2009

Events

January

• January 5: 21-year old Police officer, Diamantis Matzounis, is fired upon with Kalashnikov rifles, outside the Ministry of Culture, and is injured as assaults against policemen continue since the shooting death of teenager, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, on December 6, 2008. A caller to a Greek television station claimed responsibility for the shooting in the name of a local far-left group Revolutionary Struggle which figures on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations.
• January 7: Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis carries out a sweeping reshuffle of his Cabinet as his party struggles to retain its razor-thin control of parliament amid a string of scandals and the worst civil unrest the country has seen in decades.
• January 12: Greek shipowner, Pericles Panagopoulos, is kidnapped by three armed men on his way to work in the plush seaside Athens suburb of Kavouri
• January 14: Police said that the Greek militant group Revolutionary Struggle sent a statement to the weekly Pontiki newspaper saying it carried out a Dec. 23 shooting attack on a riot police bus and a separate January 5 shooting at police in which one officer was seriously wounded.
• January 17: 58-year old fan, Sotiris Serafeim, suffers a heart attack and dies in the midst of a fight in the stands following the football game between Iraklis and AEK at Kaftantzoglio Stadium, Thessaloniki.
• January 19: Police officer Diamantis Matzounis is released from the intensive care unit of the Athens General Hospital Korgialenio-Benakio National Red Cross making a step towards recovery.
• January 19: The Athens Stock Exchange closes at 1,660.04 after losses of 5.14%.
• January 19: Greek shipping magnate Pericles Panagopoulos - who was kidnapped at gunpoint on January 12 - is released.
• January 20: Turkish actor, Atilla Olgaç, stirs up controversy after admitting on Turkish TV that he killed 10 Greek Cypriots, including POWs, during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
• January 21: Antros Kyprianou is elected Secretary General of AKEL, replacing Dimitris Christofias.
• January 24: Sophocles Pilavios is elected Chairman of the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO).

February

• February 4: Nikos Thanopoulos is elected President of AEK.
• February 17: The Athens Stock Market index drops 5.19% closing at 1,603.80.
• February 22: Serial armed robber and kidnapper, Vasilis Paleokostas, and his Albanian sidekick escape from Korydallos prison by helicopter.
• February 22: Panathinaikos win the Greek Basketball Cup for the fifth year running by defeating Olympiakos 80-70.
• February 25: Kostas Douvalidis breaks the Greek indoor record for the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.68.

March

• March 4: Panserraikos stun Panathinaikos 3-2 in Athens and eliminate them from the Greek Football Cup.
• March 19: Greek-owned cargo ship "Titan", with 24 crew members on board, is seized off the coast of Somalia by pirates.
• March 21: Panathinaikos defeat Italy’s Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 3-2 sets and qualify for the final of the CEV Cup.
• March 22: Olympiakos defeat Panionios 3-2 and clinch their 12th football championship in the last 13 years.
• March 22: Panathinaikos lose 3-1 sets to Russia's Lokomotiv-Belogorie Belgorod in the final of the CEV Cup.

April

• April 2: The Athens Stock Exchange index reaches 1,740 after gains of 4.4%.
• April 2: Both Olympiakos and Panathinaikos qualify for the Final Four of European basketball after away wins at Real Madrid and Sienna respectively.
• April 5: Iraklis play in the final of the volleyball Champions League where they lose to Italy's Trentino 3-1 sets.
• April 7: Patriarch Bartholomew I meets with US President Barack Obama in Istanbul.
• April 12: OFI lose to Ergotelis 1-0 and are relegated to the B Division for the first time in 33 years.
• April 13: Temuri Ketsbaia resigns as coach of Anorthosis Famagusta after five years at the helm. The Georgian had led Anorthosis into the CL Group Stage earlier in the season.
• April 19: The hard-line National Unity party win the elections in the occupied areas of Cyprus. Party leader, Dervis Eroglu, promises to support the ongoing negotiations between President Christofias and Talat.
• April 29: 2004 Olympic 20 km walk champion Athanasia Tsoumeleka tested positive for the blood booster CERA at last year's Beijing Games.
• April 30: The Greek weightlifting federation suspended two weightlifters, Giorgos Papadopoulos and Christina Filandrianou who tested positive for a banned stimulant during national games this year.
• April 30: The Athens Stock Exchange index hits a five month high after gains of 3.18%, closing at 2,053.74.

