No. 51

WASHINGTON, DC —Two American Hellenic Institute (AHI) Board Members earned media placement for their commentaries on current events affecting the Eastern Mediterranean region.

AHI Board Member Nicholas G. Karambelas, Esq., who also serves as AHI volunteer legal counsel, and who is a partner at Sfikas & Karambelas LLP, appeared on CGTN America to discuss Greece’s economy, August 20, 2018.  CGTN's Elaine Reyes interviewed Karambelas about the end of Greece’s bailout program and what it means for the country going forward. 

Karambelas is concerned that the legal relationship with the EU creditors addresses macroeconomics but not much about commerce.  Capitalist economies emerge from recessions, panics or depressions only when people start buying and selling.  

“I see nothing that as a result of the three memoranda…that puts money in people’s pockets,” Karambelas said.

Although Karambelas noted some progress in Greece’s investment climate, he added the need still exists to make the climate more conducive to attract foreign investment.  Karambelas also believes confidence will build as commerce increases.  However, this process will ebb and flow because the Greek economy is vulnerable to the complexities of global economics.

AHI Board Member: U.S. Should Consider Demanding Publicly Removal of Turkish Troops from Cyprus

The Washington Post placed a Letter to the Editor authored by AHI Board Member James L. Marketos, Esq., titled, “The U.S. should press Turkey to withdraw from Cyprus,” August 20, 2018.  Marketos’s letter, in response to an August 16 editorial titled, “A better way to use U.S. leverage,” suggests if the United States is considering ways to increase its leverage over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that it should consider demanding publicly the removal of all Turkish forces from Cyprus.

Marketos writes, “Doing so now would not only atone for U.S. complicity in causing Cyprus’s division in the first place but also expose the injustice of Turkey’s recent interference with U.S. commercial interests in the region. The United States can increase its leverage over Mr. Erdogan by announcing publicly that it is time for the Turkish army to leave Cyprus.”