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A WEEKLY GREEK-AMERICAN PUBLICATION

February 15-21, 2014

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VOL. 17, ISSUE 853

Cyprus to Ex-CIA Officer Kiriakou Tells TNH Jail Sentence is Payback First to Publicly Be Bizonal Talk About Federation, Waterboarding Heads Say
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer

Anastasiades, Eroglu Meet, Lay Blueprint

By Andy Dabilis
TNH Staff Writer NICOSIA Two years after talks to reunify the island divided since an unlawful 1974 Turkish invasion, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish counterpart, Dervis Eroglu met and laid out a blueprint that reportedly calls for Turkish-Cypriot leaders to share power, and creation of a bizonal federation. Talks resumed after Anastasiades got hardliner Eroglu to agree on a document outlining the planned federation. Its a different approach from previous talks, one that Anastasiades insisted was necessary to prevent talks from dragging on without results like so many earlier rounds of negotiations over the last four decades. Todays joint statement outlines the basic principles for a solution, Anastasiades told reporters after the meeting. Whats required now is the vision and determination of the leaders and the people of Cyprus to rebuild trust between them, but also to achieve a settlement that leaves no winners and losers.

AP PHOTO/THANASSIS STAVRAKIS

Death of A Town
Sheep graze next to fuel storage tanks in the depressed Perama area, on the fringes of Athens' port of Piraeus. For Perama, the ships have sailed. Until recently, this working class town at Athens western tip hosted some of the busiest shipyards in Greece. Peramas unemployment is among the worst in Greece, where the nationwide figure for November was 28 percent.

Patriarch Intervenes in Salt Lake Church Disputes

By Theodore Kalmoukos
SALT LAKE CITY, UT Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew intervened in the ongoing conflicts at the Holy Trinity parish in Salt lake City, UT by directing Archbishop Demetrios of America to solve the problem immediately. Bartholomew became concerned after reading TNHs article about the violence which was erupted at the Prophet Elias Church on January 19 during the Divine Liturgy, between supporters of Rev. Michael Kouremetis and Parish Council members, including President Demetrios Tsagaris. The following Sunday, services there and at the Holy Trinity were celebrated with plainclothes police officers on hand. The Salt Lake City parish belongs to the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Metropolis of Denver, whose hierarch is Metropolitan Isiah. The dispute, now in its fourth year, began with the plan to divide the Holy Trinity Cathedral parish into two, despite opposition by the majority of the parishioners. Fr. Mathew Gilbert is the priest at Holy Trinity, and Kouremetis at Prophet Elias, which became a distinct church. Isaiah supported the split into two parishes. The American media has written about these issues and disputes periodically and is planning to do so again, sources tell TNH, though not much about this is heard from either Demetrios or Bartholomew. On February 5 Demetrios summoned Isaiah to the Archdiocesan headquarters in New York telling him of the patriarchs disappointment. The message was clear that the Patriarchate will not tolerate the dissolvent of any parish in the United States. Demetrios is responsible for the entire Archdiocese and is accountable to the patriarch. Problems have also arisen in Lynn and in Lowell, MA where the century-old Day GreekAmerican School has withered over the last three years. On February 6, Tsagaris gave Continued on page 5

Kefalonian Groups Unite for Earthquake Relief

AP PHOTO/PETROS KARADJIAS

By Demetris Tsakas
TNH Staff Writer NEW YORK The various Kefalonian societies in New York, the Ionian Cultural Federation, and the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York are preparing to help the earthquake victims in Kefalonia. A series of meetings have been held and preliminary action has been taken, including communication with Kefalonian authorities and the establishment of bank accounts. A group of young adults from the Cephalonian Brotherhood Youth have set a goal of $20,000. They and established a page on an internet fundraising facility and have already raised $6608. During a special meeting that was held on February 6, the Board of Directors of the Cephalonian Association Kefalos, decided to donate the first five thousand dollars, to open a special account with Alma Bank and to convene a special general assembly meeting on Sunday, January 16 at the Cephalonian House in Astoria where members will be asked to vote on setting aside constitutional limits to the amount of money that can be raised and distributed without the approval of a general assembly. At the board meeting of the Cephalonian Brotherhood on February 11, decisions were made to 1) open an account at Investors Bank for the Kefalonia Earthquake Relief Fund, 2) to dedicate the proceeds from the organizations March 22 dinner dance to the Fund, 3) to organize fundraising events at venues that will be donated by Kefalonian business persons, 4) host telethons, 5) work with the communitys musicians who will donate their services for a fundraising concert. The Kefalonians, as pointed out to TNH by the president of Ainos, Basil Kokosis, the secretary general of Federation of Cephalonian & Ithacian Societies Odysseus, Costas Vagelatos , and the general secretary of the Cephalonian Association Continued on page 2

