Dimokratikos Synagermos

Δημοκρατικός Συναγερμός Dimokratikos Synagermos
Party leader	Averof Neophytou
Secretary General	Harris Georgiades
founding	1976
Headquarters	Nicosia
Alignment	Christian Democracy Liberal Conservatism
Colours)	Light blue, dark blue
Parliament seats	17/56
International connections	CDI-IDC , IDU
MEPs	2/6
European party	EPP
EP Group	EPP
Website	https://www.disy.org.cy/

Dimokratikos Synagermos ( DISY , Greek Δημοκρατικός Συναγερμός , Democratic Collection ', Turkish Demokratie Seferberlik ) is a Christian Democratic and conservative party in the Republic of Cyprus . She is a member of the European People's Party , the Christian Democratic International and the International Democratic Union . DISY has provided the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiadis , since 2013 and is the strongest force in the House of Representatives .

history

It was founded in 1976 by Glafkos Klerides . Since the independence of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, he had been President of the House of Representatives and as such was temporarily head of state after the collapse of the EOKA-B coup in 1974. The DISY went from the pro-western, d. H. USA- and NATO-friendly wings of the Enaion Komma ("United Party") emerge. The wing that supports the non-aligned foreign policy of the Archbishop and first Cypriot President Makarios III. wanted to continue, however, formed the Dimokratiko comma (DIKO). For the 1976 parliamentary election, DISY entered into an alliance with the right-wing nationalist Dimokratiko Ethniko Komma (DEK), which was associated with EOKA-B and the 1974 coup plotters. DISY and DEK together got 28 percent of the vote. Since the three other relevant parties - DIKO, the communist AKEL and the socialist EDEK - had allied themselves and had a majority vote, DISY and DEK did not get a single seat in the House of Representatives. The DEK dissolved in 1977 and joined the DISY. Since then, this has carried the stigma of being associated with the former putschists and right-wing extremist nationalists. The DISY even described its communist competitors as "fascist".

In the 1981 parliamentary election, DISY came close to level with the communist AKEL with 31.9 percent of the vote and 12 of the 35 parliamentary seats, displacing the ruling DIKO to third place. In the parliamentary elections of 1985, DISY was the strongest force with 33.6 percent and 19 members of the parliament, which was enlarged to 56 seats. In 1988, Klerides just missed the presidency with 48.4 percent in the second ballot. The DISY was accepted as an associate member of the European People's Party (EPP) in 1991, before that it was already a member of the conservative European Democratic Union (EDU). For the parliamentary elections in 1991 and 1996, DISY entered a list association with the Komma Fileleftheron (Liberal Party), a spin-off from the DIKO under the leadership of Nikos Rolandis . Together they became the strongest force in parliament, each with a 35 percent share of the vote and 20 MPs.

In the presidential election in 1993, DISY chairman Glafkos Klerides was elected president with 50.3 percent of the vote in the runoff election. In 1997 he handed over the chairmanship of the party to Nikos Anastasiadis . The comma Fileleftheron was incorporated into DISY in 1998. In the same year, Klerides was re-elected for a further five-year term. DISY always saw Cyprus - despite its location in the Eastern Mediterranean - as a Western European state, advocated closer ties to the European Communities and finally prepared for Cyprus to join the EU. During Klerides' second term in office, DISY largely gave up its Greek Cypriot nationalism and instead advocated reconciliation with the Cypriot Turks in the north. DISY was the party that most emphatically supported the Annan plan to reunify the island in the form of a confederation.

Klerides applied for a third term in the 2003 presidential election, but was defeated in the first ballot with 38.8 percent against Tassos Papadopoulos from the DIKO. For example, when Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, for which it had strongly advocated, DISY was no longer in government. The Annan plan was rejected by a majority of the Greek Cypriots in the 2004 referendum. In connection with the vote, some members who opposed the plan, contrary to the official party line, were expelled from the DISY. They formed the right-wing nationalist Evropaiki Dimokratia party , which in 2005 became the Evropaiko Komma (Evroko). In the first European elections in Cyprus in June 2004, DISY became the strongest force and received 2 of the 6 Cypriot seats in the European Parliament. Since then she has been a full member of the EPP. In the 2006 House of Representatives elections , DISY won 30.3% of the vote, making it the second strongest party.

Nikos Anastasiadis, President of the Republic of Cyprus since 2013

In the 2008 presidential election, DISY candidate Ioannis Kasoulidis was defeated in the second ballot against Dimitris Christofias from AKEL. Since the parliamentary elections in Cyprus in 2011 , in which they received 34.3 percent of the vote, the DISY has been the largest parliamentary group in Cyprus with 20 out of 56 seats. In line with its traditionally NATO-friendly stance, DISY campaigned for Cyprus to join the “ Partnership for Peace ”, which was decided by the Cypriot parliament in 2011 but was prevented by a veto by President Christofias.

Long-time DISY chairman Nikos Anastasiadis won the presidential election in February 2013 with 57.5 percent of the vote in the second ballot. Averof Neophytou was therefore elected as his successor in the office of party chairman on May 11, 2013 . His deputy is Lefteris Christoforou ( Greek Λευτέρης Χριστοφόρου ). MEP Eleni Theocharous from the right wing of the party left DISY at the end of 2015 and founded Kinima Allilengyi (“Solidarity Movement”), which was also joined by the former DISY spin-off Evroko. Anastasiadis was confirmed as President of the Republic of Cyprus with 56 percent in the runoff election in 2018. In the 2021 parliamentary election , DISY fell to 27.8 percent and 17 seats, but remained the strongest force.

Web links

• DISY website (Greek)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Harry Anastasiou: The Broken Olive Branch. Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and the Quest for Peace in Cyprus. Volume 2. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse (NY) 2008, p. 165.
2. ^ Thomas Jansen, Steven Van Hecke: At Europe's Service. The Origins and Evolution of the European People's Party. Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2011, p. 72.
3. ↑ George Christou: The European Union and Enlargement. The Case of Cyprus. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (Hants) / New York 2004, p. 106.
4. ↑ Harry Anastasiou: The Broken Olive Branch. Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and the Quest for Peace in Cyprus. Volume 2. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse (NY) 2008, pp. 165-166.
5. ↑ Vsevolod Samokhvalov: Cyprus. In: Heiko Biehl et al .: Strategic Cultures in Europe. Security and Defense Policies Across the Continent. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2013, pp. 55–67, here p. 60.