Greece 2017: A Year in Review

It was a year when many lives were lost from natural disasters that struck Greece, while the economic situation following 8 years of recession remains uncertain.
In November, Alexis Tsipras paid an official visit to the US seeking investments for Greece. He sent a message of a Greek come-back as he met President Trump.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the first Turkish president in years to visit Greece in December. His visit highlighted the range of problems in Greek-Turkish relations in front of television cameras.
Konstantinos Mitsotakis, a politician that has influenced Greek political life for over 50 years, died in May.
Here’s 2017 in review:
January
Greek Highest Court, Areios Pagos rejects the extradition request of 8 Turkish officers accused by Turkey of taking part in the coup attempt of 2016. A subject that has shadowed Greek-Turkish relations for months since.

February
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center is donated to the Greek state. A complex in the bay of Phaliron in Athens, which includes new facilities for the National Library of Greece (NLG) and the National Opera (GNO), as well as the 210,000 m² Stavros Niarchos Park. The €566 million project was completed in 2016, and was donated to the Greek state in 2017.

Four people die, including a 3 year-old-boy at a horrific accident on the Athens-Thessaloniki highway on February 26. A Porsche sports car with a speed of over 300 km/h crashes on a parked car and kills a woman and her child. Videos of the crash send shock-waves through Greece.

March
One of the biggest mergers in recent Greek business history takes place. Marinopoulos super markets becomes Sklavenitis super markets, as part of the private legal agreement which is meant to save Marinopoulos’ chain from closure.
April
Four army officers are killed and one injured in the crash of a border patrol helicopter, in northern Greece. The incident occurred north of the town of Elassona, some 450 kilometres northwest of Athens.

May
Lucas Papademos, Greece’s former prime minister and ex-central bank chief, has been injured after an explosive device hidden in an envelope went off inside his car in Athens.

On May 29, Konstantionos Mitsotakis dies at the age of 99. A four-day period of national mourning was declared for a politician that has dominated Greek political life since the 1960s.
June
Magnitude 6.3 earthquake shakes Lesvos on June 12. One woman dies and many houses are damaged.

Thousands of people attend a concert in honour of Mikis Theodorakis, the greatest song-writer, composer of modern times. The concert takes place at Panathenaic Stadium.
July
American tourist Bakari Henderson is attacked and killed by a mob at the tourist resort of Laganas, in Zakynthos.
A magnitude 6.7 quake hits the Aegean between the Greek island of Kos and Turkey. Two people are killed in Kos, and more than 500 are injured.

August
Nearly 70,000 acres are burned during bush fires that break out throughout Greece. The worst-hit areas were Kythera, eastern Attica, and Zakynthos.

Zoe Laskari, a popular Greek actress, dies at the age of 73.
September
The Agia Zoni tanker sinks on September 10, in the Saronic Gulf south of Athens. Many beaches in Attica are coated in oil. It takes months for the oil-spillage to clear and the long-term effects for the environment are hotly debated.

October
Prominent Greek lawyer Michalis Zafeiropoulos is murdered at his office, on October 14.

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is touring the US in an effort to attract investments for Greece. His message to the American and Greek American community is that Greece is coming back from years of crisis. On October 17th he meets President Trump at the White House.
November
23 people are killed from the floods that that hit many parts of western Attica following heavy storms on November 15. A state of emergency in the region is called.
Politicians quarrel about the causes of the disaster.

The opposition accuses the government for letting radical left-wing groups cause mayhem in Athens. Members of the anarchist group Rouvikonas invade the Ministry of Defence, where a gunman opens fire against police guarding PASOK headquarters.
December
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits Athens in the first visit of a Turkish head of state for 65 years. The visit was marked by the public disagreement between him and his Greek counterpart, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, over the Lausanne Treaty that established the modern-day borders of the two countries.