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades during a nationally televised news conference. The leaders expressed their determination to resume structured negotiations in a resultsoriented manner, said Lisa Buttenheim, the resident United Nations envoy on the island, reading from a joint statement. Flanked by the two leaders, the joint statement Buttenheim Continued on page 11

NEW YORK Christmas and Thanksgiving are the toughest times for John Kiriakou, who has completed his first year at the Federal Correctional Institution in Loretto in Western Pennsylvania. That is when he most feels his separation from his wife, Heather, and his five children. On January 25, 2013, Kiriakou, whose 15-year tenure with the CIA produced awards and commendations he is also lauded for leading the team that captured al-Qaedas Abu Zubaydah was sentenced to 30 months in prison for admitting he violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. The New York Times reported that he e-mailed the name of a covert CIA officer to a freelance reporter, who did not publish it, and noted Kiriakou is the first current or former CIA officer to be convicted of disclosing classified information to a reporter. Kiriakou has said in interviews that he believed the officer had retired, and during almost two hours of conversation with TNH senior writers Demetrios Tsakas and Constantine Sirigos said I am 100 percent positive all of it is payback for his public statements about waterboarding to ABC News in 2007. The first thing visitors observe is that despite Kiriakous ordeal he is in good spirits. He is happy his reputation is intact because people saw this for what it was. This was a political issue, and although this will sound crazy, he said after saying how terribly he missed his family, I think I would do it all over again. Somebody had to stand up. He also said thank you to the people who have helped him in his time of trouble. I have always been proud to be Greek-American, but I have never been this proud, he said, about their support. The entire community has opened its arms and its wallets. People really careI get 40, 50 letters a day. Thats what kept me going. Some individuals stand out, however, including journalist Michael Ignatiou and Nikos Mouyiaris, the founder of the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), whom he has never met. I call my wife every other day and one day she asked do you know Nikos Mouyiaris? He said he did not. He is with the Cyprus U.S. Chamber of Commerce and he just sent us a check for $5000, she told him. Kiriakou said the money paid the taxes so they could save their house. Mouyiaris then sent another $5000, and HALC ran an Continued on page 6

Greece Last In Foreign Policy Rank

By Constantinos E. Scaros
Greece, and to a slightly lesser extent Cyprus are foreign policy slackers, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). The ECFR, established in 1987, is the first think thank comprising European-wide matters. Its objective is to generate meaningful discussion about a values-based European foreign policy. This years annual ECFR scorecard ranked 28 nations in terms of being foreign policy leaders or slackers. Cyprus ended up very low and Greece finished last. The 28 European Union (EU) nations, in alphabetical order, are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Continued on page 10

40 US Reps: Let FYROM Join NATO

TNH Staff
TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Officers and members of the Cephalonian Brotherhood and of its youth organization are seen at their February 11 meeting in Astoria. Also present was Protopresbyter Jerasimos Ballas.

Events Planner Angela Gianopoulos

By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer NEW YORK One of the great mysteries of life, which philosophers, mystics and scientists through the ages have proclaimed, is that simplicity is at the root of being and the good life. That might be why one of Manhattans top event planners, Angela Gianopoulos, makes the Dalai Lama happy. She says simplicity is at the core of all her designs. It is her artistic intuition and consummate attention to detail that is at the heart of her much sought- after ability to bring my clients brands to life. And the absence of clutter, material or conceptual, makes Giannopoulos a master of conveying her clients message. One of the most memorable of her many spectacular events was one she created for the charismatic Buddhist leader. It was hosted at the studio of Donna Karan, one of her clients. I felt like we transformed the space - it was like being on a mountain in Tibet. It was magical. Everyones senses were heightened. Marigolds were strewn and hung throughout the space and an incredible gold statue with many arms soared 20 feet high, centering the space and the experience, she told TNH. The statue, which was donated for the evening by Richard Gere, was not of a Buddha but the Bodhisattva of Compassion. That was one of my wow moments, in a self-made career whose rewards transcend its monetary compensations. The Dalai Lama did a prayer for us. He blessed a scarf and presented it for me. Gianopoulos also brings smiles to the leaders of her own faith. She is one of the prime movers of the Blue Dream summertime charity gala of the Church of the Kimisis in the Hamptons, where she has a home and whose pastor is Father Alexander Karloutsos. Blue Dream, which with the subtle and imaginative tweaks Giannopoulos, is famous for, turns Southampton into Santorini, has become one of the must attend Greek-American events in New York. She does not neglect the secular her office and apartment are in worldly Manhattan and she has done numerous events for Bill Clinton. she pauses and says: He has a presence! According to its website, her Continued on page 14

