ICYMI | AHEPA Statement on Conference on Cyprus
Supreme President Andrew C. Zachariades issued a July 7 statement on the closure of the Conference on Cyprus without an agreement being reached to reunify Cyprus: "The Conference on Cyprus in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, ended disappointingly without an agreement... read more
Media Coverage: The National Herald | GreekNews | Real Media (Greek)
Program Update | 95th Supreme Convention
The latest convention update includes information about: AHEPA's exclusive 95th anniversary celebration at Epcot; the inaugural Hellenic History National Tournament; and convention educational and cultural programs Plus, make sure you're up-to-speed on all the logistics to help make your visit "Magical," including the "My Disney Experience" app. Click here for more.
Add Your Voice: Parthenon Marbles Congressional Resolution
Add your voice. Tell Congress to back the return of the Parthenon Marbles. Help pass a congressional resolution that expresses the sense of Congress hat the United Kingdom should enter into negotiations with Greece to facilitate the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. learn more
Rebuild St. Nicholas Campaign
AHEPA is determined to meet its Saint Nicholas Capital Campaign fund raising goal of $1 million. Donations--large and small--keep pouring in for AHEPA's #RebuildStNicholas capital campaign.
NEW! | Our campaign continues its momentum during the summer. Thank you AHEPA Chapter 60, Lehigh, Pa., for its $1,000 donation to the campaign!
TAKE ACTION!
Has your district or chapter organized a fundraiser for the campaign to #RebuildStNicholas? Take action and support AHEPA's campaign today! Please tweet about your fundraising activity by using #RebuildStNicholas to share your work with the broader community!
Share Media
St. Nicholas Appeal Video
AHEPA has produced its latest appeal video to help #RebuildStNicholas.
TAKE ACTION: Donate Today!
MORE TO SHARE: Initial appeal video released at the 94th Grand Banquet!
Project Update
Live Webcam!
Thanks to a live webcam, you can watch progress being made with a first-hand look at the site where Saint Nicholas National Shrine will be build.
Washington Update
AHEPA Backs Proposed Amendments to Defense Bill that Holds Perpetrators Accountable for Attack on Protesters
Supreme President Andrew C. Zachariades sent a letter to House Committee on Rules which is holding hearings this week to consider amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2018. Three of those amendments take congressional action to ensure Turkey cooperates in the investigation to hold the perpetrators of the May 16 brutal attack on American protesters accountable.
Tell Congress to Back the Return of the Parthenon Marbles
AHEPA commends the introduction of H.Con.Res.51, a bipartisan, concurrent resolution that expresses the sense of Congress that the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece. U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ) introduced the resolution, May 2.
Help Grow the Hellenic Caucus! Membership at 126.
The 115th Congress is well underway. And with it, the work renews for the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, led by Co-chairs U.S. Reps. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-FL) and Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY). The Hellenic Caucus has 126 members.
Is your U.S. representative a member of the Hellenic Caucus? Click here to find out
Download & Share: Action alert to help you outreach to Congress
The Hellenic Caucus has been an active, bipartisan group in Congress since its founding in 1995.
Upcoming Events & Deadlines
July
25-29 | AHEPA Family 95th Supreme Convention, Orlando, Fla.
August
14 | Deadline for fall issue of The Ahepan
Greek American News Digest
Editor's Note: Editorials, Commentaries, and Opinion pieces are shared for information purposes only and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the Order of AHEPA, its affiliated organizations, and members.
The Mystery Behind Greece's Temples
BBC (July 6)
When I was a little girl, I would pester my grandfather with the same question every time we wandered the flagstone streets of Athens’ Philopappou Hill on a clear evening. I would wait until we had reached the 147m peak, with the Parthenon at eye level, to ask:“Why are the stars shining so brightly from here?” read more
Greece’s Antismoking Effort Has One Major Problem: Greeks
The Wall Street Journal (July 10)
hen Katerina Dervenioti decided in 2013 to open a bar in central Athens, she was sure of one thing: there would be no smoking. She had always disliked it, and after all the government had passed a law banning smoking in interiors back in 2009. read more
Fulbright scholarships for 2017-18 a reminder of program’s enduring significance
Ekathimerini (July 5)
It was 1949 when a group of hopeful young scientists boarded a ship and sailed across the Atlantic, leaving behind a Greece devastated by World War II and in the grips of civil strife. They were the first batch of Greeks to receive a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States, thus launching an exchange of knowledge and know-how that continues to this day. read more
U.S. Mission to Greece Launches Education Unites: From Camp to Campus Program
The National Herald (July 6)
The U.S. Embassy in Athens, in collaboration with the American College of Thessaloniki – Anatolia College, Deree – The American College of Greece, and Perrotis College – American Farm School, announces the program “Education Unites: From Camp to Campus” thatwill provide higher education scholarships to 100 eligible refugees in Athens and 100 in Thessaloniki. read more
Ageing Greece faces future with a dwindling workforce, expert tells ANA
ANA-MPA (July 11)
Demographic trends in Greece - including the latest wave of emigration starting after 2010 - paint a future of dwindling overall population, with an ever-decreasing proportion of working age and economically active individuals, the head of Thessaly University's Demographics and Social Analyses department Prof. Vyronas Kotzamanis told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Tuesday. read more
An Interview with Dr. Jacobs on Genocide in the Ottoman Empire
The National Herald (July 11)
Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs holds the Aaron Aronov Endowed Chair of Judaic Studies and is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa. An ordained rabbi, Professor Jacobs is a specialist on the Holocaust and Genocide, Biblical Studies, Jewish-Jewish Christian Relations, and is one of the foremost authorities on Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), who coined the term “genocide” and devoted his life to the enactment of an international law on the punishment and prevention of genocide. read more
‘March for Justice’ Ends in Istanbul With a Pointed Challenge to Erdogan
New York Times (July 9)
Hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out for a massive rally in Istanbul on Sunday evening, cheering the leader of the opposition as he concluded his three-week March for Justice and threw down a challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to institute changes or face a “revolt against injustice.” “Nobody should think this march has ended; this march is a beginning,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party, known as C.H.P., ... read more
What’s Keeping One of Opera’s Greatest Sopranos From Singing?
New York Times (July 4)
The joy of Elisabeth’s entrance aria in Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” recedes for a line of sadness as she recalls her beloved’s departure. The soprano Anja Harteros, whose performance of the role at the Bayerische Staatsoper here will be streamed at staatsoper.tv on Sunday, July 9, makes of that passing moment an entire anatomy of melancholy. read more