Who is greeks leader

Legislative -- seat unicameral Vouli parliament. Judicial -- Supreme Court. Suffrage: Universal at Administrative subdivisions: 13 peripheries regional districts , 51 nomi prefectures. Growth rate: 3. Inflation rate: 4. Unemployment rate: Natural resources: Bauxite, lignite, magnesite, oil, marble. Services Major markets -- Germany, Italy, France, U.

The country consists of a large mainland; the Peloponnesus Peninsula, connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth; and more than 1, islands, including Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, and the Dodecanese and Cycladic groups.

Greece has more than 14, kilometers 9, mi. Greece has mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Temperatures are rarely extreme, although snowfalls do occur in the mountains and occasionally even in Athens in the winter. Greece is located at the junction of three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Greece's foreign policy, despite its joining NATO in and its accession to the European Community in , has remained focused on the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean region.

Greece maintains full diplomatic, political, and economic relations with its south-central European neighbors. Diplomatic relations with Bulgaria were restored in after a year break--when Bulgaria renounced its claim to Greek territory in Thrace and Macedonia.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Greece has had good relations with Russia and has opened embassies in a number of the former Soviet republics, which it sees as potentially important trading partners. Early in the 2nd millennium BC, the island of Crete nurtured the sophisticated maritime empire of the Minoans, whose trade reached from Egypt to Sicily. The Minoans were challenged and eventually supplanted by the Mycenaeans of the Greek mainland, who spoke a dialect of ancient Greek.

Initially, Greece's mosaic of small city-states were ethnically similar. During the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires 1stth centuries , Greece's ethnic composition became more diverse. Since independence in and an exchange of populations with Turkey in , Greece has forged a national state which claims roots reaching back 3, years. The Greek language dates back at least 3, years, and modern Greek preserves many elements of its classical predecessor.

In the 19th century, after Greece's War of Independence, an effort was made to rid the language of Turkish and Arabic words and expressions.

The resulting version was considered to be closer to the classical Greek language of Homer and was called Katharevousa. However, Katharevousa was never adopted by most Greeks in daily speech. The commonly spoken language, called Demotiki, became the official language in Greek education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 5 and English language study is compulsory from 5th grade through high school.

University education, including books, is also free, contingent upon the student's ability to meet stiff entrance requirements. Recent statistics indicate progressively poorer results in the annual entrance examinations. Low salaries and status of teachers; lack of books, supplies, labs, and computers; frequent strikes; and continuing reliance on rote memorization methods are all matters of concern for Greek educators.

A high percentage of the student population seeks higher education. About one in four candidates gains admission to Greek universities.

Since Greek law does not permit the operation of private universities in Greece, a large and growing number of students are pursuing higher education abroad. The Greek Government decides through an evaluation procedure whether to recognize degrees from specific foreign universities as qualification for public sector hiring.

Other students attend private, post-secondary educational institutions in Greece that are not recognized by the Greek Government. The number of Greek students studying at European institutions is increasing along with EU support for educational exchange. In addition, nearly 5, Greeks are studying in the United States, about half of whom are in graduate school. Greek per capita student representation in the U. Orthodox Christianity is the dominant religion in Greece.

During the centuries of Ottoman domination, the Greek Orthodox Church preserved Greek language, values, and national identity and was an important rallying point in the struggle for independence. There is a Muslim minority concentrated in Thrace. With the support of England, France, and Russia, a monarchy was established. A Bavarian prince, Otto, was named king in He was deposed 30 years later, and the Great Powers chose a prince of the Danish House of Glucksberg as his successor.

He became George I, King of the Hellenes. At independence, Greece had an area of 47, square kilometers 18, square mi. Greece entered World War I in on the side of the Allies.

After the war, Greece took part in the Allied occupation of Turkey, where many Greeks still lived. In , the Greek army attacked from its base in Smyrna now Izmir , and marched toward Ankara. The Greeks were defeated by Turkish forces led by Mustafa Kemal later Ataturk and were forced to withdraw in the summer of Smyrna was sacked by the Turks, and more than 1. Greek politics, particularly between the two World Wars, involved a struggle for power between monarchists and republicans.

