İnsanoğlunun eğitimi ne zaman biter araştırma: İnsanoğlunun eğitimi ne zaman biter araştırma: wor...

İnsanoğlunun eğitimi ne zaman biter araştırma: İnsanoğlunun eğitimi ne zaman biter araştırma: wor...: İnsanoğlunun eğitimi ne zaman biter araştırma: wordpress sıte kurmak çok basıt bu yöntemle :                     WORDPRESS SİTE KURMAK  b...

Boycott of schools begins across Turkey as police fire water cannons on protesters

 

Boycott of schools begins across Turkey as police fire water cannons on protesters

Police fired water cannons on protesters in İzmir. DHA Photo

A boycott of schools was launched on Feb. 13 upon a call from the Eğitim-Sen teachers’ union and a number of Aleviassociations to protest the government’s recent education system implementations, including on compulsory religion classes. 

Protesters, consisting  of union and association members, teachers, parents and students, gathered in front of schools and marched in several cities across Turkey, including Istanbul, Ankara, Eskişehir, İzmir, Edirne, Artvin and Antalya. 

Police forces have been dispatched to the schools where people gathered for the boycott, while some of the school administrations locked the doors to prevent teachers and students from leaving the buildings. 

Around 400 people attended a march organized by Eğitim-Sen in Istanbul’s Kadıköy as a part of the boycott. 

Eğitim-Sen official Turgut Yokuş said they would never allow the education system to go under the complete control of the government, calling on the authorities to end policies that polarize society and halt practices that are “against scientific and secular education.”

Around 10 people have reportedly been detained by police at a middle school in Istanbul’s Gülsuyu neighborhood. Police also intervened against a crowd in front of a school in the Çankaya district of capital Ankara and detained some people, according to reports.

Police intervention in İzmir 

Police fired water cannons on protesters who gathered on a simultaneous call for a boycott of schools by the Joint June Movement (BHH) in the Aegean province of İzmir.



The İzmir Governor’s Office notified the provincial education directorate to warn that the personnel and students who attended the “Boycott for Secular and Scientific Education” organized by the BHH would face disciplinary proceedings. 

İzmir Governor Mustafa Toprak released a statement saying the office had moved to take measures “to protect students from negative thoughts and environments.” 

Meanwhile, Onur Kılıç, a member of the BHH and the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), who was detained by police on Feb. 12 on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was arrested by a court on Feb. 13. 

A prosecutor sent Kılıç to the courthouse on Feb. 13, demanding his arrest despite his refusal to give a testimony.

In his testimony to the İzmir 5th Court of Peace, Kılıç denied that he shouted a slogan which can be considered a crime, saying he only attended a march to protest against compulsory religion classes and the transformation of some high schools into religious vocational imam hatip schools.

February/13/2015

Man Shot Dead At Irish Traveller Wedding

 The bride is said to have been preparing to walk up the aisle when the shooting began at a church in Co Fermanagh.

 

A man in his sixties has died after he and another man were gunned down at a village wedding in Co Fermanagh.

It is understood the wedding was between two members of the travelling community and the shooting began as the bride prepared to walk up the aisle at St Mary's Church in Newtownbutler.
One man was reportedly shot in the chest, the other in the leg, while another man had a knife injury to his hand.
One of the victims was flown by helicopter to the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen but died from his injuries, the Fermanagh Herald reported.
The wedding went ahead despite the shooting.
Father Michael King was preparing to conduct the ceremony when the shooting happened outside.
He said: "The bride was standing at the back of the church waiting to come up the aisle and the next thing there was a bit of commotion at the back of the church - several women ran in and said 'there are shots, there are shots, there is somebody shooting'."
The priest said there had also been a disturbance before the wedding.
"There was an altercation in the car park long before the bride came - they were thumping and kicking each other," he said.
The families asked for the wedding to go on despite the shooting.
"They said 'father we would like you to proceed with the wedding', so I proceeded with the wedding," said Fr King.
"They spent at least half an hour inside the church at the end taking photographs."
Chief Inspector Michael Harvey, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said: "The victim was shot along with another man outside a chapel on Main Street in Newtownbutler at around 1pm this afternoon.
"The other man, who is in his thirties, is not believed to have sustained any life threatening injuries."
Councillor Thomas O'Reilly said people in the village - which only has a population of around 1,000 - were stunned by the violence.
"In a very small rural area and village such as Newtownbutler, it is shocking that something like this would happen."

