Former Greek Deputy Minister for Health said the division in the Greek community in Sydney should not be tolerated

A visiting Greek MP has taken a swipe at the division in the Sydney Greek community, saying that Greece will not send representatives to Greek National Independence Day events in the city, until the rift is healed.
According to reports aired on the SBS Greek Language Program, the former Greek Deputy Minister for Health, Marios Salmas, told a meeting of New Democracy members in New South Wales that, “members of the Greek parliament are not likely to visit Sydney as long as the church issue is pending”.

Mr Salmas was on a private trip to Sydney when he made the comments, after having attended 25th March celebrations in Melbourne as part of an official Greek Parliamentary delegation that included the Chair of the Special Permanent Committee on Greeks Abroad, Dr Ilias Karanikas (PASOK). “The Sydney Greek community holds two separate celebrations. Once, we tolerated the separate celebrations, today we do not,” he told the New Democracy meeting.
The rift in the community stems from a disagreement between the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales that dates back to the 1960s, a problem in which Greece says it is attempting to mediate.

Prior to this year’s celebrations the disputing parties said they were closer than ever to resolving the disagreement and are hopeful that a solution will be found soon. At the same event Mr Salmas said that the leader of the New Democracy party, Mr Antonis Samaras, “will try to visit Australia as soon as possible”.
(source: neos kosmos)