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A brief history of Olympic dissent: Athens 1896
The selection of Beijing and The People's Republic of China to host the 2008 Olympics was always a controversial choice, which has thrown a sometimes unwelcome spotlight on the country. China's record on Internet censorship, human rights, the death penalty and the environment have all been questioned by the Western media as they cover the build-up to the games, and the torch relay, intended to be a celebration of the spirit of the games, was instead a focal point...

Read the full post - Published August 1, 2008 in Articles, Cyprus, Greece, Olympics, Politics, Popular, Turkey

.cc not .cy for the TRNC
I spotted this poster on the Underground the other night, and I was quite intrigued - no, not because of the lady in the bikini - but because of the domain name being used to promote tourism in 'North Cyprus'. Of course, one man's 'North Cyprus' is another man's 'Turkish Republic of North Cyprus', which is another man's 'Turkish occupied Κύπρος'. Whichever way you look at it, the TRNC does not have an internationally recognised TLD for the Internet, although...

Read the full post - Published July 2, 2008 in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Web

1906 Athens 'Intercalated' Olympic Games anniversary
The fact that the modern summer Olympics have generally been run in late summer means that there is a cluster of Olympic anniversaries in August. However, today is the 102nd anniversary of the opening of the 1906 games being held in Athens. These games are remarkable because they are no longer counted as 'official'. Athens held the first modern Olympics in 1896, and also wanted to host the 1900 edition. Paris was offered this honour instead, but by way of...

Read the full post - Published April 22, 2008 in Greece, London Olympics, Olympics, Turkey

BBC News linking to the TRNC "government" in Cyprus related stories
The BBC has been reporting today on the demolition of one of the barriers along the Green Line in Nicosia, Europe's last remaining divided capital. I was interested to note that in their related internet links section on the story they choose to link to not just the legitimate sites of the EU, Greece, Turkey and the island's Greek Cypriot government, but also to the website of the TRNC "government" in the Northern part of the island. Internationally, of...

Read the full post - Published March 9, 2007 in BBC, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey

Turkish YouTube ban unleashes the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast within
Yesterday the internet was buzzing with the news that a judicial decision in Turkey had blocked access to YouTube for users in that country. Most people looked at it as part of an ongoing narrative of states trying to control what could be published on the internet, but I found the whole Greece / Turkey subtext of the story to be the most interesting part. It seems that the offending videos on YouTube were user-generated content made by Greeks...

Read the full post - Published March 8, 2007 in Google, Greece, Turkey, YouTube

More reaction to Arsenal's move to ban all national flags from their stadium
The furore over the 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' flag at Arsenal's Emirates stadium has been going on for a couple of months now, not that you would know that from the BBC's pathetic news story covering this weekend's announcement by the club that all national flags and nationalists flags are to be banned from the stadium. The piece simply trots out the official Arsenal line that "The move comes after some fans have been upset at the waving of...

Read the full post - Published December 19, 2006 in BBC, Cyprus, Football, Greece, Turkey

Arsenal forced to ban all national flags over Cypriot dispute
I wrote at the beginning of the month about the dispute at Arsenal caused by the repeated flying of the unrecognised 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' flag by Mete Ahmed within their new Emirates stadium. At the time, Arsenal had considered that since it was not specifically against the law to fly the flag within the UK, they would be taking no action over it. However, pressure from the Greek Cypriot community appears to have swayed the clubs opinion. In...

Read the full post - Published December 18, 2006 in Cyprus, Football, Greece, Turkey

Cypriot flag dispute at Arsenal
The relationship between Greece and the rest of the EU on one side, and Turkey on the other side, has been getting a lot of attention this week due to their inability to reach an agreement over Cyprus. Since the turmoil caused in 1974 by first the Greek backed coup on the island, followed by the Turkish invasion, relations have still not been normalised over thirty years later. Only Turkey recognises the northern part of the island as a nation...

Read the full post - Published December 1, 2006 in Cyprus, Europe, Football, Greece, Turkey