Minsk for Ukraine crisis summit

Minsk for Ukraine crisis summit

Chaos continues in Ukraine 02:37

Minsk, Belarus (CNN)All eyes are on Minsk on Wednesday as officials from Russia, Ukraine and separatist groups meet to hammer out proposals for a possible peace deal for Ukraine.

Three of the main players -- French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko -- were in the Belarus capital by early Wednesday evening. They were awaiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, who a Kremlin spokesman told CNN would fly to Minsk to take part in the meetings.

The Ukraine crisis: Everything you need to know

The high-stakes summit comes against a backdrop of worsening conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed a growing number of civilian lives.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday prior to his arrival in Minsk, Poroshenko said the summit was "the most important one so far I have had as a President," Ukraine's state-run Ukrinform news agency reported.

The President said he and Ukraine's lawmakers were ready to introduce martial law across the country if "further irresponsible actions" lead to more escalation of the conflict.

"It will depend on the results of the summit whether we stop the aggressor through diplomatic means or go to a totally different regime," he is quoted as saying.

Video showed Denis Pushilin of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Vladislav Deinego of the Luhansk People's Republic at the talks, speaking with reporters in Minsk on Tuesday night, putting to rest earlier doubts about their attendance.

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also attended the preliminary meeting.

But leaders involved in the talks still have a long road to travel before any lasting agreement is reached.

French and German officials have sounded a note of caution about the prospects of finding consensus, and the talks could run late into the night.

'Seize this chance'

The main points of negotiations of the so-called Normandy group -- the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine -- are expected to be the withdrawal of heavy weapons, the creation of a demilitarized zone and the future status of the Donbas area in Ukraine, which comprises Luhansk and Donetsk.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday that the talks were "another huge chance to take a big first step towards de-escalation, hopefully towards a silencing of the weapons.

"But I underline it again, nothing has been resolved yet. The taking place of the summit alone is not a guarantee of its success. Therefore I urge and expect Moscow and Kiev to take it seriously and in the face of imminent military conflict really seize this chance."

Likely sticking points include who will control Ukraine's border with Russia in the disputed territory, disarmament of the separatists and what degree of political autonomy is granted to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Poroshenko has been invited to Brussels, Belgium, by European Council President Donald Tusk on Thursday to address European lawmakers and "coordinate future steps," Poroshenko's website said.

Meanwhile, the separatist leaders have been invited to Moscow, where they will brief Russian lawmakers on the outcome of the Minsk talks.

The conflict, which broke out in April, soon after Russia annexed Ukraine's southeastern Crimea region, has claimed more than 5,000 lives, many of them civilians.

Read: The disconnect between diplomacy, reality in Ukraine

Bus station shelled

There's been no let-up in the violence ahead of the peace talks -- in fact, both sides appear to have stepped up their efforts to gain territory before the lines of the potential demilitarized zone are drawn.

Four people were killed and nine injured after a central bus station in Donetsk city was hit by shelling Wednesday morning, according to the official news agency of the Donetsk People's Republic, DAN.

The Donetsk city office website reported that two buses were hit and burst into flames.

In the past 24 hours, 19 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 78 injured in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military operation against the separatists, Vladislav Seleznyov, told reporters in Kiev on Wednesday.

Shelling in the town of Kramatorsk on Tuesday killed 12 civilians and injured 35, including children, with 29 military personnel also injured, according to the Kiev-backed Donetsk regional authority.

Kramatorsk, deep inside Ukrainian-held territory, is the location of the main base for the government's military operation against the separatists, which it calls the anti-terrorist operation, or ATO.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned what it said was "another bloody crime" by the separatists and said Russia, which it accuses of sending heavy weapons and troops across the border, should be held responsible.

The OSCE said its monitors saw evidence that cluster bombs had been used in Kramatorsk. Cluster bombs are banned by many states because of their deadly impact on civilians.

Fighting continues around the strategically important town of Debaltseve, which has been under siege by separatist forces for weeks.

Ukrainian Gen. Oleksandr Rozmaznin told CNN the town remained under Ukrainian control despite a separatist bid to attack the police station there. He said there was no fighting in the streets.

A Ukrainian unit also launched an offensive Wednesday against the separatists near the city of Mariupol in the southeast.

Each side has accused the other of shelling civilian areas.

What's next in the conflict?

Obama: Seize opportunity for peace

U.S. President Barack Obama called Putin on Tuesday and urged him to seize the opportunity for peace, the White House said.

