General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met President Bashar Assad of Syria in the Kremlin, video distributed by the Kremlin press service on Thursday showed.
Putin told Assad he was concerned that tensions are rising in the Middle East, but neither leader provided further details on their talks. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad’s government to fight armed opposition groups and reclaim control over most of the country. While Russia now concentrates the bulk of its military resources in Ukraine, it has maintained a military foothold in Syria and keeps troops at its bases there.
“I am very interested in your opinion on how the situation in the region as a whole is developing,” Putin said to Assad. “Unfortunately, there is a tendency towards escalation, we can see that. This also applies directly to Syria.”
The Kremlin said Putin and Assad’s meeting took place Wednesday.
Putin and Assad last met in March 2023 in the Kremlin on the anniversary of Syria’s 12-year uprising-turned-civil war. At that meeting, Putin emphasized the Russian military’s role in stabilizing the country.
“Considering all the events that are taking place in the world as a whole and in the Eurasian region today, our meeting today seems very important,” Assad told Putin via a Russian translator.
The Kremlin did not provide details on Putin and Assad’s talks but one potential discussion point was around Syria and Turkey restoring diplomatic relations.
Russia is one of the strongest backers of Assad’s government but also has close ties with Turkey and has been pushing for a return to restart relations.
Turkey and Syria cut their ties in 2011 as mass anti-government protests and a brutal crackdown by security forces in Syria spiraled into the still-ongoing civil war. Turkey backed Syrian insurgent groups seeking to overthrow Assad and still maintains forces in the opposition-held northwest, angering Damascus.
In December 2022, the Turkish, Syrian and Russian defense ministers held talks in Moscow, the first ministerial-level meeting between Turkey and Syria since 2011. Russia also brokered meetings between Syrian and Turkish officials last year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Assad recently signaled they are interested in restoring diplomatic ties.
Last week, a Turkish newspaper reported that Erdogan would meet with Assad in Moscow in August, but Turkish officials denied the report, saying it did “not reflect the truth.”
Earlier this month, Erdogan said he had called on Assad to visit Turkey or to meet in a third country.
Speaking to reporters on July 15, Assad said that in order for relations to return to normal Turkey would have to withdraw its troops from northern Syria and stop backing insurgent groups that Damascus describes as “terrorists.”
___
Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey contributed to this report.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
LA JUNTA, Colo. (AP) — Love is in the air on the Colorado plains — the kind that makes your heart beat a bit faster, quickens your step and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
The killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in and of itself is no big deal.
On November 29, 2023, an opulent ‘Memorial of the Nation’s Immortals’ was inaugurated at Greece’s Ministry of National Defense.
THRU OCTOBER 13 NEW YORK – The Hellenic Film Society (HFS) presents the New York Greek Film Expo October 3-13.
RE'IM, Israel (AP) — Israelis held somber ceremonies on Monday to mark a year since the deadliest attack in the country's history, a Hamas-led raid that shattered its sense of security and ignited wars on two fronts with no end in sight.