Andreas Christou hands over reins of Interior Ministry to stand for Limassol mayor
OUTGOING Interior Minister Andreas Christou officially handed over the ministry to his successor, Neoklis Silikiotis, at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace yesterday morning.
With his departure, Christou will now be able to officially announce his candidature for Mayor of Limassol, a position for which he confirmed his interest last month.
In the ceremony, President Tassos Papadopoulos praised the outgoing minister, stating that he was “always inspired with a conscientious attitude and practical thinking, which he combined… with hard work, determination, and effectiveness,” adding that he had “set high standards for his successor”.
Although Silikiotis, 47, was one of the candidates AKEL had put forth for the new position rather than Papadopoulos’ top choice, the president said that he believed the new Interior Minister would “not prove to be inferior to the position.”
But it remains to be seen how Silikiotis – who has recently proposed that history schoolbooks be revised to remove nationalistic rhetoric and to include examples of collaboration between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots – will get along with what many see as a hard line government.
Christou himself, though the most popular minister, often held views that diverged from the government line, leading to friction between him and other ministers, such as when he came out in favour of the Annan plan. As a result, he generally stayed out of partisan confrontations, something that won him the respect of the public and politicians across the board.
During the swearing in ceremony, Silikiotis expressed his thanks to his party and to the President for choosing him and characterised Christou as a “prized Minister who, with his tireless efforts, has produced important works”, adding that his predecessor had “raised the bar very high” and that he would continue his “life’s work”.
“I wish and I hope that I can prove worthy to your trust and to your expectations,” the new minister said.
In turn, Christou described Silikiotis as “an energetic fighter, a man who works hard for his beliefs and duties, and a team worker”, adding that “these and other qualities are imperative to work in the Ministry, since our everyday concern is our citizens.”
While it had been expected for weeks now that Christou would resign in early September, it was believed that his successor would be Kyriacos Triantafyllides, a former permanent secretary in the Interior Ministry.
Under such a scenario, Silikiotis, who was a runner-up for AKEL in the May 2004 Euro-elections, would have then replaced Triantafyllides as a Member of European Parliament, as one cannot be both a minister and an MEP.
Silikiotis has proposed that history books be revised to remove nationalistic rhetoric and to include historical facts downplayed or ignored in current editions such as the collaboration between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots in worker rights struggles.
Early last month, Silikiotis told daily Phileleftheros that rewriting the high school textbooks does not mean presenting the Turkish invasion as a peace operation.
“The Turkish invasion is the Turkish invasion,” Silikiotis said. “And let us not forget that we should view it as such. But we should also make another admission, that the invasion was preceded by a coup and before that there were conditions that cultivated chauvinism and nationalism. Unfortunately, crimes were committed against both communities.”
“The facts should be presented objectively and completely and not one-sided and piecemeal. There are also events that show the other aspect of the coin. There is the aspect of peaceful reconciliation and cooperation between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, which many times is entirely absent from school textbooks.”
Neoklis Silikiotis: a brief biography
A Limassolian like the outgoing Interior Minister, Neoklis Silikiotis was born in Limassol on January 24, 1959. He studied engineering in Aachen Germany, where he was active in the student movement, and was one of the founders of the Cypriot student associations of Aachen and West Germany.
Returning to Cyprus in 1987, he then worked for EDON – the youth organisation of communist AKEL – in the student sector and in international relations, later serving in senior positions. From 1988-1991 he was General Secretary of the student organisation POFNE.
Since 1995 he has been working in the Central Committee of AKEL and is head of the Education Bureau of the party, as well as a member of the Education Council.
Silikiotis is married to architect Adoula Ioannou, with whom he has a son.
