Despite low turnout, in second round of regional elections, Greeks sent a strong message to the government

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Dear Member,

This is our weekly round-up from Greece.

The Greek government supports Israel, new SYRIZA leader Kasselakis makes a school essay-style statement on the conflict, Greek people take the streets in support of Palestine, and we remember when back in the 80s, emblematic PASOK leader Papandreou aided emblematic Palestinian leader Arafat (then called a “terrorist”) enraging the West.

They were far more outraged by Hamas’s attack on Israel than by the IDF bombing of a historic Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza with some 400 civilians sheltering inside. At least, that’s what we understood by all relevant statements of the Greek government.

Athens has a new mayor - and this time, it is not a PM's nephew.

Greeks took it to the streets for Palestine

Israel has a right to self-defense, but civilians must also be protected, and the response should be in accordance with International Law, Greek PM Mitsotakis stated (Abre numa nova janela) on Tuesday. He also announced he would visit Israel on Thursday. His visit was later canceled due to “security concerns” following the attack at Al Awda Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday night, it was reported (Abre numa nova janela). The PM will attend the International Summit on Palestinian Development in Egypt on Saturday.

Also on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gerapetritis met with Israel’s ambassador (Abre numa nova janela) in Athens. Among others, the minister emphasized the Greek-Israel friendship. At the same time, he condemned “all forms of terrorist action and especially emphasized the need to free the hostages,” according to the MFA press release.

On the same day, Gerapetritis met with “Ambassadors of Arab countries” (the press release (Abre numa nova janela) did not specify which countries), discussing, among others, the “traditional friendship ties of Greece with the Arab world” and the need to create human corridors.

Gerapetritis also recalled the 5-point plan he presented at the Oman conference on 10 October. The plan calls (Abre numa nova janela) for an immediate end to hostilities, especially regarding citizens, for the return of the hostages, for the immediate opening of humanitarian aid channels, and a unanimous condemnation of “all forms of terrorism” by the EU and the Gulf states.

SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis made a non-political statement (Abre numa nova janela) on the conflict, and with significant delay - on Friday. “

Politics keeps a balance. Art doesn’t. [We stand] unequivocally with the civilian who always dies, who is always scared, who is always sleeping with one eye open. What I am sharing with you is my political stance on the tragedy unfolding in front of our eyes. And what I think and feel these days.”

A Greek song accompanied the statement.

The statement was in a similar line with that (Abre numa nova janela)of ex-SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, who wrote that

“in these crucial times, we stand with the civilians, independently of their religion and nationality.” He, however, called on the European Left to fight for the return to “reliable talks concerning the two-state solution based on 1967 borders.”

Quite a few people in Greece adopted a clear stance, though. Over 10,000 took to the streets (Abre numa nova janela) in Athens on Wednesday in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The rally started from Syntagma Square in downtown Athens and ended up at the Israeli embassy in Neo Psychiko. The demonstration took place a day after the Gaza hospital bombing, which killed some 500 people. The riot police attacked the crowd with tear gas outside the Israeli embassy.

The previous night, Tuesday, the Greek police had arrested five people (Abre numa nova janela) in the closed refugee camp on Samos island, after some 700 migrants and refugees -mainly Palestinians and Syrians- protested from inside the camp the attack against Gaza hospital. According to the police, those arrested were throwing stones at police officers and were inciting others to participate in that. They face charges of incitement to violence, disturbing the peace, and violence against employees.

As a friend of Israel and Palestine, Greece “can play a significant mediating role,” Palestinian Ambassador to Greece Yussef Dorkhom stated (Abre numa nova janela) at a press briefing held at the embassy in Athens on Wednesday. Greece “always retained a balanced stance in international relations,” he added, and “we are looking forward to its positive role.”

Moreover, Greece “has always supported the two-state solution and the right of the Palestinian people to found their independent state on territory defined in 1967, with East Jerusalem as the capital.”

However, Greece is not impartial to become an honest broker. Especially in the last decade, the country changed its traditional pro-Palestinian stance by strengthening ties with Israel (see our previous newsletter). This turn was initiated by the SYRIZA government and was continued by ND.

It’s important to remember that in 1981, socialist PASOK ascended to power in Greece for the first time, ushering the country into a new era; Greece would become the first country in Europe to upgrade the Palestinian Liberation Organisation office in Greece to an official diplomatic mission status -according to reports (Abre numa nova janela)- and its historic head Yasser Arafat would be the first foreign leader to visit Greece after PASOK victory.

