The Journalists (the Siemens Scandal)

Eretria, Greece. March 6, 2010.

Greek journalists Kostas Vaxevanis and Tassos Telloglou in the presentation of the book “The Network. The Siemens File” by Tassos Telloglou. The book presents the biggest corporate corruption case in Europe, known as “the Siemens Scandal”.

Three years of investigation in Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Greece. Two hundred pages of German and Greek legal briefs. Thousands of hours of discussion with the “slush funds” administrators, Siekaczek and Neidl, and the accused in Munich and Athens. The money conduits, the secret meetings, the complicity of the World Banking System, the surprises and the responsibility of the Greeks and the Germans. Who were the people behind the Siemens case? Who were the politicians involved? Which were the motives for some to break their silence? How deep was the hypocrisy within the firm? How did Siemens try to hide the offences of its CEOs? Which were the mistakes that lead the Greek investigation to a dead end? These are only some of the evidence revealed by Tassos Telloglou on the biggest Greek scandal in the 21st century.


Ερέτρια, 6 Μαρτίου 2010.

Οι δημοσιογράφοι Κώστας Βαξεβάνης και Τάσος Τέλλογλου στην παρουσίαση του βιβλίου “Το Δίκτυο. Φάκελος Siemens” του Τάσου Τέλλογλου. Το βιβλίο παρουσιάζει τη μεγαλύτερη υπόθεση εταιρικής διαφθοράς στην Ευρώπη, γνωστή ως “Σκάνδαλο Siemens”.

Τρία χρόνια έρευνας σε Γερμανία, Ελβετία, Λιχτενστάιν και Ελλάδα. Διακόσιες χιλιάδες σελίδες γερμανικής και ελληνικής δικογραφίας. Πολύωρες συζητήσεις με κατηγορούμενους σε Μόναχο και Αθήνα και τους διαχειριστές των “μαύρων ταμείων”, Σήκατσεκ και Νηντλ. Οι διαδρομές που ακολούθησαν τα “μαύρα χρήματα” της Siemens, οι μυστικές συναντήσεις, η συνενοχή του διεθνούς τραπεζικού συστήματος, οι αναπάντεχες εκπλήξεις και οι ευθύνες Γερμανών και Ελλήνων. Ποιοι είναι οι άνθρωποι που βρέθηκαν πίσω από την υπόθεση Siemens; Για ποιους πολιτικούς υπάρχουν στοιχεία; Ποια ήταν τα κίνητρα που οδήγησαν κάποιους να σπάσουν τη σιωπή τους; Πόσο βαθιά ήταν η υποκρισία μέσα στην ίδια τη μητρική εταιρεία; Με ποιους τρόπους προσπάθησε η Siemens να κρύψει τις παρανομίες των στελεχών της; Ποια λάθη οδήγησαν την ελληνική έρευνα σε αδιέξοδο; Αυτά είναι λίγα μόνο από τα στοιχεία που αποκαλύπτει ο Τάσος Τέλλογλου στην περιγραφή του πρώτου μεγάλου ελληνικού σκανδάλου του 21ου αιώνα.

More images at: Kevrekidis Photography

© 2010 Jordan Kevrekidis

UEFA Europa League

Olympic Stadium - Athens, Greece.
UEFA Europa League - February 18, 2010.
Panathinaikos - Roma (3 - 2).

More images at: Kevrekidis Photography

© 2010 Jordan Kevrekidis

Macedonian Christmas

Aristotelous Square, Thessaloniki.
Macedonia – Greece.

Every December, Greece’s second city, Thessaloniki, erects a huge, illuminated metal structure in the shape of a three mast ship next to the Christmas tree in its main square. The ship, and not the tree, is the traditional Greek symbol of Christmas.
Even the vast majority of Greeks who continue to stick to the Christmas tree consider it a foreign import. The modern Christmas tree entered Greece in the luggage of the country’s first king, Otto of Bavaria, who ascended to the throne in 1833 but the tree did not become popular before the 1940s. The ship, by contrast, is viewed as a quintessential Greek symbol. Greeks have been seafarers for thousands of years and the country is today one of the world’s mightiest shipping nations.

