Panicos Papadopoulos
This is one of the most paranoid and reality-detached articles I have ever read in a Cypriot newspaper - and for a guy that started reading newspapers at the height of the '78 "consipiracy", this is saying a lot.
The article in question claims that Tassos Papadopoulos is in a panic because of the massive 76% NO vote in the Annan referendum of 2004 and is now becoming the most fervent and committed supporter of YES to secure AKEL's support for the 2008 presidential elections.
The President is in such a panic at the "stunning percentage of NO", columnist Iacovides writes, that he is prepared "to distinguish himself as the greatest and most consistent "YESsie" in order to be re-elected in 2008 - appealing, one presumes, to the 24% of YES voters.
So that explains it all! That's why the President had his cohorts send all those civil servants those nice little application forms asking if they were interested in serving in the Federal Government of Cyprus in case YES carried the day, and by the way, reassuring them that "every effort would be expended to make sure their terms of employment and rights would not be adversely affected", which (of course) amounted to the same thing as telling them "Vote YES and you can forget your guaranteed ride on the Civil Service gravy train, all bets are off". He must have been in a panic in case too many of them voted NO. That's why he went on TV for the best part of an hour three days before the referendum trying to scare the hell out of us, saying that if we voted YES we would no longer have a country to call our own but would basically become an ethnic community in a state controlled by Turkey, and that's why he cried his eyes out saying it: he must have been in a panic in case an overwhelming majority of us voted NO.
That explains the President's conduct after the referendum too. He must have been in such a panic that so many people voted NO, that he led a defamation campaign slandering many well-known supporters of YES as paid agents of the Americans (see "Da Atmosphere" in the sidebar). Dear Zeus, the panic the President must have been in! How he cowered to appease the massive majority of NO voters, to reassure them that NO, he wasn't one of those traitorous YESsies!
Now he's in such a panic that the same YESsies he and his cohorts, until a while ago, were denouncing as paid agents and traitors, won't support him in 2008, that he is getting the same cohorts to support two of the most well-known AKEL YESsies, Minister of the Interior Andreas Christou and Member of Parliament Eleni Mavrou, for Mayor in Limassol and Nicosia respectively.
The two persons in question came in for a fair amount of abuse during the post-referendum "Ambient Atmosphere" period. Mavrou was fingered as one of the infamous "opinion leaders" in the Nathan Associates report that was misquoted and distorted as part of the defamation campaign. Christou was victimised by Tassos' favourite, Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Lillikas (then Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism) some time later. Lillikas tried to present Christou to the public as a Turk sympathiser and traitor for his handling of matters concerning naturalisation of Turkish Cypriots' children , when Christou was only implementing the Government's obligations according to the Acquis Communautaire in this issue. Clever Giorgos and his boss Tassos were, of course, killing two birds with one stone: distancing themselves from the NO-voting public's perception of the Government's obligations, and defaming a confirmed YESsie at the same time.
At first sight, support from Tassos Papadopoulos for these two mayor candidates would be surprising. But there is no way that I can, without benefit of mind-enhancing substances, construe it as panic-stricken reaction to the overwhelming majority of NO in the referendum of two years ago. Simply, Tassos Papadopoulos is applying the Byzantine-style politics he learned at the knee of his political daddy, the late Archbishop Makarios III. Having bludgeoned AKEL's leadership nearly insensible with the massive political suppression implement that the NO majority in the Annan referendum became in their hands, and having seen AKEL take a beating at the hands of its own voters (who stayed away in droves) in the Parliamentaries, he and his cohorts now want AKEL to recover enough to be useful for the 2008 presidentials. Having secured the co-operation of the AKEL leadership by totally outmanoevring them, they now want to appease the AKEL voters a bit, especially the YESsies who make a large proportion of that party's vote.
What better way than to offer two leading YESsies in AKEL the mayorships of Nicosia and Limassol in the coming Municipals? That provides the AKEL leadership with an alibi for its own voters, makes AKEL more amenable to Tassos' plans for 2008, and also takes two leading YESsie politicians out of the Executive and the Legistature and puts them in local government, where their influence on the political matters Tassos is really interested in will be minimal.
Tassos Papadopoulos in a panic because of the NO vote? The day you see that, you can call me Panicos Papadopoulos. And if the AKEL leadership, especially Demetris Christofias, think that the bludgeoning they've been receiving at the hands of Tassos and his minions since 2003 has been hard going, they'd better brace themselves, because what they've got coming in the run-up to the 2008 Presidentials, and especially after 2008 once Tassos becomes re-elected, will make the era of the Ambient Atmosphere look like a walk in the park.
The article in question claims that Tassos Papadopoulos is in a panic because of the massive 76% NO vote in the Annan referendum of 2004 and is now becoming the most fervent and committed supporter of YES to secure AKEL's support for the 2008 presidential elections.
The President is in such a panic at the "stunning percentage of NO", columnist Iacovides writes, that he is prepared "to distinguish himself as the greatest and most consistent "YESsie" in order to be re-elected in 2008 - appealing, one presumes, to the 24% of YES voters.