"The President emphasized the importance of reaching and implementing a negotiated settlement underpinned by the commitments in the (prior) Minsk agreement. However, if Russia continues its aggressive actions in Ukraine, including by sending troops, weapons and financing to support the separatists, the costs for Russia will rise," the White House said.

Obama has not ruled out providing weapons to the Ukrainian military to help it defend against the separatists' advances.

A Kremlin readout of the call said it focused on finding a peaceful settlement of the crisis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking alongside his Greek counterpart in Moscow on Wednesday, said there was "no military solution to the crisis" in Ukraine.

Peace can be achieved only through dialogue between Kiev and the people of eastern Ukraine, he said, adding: "The rights of all people who live there need to be respected."

Russian state news agency Sputnik reported that Lavrov would be traveling to Minsk for the talks.

The European Union's Foreign Affairs Council agreed on additional sanctions Monday against Russian and separatist interests but said their implementation would be delayed for a week to "give space for current diplomatic efforts."

Merkel in the middle of a U.S.-Russia standoff

Demilitarized zone?

The big challenge facing the leaders meeting Wednesday in Minsk is whether they can reach a peace agreement that will stick.

A previous peace deal was signed in September, also in Minsk. It called for a drawback of heavy weapons, self-rule in the eastern regions and a buffer zone along the Russia-Ukraine border.

The new plan envisions a much broader demilitarized zone to run along the current front lines.

The September agreement quickly disintegrated, and the violence continued.

Russia has steadfastly denied accusations that it is sending forces and weapons into Ukraine. But top Western and Ukrainian leaders have said there isn't any doubt that Russia is behind surging violence and separatists' efforts to take over territory in eastern Ukraine.

All the while, the crisis in Ukraine, which stemmed from a trade agreement, has forced more than 1.5 million people from their homes, according to the United Nations.

CNN's Nic Robertson reported from Minsk and Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Alla Eshchenko, Frederik Pleitgen, Khushbu Shah, Laura Akhoun, Claudia Otto, Alexander Felton and journalist Victoria Butenko in Kiev, Ukraine, contributed to this report. 

ccn

Don't Arm Ukraine, Russia Tells The West

The warning comes a day before further talks aimed at resolving the 10-month conflict in Ukraine, which shows no signs of abating.

Moscow has hit out at calls for the West to arm Ukraine in the fight against rebels in the east of the country.

A Kremlin spokesman said it would be regarded as an attempt to destabilise the situation - as would the extension of sanctions against Russia.
The warning came ahead of further talks on Wednesday aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict, which has cost more than 5,300 lives since April.
The planned meeting, in the Belarussian capital Minsk, follows last week's discussions between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko, led by Germany and France.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia, separatists and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe are meeting later to lay the groundwork for Wednesday's negotiations.

 

Details of last week's talks have not been revealed although a French diplomatic official said they included the setting up of a demilitarised zone between Ukraine and Russia, which remained a sticking point.
US President Barack Obama has come under increasing pressure to provide military aid to Ukraine amid claims Russia has been arming the rebels -  claims denied by Moscow.
After meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington on Monday, Mr Obama said he had ordered his team to see "whether there are additional things we can do to help Ukraine bolster its defences in the face of Russian aggression".
However, Ms Merkel is firmly opposed to arming the Ukrainian military, saying it will hinder attempts to find a solution to the violence. "It has always proved to be right to try again and again to sort such a conflict," she said through a translator.

 


A peace deal was reached last Autumn but it has been repeatedly been violated by both sides, and bloodshed has increased significantly in the past two weeks.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian national guard reportedly launched an offensive against pro-Russian separatists near the strategic south-eastern port city of Mariupol.
The day before, a powerful explosion rocked a chemical plant in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk after shelling by government forces.
According to the Ukraine military, seven of its soldiers have been killed and 23 wounded in fighting with rebels in the past 24 hours


 


A spokesman said fighting was particularly intense around the town of Debaltseve, a major rail and road junction northeast of Donetsk.
Meanwhile, about 2,000 Russian reconnaissance troops have started month-long exercises in southern Russia, Interfax news agency has reported.
Another news agency, RIA, said more than 600 were in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in March.
On Monday, Kiev said about 1,500 Russian troops had crossed the border into Ukraine via rebel-controlled border posts over the weekend.

 

 Russia has repeatedly denied supplying the rebels with troops or heavy weapons, but Western military experts say all the evidence suggests otherwise.

