Former president Tassos Papadopoulos presided over a historic era for Cyprus, a time of great changes. But how was he viewed as a person? )
HIS CLOSEST aides will tell you that former president Tassos Papadopoulos, who died of cancer on Friday, was a man who did not suffer fools gladly but who answered every correspondence personally, even when in the country’s highest office.
They will also tell you that after Makarios, he was the island’s greatest politician, that he was a workaholic who pursued his goals single-mindedly, a perfectionist, super intelligent, stubborn, difficult and always stingy with the public’s money.
Papadopoulos was born in Nicosia in 1934 and from his earliest days as a young trainee lawyer in London, he showed ambition for a role in public life, and a penchant for detailed argument to back it up.
When, in 1959, Makarios appointed him Cyprus’ youngest minister in the island’s first cabinet, at 24, a record unlikely to be challenged for many decades to come, it wasn’t so difficult to imagine that his political life would span half a century.
One person who was in a position to watch Tassos Papadopoulos rise up the ranks from young law student to President is his old flatmate, Lellos Demetriades.
The former Nicosia mayor shared a flat with him, Spyros Kyprianou, Demetris Liveras, Andreas Mavromatis and Marcos Spanos in London in the early 1950s after they were called to the English Bar. They went on to become lawyers, mayors, ministers, judges, ambassadors and two became Presidents of Cyprus.
“We had a close relationship and founded the first Cypriot Students Association in England. Spyros was President, as usual, and Tassos Secretary General,” said Demetriades.
“I was the Treasurer, because we ran out of money after two weeks, and physician, because my father was a doctor. For some reason, I remember buying carrots as a fruit because they were cheaper and good for the eyesight.”
Demetriades recalled how Kyprianou and Papadopoulos shared a healthy dose of political ambition in common even then.
“I drafted the Articles of the Association. Spyros said ‘Let’s distribute the positions, there’s not much to discuss about it’. Half a minute later, Tassos said: ‘Oh yes there is…’ Two and a half hours later, I had to change the Articles to give a lot more powers to the Secretary General.”
While the other three flatmates found Greek, Spanish and English partners, Demetriades and Papadopoulos remained single and ready to mingle.
“Tassos and Lellos were not the marrying type and were thrown out of certain houses for not being that type,” said the former mayor.
The five often abandoned their respective girlfriends to play cards at night, specifically, poker.
“Then we all decided to be in politics to serve our country. Whether we served it correctly or not, will be judged later.”
Demetriades singled Papadopoulos out as the smartest of the group of high-achievers.
“I think Tassos was the cleverest. He had the capacity to persuade people, a high intelligence. Spyros was a political animal par excellence. Spanos was very proper, wouldn’t go out without his trousers ironed and moustache trimmed. Mavromatis was down to earth and studied all the time. Liveras was romantic.”
On their return to Cyprus, Demetriades and Papadopoulos got involved in the EOKA struggle. Both worked as lawyers in the Special Courts defending young EOKA members against charges made by the British colonial authorities.
“They were interesting moments you can’t forget. Only one of my clients was executed after pleading guilty. Another boy was convicted for refusing to give information on someone else. But he was that someone else and they were beating him to find out where he was. Difficult times.” Papadopoulos was chief of the political arm of EOKA and climbed the ranks fast, a pattern that was seen again in his public life.
“As a politician, he was the best after Makarios, the most patriotic. He had strength and knowledge of both the political problem and domestic politics,” said one of his closest aides, Polakis Sarris.
Sarris was Papadopoulos’ campaign fund manager five times and was successful in four of them. He also spent three years as Presidential Commissioner (2003-2006) during his presidency.
Clocking in over 30 years of friendship, Sarris has no shortage of admiration, love and respect for Papadopoulos and his political achievements but he is also quite candid about ‘Tassos the man’.
“As a man, he was a difficult person, especially with interpersonal relationships. He was even harder to work with, a workaholic, perfectionist. He made all around him work harder. Unless you went along, it could be very difficult.”
For one younger man, Papadopoulos was the voice of reason and a mentor. Giorgios Colocassides, deputy leader of DIKO, admired the former party leader and President for his forcefulness, ability to pursue his goals with a single-mindedness and clarity of thought.
“He made no allowances for shoddy work. I appreciated his good mind, intellect and clarity of thought. His single-mindedness was understandable, and always substantiated.
“He was a mentor to me, a leading figure in actually providing the argumentation to the school of thought I adopted, ideologically, and regards the national issue,” said Colocassides.
The deputy leader appreciated Papadopoulos even more for his professional acumen when he saw him in action as a lawyer.
“He never took anything for granted. He did not rely only on intellect. He was very hard working, both professionally and politically,” he said.
“And he always responded to correspondence to anyone. Not just a thank you, but a proper response with analysis. Many people sent him letters, even during his presidency, and were proud to say they received a letter back,” he added.
Colocassides noted that Papadopoulos wasn’t happy giving empty phrases to the people with no content.
“He was never a populist. He responded to intellectual challenges, and liked to establish an intellectual relationship with people, not just slogans. He actually expounded arguments. He wasn’t happy giving people a bubble with no content,” he said.
Sarris brushed away the view that Papadopoulos had little room for opposing views.