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NEW YORK 40 Members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to support NATO membership for a number of candidate entities, including the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), despite its continued intransigence in its dispute with Greece. The letter was written by Republican Congressman Michael Turner, and the lead Democrat signing it is Congressman Elliot Engel, the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Engel has traditionally been a strong supporter on issues important to the Greek-American community, especially regarding Cyprus. In the following statement by Engel, he emphasized his commitment to the principle of widely sharing the benefits of NATO membership, the requirement that candidates meet all of the alliances requirements being implicit: As we approach the 2014 NATO Summit, it is important that the United States supports the aspirations of those states which seek to integrate with the Continued on page 11

THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 15-21, 2014

COMMUNITY

Archbishop Demetrios

George Behrakis

Nitzia Logothetis

John Catsimatidis

Dean Metropoulos

Nick Furis

The Leadership 100 Endowment Fund Celebrates its 30th Anniversary

By Theodore Kalmoukos
NEW YORK The Leadership 100 Endowment Fund marks its 30th Anniversary at its 23rd Annual Conference, February 1316 at The Ritz-Carlton Naples in Naples, FL. Since its beginnings in 1984 by the late Archbishop Iakovos and its Founders, a small group of leading Greek Orthodox laymen, Leadership 100 has grown dramatically. Grants now exceed $35.6 million and its membership, has reached 925 Greek Orthodox leaders. In recognition of the Anniversary, Archbishop Demetrios will be honored for his extraordinary leadership of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and all its ministries and institutions as he marks 15 years as archbishop. The Conference will highlight the future of philanthropy in America and the world with the presentation of its Award for Excellence to The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, to be accepted by Vasili Tsamis, Chief Operating Officer, who will outline the Foundations impressive worldwide mission and the role of philanthropy in the world economy. The Seleni Institute will also be presented with the prestigious Award, to be accepted by Nitzia Logothetis, Founder and Executive Chair. She will describe the Institutes work in addressing womens health issues and the role of philanthropy and social change. In addition, the Conference will receive a report on one of Leadership 100s recent grants by Nicholas J. Furris, Senior Producer/Director of Greek Orthodox Telecommunications (GOTelecom). The grant to GOTelecom, a National Ministry under the Department of Communications of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, made possible 26 original programs to provide Orthodox Christians and viewers of other faiths with religious education on the Greek Orthodox faith in America and around the world by means of a newly-developed GOTelecom TV, and an Internet/cable television channel. The Conference will also include the traditional Bible Study and Lecture by Demetrios, the festive Glendi, the Grand Gala, as well as a special program for children chaired by Elaine Cotronakis and activities for young professionals. As usual, sports and other social activities will be available for all conferees. Dean Vali & Keffe will provide entertainment. In keeping with the theme of the Conference, A Vision for the Future of Orthodoxy and Hellenism, a Business Forum titled A Vision for the Future of Business has been scheduled. George S. Tsandikos, the Vice Chairman of Leadership 100, who is Managing Director of Rockefeller & Company in New York City, will moderate a panel of three of the most prominent members of Leadership 100, George D. Behrakis, John Catsimatidis, and C. Dean Metropoulos, who will examine the future prospects for business in America and in the world as a result of the economic dislocation of both the national economy and the global economy. Behrakis is a pioneer in the pharmaceutical field and a renowned philanthropist in medicine and health, higher education, and the arts. He has served on the Boards and supported numerous medical, educational, cultural, and religious organizations, including Boston College, Brigham & Womens Hospital, Northeastern University, Harvard University, Tufts University Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He also has served on the Board of Hellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology and continues to serve on the Executive Committees of the Archdiocesan Council and of Leadership 100, as Chairman Emeritus of the latter. Catsimatidis is the Chairman and CEO of the Red Apple Group, which has holdings in oil refining, retail petroleum products, convenience stores, real estate, aviation, and supermarkets, with investments in both medical and industrial technology. In 2013, Catsimatidis sought the Republican nomination for Mayor of New York City. Starting as a relatively unknown businessman, Catsimatidis finished second with 41% of the vote against an establishment candidate. Catsimatidis' civic and charitable interests include the Hellenic Times Scholarship Foundation, the New York Police Athletic League (PAL), the Boy Scouts, the Ellis Island Awards Foundation, the Law Enforcement Foundation, and the Juvenile Diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Research Foundations. He is the co-founder and major supporter of the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation. He has served as Vice Chairman of the Archdiocesan Council, and sits on the Executive Committee and Board of Trustees of Leadership 100. C. Dean Metropoulos is currently Chairman and CEO of Metropoulos & Company, a boutique acquisition and management firm with offices in New York and Greenwich, Connecticut. He has spent the past 25 years building, restructuring and growing numerous businesses in the U.S., Mexico and Europe. Many of these were subsequently taken public or sold to strategic corporations. Metropoulos & Company is very well known in the private equity, investment banking, and financial community, and is widely recognized as the leading investment firm in the consumer space, having acquired and repositioned more than 300 brands worldwide, and with more than 78 acquisitions involving over $48 billion in invested capital. Deans sons, Evan and Daren, also principals at Metropoulos & Company, are often credited with many of the unique marketing strategies that have re-launched and reestablished many of the iconic brands that the company has built and reinvigorated. A longtime member of Leadership 100, he was recently elected President of Faith: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism.

