KATHIMERINI

An explosion of anger in Turkey

Protests follow the funeral of the 15 year-old

Tayyip Erdogan challenged his opponents to battle him in the March 30th elections as tens of thousands of people filled the streets of Istanbul and other large Turkish cities. The funeral of the 15-year-old Birkin Elvan, who had suffered a direct hit to the head by a teargas canister and was in a coma for 9 months before succumbing, triggered anti-government protests which were met by police with water cannons and more teargas. While the country was in the throes of grief, the Turkish Prime Minister observed with satisfaction the signing of the law requiring the closure of the Fethullah Gulen preparatory schools. The schools run by the influential preacher cater to millions of students every year and provide significant income to Mr Gulen’s ‘Hizmet’ movement. The approval of the law requiring their closure by President Giul was one of Mr Erdogan’s strategic goals. 

ELEFTHEROTYPIA

The noose tightens around Yiannos Papantoniou

Stavroula Kourakou, the wife of the former defense minister, as well Mr and Mrs Kandalepas, a couple that is close friends with Mr Papantoniou, entered the courtroom of the investigating magistrates Mallis and Stavropoulou who are handling the arms procurement programs in order to testify as witnesses. The questions they were asked, according to reports, were related to an amount of approximately 1.3 million euros which was found in a questionable account on the basis that there are, ‘indications and suspicion of a connection between the money and the investigation to date of the submarine and ASRAD procurement programs, and must be investigated.’

Click here for background on the Yiannos Papantoniou cas.

TA NEA

Flight MH370: Has it been located?

A Chinese satellite has photographed ‘three large floating objects’ which resemble wreckage in the South China Sea. In the meantime the relatives of the 239 passengers of the Boeing 777 which disappeared on Saturday still hold out hope. ‘Come home MH370 – We miss you’ writes a banner in Kuala Lumpur airport.

AVGI

Editing the recession

According to ELSTAT (the Hellenic Statistical Authority), the contraction in GDP actually reached 7% in 2012, instead of the 6.4% which had been previously announced. The estimate of a recession of 3.9% in 2013 is also ‘temporary’ with the date of the final estimate transferred to October 2014!

The narrative of the government and the troika over the trajectory of the economy and the prospects of a recovery from the crisis is based on ‘tweaked’’ and therefore false figures, as has been officially proven, albeit with a delay. Similarly the debates in the run up to the elections will be based on a ‘false reality’.

The use of statistics that depict a reality rosier than the truth allowed the government to promote the scenario of a ‘return to growth’ in 2014 and therefore a return to the markets and an exit from the Memorandum. Following the revision of the indicators for the recession the assessment of the level of the primary surplus is also, it turns out, up in the air as the recession is a parameter that affects all of the fiscal indicators. The primary surplus and ‘OECD toolbox’ are the most significant thorns in the discussions between the government and the troika which begin today. 

ETHNOS

Vergina: five new royal tombs come to light

The majestic tombs are thought to date from 420-410 BC. It is believed that one belongs to Perdiccas II.