Cyprus-Forum.com

[zan]

Papadopoulos: nationalist who snubbed Cyprus unity plan
Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos, who suffered a stinging election defeat on Sunday, is a hardline nationalist who refused to bow to foreign pressure over the island's three-decade division.

The high-profile London-trained lawyer failed to win a second five-year term in the first round of a presidential election, after a five-decade political career built on the Cyprus problem.

With Papadopoulos, 74, out of the race, former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides and communist party chief Demetris Christofias were headed for a runoff next Sunday.

"The people decided with their vote and their decision is entirely respected," Papadopoulos said in a speech at his campaign headquarters, acknowledging defeat and congratulating his rivals.

But ever defiant, he stressed he was "proud" of his achievements in the past five years having steered Cyprus to EU membership and preventing the "dissolution" of the Cyprus Republic in the April 2004 referendum.

Papadopoulous had used his 2004 rejection of the UN plan to reunify the island as a clarion call, saying during the campaign that his "no" vote meant he was the man to trust as rivals would "sell out" the Cyprus Republic.

He stood firm under foreign pressure, even as the West criticised the Greek Cypriots for voting down the plan in the 2004 referendum after their president made a tearful appeal on television.

Ahead of the vote, Papadopoulos had the narrowest of leads in most opinion polls and he repeatedly expressed confidence that he would clinch a second term.

Questions were raised about the health of the chain-smoking Papadopoulos after he failed to attend some functions due to "flu" during the election campaign.

He was known to have longer-term health problems but it is was not discussed in the public arena.

At 74, Papadopoulos was seen as a champion of Hellenism by some and a Turk-basher by others.

As a young man, Papadopoulos was a key member of the political wing of the EOKA guerrilla group which fought to end British colonial rule after the dream of union with Greece was thwarted.

In his mid-20s he joined the government, under the wing of his mentor Archbishop Makarios who was president from independence in 1960 until his death in 1977, becoming the island's youngest ever minister

A lawyer by trade he served as one of the four representatives of the Greek Cypriot side who drafted the island's post-independence constitution.

He held cabinet posts for 12 years as minister of interior, finance, labour, health and agriculture, and also served as the interlocutor in bicommunal talks with the Turkish Cypriots in 1976.

Papadopoulos rose to the top in the 2003 presidential elections when he narrowly ousted veteran statesman Glafcos Clerides to win a five-year term and went on to lead the "no" camp in the UN referendum.

But his candidacy was dogged by newspaper reports of his law firm's links with Yugoslav sanctions-busting under Slobodan Milosovic's regime and allegations he was a "problem" for ties with Washington.

Once president, Papadopoulos gave the green light for overflights and support facilities on the ground during the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Just a week after the referendum, Papadopoulos took a divided Cyprus into the European Union on May 1, 2004.

Papadopoulos avoided using the veto against Turkey's EU membership bid and said Cyprus backs Ankara's EU path as long as Turkey recognises and normalises ties with his government.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkish troops seized the northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup in Nicosia aimed at "Enosis," or union with Greece.

Born on January 7, 1934 in Nicosia, Papadopoulos is married to French-educated Fotini, a member of the wealthy Leventis family. They have four children, including Nicolas who won a seat in 2006 parliamentary elections.

[Get Real!]

Hang on, I'm still not done...

[denizaksulu]

Hang on, I'm still not done...

omg, GR you did not tell me I share a birthday with you...sorry tpapa.


When my turn comes, I expect your support.

[zan]

Hang on, I'm still not done...

omg, GR you did not tell me I share a birthday with you...sorry tpapa.


When my turn comes, I expect your support.

Seems he was done after all

[denizaksulu]

Hang on, I'm still not done...

omg, GR you did not tell me I share a birthday with you...sorry tpapa.


When my turn comes, I expect your support.

Seems he was done after all

Watch this space Zan, he might do a Phoenix and 'rise through the ashes'.

[zan]

Hang on, I'm still not done...

omg, GR you did not tell me I share a birthday with you...sorry tpapa.


When my turn comes, I expect your support.

Seems he was done after all

Watch this space Zan, he might do a Phoenix and 'rise through the ashes'.

He tried to do that yesterday but I threw a bucket of water over him.....He will wake up with a terrible headache this morning and looking like mud!!!

[denizaksulu]

Hang on, I'm still not done...

omg, GR you did not tell me I share a birthday with you...sorry tpapa.


When my turn comes, I expect your support.

Seems he was done after all

Watch this space Zan, he might do a Phoenix and 'rise through the ashes'.

He tried to do that yesterday but I threw a bucket of water over him.....He will wake up with a terrible headache this morning and looking like mud!!!

that explains the water shortage.