to Athens this morning," the source said, without being able to confirm where the suspects are being held. "I assume it's because their asylum cases will be examined here," the officer added. The eight men -- two commanders, four captains and two sergeants -- requested asylum in Greece after landing a military helicopter in the northern city of Alexandroupoli on Saturday. They were allowed to land after sending a distress signal to authorities, and claim they will not receive a fair trial in Turkey. A first ruling on the asylum applications is expected in early August. On Thursday, the Alexandroupoli court handed them suspended two-month prison sentences for illegally entering Greece. The sentences were suspended for a three-year period as the court took into account that the men felt threatened. In his defence, one of the Turkish officers told the court through a translator that he did not want to return home owing to "indiscriminate" arrests by Ankara authorities. "We saw indiscriminate arrests of military personnel and we were afraid," the suspect said. The eight had been in police custody in the city of Kavala until today. The case threatens to strain ties between NATO allies Turkey and Greece, with Ankara labelling the eight "terrorists". Turkey's ambassador has warned that failure to return the officers "will not help" ties. (AFP)

Turkey failed coup suspects moved to Athens for asylum verdict

Greek lawmakers voted yesterday to amend electoral law to lower the voting age by a year to 17 and eventually eliminate a 50-seat bonus for the winning party. 
 
While the drop in voting age will take effect in the next election, the seat bonus will only be scrapped in two elections from now. 
 
This was because the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was unable to muster yesterday the required support of two-thirds of parliament, or 200 lawmakers, for scrapping the generous 50-seat bonus. 
 
The lower voting age, however, did not require an enhanced majority to be passed. A total of 179 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, with 86 against and 16 abstentions. 
 
Critics say eliminating the bonus will make it more difficult for a single party to have an overarching majority and could cause political instability. 
 
Even with the bonus in place, back-to-back elections were required in 2012 to form a government, plunging the debt-laden country into political uncertainty for months.&nbsp; 
 
Tsipras won the last election in September, and the next polls are due in 2019. 
 
Introducing proportional representation had been a long-standing pledge of his Syriza party. 
 
However, Tsipras coalition government rests on a fragile three-seat majority and it is widely assumed that he will be unable to complete his four-year term. Tsipras popularity has waned after he was forced last year to accept an unpopular EU bailout to keep Greece in the eurozone. 
 
He now lags behind in the polls to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the conservative New Democracy party. 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp; 
 
&nbsp;

While the drop in voting age will take effect in the next election, the seat bonus will only be scrapped in two elections from now

Greek lawmakers voted yesterday to amend electoral law to lower the voting age by a year to 17 and eventually eliminate a 50-seat bonus for the winning party. While the drop in voting age will take effect in the next election, the seat bonus will only be scrapped in two elections from now. This was because the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was unable to muster yesterday the required support of two-thirds of parliament, or 200 lawmakers, for scrapping the generous 50-seat bonus. The lower voting age, however, did not require an enhanced majority to be passed. A total of 179 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, with 86 against and 16 abstentions. Critics say eliminating the bonus will make it more difficult for a single party to have an overarching majority and could cause political instability. Even with the bonus in place, back-to-back elections were required in 2012 to form a government, plunging the debt-laden country into political uncertainty for months. Tsipras won the last election in September, and the next polls are due in 2019. Introducing proportional representation had been a long-standing pledge of his Syriza party. However, Tsipras coalition government rests on a fragile three-seat majority and it is widely assumed that he will be unable to complete his four-year term. Tsipras popularity has waned after he was forced last year to accept an unpopular EU bailout to keep Greece in the eurozone. He now lags behind in the polls to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the conservative New Democracy party. (Reuters)

Greece lowers voting age to 17, eliminates 50-seat bonus for winning party

A Turkish military helicopter landed in Greece today carrying eight men seeking asylum after a coup bid, Greek police said.&nbsp; 
 
The Black Hawk helicopter landed after sending a distress signal to authorities at the airport in Alexandroupolis in the country&#39;s north.&nbsp; 
 
Seven of those on board were in military uniform and all are believed to have been involved in the attempted putsch, ERT TV said.&nbsp; 
 
Turkey&#39;s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara had asked Athens to send back the eight coup plotters. 
 
&quot;We have requested Greece to extradite the eight traitors as soon possible,&quot; Cavusoglu was quoted as telling HaberTurk television. 
 