In some of the Greek islands huge ships are built, symbolic of the new life Christmas heralds. Children are singing Christmas carols (the word carol comes from the ancient Greek word choraulein, meaning a circle dance performed to flute music) holding illuminated model boats in their laps. For children, they serve as a lantern in the dark or as a box for presents collected in return for singing carols. It is believed that the history of caroling goes deep into the past and connects with ancient Greece. In fact, they have even found carols written in those distant past days which are similar to the ones sung today. In ancient times the word for carols was Eiresioni, and children of that era held an effigy of a ship which depicted the arrival of the god Dionysus. Other times they held an olive or laurel branch decorated with red and white threads, on which they would tie the offerings of the homeowners. The Christmas tree, assumed to be foreign, may even have some Greek roots. Use of decorated greenery and branches around New Year is recorded as far back as in Greek antiquity, as it is in other pre-Christian cultures. Christmas was meant originally to replace the pagan celebration of the winter solstice. Tree branches and green bushes called “Christwood” always had a place in Christian households during the medieval Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Probably that’s why the tree and the boat coexist today in Thessaloniki’s Aristotelous Square.

More images at: Kevrekidis Photography

© 2009 Jordan Kevrekidis

Eastern Barbarian

Ancient Corinth – Greece.

Statue of captured Eastern barbarian at the Archeological Museum of Ancient Corinth.

Four marble statues, decorated the pillars with Corinthian capitals which supported the roof of the "Facade of the Captives", a two-storey stoa to the west of the Propylaia. Dated to the 2nd century A.D., this Facade was probably constructed to commemorate the victory of the Roman emperor Lucius Verus over the Parthians. Many of the construction materials, however, date back to the Augustan period, and this means that it reused materials from other Augustan monuments, or that the Facade itself is a re-composition to an Augustan building. The name "Facade of the Captives" comes from the larger than life statues of captured Eastern barbarians that supported the second storey. The remaining two statues (originally there were at least four) are housed in the museum.

More images at: Kevrekidis Photography

© 2009 Jordan Kevrekidis

Athens Photo Festival 2009

Esplanade Building, Faliron Olympic Complex – Athens, Greece.

The Athens Photo Festival is a continuation of the International Photography Month in Athens, an event with a 20 year history that was the major and oldest Greek institution with large scale events focusing on the art of photography. This year’s event will include participations by over 200 artists from Greece and abroad, with exhibitions in over 30 exhibition spaces throughout the city of Athens.

Κτίριο Πεζογέφυρας Εσπλανάδα, Ολυμπιακός Πόλος Φαλήρου.

Η διοργάνωση του Athens Photo Festival είναι η συνέχεια του Διεθνούς Μήνα Φωτογραφίας στην Αθήνα και συγκαταλέγεται ως ένα από τα σημαντικότερα και ταυτόχρονα είναι ένα από τα πέντε παλαιότερα φωτογραφικά φεστιβάλ στον κόσμο. Το πρόγραμμα της φετινής διοργάνωσης καλύπτει ένα ευρύ φάσμα δράσεων με κριτήριο την ποιότητα και την ποικιλομορφία που περιλαμβάνει ένα σύνολο 34 ατομικών και ομαδικών εκθέσεων και 17 video installation projects, με τη συμμετοχή 280 καλλιτεχνών από την Ελλάδα και τη διεθνή φωτογραφική σκηνή, Photo Folio Review, ημερίδες φωτογραφίας, εκπαιδευτικά προγράμματα, διαλέξεις, διαγωνισμούς και άλλες παράλληλες δράσεις.

More images at: Kevrekidis Photography

© 2009 Jordan Kevrekidis