Back then, Arafat was characterized as a “terrorist” by most of the Western world. Thus, the West was enraged with PASOK’s leader, Andreas Papandreou. In 1982, after the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon, the PLO was forced to leave Beirut, where it had its headquarters, and move to Tunis. Arafat then left the city on Greek ships and disembarked in Faliro, Athens, where Papandreou welcomed him (Abre numa nova janela).

The U-turn of Greek politics today is also depicted in the official line in the mainstream media, which mostly sides with the Israeli narrative. It is pretty illustrative that a national broadcaster ERT correspondent to Israel reported from an IDF military camp showing soldiers preparing to attack Gaza, and she showed joy and smiling.

The incident caused ERT TV-radio union POSPERT condemnation: “We witnessed belligerent ERT reports by correspondent Pentaraki, an insult to the human tragedy,” they stated (Abre numa nova janela). They called on the ERT Board to undertake their responsibility and protect journalism and its principles.

The third oldest church was bombed, civilians sheltering civilians

At least 17 people have been killed (later, the number rose to at least 20 (Abre numa nova janela)), and several were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the historical Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City late on Thursday night. Saint Porphyrius is the oldest Christian church in Gaza, where some 400 civilians had sought shelter, Christians and Palestinians.

“They attacked the offices and the entrance of the monastery. They bombed them with a rocket, and the whole building collapsed. There were many Christians inside; many of them were wounded, and others died,” Archbishop of Tiberiada Alexios, who was on the spot, told (Abre numa nova janela) ERT news. “They should bring bulldozers so we can see how many people are under the ruins,” he added.

“The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expresses its strongest condemnation for the Israeli air strike, which hit its ecclesiastical space in Gaza City,”

the official Patriarchate statement said (Abre numa nova janela). The Patriarchate, in its statement, reported war crimes in Gaza therefore we translate it here in full:

“The Patriarchate emphasizes that targeting Churches and their institutions, including shelters that provide protection to civilians, especially women, and children, who lost their houses due to the Israeli air strikes in residential areas during the last 13 days is a war crime which is impossible to ignore.

Despite the apparent targeting of venues and shelters of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and other Churches -including the Hospital of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem, other schools, and social institutions- the Patriarchate, along with other Churches, remains devoted to fulfilling the religious and moral duty of providing aid, support and shelter to those in hardship amidst the continuous Israeli demands for evacuating the institutions from the civilians and amidst pressures that have been applied to the Churches for this issue.

The Patriarchate emphasizes it will not abandon its religious and humanitarian duty, which stems from its Christian values, always to provide what is necessary in times of war and in times of peace.”

The Patriarchate’s statement and the Greek government’s stance on the matter proved quite apart though. While one would expect Greece to condemn this attack strongly, the Greek MFA issued this short statement (Abre numa nova janela) on Friday - not even naming the perpetrator of the crime, the IDF:

“We express our deepest sorrow for the loss of life which was caused by the attack on a building near Agios Porfyrios monastery in Gaza. The protection of civilians and the safety of worship places and religious institutions should be safeguarded and be respected by all sides.”

Greek officials had condemned Hamas’s attack on Israel (see here (Abre numa nova janela) the relevant PM’s statement). It outraged them more for some reason.

In an interview (Abre numa nova janela) on Friday, Archbishop of Sevastia Theodosios said there was no warning for the strike. Still, he was unsurprised as after the hospital bombing, “our fear grew because we understood Israel has no respect.” He called for a ceasefire because

“people from both sides are killed daily who are not involved in the conflict… These last days, we experience a holocaust accompanied by a strong propaganda dosage, mainly by the Western media who see Hamas in everything. People don’t know the truth.”

Agios Porfyrios is the third oldest Church in the world and the oldest operating church in Gaza (Abre numa nova janela). It was built in 425 AC. It had been turned into a mosque in the 7th century, and the new church was built in the 12th century by the Crusaders. It is considered a symbol of peaceful coexistence among people of different religions.

It is essential to know that a few days before its bombing, PM Mitsotakis had contacted Israel and asked for the protection of the Church, according (Abre numa nova janela) to the Greek media.

It is also reported (Abre numa nova janela) that on Friday, the IDF admitted it carried out an air strike in the area when “aircrafts attacked Hamas’s command center, which had been involved in launching rockets and bombshells against Israel.” They added (Abre numa nova janela): “We are aware of reports on casualties. The incident is under review. The I.D.F. can unequivocally state that the church was not the strike's target.”

