2015
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Contents
Events
January
- January 3: Escaped convicted November 17 member, Christodoulos Xiros, is apprehended by police in Anavyssos.
- January 3: George Papandreou launches his new political party, the Movement of Democratic Socialists.
- January 5: The Athens Stock Exchange closes at 789.20 - a loss of 5.6% - amid rumours of a future Greek exit from the Eurozone.
- January 6: Michel resigns his position as head coach of Olympiakos FC.
- January 9: Cyprus Airways ceases operations after the EU rules they cannot receive any further state aid.
- January 13: The elder Paisios is canonised a saint by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
- January 24: Cash-strapped Niki Volou is officially relegated from the Super League for financial reasons by the league's disciplinary committee.
- January 25: The radical left-wing Syriza party of Alexis Tsipras wins the parliamentary elections with 36.34% of the vote, gaining 149 seats in the Hellenic Parliament.
- January 26: Alexis Tsipras' Syriza party reaches a deal with the conservative Independent Greeks of Panos Kammenos to form an anti-bailout coalition. Tsipras straightaway receives a mandate to form a government from President Karolos Papoulias and breaks tradition by taking a civil oath without the presence of Archbishop Ieronymos II.
- January 26: The official results of the parliamentary election are announced. SYRIZA: 36.34%, 149 seats; New Democracy: 27.81%, 76 seats; Golden Dawn: 6.28%, 17 seats; Potami: 6.05%, 17 seats; KKE: 5.47%, 15 seats; ANEL: 4.75%, 13 seats; PASOK: 4.68%, 13 seats
- January 26: A Greek F-16 fighter jet crashes at Los Llanos base in Albacete, Spain, during a NATO exercise. Both pilots are killed along with eight others.
- January 28: An earthquake, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, strikes south of Crete.
- January 28: The Athens Stock Exchange General Index posts losses of 9.24%.
February
- February 2: PM Alexis Tsipras pays an official state visit to Cyprus where he meets President Nikos Anastasiades.
- February 3: The Athens Stock Market rallies as the General Index gains 11.27% to close at 840.57.
- February 5: "We did not even agree to disagree", says Yanis Varoufakis after a meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, contradicting his host. Varoufakis received no support from Wolfgang Schaeuble in the newly elected government's plan to win debt relief and end austerity policies.
- February 6: SYRIZA MP Zoi Konstantopoulou is elected President of the Parliament, after receiving the record number of 235 votes.
- February 12: Sergio Markarian is named head coach of the National Football Team of Greece.
- February 15: About 15,000 people gather in central Athens to support the newly elected government's push for a better deal on Greece's debt.
- February 17: Alexis Tsipras nominates Prokopis Pavlopoulos for the Greek presidency.
- February 18: Prokopis Pavlopoulos is elected President of the Hellenic Republic gathering 233 votes in the first ballot.
- February 20: Nikoletta Kyriakopoulou breaks the Greek indoor record for the pole vault, with 4.76m, in Stockholm, Sweden.
- February 20: Eurozone finance ministers reach an agreement to extend Greece's financial rescue by four months, provided they approve reform proposals to be submitted by Greece with a deadline of February 23.
- February 24: Eurozone finance ministers approve reform proposals submitted by Greece in order to gain an extension of its bailout.
- February 24: Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades starts a four-day official state visit to Russia.
March
- March 13: Prokopis Pavlopoulos is sworn in as President of the Hellenic Republic.
- March 15: University student, Vangelis Yiakoumakis, who had gone missing since February 6, is found dead not far from his school.
- March 21: OFI Crete is forced to withdraw from Greece's top flight Superleague because of mounting debts.
- March 23: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in Germany. Both Tsipras and Merkel urge an end to German and Greek cultural stereotypes about "good and bad" eurozone members, saying such labels threaten European unity.
- March 27: Ratings agency Fitch downgrades the sovereign rating of Greece by three notches, from B to CCC, citing "extreme pressure on Greek government funding."
April
- April 2: Vicky Stamati, wife of the jailed former minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, escapes from Dromokaitio Psychiatric Hospital.
- April 3: Vicky Stamati surrenders to authorities just one day after her escape from Dromokaitio Psychiatric Hospital.
- April 5: Panathinaikos defeat Apollon Patra 68-53 to lift the Greek Basketball Cup for the 16th time.
- April 8: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wins pledges of closer cooperation from Russia at talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
- April 15: An earthquake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, strikes Cyprus, 18km SW of Paphos.
- April 15: Ratings agency S&P downgrades Greece's credit rating, saying it expects its debt and other financial commitments will be "unsustainable". S&P drops long and short-term sovereign credit ratings to CCC+/C from B-/B and says its outlook is negative.
- April 16: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 strikes around 50 km (30 miles) off the eastern tip of the island of Crete.
- April 17: A powerful aftershock, measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale, is felt throughout Crete.
- April 20: The Golden Dawn trial commences at Korydallos.
- April 24: Cyprus President, Nikos Anastasiades, attends the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Armenian massacre in Yerevan. Greece is represented by Hellenic Parliament speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou.
- April 25: The women’s water polo team of Olympiakos win their first ever Euro League title by beating holders Sabadell from Spain 10-9
May
- May 3: Two inmates are killed and 18 others are injured during a clash at Korydallos prison.
- May 4: A 27-year old Bulgarian national is arrested for the hideous murder of his 4-year old daughter, Anny Borisova, in Athens.
- May 9: Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades is the lone leader of an EU country who attends the 70th anniversary celebrations of the victory against Nazi Germany, in Red Square, Moscow.
- May 11: Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades meets Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, for the first time since the latter's election as president of the so-called TRNC.
- May 15: Inter-communal talks resume in Cyprus after an eight-month break.
- May 16: Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, abolishes the requirement that Greek Cypriots fill in a ‘visa’ form to cross to the breakaway north.
- May 17: Olympiakos fall to Real Madrid 78-59 in the final of the Euroleague.
- May 20: APOEL defeat AE Limassol 4-2 to lift the Cyprus Football Cup. The match was halted for 40 minutes when AEL fans threw debris on the pitch. Afterwards, the Larnaca fire department had to respond to ten calls as the same fans lit fires throughout the city.
- May 23: Olympiakos defeat Skoda Xanthi 3-1 to lift the Greek Football Cup.
- May 24: APOEL clinch their third consecutive Cypriot league title.
June
- June 3: Iraklis Thessaloniki mathematically clinches the second spot in the second-division play-offs, behind AEK, to secure its promotion back to the Super League after four years in lower divisions.
- June 5: Greece misses its €300 million payment to the International Monetary Fund and announces that it will instead bundle all four of its June payments together at the end of the month. The Athens Stock Exchange responds with a 5% plunge in values.
- June 10: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meets in Brussels with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for negotiations on new bailout funds.
- June 11: Greece's state broadcaster ERT goes back on air, two years after being closed down under austerity measures.
Deaths
January
- January 9: Roy Tarpley, basketball player.
- January 24: Demis Roussos, singer.
February
- February 18: Andreas Garyfallos, water polo player.
- February 24: Babis Drosos, footballer
March
- March 6: Vasilis Magginas, politician
April
- April 9: Loukas Louka, Cypriot politician and minister.
- April 20: Zoe Zagoraiou, singer - partner of her husband Spyros Zagoraios
- April 28: Yiannis Komianidis, footballer
May
- May 28: Bruno Pesaola, former coach of Panathinaikos FC.