According to an official in the Greek National Defence general staff, &quot;the helicopter is scheduled to be sent back immediately to Turkey&quot;.&nbsp; 
 
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed his &quot;support for the democratically elected&quot; Turkish government.&nbsp; 
 
(AFP)

Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu asked Greece to send back the escaped soldiers as quickly as possible

A Turkish military helicopter landed in Greece today carrying eight men seeking asylum after a coup bid, Greek police said. The Black Hawk helicopter landed after sending a distress signal to authorities at the airport in Alexandroupolis in the country's north. Seven of those on board were in military uniform and all are believed to have been involved in the attempted putsch, ERT TV said. Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara had asked Athens to send back the eight coup plotters. "We have requested Greece to extradite the eight traitors as soon possible," Cavusoglu was quoted as telling HaberTurk television. According to an official in the Greek National Defence general staff, "the helicopter is scheduled to be sent back immediately to Turkey". Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed his "support for the democratically elected" Turkish government. (AFP)

Turkish military helicopter lands in Greece, 8 soldiers request asylum

Greece will be recruiting dogs to sniff out potential tax dodgers trying to take cash out of the crisis-hit country, where mass bank withdrawals prompted capital controls last year. 
 
In a posting on a government web portal on Wednesday, the Finance Ministry said it would be putting together a team to assess tenders for the provision of dogs tasked with detecting cash. 
 
More than 50 billion euros left banks from November 2014 to July last year on fears the country could crash out of the euro, a crisis which culminated in capital controls and a new international bailout for the country. 
 
Banking sources estimate that anything between 15 and 20 billion euros is still being hoarded by Greeks outside the banking system. Tax evasion is still thought to be rampant. 
 
Authorities prefer German Shepherds, Labradors or Belgian Melinois, the government document said, reported on Greece&#39;s Star Channel TV. A pedigree was not necessary. 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp; 
 
&nbsp;

Banking sources estimate that anything between 15 and 20 billion euros is still being hoarded by Greeks outside the banking system

Greece will be recruiting dogs to sniff out potential tax dodgers trying to take cash out of the crisis-hit country, where mass bank withdrawals prompted capital controls last year. In a posting on a government web portal on Wednesday, the Finance Ministry said it would be putting together a team to assess tenders for the provision of dogs tasked with detecting cash. More than 50 billion euros left banks from November 2014 to July last year on fears the country could crash out of the euro, a crisis which culminated in capital controls and a new international bailout for the country. Banking sources estimate that anything between 15 and 20 billion euros is still being hoarded by Greeks outside the banking system. Tax evasion is still thought to be rampant. Authorities prefer German Shepherds, Labradors or Belgian Melinois, the government document said, reported on Greece's Star Channel TV. A pedigree was not necessary. (Reuters)

Man's best friend may soon be sniffing out tax dodgers in crisis-hit Greece

Call it the law of unintended consequences. A measure to save Greece from the abyss of a default and crashing out of the eurozone now holds its economy in a stranglehold, preventing its recovery. 
 
Cast back a year: the standoff between the Greek government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the EU and IMF over the terms of a new rescue plan for the country was reaching breaking point. 
 
The talks on a third bailout had been going nowhere since Tsipras took power in January after sweeping elections on an anti-austerity platform, and the EU and IMF warned the country&#39;s place in the eurozone was at risk if it didn&#39;t accept more spending cuts and tax hikes. 
 
Meanwhile, Greeks had been taking out more and more of their savings out of banks, with 20 per cent gone when during the night of June 26 to 27 Tsipras shocked the world by announcing he would put the bailout conditions to a referendum vote. 
 
In order to prevent a run on banks, Greece imposed capital controls, limiting cash withdrawals to 420 Euros ($465) per week. 
 
The restriction is still in place, and it&#39;s having a long-term impact on the economy. 
 
Consumption was down 1.3 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2015, even though prices have been falling in Greece. 
 
Overall, the Greek economy, which had begun growing again at the end of 2014, shrank by 1.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. 
 
&#39;Who has 420 Euros?&#39; 
 
For many Greeks, the 420-Euro weekly limit was not too much of a brake on spending as they had already been progressively tightening their belts since Greece&#39;s first 110-billion-Euro international bailout in 2010. 
 
&quot;Families have cut their expenses so much these past years of the crisis that it didn&#39;t really create a problem ... who now has more than 420 Euros per week to spend?&quot; said Dimitris Sotiropoulos, a draftsman and father of three children. 
 
However, the impact has been greater on businesses, as trade figures show: imports plunged by 12.8 per cent and exports by 11.7 per cent. 
 