So that explains it all! That's why the President had his cohorts send all those civil servants those nice little application forms asking if they were interested in serving in the Federal Government of Cyprus in case YES carried the day, and by the way, reassuring them that "every effort would be expended to make sure their terms of employment and rights would not be adversely affected", which (of course) amounted to the same thing as telling them "Vote YES and you can forget your guaranteed ride on the Civil Service gravy train, all bets are off". He must have been in a panic in case too many of them voted NO. That's why he went on TV for the best part of an hour three days before the referendum trying to scare the hell out of us, saying that if we voted YES we would no longer have a country to call our own but would basically become an ethnic community in a state controlled by Turkey, and that's why he cried his eyes out saying it: he must have been in a panic in case an overwhelming majority of us voted NO.
That explains the President's conduct after the referendum too. He must have been in such a panic that so many people voted NO, that he led a defamation campaign slandering many well-known supporters of YES as paid agents of the Americans (see "Da Atmosphere" in the sidebar). Dear Zeus, the panic the President must have been in! How he cowered to appease the massive majority of NO voters, to reassure them that NO, he wasn't one of those traitorous YESsies!
Now he's in such a panic that the same YESsies he and his cohorts, until a while ago, were denouncing as paid agents and traitors, won't support him in 2008, that he is getting the same cohorts to support two of the most well-known AKEL YESsies, Minister of the Interior Andreas Christou and Member of Parliament Eleni Mavrou, for Mayor in Limassol and Nicosia respectively.
The two persons in question came in for a fair amount of abuse during the post-referendum "Ambient Atmosphere" period. Mavrou was fingered as one of the infamous "opinion leaders" in the Nathan Associates report that was misquoted and distorted as part of the defamation campaign. Christou was victimised by Tassos' favourite, Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Lillikas (then Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism) some time later. Lillikas tried to present Christou to the public as a Turk sympathiser and traitor for his handling of matters concerning naturalisation of Turkish Cypriots' children , when Christou was only implementing the Government's obligations according to the Acquis Communautaire in this issue. Clever Giorgos and his boss Tassos were, of course, killing two birds with one stone: distancing themselves from the NO-voting public's perception of the Government's obligations, and defaming a confirmed YESsie at the same time.
At first sight, support from Tassos Papadopoulos for these two mayor candidates would be surprising. But there is no way that I can, without benefit of mind-enhancing substances, construe it as panic-stricken reaction to the overwhelming majority of NO in the referendum of two years ago. Simply, Tassos Papadopoulos is applying the Byzantine-style politics he learned at the knee of his political daddy, the late Archbishop Makarios III. Having bludgeoned AKEL's leadership nearly insensible with the massive political suppression implement that the NO majority in the Annan referendum became in their hands, and having seen AKEL take a beating at the hands of its own voters (who stayed away in droves) in the Parliamentaries, he and his cohorts now want AKEL to recover enough to be useful for the 2008 presidentials. Having secured the co-operation of the AKEL leadership by totally outmanoevring them, they now want to appease the AKEL voters a bit, especially the YESsies who make a large proportion of that party's vote.
What better way than to offer two leading YESsies in AKEL the mayorships of Nicosia and Limassol in the coming Municipals? That provides the AKEL leadership with an alibi for its own voters, makes AKEL more amenable to Tassos' plans for 2008, and also takes two leading YESsie politicians out of the Executive and the Legistature and puts them in local government, where their influence on the political matters Tassos is really interested in will be minimal.
Tassos Papadopoulos in a panic because of the NO vote? The day you see that, you can call me Panicos Papadopoulos. And if the AKEL leadership, especially Demetris Christofias, think that the bludgeoning they've been receiving at the hands of Tassos and his minions since 2003 has been hard going, they'd better brace themselves, because what they've got coming in the run-up to the 2008 Presidentials, and especially after 2008 once Tassos becomes re-elected, will make the era of the Ambient Atmosphere look like a walk in the park.
posted by Anonymous at 21:01
4 Comments:
Another fine example of the quality of the media in Stravaraland. I think poor simerini is quite confused. They were for the NO, but DISY supported a YES, so they found themselves agreeing with Tasso, who in fact they probably did not suppport to be president as he was backed by AKEL.... so you see, they probably don't know where they stand at the moment... poor fellows!
In any case, I don't think the writer of the article knows what he is saying... If Tassos is a Yessie, then who is a Nowie?! Tassos, like you said wants to be president, whatever the cost... simple as that.
Γουστάρω πολυ τη γραφή σου!
ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ-Λευκωσία.
Amav elalouv egw tote oti o Tassos ntav meros tis megalns syvomosias efkalav me pellov...
Spyros Kyprianou
yes, what does AKEL have coming for it? Is it ever possible that DHSY can ever go above 40%? Is it ever possible that DIKO can get more votes than AKEL? Is it ever possible that Ethnikos Achnas will top Omonoia in the league? We will just have to wait and see, wont we?
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