Dimitris Christofias

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Christofias (2008)

Dimitris Christofias ( Greek Δημήτρης Χριστόφιας ; born August 29, 1946 in Kato Dikomo , Cyprus ; † June 21, 2019 ) was a Cypriot politician . From February 28, 2008 to February 27, 2013 he was President of the Republic of Cyprus.

From 1989 to 2009 he was General Secretary of the once Marxist-Leninist and now Eurocommunist Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL).

Life

Christofias was born in 1946 in Kato Dikomo near the Turkish-occupied port city of Kyrenia , the oldest of five children in a working-class family. He was enthusiastic about left-wing politics at an early age and joined AKEL at the age of 18. After studying for five years at the Institute for Social Sciences and the Academy of Social Sciences in Moscow , where he met his future wife Elsie Chiratou, and receiving a doctorate in the history of philosophy, he returned to Cyprus in 1974 to embark on a political career.

Christofias achieved rapid ascent within his party. In 1974 he was first general secretary and in 1977 general secretary of EDON, a youth organization of AKEL, an office which he held until 1987. In April 1988, after the death of Ezekias Papaioannou , the once loyal communist was elected to head the AKEL, of which he was general secretary until 2009. In 2001 he was the first AKEL politician to be elected President of Parliament, a rather representative post, and has since been considered the most promising candidate of his party for the office of President.

Christofias during a state visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (2010)

In the presidential elections on February 17, 2008, Christofias received 33.29% of the vote, ranking second ahead of incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos . In the runoff election on February 24, 2008, he stood up against the first-placed Ioannis Kasoulides from the conservative party Dimokratikos Synagermos and won with 53% of the vote. Christofias had good relations with the Turkish part of Cyprus and was considered more willing to compromise than his predecessor Papadopoulos in efforts to reunite the two parts of the island . Immediately after his election as President, both the European Commission and the North Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talât asked him to start negotiations on this as soon as possible. A first meeting with Talât took place on March 21, 2008. The publication of cables from US embassies by WikiLeaks at the end of 2010 revealed a politically very unfavorable assessment of his person by the American embassy. The message to Washington said, among other things, Christofias praised Iran and reviled NATO.

After the heavy ammunition explosion at the Evangelos Florakis naval base in the early morning of July 11, 2011, he was blamed for the event. A day later, thousands of demonstrators tried to storm the presidential palace. He was accused of having left the arms delivery for Syria, which had been confiscated on a Russian freighter, inadequately stored on the naval base and not having taken care of their destruction. As a result, an independent attorney appointed by the cabinet investigated the causes with experts. In his investigation report on October 2, 2011, he gave Christofias joint responsibility for the accident. Christofias declared the allegations to be insubstantial and retained his office.

On July 1, 2012, the republic took over the EU Council Presidency under his leadership .

Christofias died in June 2019 at the age of 72.

Awards

literature

  • Christiane Schlötzer: Demetris Christofias - Popular challenger to the Cypriot President , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 12, 2007, p. 4.
  • Dimitris Christofias , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 49/2012 from December 4, 2012, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

See also

Web links

Commons : Dimitris Christofias  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Εκλογές 2006: Αποτελέσματα. Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Cyprus, archived from the original on November 2, 2007 ; accessed on February 17, 2008 (English, 2008 presidential election: results).
  2. ↑ Cyprus leaders seek fresh talks. In: BBC News . February 25, 2008, accessed December 21, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Cyprus: Divided Island Before Fate Meetings. In: DiePresse.com . March 20, 2008, accessed June 23, 2019 . Summit success: negotiations on reunification of Cyprus agreed. In: Spiegel Online . March 21, 2008, accessed June 23, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Dan Bilefsky: Cyprus to Take Over European Presidency. In: nytimes.com . June 26, 2012, accessed March 21, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Cyprus: Inquiry Blames President for explosion, Prompting Calls to Quit. In: nytimes.com . October 3, 2011, accessed June 23, 2019 . George Psyllides: Probe opens into deadly blast. In: Cyprus Mail. July 26, 2011, archived from the original on April 6, 2012 ; Retrieved March 22, 2013 . Gerd Höhler: Munitions explosion harms Cyprus' economy. In: Zeit Online . July 13, 2011, accessed March 21, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Federal Chancellor : Query response from Dr. Graf, colleagues… No. 10694 / J… regarding medals and decorations given to former domestic and foreign members of the government and other personalities. (pdf, 6.6 MB) In: parlament.gv.at . April 23, 2012, p. 1818 , accessed June 23, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Christofias, Dimitris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cypriot politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Kato Dikomo , Cyprus
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 2019