Power tussle continues in Bihar, Governor rejects CM Manjhi's recommendation of Cabinet expansion

 

Patna: Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Monday evening refused Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's recommendation for Cabinet expansion. Following his expulsion from Janata Dal United's primary membership the Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary declared Manhji an unattached member of the Assembly.
With political developments taking place at a rapid pace in Bihar, Manjhi met the Governor on Monday afternoon and claimed he was ready for a floor test to prove his majority in the Assembly.
"We are not running away from the floor test. We want to prove our majority. Nitish's election is not valid," Manjhi said. However, he added that voting should be by secret ballot and senior JDU leader Nitish Kumar should not be present in the House at the time when ballot boxes are opened. "The ballot boxes should be opened in the presence of two independent observers," he said.

After expulsion from JDU's primary membership the Bihar Assembly Speaker declared Manhji an unattached member of the Assembly.

#bihar #jitan ram manjhi #nitish kumar #jdu

Earlier in the day, Nitish also met the Bihar Governor to stake claim to form government in the state with the support of 130 MLAs. In a show of strength, Nitish paraded JDU, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress MLAs at the Governor House in Patna.
The former CM's supporters threatened to protest in Delhi if the Governor doesn't allow him to hold a floor test in 48 hours.
After meeting the Governor, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said that they have made a unanimous request to make Nitish the CM of the state. "All parties, the RJD, CPI, Congress have given their letter of support to the Governor for Nitish Kumar to form government in Bihar.The Governor heard us and said that Manjhi will also be meeting him today. We have requested Governor to ask Nitish Kumar to take oath as the Bihar CM without delay." Lalu said.
Nitish also stated that they have urged the Governor to take a prompt decision.
While announcing the expulsion of Manjhi, party spokesperson KC Tyagi alleged that Bihar is not developing but crime has increased ever since he became the CM. "Operation Manjhi is being conducted by top leaders of BJP from Delhi," he also alleged.
Meanwhile, Manjhi's supporters moved the High Court against his expulsion for making anti-party statements.
In the 243-member Legislative Assembly, the JD(U) has 111 MLAs, BJP 87, RJD 24, Congress 5 besides 5 Independents, while 10 seats are vacant. The Nitish camp claims the support of 130 MLAs - 100 from JDU, 24 from the RJD, 5 from Congress and 1 from CPI.

Erdoğan wants 400 deputies for his former AKP at Turkish elections

BURSA

DHA Photo

Disregarding opposition criticism of his direct involvement in politics, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once again appealed for votes for his former Justice and Development Party (AKP) without explicitly giving the party’s name, declaring that “400 lawmakers” are needed for a “new Turkey.”

“If we want a new Turkey at the June 7 elections, we will give it 400 lawmakers,” Erdoğan said, speaking at a public rally in the northwestern province of Bursa on Feb. 6.

He linked several key issues to this newly set goal, including his desired shift to the presidential system.

“What we say is that if we want a new constitution, we have to reach 400 lawmakers,” he said.
At least 330 deputies in parliament are needed to change the constitution.

“If we want the presidential system, then we have to give 400 lawmakers. If we want the resolution process to continue, we have to give 400 lawmakers so that a strong party can come to power to realize it,” Erdoğan added, referring to the ongoing talks to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue.

He also slammed opposition criticism that the nominally impartial president should not hold partisan public meetings ahead of elections.

“Some people cannot stand such events. One of the [opposition] parties made a deputy apply to the High Election Board to make the president stop talking before the elections. But the board did not accept such an application. They want the president to sit in his chair in Ankara and not to intervene in their business. They just want the president to sign a few papers. But I have said I will not be a passive president. That is why 55 percent of this nation voted for us,” he said, referring to last year’s presidential election. Erdoğan became Turkey’s first publicly elected president in the Aug. 10 elections.

He repeated his wish for a change to presidential system from the current parliamentary system, labelling those who oppose this as “ignorant.”

“If this shirt is too tight for us, let’s change it for a new one,” Erdoğan said, adding that he had supported the presidential system since he was the mayor of Istanbul and suggesting that the current system has “hampered governments.”

The New York Times also received its share at the Bursa meeting, after it published an op-ed earlier this week penned by U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, Erdoğan’s arch-foe who he accuses of staging a “coup attempt” against the government through a corruption probe that emerged in December 2013.
“You see that the person in Pennsylvania [referring to Gülen] writes an article for a U.S. newspaper. Why does he do so? … Who are the bosses of this newspaper? How do they let him write for the newspaper? They have something in mind,” he said.

