By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
There are times when I would rather read the complete works of Chrysa Dimoulidou [Translator’s note: a Greek novelist] in a single sitting, instead of having to seriously (seriously!) deal with this country’s foolish political scene and with all its – supposedly serious – developments. From any agreements made by Nikos Christodoulides – since what could be more normal than making deals before even agreeing to cooperate, otherwise what would have been the point of all those discussions? – to the late and ill-timed sensitivity shown by the President of the Republic to what Makarios Drousiotis has written in his books. All this talk of agreements is, of course, the most entertaining development of the last few days relating to the elections. Even Sizopoulos’ EDEK [Movement for Social Democracy], which some months ago had told us that it was bound [to Christodoulides] by a “strong agreement, not limited to a simple injection into his programme” (!) has now come out to say that there are no agreements. EDEK, which after the 2013 elections had obliged Giorgos Lillikas not to proceed with the establishment of a party, considering him politically unreliable because he did not follow the agreed–upon procedures, has now, together with Nikolas Papadopoulos [Democratic Party (DIKO) leader] of the great power of the centre given a blank cheque to the popular Nikos Christodoulides? Are we being serious? How could they not have laid down five conditions in a non-paper, regardless of whether it ended up being accepted or not? Are they just going to die like a dog? On the other hand, as much as I understand the reasons why DISY [Democratic Rally] is trying to rekindle party patriotism, have they really paused to consider how many of those rushing to support Christodoulides had voted for DISY in the last parliamentary elections? And how many of them think that any party patriotism is best expressed by supporting Averof Neophytou? And if these comedies are not enough for us, we also have to deal with the slow-burning sensitivity of Nicos Anastasiades. Whose body can’t take the implications that he is corrupt. It’ll be the world’s end! Since when? Isn’t he the one who claimed to have the stomach of a shark and the skin of a crocodile? What’s the matter with him now, has he become… thin-skinned? Did it take three books and 100,000 copies sold to offend him? [Translator’s note: reference to books authored by Makarios Drousiotis alleging acts of corruption in public life] Or is it rather that, after the letter sent by Andreas Mavroyiannis, he felt that the matter might get out of hand and the omertà might break. [Translator’s note: reference to a letter sent to the anti-corruption authority calling for an investigation into allegations of corruption] Isn’t that why he was quick to stress that he was “safeguarding his legal rights”? To get ahead while he could. Because, the truth is, he’s been controlling the game so far. And the media is not blameless here – we’ve written about it before. Because, as a result of their complexes – we’ve got a lot of issues, as they say in English so that the point can get across – they did not get involved in the way that they should have. Despite this, they whine when the public holds them in the same contempt that it holds politicians in. But the Mavroyiannis letter, even if I accept that it was done for pre-election purposes, created a crack in our attempts towards deliberate ignorance, and when something is put on the table by a candidate for the presidency of the republic, sooner or later you’re forced to deal with it. And then comes the slow-burning sensitivity and the “I reserve all my legal rights”. Just in case anyone gets out of line…