Greece was proclaimed a republic in , but George II returned to the throne in , and a plebiscite in upheld the monarchy. It was finally abolished, however, by referendum on December 8, , when more than two-thirds of the voters supported the establishment of a republic. That date is celebrated in Greece by the one-word reply--ochi "no" --symbolizing the Greek Prime Minister's rejection of the surrender demand made by Mussolini.

Despite Italian superiority in numbers and equipment, determined Greek defenders drove the invaders back into Albania. Hitler was forced to divert German troops to protect his southern flank and attacked Greece in early April By the end of May, the Germans had overrun most of the country, although Greek resistance was never entirely suppressed.

German forces withdrew in October , and the government in exile returned to Athens. After the German withdrawal, the principal Greek resistance movement, which was controlled by the communists, refused to disarm. A banned demonstration by resistance forces in Athens in December ended in violence and was followed by an intense, house-to-house battle with Greek Government and British forces.

After 3 weeks, the communists were defeated, and an unstable coalition government was formed. Continuing tensions led to the dissolution of that government and the outbreak of full-fledged civil war in First the United Kingdom and later the United States gave extensive military and economic aid to the Greek Government.

Communist successes in enabled them to move freely over much of mainland Greece, but with extensive reorganization and American material support, the Greek National Army was slowly able to regain control over most of the countryside. Yugoslavia closed its borders to the insurgent forces in , after Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia broke with Stalin and the Soviet Union.

In August , the National Army under Marshal Alexander Papagos launched a final offensive that forced the remaining insurgents to surrender or flee across the northern border into the territory of Greece's communist neighbors. The insurgency resulted in , killed and caused catastrophic economic disruption. In addition, at least 25, Greeks were either voluntarily or forcibly evacuated to Eastern bloc countries, while , became displaced persons inside the country.

It was followed by a succession of unstable coalition governments. On April 21, , just before scheduled elections, a group of colonels led by Col.

George Papadopoulos seized power in a coup d'etat. Civil liberties were suppressed, special military courts were established, and political parties were dissolved. Several thousand political opponents were imprisoned or exiled to remote Greek islands.

Dimitrios Ioannides replaced Papadopoulos and tried to continue the dictatorship. Ioannides' attempt in July to overthrow Archbishop Makarios, the President of Cyprus, brought Greece to the brink of war with Turkey, which invaded Cyprus and occupied part of the island. Senior Greek military officers then withdrew their support from the junta, which toppled.

Leading citizens persuaded Karamanlis to return from exile in France to establish a government of national unity until elections could be held. Karamanlis' newly organized party, New Democracy ND , won elections held in November , and he became prime minister.

Following the referendum which resulted in the rejection of the monarchy, a new constitution was approved by parliament on June 19, , and parliament elected Constantine Tsatsos as President of the republic. In the parliamentary elections of , New Democracy again won a majority of seats. He went on carve out a political career in the broader radical left Synaspismos movement, and was elected its leader in In , the economic crisis transformed Syriza - a left alliance formed around Synaspismos - into the main voice of those opposed to the conditions attached to international bailouts, and it came second to the centre-right New Democracy party in elections Mr Tsipras is known for wearing his shirts open-necked but once joked he would put on a tie on when Greece gets a debt write-off.

His predecessor, New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, in formed a coalition committed to pushing through the EU-IMF austerity measures, despite substantial public opposition. His government to a certain extent succeeded in stabilising Greece's severe fiscal crisis, but came unstuck in the dying days of , when parliament's failure to elect a president triggered an early election. Image source, Getty Images. Mitsotakis's decision to choose Sakellaropoulou was widely seen as a move to counter mounting criticism about the lack of women in his cabinet where only a handful of women hold senior positions.

The country is coming out of a decade-long financial crisis and years of political turmoil. When Mitsotakis announced the nomination, he said change in Greek society "starts from the top Greece has been lagging behind other European countries when it comes to the number of women in senior positions in politics. It scores below the European average in gender equality and was at the very bottom of the gender equality index for issued by the European Institute for Gender Equality.

Teenage boys who witness their peers abusing girls are more likely to bully and fight with others, study says. In November , data released by Greek police show that registered incidents of domestic violence increased by