The controls, which hampered the ability to import goods and conduct business abroad, added to the &quot;tax pressure and collapse of the social security system&quot; of recent years, said Thanassis Kalabalikis, president of the Athens manufacturers&#39; federation. 
 
&quot;Small entrepreneurs, who before the crisis were the backbone of the Greek economy, had already taken a blow from seven years of recession, and capital controls just added to the sluggishness,&quot; he said. 
 
Some 26,000 Greek businesses of all sizes have shut their doors since capital controls were introduced. 
 
For Panayiotis Petrakis, an economics professor at the University of Athens, &quot;limitations on the free flow of capital and the lack of liquidity are preventing the recovery of the economy and don&#39;t encourage confidence among investors.&quot; 
 
Greece finally clinched the 86-billion-Euro bailout at the end of July, helping to bring back a certain amount of economic stability, including by a recapitalisation of its battered banks at the end of the year. 
 
Low prices, black market 
 
The Greek government has relaxed the capital controls in recent months, in particular allowing higher withdrawals on funds returned from abroad. 
 
A commission is also in place to examine requests from businesses and individuals for transactions above transfer limits. 
 
However, experts worry that capital controls could remain in place to the end of the year, or even to mid-2017, given the experience of fellow Eurozone member Cyprus which took two years to lift capital controls it imposed during the height of its crisis in 2013. 
 
Louka Katseli, a former economy minister who now is the board chairwoman at the private lender National Bank of Greece, is among those who believes the capital controls will be lifted later rather than sooner. 
 
For that, she believes that three conditions need to be met: there are effective incentives for funds to return to the country, the problem of dodgy loans on bank balance sheets has been resolved, and most importantly Greece that receives a positive evaluation from its international creditors in a review later this year. 
 
The only advantage of the capital controls has been to encourage Greeks to use other means of payments when they can: bank transfers and card payments inside the country were not restricted. 
 
That would help reduce problematic tax evasion, if more Greek businesses install card terminals. 
 
&quot;People have adapted but not businesses, as the installation of card terminals has been a headache, because in addition to many bank commissions many indebted companies are in such a terrible state they don&#39;t have the right to install them,&quot; said Kalabalikis. 
 
The result has been, according to Sotiropoulos, that &quot;prices have fallen even more and fostered the black market&quot; as businesses are inclined &quot;to offer considerable discounts to get sales by not issuing a receipt and dodging the tax payments&quot;. 
 
(AFP)

To prevent a run on banks Greece limited cash withdrawals to 420 Euros per week, which is having a long-term impact on the economy

Call it the law of unintended consequences. A measure to save Greece from the abyss of a default and crashing out of the eurozone now holds its economy in a stranglehold, preventing its recovery. Cast back a year: the standoff between the Greek government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the EU and IMF over the terms of a new rescue plan for the country was reaching breaking point. The talks on a third bailout had been going nowhere since Tsipras took power in January after sweeping elections on an anti-austerity platform, and the EU and IMF warned the country's place in the eurozone was at risk if it didn't accept more spending cuts and tax hikes. Meanwhile, Greeks had been taking out more and more of their savings out of banks, with 20 per cent gone when during the night of June 26 to 27 Tsipras shocked the world by announcing he would put the bailout conditions to a referendum vote. In order to prevent a run on banks, Greece imposed capital controls, limiting cash withdrawals to 420 Euros ($465) per week. The restriction is still in place, and it's having a long-term impact on the economy. Consumption was down 1.3 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2015, even though prices have been falling in Greece. Overall, the Greek economy, which had begun growing again at the end of 2014, shrank by 1.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. 'Who has 420 Euros?' For many Greeks, the 420-Euro weekly limit was not too much of a brake on spending as they had already been progressively tightening their belts since Greece's first 110-billion-Euro international bailout in 2010. "Families have cut their expenses so much these past years of the crisis that it didn't really create a problem ... who now has more than 420 Euros per week to spend?" said Dimitris Sotiropoulos, a draftsman and father of three children. However, the impact has been greater on businesses, as trade figures show: imports plunged by 12.8 per cent and exports by 11.7 per cent. The controls, which hampered the ability to import goods and conduct business abroad, added to the "tax pressure and collapse of the social security system" of recent years, said Thanassis Kalabalikis, president of the Athens manufacturers' federation. "Small entrepreneurs, who before the crisis were the backbone of the Greek economy, had already taken a blow from seven years of recession, and capital controls just added to the sluggishness," he said. Some 26,000 Greek businesses of all sizes have shut their doors since capital controls were introduced. For Panayiotis Petrakis, an economics professor at the University of Athens, "limitations on the free flow of capital and the lack of liquidity are preventing the recovery of the economy and don't encourage confidence among investors." Greece finally clinched the 86-billion-Euro bailout at the end of July, helping to bring back a certain amount of economic stability, including by a recapitalisation of its battered banks at the end of the year. Low prices, black market The Greek government has relaxed the capital controls in recent months, in particular allowing higher withdrawals on funds returned from abroad. A commission is also in place to examine requests from businesses and individuals for transactions above transfer limits. However, experts worry that capital controls could remain in place to the end of the year, or even to mid-2017, given the experience of fellow Eurozone member Cyprus which took two years to lift capital controls it imposed during the height of its crisis in 2013. Louka Katseli, a former economy minister who now is the board chairwoman at the private lender National Bank of Greece, is among those who believes the capital controls will be lifted later rather than sooner. For that, she believes that three conditions need to be met: there are effective incentives for funds to return to the country, the problem of dodgy loans on bank balance sheets has been resolved, and most importantly Greece that receives a positive evaluation from its international creditors in a review later this year. The only advantage of the capital controls has been to encourage Greeks to use other means of payments when they can: bank transfers and card payments inside the country were not restricted. That would help reduce problematic tax evasion, if more Greek businesses install card terminals. "People have adapted but not businesses, as the installation of card terminals has been a headache, because in addition to many bank commissions many indebted companies are in such a terrible state they don't have the right to install them," said Kalabalikis. The result has been, according to Sotiropoulos, that "prices have fallen even more and fostered the black market" as businesses are inclined "to offer considerable discounts to get sales by not issuing a receipt and dodging the tax payments". (AFP)