“He always listened to the opposite opinion. And he was very democratic. In cabinet meetings, he would insist on every minister giving his opinion before a vote, even if it was not in their area.
“Sometimes though, regarding personal relations, he would be stubborn, and make mistakes in his evaluation of someone’s worth. Once he had his own opinion of someone, good or bad, it was very difficult to change his mind. Many times he was wrong,” said Sarris.
The former aide acknowledged that having the record as the youngest minister might have played a part in forming his reported stubbornness.
“The thought had crossed my mind. This stubbornness cost him. Yes, yes, many times those he trusted betrayed him, and he felt a bitterness,” he added.
During his presidency, Papadopoulos seemed to reserve his anger for the media, often scowling at reporters who’d ask questions that he thought lacked seriousness. At times, it looked as if he actually hated the media.
“Yes, that’s true. He did feel guilty about it afterwards. It cost us politically and in our image. He used to get very angry when they’d ask silly questions, and he’d call them the “illiterate”: not everyone, but those who didn’t know anything,” said Sarris.
Did this contempt ever cross into the political realm, hindering him from explaining the Greek Cypriot “NO” in 2004 to the international community?
“I think after the Annan Plan, the President convinced all European leaders and ministers that the Annan Plan was unfair for Greek Cypriots. Many foreign leaders said this. He made a lot of personal relations (with foreign leaders).”
Despite their earlier closeness, Lellos Demetraids and Tassos Papadopoulos grew apart over their views on the Cyprus problem.
“Forget about him being the NO man. Tassos believed that the Turks, and by extension Turkish Cypriots, would not allow an independent state of Cyprus in its underbelly. And as an enemy, Cyprus must be eaten up. He may not have been wrong about that,” said Demetriades.
However, the former Nicosia mayor differed with Papadopoulos on what to do about such a scenario. While Demetriades pushed for more discussions with the Turks and Turkish Cypriots to avoid making an enemy of them, Papadopoulos and others were more geared towards “fighting the heroic fight”, with the support of the motherland, Greece.
“So, OK, the Turks want to eat up Cyprus, the Brits divided us – yes, fine – but what do we do? What we wanted was untenable. No one ever sat down to say: ‘what we aspire for is impossible, let’s finish this, what can we do?’,” said Demetriades.
“These feelings came to a head around nine years ago in a quarrel with Tassos. I was mayor at the time, he was deputy. We had a heated argument and I told him, ‘you are the best ally of the Turks’. We parted company. He was furious when I did not support him in the next elections.”
Demetriades visited Papadopoulos in hospital before he died, but only saw his relatives due to his poor condition. It is clear that the mayor’s feelings for his old flatmate never subsided, despite the fact their positions diverged even further after the 2004 referendum.
“I knew the Annan plan was not good, and yes I voted for it, but I blame the government for not trying to change the plan. They were anathema to it and let it linger around. In the meantime, the Turks built up the whole area, and now we hope they’ll abandon it one day.”
Demetriades strongly believed that the more time passed, the worse things would get for the Greek Cypriots.
“Tassos never accepted this, he thought we’ll keep fighting and hope the world is with us. But when the Jews kicked out the Palestinians and took their property, did the international community abolish the state of Israel? Impossible. This is a time of agreement in Europe, not heroics.”
Though Papadopoulos was very persuasive, having influence over Makarios and the Cypriot people in 2004, “he refused to see the most important issue, the dangers of delaying a solution”.
Demetriades added that the former president failed to substantiate two of his key arguments against the Annan Plan: that the Republic of Cyprus would dissolve, and that the whole plan was an unworkable mess.
“No legal argument was produced to back up the claim that the Republic would dissolve. We didn’t need to start making new applications. And though there was some truth to the fact that the Annan Plan was a mess, we had to sit down and try to make it better for us. Do you think any new solution will not be like the Annan Plan, but with even more concessions on our side?
“But I never heard Tassos give an alternative, feasible solution other than to keep fighting for our rights and wait and see. He may have been correct in his views on Turkey but what do you do in this case? Tell me your solution?” said Demetriades.
Papadopoulos’ crystal clear views in politics often meant people either supported him or opposed him. There was rarely any in between. However, regardless of how people viewed him, most in Cyprus would say that he was a man of principle.
“He was very strict in his principles, to the point where even if his best friend asked him to bypass a regulation or law, he would never do it. Many close friends got angry with him because he never ever did it. He even tried to criminalise nepotism as a deputy,” Sarris said.
This anti-graft attitude applied from the top down as far as Papadopoulos was concerned.
“When it came to public money, he was very stingy. If we were travelling for a working visit or a medical visit to the US, he would never take costs from the state. Unless it was an official visit, he always paid his own expenses and made me do so too.
“He’d even tell ministers off if they went somewhere a day early or stayed a day later, meaning extra hotel costs. He was really stingy and very strict with public money,” said the former aide.
And what was his greatest achievement?
“He kept the dignity (of Cyprus) and the Republic of Cyprus. With the referendum, he saved all of Cyprus. He also made an economic miracle. Taking over a government financially in debt, he brought us into the eurozone with economic indicators that no President has ever created,” said Sarris.
