As pushy and overbearing as Kyprianou may have been on certain issues, Clerides, during their time working together, never gave anyone cause to accuse him of a lack of respect or communication
Glafkos Clerides was, above all, a generous leader and a great man. Even as a child, I had the opportunity to visit KAITI 2 and the Presidential Palace on several occasions. The communication and collaboration between him and Pantelis Kouros with my father (who was then Director of the Archdiocesan Office) was constant and sincere. And I consider it an extraordinary honor to have met and spent time with the late President myself, as a teenager and a college student, on various occasions. There, I heard firsthand stories, memories, and conversations full of substance and humor.
Clerides had the rare gift of self-deprecation, of joking even at his own expense, without ever diminishing his stature. He was a leader who never lost his simplicity and acted authentically, with his characteristic temperament. He trusted his colleagues, listened to them, respected them, and above all, was distinguished by a sense of dignity in his relationships.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
His election in 1993 was the result of a major historical breakthrough by DIKO and Spyros Kyprianou personally (by no means an easy or self-evident achievement at the time) a fact that Clerides always acknowledged. Without the centrists, Clerides would not have been elected President, and he was constantly aware of this. For some, that collaboration between DISY and DIKO constituted a historic act of reconciliation between two opposing factions, following the divisive and civil-war-like atmosphere of the 1970s.
That is why, no matter how insistent and demanding Kyprianou may have been on certain issues, during their period of cooperation, Clerides never gave anyone cause to accuse him of a lack of respect or communication. However, even after the collapse of the coalition government, Glafkos Clerides maintained a strong and cordial connection and relationship with Spyros Kyprianou.
Undoubtedly, every era has its own leaders. But even so, I’m not sure how many unanswered questions Clerides would leave behind today if he were still living in Pheidias. On these matters, one of his associates would (rightly!) take charge. Furthermore, Clerides proved that he had the resolve to carry out cabinet reshuffles without months-long delays or behind-the-scenes drama.
And Clerides certainly would not have reshuffled a minister who—in his own words—was so loyal that he would “step forward even to take a bullet for him.”
I am writing these lines in response to the repeated claims I hear that the current President supposedly operates the same way Clerides did as president.
Forgive me: I am not the best person to speak about Glafkos Clerides. However, when such statements come from people who often display insecurity or who themselves violated the bylaws of Clerides’s party, I cannot help but say that this does not reflect the truth.
Klerides was neither an imitation nor a copy, and those who try to appropriate his style or his work reveal more about themselves than about him.