For Greeks, emergency economic measures feed today's crisis

New migrant centres set up to house migrants transferred from the Greek border camp of Idomeni do not meet international standards, a human rights monitor said today. 
 
Tineke Strik of the Council of Europe gave her assessment after visiting three new reception and registration centres in the northern city of Thessaloniki. 
 
&quot;I am impressed by what the Greek authorities have done in such a short space of time to create new facilities for the people from Idomeni,&quot; said Strik, migration rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Strasbourg-based Council. 
 
&quot;However, this has been a missed opportunity to create decent facilities that meet international standards. In the places that I visited, there was no privacy, no fire safety, no light and no ventilation and people have no information on their situation or their prospects,&quot; she added. 
 
Strik, a Dutch deputy, visited the new centres on former industrial sites on Sunday and remains in Greece with a delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly visiting several refugee camps in Athens and on the island of Lesbos today and on Tuesday. 
 
Up to 12,000 migrants found themselves blocked in the Idomeni camp, on the Greece-Macedonia border, after the migrant route north through the Balkans was closed down at the start of March. 
 
Many of those transferred to Thessaloniki &quot;are hoping to be reunited with family members already in other European countries,&quot; said Strik. 
 
&quot;Their psychological well-being will depend on the rapid completion of the pre-registration process and the ability to exercise their right to apply for asylum,&quot; she added.

Greek migrant centers not up to International standards

New migrant centres set up to house migrants transferred from the Greek border camp of Idomeni do not meet international standards, a human rights monitor said today. Tineke Strik of the Council of Europe gave her assessment after visiting three new reception and registration centres in the northern city of Thessaloniki. "I am impressed by what the Greek authorities have done in such a short space of time to create new facilities for the people from Idomeni," said Strik, migration rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Strasbourg-based Council. "However, this has been a missed opportunity to create decent facilities that meet international standards. In the places that I visited, there was no privacy, no fire safety, no light and no ventilation and people have no information on their situation or their prospects," she added. Strik, a Dutch deputy, visited the new centres on former industrial sites on Sunday and remains in Greece with a delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly visiting several refugee camps in Athens and on the island of Lesbos today and on Tuesday. Up to 12,000 migrants found themselves blocked in the Idomeni camp, on the Greece-Macedonia border, after the migrant route north through the Balkans was closed down at the start of March. Many of those transferred to Thessaloniki "are hoping to be reunited with family members already in other European countries," said Strik. "Their psychological well-being will depend on the rapid completion of the pre-registration process and the ability to exercise their right to apply for asylum," she added.

Human rights monitor blasts new Greek migrant centres

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