Gülen had harshly criticized the ruling AKP in his Feb. 3 article in the New York Times article titled “Turkey’s Eroding Democracy.”

Speaking in Bursa, Erdoğan also questioned why Gülen supporters were involved in the banking sector.

“Are you a scholar or a bank boss? Who does he lean on? Where are his bosses? You should inspect that,” he said, referring to the state run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund’s (TMSF) seizure of Bank Asya, the Islamic bank with links to Gülen, on Feb. 3.

Five ISIL members caught in Turkey’s southeast, says General Staff

ISTANBUL

The General Staff has announced that five suspected members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been captured in the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep over the past week.

While four individuals thought to be ISIL members were captured in Gaziantep’s Oğuzeli district on Feb. 2, one more was captured in the same place on Feb. 4, according to announcements on the General Staff’s website.

The alleged ISIL members were seized during security forces road inspections.

While a number of foreign ISIL members have started being captured in Turkey, a Turkish citizen was recently arrested for being a member of ISIL for the first time in the country, daily Vatan had reported on Feb. 4.

The 38-year-old man, identified as Musa Göktaş, reportedly crossed into Syria to join the ISIL militants with his 15-year-old twin sons on Oct. 8, 2014. His wife later reported to police that her husband and children were missing, suspecting that her sons had joined ISIL with their father without telling her.

Göktaş was detained on Jan. 27 by police during an identity check while on a bus in Gaziantep that was traveling to Ankara, where he was living before leaving the country.

Göktaş has been questioned on charges of being a member of ISIL and arrested by an Ankara court on suspicion of escaping and spoiling evidence.

Una Miss Universo debe mostrar con orgullo sus imperfecciones porque somos un ejemplo'

“Cuando estaba esperando el veredicto del jurado, yo me sentía en otro planeta y sólo pensaba Colombia, Colombia, Colombia, van a decir Colombia -cuenta con pasión la nueva Miss Universo que ha cambiado su cálido país por el nevado Nueva York- cuando lo dijeron yo sentí mucho alivió. Sentí como si me hubieran quitado un peso de encima, como si los 47 millones de colombianos se hubieran quitado de mis hombros y por fin había logrado la meta que hace muchísimos meses había estado imaginando”.

Paulina -que nació el 15 de enero de 1993 en Barranquilla, la misma ciudad a orillas del mar Caribe que Shakira y Sofía Vergara se encargaron de poner en el mapa- es hija de un conocido cardiólogo y nieta de una reina de la belleza, Elvira Castillo, Señorita Atlántico de 1953. Un motivo más por el que desde pequeña supo que su vida se desarrollaría sobre una pasarela y a los ocho años comenzó a trabajar como modelo.

 

“Sí, me influyó un poquito porque cuando era niña veía sus propagandas, su corona, y cuando me ofrecieron la oportunidad, no lo pensé dos veces y ella me apoyó cien por cien”, contaba la Miss cuando fue preguntada por ¡HOLA! TV sobre la decisión que había tomado de seguir los pasos de su abuela.

La familia está siempre presente en las palabras de Paulina, tiene cuatro hermanos y tres hermanas y juntos forman una gran piña. Todos han apoyado a la Miss en su camino al éxito, ya que se instalaron en Miami a la vez que ella para estar a su lado. "Todo el mundo piensa que la mamá es la más obsesionada, pero era mi padre. ¡Papi, de verdad yo creo que te pasaste con esa obsesión! Él era el más nervioso, el más tensionado desde principio a fin de la competencia", contaba la colombiana.

   

Curtida en este tipo de concursos, la de Barranquilla se movió como pez en el agua en cada una de las pruebas a las que fue sometida durante el certamen, obteniendo la máxima calificación posible (9,9) antes de llegar a la gran gala final. Aun así Paulina cuenta que no cree en le perfección: "Yo pienso que la Miss Universo debe mostrar con orgullo y con seguridad sus imperfecciones y sus defectos porque nosotras somos el ejemplo a seguir de todas esas niñas y adolescentes que nos ven todos los días".

 Asegura que no ha pasado por un quirófano y que adora el chocolate, sin embargo no niega el trabajo que implica tener un cuerpo como el suyo. Un esfuerzo, a menudo poco reconocido, que incluye vigilar la nutrición, realizar mucho ejercicio y cuidar a conciencia todo lo que afecte a su imagen."A mí me da rabia y lo confieso, cuando la gente habla sin de verdad saber todo lo que se requieren para esa preparación y para llegar a ese certamen", explicaba la Miss a

  

Desde que se alzó con la corona -desbancando a las 'misses' de Estados Unidos, Ucrania, Holanda y Jamaica- Paulina Vega ha comenzado una nueva vida en Nueva York, donde ha le espera una fascinante etapa de preparación para trabajar como representante de este título -propiedad de Donald Trump- y desarrollar diversas labores con organizaciones de caridad con las que viajara por el mundo.

