For over a decade Marios Matsakis has been a breath of fresh air for the media in Cyprus — the ultimate headline-grabbing rent-a-quote, and a thorn in the in the side of the establishment and the British bases for his outspoken views on just about everything.
Despite his rather morbid profession as state pathologist, Matsakis had gained celebrity status within a year of arriving in Cyprus in January 1994. As he famously said: “I am very popular. I also have enemies and receive death threats, but I don’t lose any sleep over that.”
He also accused politicians of talking and doing nothing. “They belong to old people’s homes,” he said although he joined their ranks as a deputy in 1996, ten months after being fired on television by then Health Minister Manolis Christofides.
“He is the most incompetent minister I have seen for a long time.” Matsakis said during a confrontation with Christofides in front of television cameras in the ministry’s car park. “The state of Cyprus can live without Matsakis,” Christofides shot back to the cameras. “I’m firing him… you are fired Mr. Matsakis.”
This was not the only time Matsakis had trouble with his professional life. In 2002 he had his medical licence suspended for one year after a disciplinary committee found him guilty of medical ethics violation for “insulting and offensive comments” about four colleagues.
“They fear me, I am a threat to them,” he said at the time. “I am trying to change things, but some people don’t want change.”
Prior to his sacking by the Health Minister and election to parliament, Matsakis had countless run-ins with the government and caused a ruckus wherever he went.
In May 1995 he refused to examine the body of a Russian woman killed in a car crash in the north. “I don’t want to become a transport station for bodies from the occupied areas. They came illegally to Cyprus when they were alive, and they should leave illegally when they are dead,” he said.
Such was his patriotism that Matsakis said he was honoured that Rauf Denktash considered him a threat after reports that his name was on a Turkish secret service hit list. It only indicated how effective he was, he said.
Taking a more active role in the Cyprus problem, in August 2000 he went into the occupied areas and raised the Cyprus flag on a Turkish flag pole, which led then Defence Minister Socratis Hasikos to brand him a threat to national security.
He has also spearheaded an anti-occupation campaign at the Ledra Palace checkpoint to dissuade tourists from crossing to the north, saying it would “last as long as it takes”. The daily campaign fizzled out within a couple of months.
Matsakis later said he would not run in the 2001 elections but denied that his decision was provoked by criticism from the government. He said he was disillusioned with the parliamentary system and that there was a witch hunt against him. “All I am doing is bringing a fresh, new, European way of thinking to the people.”
He said that being a deputy was a hindrance to his outspoken campaigns. “It’s an illusion to think that if you’re on a parliamentary committee, you can help. If I can contribute by causing problems on the ground, by putting my life in danger, then I will. Things only move in Cyprus if there is a crisis.
Despite the anti-establishment rant, Matsakis stood and went on to get re-elected in 2001.
And it wasn’t only the Cyprus government he targeted. In April 2002 he kicked off a campaign against Israeli interests in Cyprus in retaliation at the refusal of the Sharon government to allow a Cypriot parliamentary delegation into the country. This followed on from a demonstration at the Israeli embassy in Nicosia where scuffles broke out with police as diplomats tried to enter the embassy for a reception.
“I shall deal with those Mossad spies at our airports and ports. Don’t be surprised if I go there one day to identify and have them arrested,” he said.
He also blamed foreign powers for allegedly bribing some newspapers in Cyprus to support the Annan plan in this year’s referendum, and branded pro-yes campaigners as “traitors” who should be executed. He said British and American foreign agencies were using “psychological warfare” to secure a ‘yes’ vote.
But Matsakis’ animosity to the British was nothing new. From the moment he arrived on the island he declared all-out war on the British bases, disrupting shooting practices at the Larnaca firing range, hiding out in camouflage gear in the Akamas for days at a time to stop British military exercises there, and getting arrested at least four times by Bases police for disrupting events such as the Red Arrows annual fly over and protesting against the controversial antenna. He has also accused the bases to deliberately trying to shoot him and of making death threats over the phone.
Former British High Commissioner Edward Clay once described Matsakis as “a medical monkey up a stick” after the maverick deputy’s seven-hour vigil aloft an aerial at Akrotiri.
It all came to a head in July 2001 when Matsakis was arrested for cutting a wire fence to enter the restricted antenna area. He had brought along Sigma television to witness his actions. His arrest led to riots that went on into the early hours as people gathered at the Episkopi base to demand he be freed.
The violent clashes left around 40 police officers injured, the Episkopi police station badly damaged, and twelve vehicles gutted, and caused total damages of around £500,000.
Matsakis was unrepentant, saying he would fight to the end and do everything necessary to stop the ‘satanic’ mast from being built. “We shall protest and protest and protest. And I repeat, over my dead body will they install this antenna,” he said.
And with words that may yet come back to haunt him, Matsakis once said said: “I don’t trust the government and I embarrass them when I show their deficiencies, their inadequacies and there are lots and lots and lots of them. The government would like me to be sent to Siberia for a long period.”
