Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-06-14

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Kammenos: Greece favours NATO's operation in the Aegean which has cut refugee flows

[02] Athens protesters march in solidarity with Orlando shooting victims

[03] New app for Etz Hayyim Synagogue introduces visitors to history of Cretan Jews

[01] Kammenos: Greece favours NATO's operation in the Aegean which has cut refugee flows

Today's meeting is important because it will prepare a critical NATO summit in Warsaw on July 8-9, where decisions will be taken on the organization's east and south defence strategy.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the meeting, Kammenos focused on the southern strategy, saying the situation in Libya, the refugee crisis and the increasing uncertainty in the Middle East highlighted the importance of Greece as a pillar of stability.

[02] Athens protesters march in solidarity with Orlando shooting victims

Chanting slogans such as "No more hate" and "End to intolerance", protesters held rainbow flags and candles as they walked towards the U.S. embassy in Athens to lay flowers and candles for the victims.

"This is a tragic blow to democracy and freedom. It's an attack on human rights more widely, not only against LGBTQI people," Giorgos Kounanis, of the department of sexual orientation and gender identity for the Greek Helsinki Monitor, told ANA-MPA.

"After such an attack, our freedoms can certainly be questioned and possibly many people will start to think twice whether it is free to express themselves in a public place, whether they are capable of having fun. This is a broader terrorist attack on individual freedom," he added.

"The dead and injured of this attack are our brothers. Their experiences are ours too. A day after the 'Pride' festival and we are called to mourn for the loss of young people who fought, like us, for visibility and pride," another participant added.

Others said the call was open to anyone who wants to see an end to the criminal turn that homophobia and intolerance have taken once again, and called on all organizations and citizens to take a stand.

[03] New app for Etz Hayyim Synagogue introduces visitors to history of Cretan Jews

"This free tourist application will constitute an important tool, allowing users immediate access to the rich history of the Jewish community of Chania and Crete," the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Canada in Greece, Julie Crôteau, said during the presentation adding that the Chania synagogue is an important symbol and sample of the Jewish community on the island.

On her side, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Israel in Greece, Tammy Ben-Haim, said it is important for people to know the history of this Jewish community in Crete which dates back 2,000 years.

The app was developed by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre of Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, with the support of the Canadian and Israeli embassies and the Etz Hayyim Synagogue.

Later in the evening, members of the Greek Jewish community and other officials attended a ceremony to commemorate the Cretan Jews who were killed by Germans during World War II, at the monument of the "Tanais" ship victims.

On May 1944, the Nazis gathered about 300 Jews from Chania and other parts of Crete as well as other Cretans, members of the resistance, and some Italians, whom they ordered on the "Tanais". On their way to the mainland, the ship was torpedoed and all passengers were killed.

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