By Joy B. Miranda

Hello folks, I am sharing with you some of the photos I had with Honorable Glafcos Clerides, former (4th) president of the Republic of Cyprus who was the Guest of Honor during the POLITIS (Cyprus) Newspaper’s 9th anniversary held on the 2nd of April 2008.

Mr. Clerides, now 89 years old, still looking great even in his wheelchair. The aura of a great leader who made a remarkable history in Cyprus has never failed to show in this MAN’s eyes and there was only an awesome respect felt at the crowd that was being accorded to him by the rest of the guests in the party.

Being the Editor-in-Chief of Tinig Pinoy which is published monthly by Politis, I was personally invited by Mr. Dionisis Dionisiou, (editorial consultant) during our meeting when he talked about his other upcoming project for me regarding a new publication of global or international scope (hopefully to commence this summer.) It is another page in Politis where potential writers of different nationalities staying in Cyprus can participate (Sri-Lankan, Indian, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.) I am quite excited about this project and I look forward to be working with different races! Meanwhile, I really considered it both an honor and a privilege to be part of the celebration. Of course, I also brought my staff with me namely Ester Beatty, Beth Fernandez, Lissa Jataas, Rose Hempenstall, Carmen Brazan-Llauderes and KISA (NGO-Action for Equality Support and Anti-Racism in Cyprus) volunteer Scarlet Tugbo.

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I was able to meet and had a brief chat also with another former president of Cyprus Mr. George Vassiliou who told me that they never miss a copy of Tinig Pinoy every issue and praised us for the idea of having a Filipino newspaper in the country. I likewise said that it was Mr. Dionisis Dionisiou who helped it become a reality. Other “Cyprus biggies” who graced the event were people I have seen only in televesion and newspapers.

Below is an article / profile of Mr. Glafcos Clerides for your information.

    Glafkos Ioannou Clerides (Greek: ΓλαÏ?κος Ιωάννου ΚληÏ?ίδης) (born in Nicosia, Cyprus on 24 April 1919) is a Greek-Cypriot politician and former President of the Republic of Cyprus. Clerides was the eldest son of the lawyer and stateman Yiannis Clerides.

During World War II, he served in the British Royal Air Force. In 1942 his airplane was shot down over Germany and he was captured. He remained a prisoner of war until the end of the war. His name was mentioned in dispatches for distinguished services.

Following the war, he studied law at King’s College London and later practiced law in Cyprus. He was a member of the EOKA organization that sought the liberation of Cyprus from British Rule and participated in the struggle under the pseudonym “Ypereides.” During that period he defended numerous EOKA fighters arrested by the British. One of his most famous accomplishments was a preparation of a dossier that enumerated and provided evidence of instances of Human Rights violations by the Imperial administration of Cyprus and its agents.

He participated in the 1959 London Conference on Cyprus and during the transitional period, from colonial administration to independence (1959-1960), he served as Minister of Justice. During the same period he was Head of the Greek Cypriot delegation in the Joint Constitutional Committee. In July 1960, he was elected to the House of Representatives which, in turn, elected him as its first President. He held this position until July 22, 1976. In the first presidential elections Clerides backed Makarios III, the other candidate being his father Ioannis Clerides.

Cyprus became independent in 1960, and Clerides gained political power as a member of the United Democratic Party. Following the July 15, 1974 coup d’état in which EOKA-B, a Greek Cypriot pro-enosis paramilitary organisation, overthrew the democratically elected Makarios and installed Nikos Sampson as a President with dictatorial powers, Turkey invaded Northern Cyprus. Eight days later, Sampson was forced to resign. On the same day, 23 July 1974, Clerides temporarily assumed the duties of the President of the Republic, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution. He exercised these duties until the 7th of December 1974, the day of the return of Archbishop Makarios, President of the Republic, who was forced to flee on 16 July 1974 on account of the coup. Both President Makarios and the House of Representatives thanked Glafcos Clerides publicly for the task he performed during that period. Critics, especially from EDEK refer to that period as the post-coup, implying that democracy was not fully restored until the return of Makarios. Clerides on the other hand has repeatedly condemned what he called “violence and counter violence” that lead to the coup (i.e the conflict between Sampson’s EOKA-B and “efedriko”, a pro-Makarios paramilitary group).

From 1961 to 1963 he held the position of President of the Cyprus Red Cross. In recognition of his outstanding services he was awarded a Certificate of Honour and Life Membership in recognition of distinguished services to the Red Cross.

In 1976 he founded the right wing Democratic Rally (Demokratikos Synagermos). He was a candidate for the presidency of Cyprus six times and elected to two five-year terms, in 1993 and in 1998. In 1998 his main opponent was Georgios Iakovou. He was defeated in the 2003 presidential election by Tassos Papadopoulos.

He is the author of the autobiographical overtoned depiction of 20th century Cypriot history, My Deposition, in four volumes.

During his presidency Cyprus has been Corrupted significantly. Its artificially stabilised economy that has been delivered by clerides govenment made Cyprus in theory and in numbers the wealthiest of the ten inductees to the European Union in 2004. The Clerides administration is heavily credited with the ascension to the European Union. Clerides, with his Churchillian persona, was respected by world leaders at the time of his presidency, and was locally a respected leader because of his accomplishments. He lost some of this popularity due to his strong support of Annan Plan for the unification of Cyprus. While 65% of the Turkish Cypriot community voted in favor of the plan in a referendum, the Greek Cypriot community rejected it by over 75% of the popular vote.

He was married to Lila-Irene (died June 6, 2007) and has a daughter, Katherine, who also served as an MP. Glafcos Clerides is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

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