Patriarch Bartholomew Intervenes in the Salt Lake Situation

Continued from page 1 Demetrios a detailed account of the Salt Lake events. Archdiocesan Council VP Michael Jaharis and Chancellor Bishop Andonios of Phasiane were also present. Upon his return to Salt Lake City, Tsagaris sent a letter to the parishioners dated February 8, informing them that Patriarch Bartholomew is aware of our difficulties and has instructed the Archbishop to personally intercede. Our current dysfunctional arrangement between laity and clergy cannot continue. Tsagaris also wrote that our Parish Council president, Dimitrios Tsagaris, has just returned from New York City where he was the guest of Archbishop Demetrios. Many concerns regarding our community were discussed. We are anticipating further direction from the Archbishop in the next few weeks. In the meantime we expect all services and ministries of the Parish to continue. We as your Parish Council have been vigorously pursuing a solution to the many issues we have before our hierarchs. We currently are functioning with the same Parish Council that was ratified by Metropolitan Isaiah 20 months ago. The newly elected but unratified Parish Council members are participating in our discussions. We currently have an appeal before Archbishop Demetrios and the Holy Synod in regards to the status of these elected council members and the Parish Assembly that elected them. Although the day to day functions of our churches are being attended to by our office staff and director George Kournianos, we no longer have open communication with our clergy. The Parish Council has received numerous complaints from parishioners about the clergy not answering their phones and the lack of specified clergy office hours. All priests are apparently under direction from Metropolitan Isaiah to not participate in matters concerning the administration of the Parish. Despite multiple attempts, in person, via phone and E-mail, to engage Father Matthew to participate in Community matters and Parish Council meetings he has elected not to attend. (See attached requests and response below). Attempts to communicate directly with Metropolitan Isaiah have also been unsuccessful. We have been reassured from the Archdiocese that this problem will soon be corrected. Metropolitan Isaiah stated to many of our parishioners attending the Metropolis basketball tournament in Dallas that he is no longer involved in facilitating a resolution of the current difficulties facing our Parish. Despite these statements he has established a fund through the Metropolis to raise money to maintain Father Michaels position. He has continued to encourage separation of our parish The de facto separation is now being promoted by a separate account in Denver which is diverting stewardship monies to a Metropolis account. This account is not sanctioned by the Archdiocese. Many parishioners are being solicited to contribute to this account. We remind you that monies donated to this fund are not stewardship contributions and do not contribute to maintaining our ministries and facilities. Our churches and facilities have monetary demands beyond just clergy salaries which are not being met at this time through stewardship. Your Parish Council is in weekly communication with the Archdiocese. Metropolitan Isaiah has removed himself as our spiritual leader and we now await further intervention from the Archdiocese. Tsagaris declined TNHs request for comment, saying that the discussions will remain confidential for now. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios will visit the Metropolis of Denver immediately after his return from Constantinople where he will participate in the meeting of the Holy Synod there. We are going to have another meeting in Denver and then we will inform the parish in detail and certainly I will be most happy to talk to The National Herald. Demetrios did not respond to TNHs request for comment. OTHER DEVELOPMENTS TNH has learned that from sources close to the Chancery that Metropolitan Methodios of Boston indents to appoint Rev. Mike Kouremetis to the St. Methodios Camp and Retreat Center in Contoocook, NH. Methodios had assigned Kouremetis as presiding priest at St. George parish in Manchester, NH where he served for a brief period of time. Kouremetis attempts to be appointed to the St. Nicholas parish in Tarpon Springs, FL and also in parishes in New Jersey werent successful because there was resistance by the parishioners. Despite the fact that many parishioners at Salt Lake feel that the other priest Fr. Mathew Gilbert should depart from the parish, his newly-ordained son Chrysostomos has intervened and stopped his transfer, for now. Chrysostomos worked at the Archdiocese and he is a close associate and friend of Bishop Andonios. He was recently appointed priests at the Annunciation parish in Manhattan succeeding Archimandrite Nathaniel Symenonides, who replaced Fr. Mark Arey at the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs if the Archdiocese.

Rev. Mike Kouremetis of the Prophet Elias Church in Salt Lake City.

Rev. Mathew Gilbert of the Holy Trinity church in Salt Lake City, where Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has intervened.