May

• May 1: Panathinaikos defeat Olympiakos 84-82 in their Euroleague semifinal matchup in Berlin.
• May 2: Olympiakos win the Greek Football Cup on penalties, after a 4-4 thriller of a final match against AEK.
• May 3: Panathinaikos defeat CSKA Moscow 73-71 and win their fith Euroleague title.
• May 5: Greece's parliament votes against indicting a former minister Aristotelis Pavlidis in a corruption probe that could have forced early elections on the embattled conservative government. The vote over an alleged bribery scandal fell short of the 151 ballots required with only 146 lawmakers voting in favor and 144 against.
• May 7: A first instance court on Rhodes issues a ruling nullifying a pair of same-sex marriages conducted last June on the isle of Tilos.
• May 8: Olympiakos Piraeus announces the club are not renewing the contract of coach Ernesto Valverde despite the Spaniard leading the club to the league title and Greek Cup.
• May 8: Former Greek transport minister, Christos Verelis, resigns his seat in parliament after a prosecutor ordered a corruption probe into a bus contract to Neoplan, a subsidiary of German truckmaker and industrial company MAN AG.
• May 14: Olympiakos Piraeus play a friendly in Hanoi, losing 1-0 to the national team of Vietnam.
• May 16: Angeliki Exarchou crushed her national record in the women's 200 breast with a time of 2:27.39 during the first night of long course meter swimming at the Czech Grand Prix. Her performance wiped out the 2:29.44 national mark she set back in 2005.
• May 18: Greece confirms its first case of H1N1 flu, a student who returned from the United States a few days ago. He was first taken to the hospital by his father in the early hours of the day after experiencing a cough and high fever. After initial tests were conducted, he was told to return home but was later taken by ambulance to the Sismanoglio Hospital after the second test conducted at the Pasteur Institute came out positive, showing he had swine flu.
• May 18: The United States announces that it is listing Revolutionary Struggle as a foreign terrorist organization after the Greek leftist group attacked US diplomatic and business interests.
• May 18: Alexander the Great is named "the greatest Greek of all time" in a poll of viewers of Sky TV. Surprisingly, Dr George Papanicolaou wins second place while Theodoros Kolokotronis finishes third.
• May 29: Former King Constantine, 68, undergoes a successful heart bypass operation at a private hospital in north London

June

• June 1: Panathinaikos defeat Olympiakos 91-84 and win the A1 basketball championship in Greece for the seventh time in a row.
• June 4: Greeks and Cypriots, along with other Europeans, go to the polls to elect their MEPs.
• June 17: 41-year old police officer, Nektarios Savvas, is shot dead in the Patisia section of Athens, while guarding a witness in the case against the Revolutionary People's Struggle.
• June 20: The Acropolis Museum opens to the public.
• June 20: Greek-born photo-journalist Iason Athanasiadis is among a number of foreign journalists arrested in Iran following the disputed presidential poll. He was on assignment for the Washington Times where he has been covering the post-election protests.
• June 22: The immediate closure of Athens daily Eleftheros Typos newspaper and its sister radio station City 99.5 FM is announced after billionaire businessman Theodore Angelopoulos and his wife Gianna Angelopoulou-Daskalaki, the former head of the organizing committee for the 2004 Athens Olympics, decided to end their involvement in publishing.
• June 22: The Greek extremist group Revolutionary Sect, claims responsibility for the fatal shooting of officer Nektarios Savvas in a proclamation contained in a CD disk left for Greek daily Ta Nea.

Deaths

January

• January 5: Evangelos Depastas, athlete (800m and 1500m).
• January 13: Aristides Louvaris, footballer.
• January 13: Thanasis Saravakos, footballer.
• January 18: Danae Stratigopoulou, singer, songwriter, musician.

February

• February 2: Giorgos Pantelakis, former President of PAOK.
• February 4: Aleka Paizi, actress

April

• April 18: Babis Kotridis, footballer
• April 20: Beata Asimakopoulou, actress

May

• May 9: Evgenios Spatharis, master of the shadow theatre (Karagiozis).
• May 9: Theodoros Exarchos, actor
• May 25: Nana Georgiou, Cypriot actress
• May 26: Michalis Papayiannakis, politician, MP, MEP.

June

• June 10: Stelios Skevofilakas, footballer
• June 24: İsmet Güney, Turkish-Cypriot designer of the flag of Cyprus.