Athens has a new mayor - and this was not the only surprising election result

This was “not a particularly good night for ND,” stated (Abre numa nova janela) PM Mitsotakis after his party lost major municipalities and 5 out of 6 regions in the second round run-off. “The government has to walk with its feet on the ground,” he added. Mitsotakis had explicitly said (Abre numa nova janela) that his goal was to win all 13 regions plus the cities of Athens, Thessaloniki, and Piraeus, “13 plus 3,” as he said. Well, out of these, he won Piraeus and eight regions - which actually cannot be considered a bad result for a governing party if only they were not feeling invincible. It lost five of the six regions in the second round except the Peloponnese.

Turnout around the country was 40.7% (Abre numa nova janela) for the 84 municipal contests and 35.1% for the six regionals. In the first round of Oct. 8, turnout in both types of contests had been 52.5%.

Very importantly, ND lost Athens municipality (Abre numa nova janela), where PASOK candidate Charis Doukas defeated incumbent mayor and PM’s nephew Kostas Bakoyannis by 44.6% to 55.94%. Bakoyannis’s mother, Dora, a New Democracy lawmaker and former minister, was also mayor of Athens from 2003 to 2007.

What happened in Athens was really unprecedented as the first round results looked like that: Kostas Bakoyannis (ND) 41.35%, second Charis Doukas 14.20% (PASOK/KINAL), Costas Zachariadis (SYRIZA) 13.36%, Nikos Sofianos (KKE 12.88%), Ilias Kasidiaris (convicted ex-Golden Dawn) 8.33%, Konstantinos Papadakis (ANTARSYA) 6.09% and Eleni Papadopoulou 3.80%.

It appears that most opposition voters allied to oust Bakoyannis from office as he has been maybe the most controversial mayor of Athens. So, Charis Doukas increased its percentage from 14.20% in the first round to 55% in the second round! Sunday’s turnout in Athens was, however, as low as 26.7%.

Mr Doukas has a very interesting profile (Abre numa nova janela) for Athens, which is threatened by climate change. He is a mechanical engineer and energy policy and administration professor at the Polytechnical School of Athens. He is developing policies and strategies with the human being at their epicenter. He is mainly active in the fields of Energy and Environment, supporting sustainable energy and climate policies with citizens' participation. His policy models are reported as having been widely welcomed by the scientific society and applied on a national and international level.

In Thessaloniki municipality, Stelios Angeloudis -supported by PASOK and SYRIZA – led with 67,22% against (Abre numa nova janela) the incumbent ND Konstantinos Zervas (44.06%).

In the third largest municipality of the country, Patras, incumbent Kostas Peletidis from Communist KKE won a third term, with 75% of votes counted, receiving 56.86% over his opponent Konstantinos Svolis (43.14%).

It is also worth noting that the citizens of Halandri elected as their mayor incumbent Simos Roussos, despite being threatened by Labour minister Georgiadis (Abre numa nova janela) that if the left-wing mayor Roussos won the second round instead of the ND favorite, “the Municipality will not be able to receive EU funds for the next five years” for construction and other works in the municipality.

Another important result was in the flood-stricken region of Thessaly, New Democracy-backed incumbent governor, Kostas Agorastos, lost 40% to 60% to Dimitris Kouretas, backed by both the socialist PASOK and left-wing Syriza parties.

“Before disastrous floods hit the region in September, Agorastos was considered a shoo-in for a fourth consecutive term. Sunday’s result was a disavowal of his and the central government’s mismanagement of the emergency. Premier Mitsotakis had campaigned for Agorastos in the final days before the runoff,” AP reported (Abre numa nova janela).

The Thessaly result was maybe even more unexpected than that of Athens municipality. It’s probably a combination of a low turnout of ND voters in the second round (as they thought the victory was sure?) and opposition voters allying against ND.

What is also worth noting is that Kouretas, a Biochemistry professor, has invented a “feed-back” cake (Abre numa nova janela). This “cake” weighs only 80 grams, but it is enough to feed the human body for 24 hours as it contains the calories and proteins of a full meal, it has been reported. It could be massively produced and sent as humanitarian aid to the Third World. The massive production of this could solve an environmental problem that causes fish to die in Greek water ecosystems. Its main ingredient is the milk component that cheese makers do not use and throw in the rivers. Kouretas invented the cake accidentally when the Thessaly Biochemistry department was assigned to find ways to manage the environmentally hazardous waste.

Local elections seem to have brought some exciting people into power. We shall wait and see if they will live up to their promises.