Una nueva labor que se suma a que la colombiana estudia administración de empresas en la Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, quizá sea ese el motivo por el que Paulina ha confesado al programa ver muy lejana la opción de formar su propia familia, a pesar de que su corazón ya tiene dueño, su novio que le espera en Colombia: “Yo quiero tener una familia grande, bueno no tan grande, pero sí quiero tener cuatro hijos. Pero faltan muchísimos años para que me case y tenga hijos, eso sí lo tengo seguro".

 

New Greek govt shakes up fashion rules

New Greek govt shakes up fashion rules

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, left, is presented with a tie by Italian Premier Matteo Renzi at the end of a joint press conference at Rome's Palazzo Chigi government office, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015. Tsipras and Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, were in Rome Tuesday for talks with government officials. (AP Photo/Giuseppe Lami, Ansa) ITALY OUT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — There's been a definite clash between European Union officials and the new Greek government during its first week and a half in power — not so much over bailout loans and repayment schedules but over dress style.

Not for the Greeks the traditional suit-and-tie attire of European politics.

Almost the entire Greek cabinet appointed last week has adopted the fashion style of 40-year-old Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who steadfastly refuses to wear a tie, even while donning a suit.

European Parliament head Martin Schulz playfully waggled Tsipras' open collar as the newly sworn-in premier greeted his first foreign dignitary last week.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin made a similar gesture in Paris over the weekend, smiling as he took hold of the broad-striped scarf worn by Greece's European Financial Relations Alternate Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and wrapped it across his neck and over his shoulder.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi went a step further Tuesday night, giving Tsipras an Italian tie to wear when Greece finally emerges from its protracted financial crisis — after Tsipras had reportedly said before the elections that he'd wear one if Greece reached a debt reduction agreement.

"We want to give Greece a real hand, which doesn't mean always agreeing with what you say. But we are sure that Greece will get out (of the crisis) and when that happens, we would like it if the premier wears an Italian tie," Renzi said, sparking laughter among the Greek delegation.

It's not just the lack of ties.

Eyebrows were raised at the new coalition government's swearing-in ceremony last week as Zoe Constantopoulou, the proposed Parliament president, arrived in flowing fuchsia trousers and a bright canary-yellow coat.

But by far the most striking fashion trailblazer of Greece's new Cabinet is Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.

The blog-posting, sharp-tongued — some would say arrogant — 53-year-old has shot to near rock-star status in Greece for both his casual dress sense and his initially confrontational style with Greece's lenders.

Varoufakis drives to meetings on a motorbike, a backpack across his shoulders. He never wears a tie, never tucks his shirt in and often has his suit collar up. He keeps one hand in a pocket when greeting foreign dignitaries and owns what must be one of the most commented-on coats ever worn by a Greek politician.

His arrival Monday for a meeting in London with British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne sparked a deluge of comments — both positive and negative — as Varoufakis strode up Downing Street in tight black trousers, his knee-length black winter coat and a bright blue shirt straining somewhat at the buttons.

"It was apparent from the photo call on Downing Street that we were witnessing a bit of a fashion moment," wrote Imogen Fox in the Guardian newspaper. "There was Osborne, himself riding high on his rebooted fashion skills with his Julius-Caesar haircut and properly fitting suit, shaking hands with a man wearing a Wetherspoon's-appropriate bright-blue shirt and an early-1990s madchester drug dealer's coat."

Varoufakis' look — and his initial confrontation with Dutch Finance Minister and eurozone finance leader Jeroen Dijsselbloem last week — have gone down well with many Greeks, who praise him for restoring what they see as their lost sense of dignity during five years of a bitter financial crisis. A Facebook fan page titled 'V for Varoufakis' set up over the weekend has earned more than 46,000 'likes' already.

As Varoufakis headed to Rome after his London visit, his dress sense did not go unnoticed by the Italians.

"The style of Athens," the leading Italian daily La Repubblica wrote in a headline near a photo of the Greek minister's meeting with Osborne, noting his tieless, untucked shirt and big jacket.

"It speaks volumes about Greece's desire not to respect any convention," La Repubblica wrote.