Frixos Dalitis
If medicine had to choose between politics, the answer would always be the same for Adamos Adamou. Medicine in any case, as it typically says. The feeling, as he explains, that the doctor helps a patient and especially someone with cancer to overcome his problem and earn a living, can not be compared to anything in politics and in general. He completed a full political career as an MP, MEP and closed the circle of active political action as Speaker of Parliament, noting that in politics you never say never. His diagnosis for politics in Cyprus is that he is seriously ill and needs change. That we need a revolution of young people, with new minds that will bring real change and renewal. It is placed in the chapter Presidential Elections.
The former Speaker of Parliament, in a profound political “confession” to “F”, talks about yesterday, today and tomorrow, both personally and politically. He talks about the proposal he accepted to take over the Ministry of Health and the willingness he had to offer to the place from a position he knows well. He explains why he considered it moral to say no to the aftermath after the reactions from AKEL.
SEE ALSO: Adamou did not accept the post of Minister – What he said
He also cites the explanations given to him when in 2016 for the election to the Presidency of the Parliament AKEL did not discuss a scenario of his own candidacy, since on the table was the candidacy of the then general secretary of AKEL, Andros Kyprianou. He answers what his involvement with politics has left him through AKEL.
– Politics or medicine?
– Medicine one hundred thousand times.
– Why;
– Because the supply of medicine is much greater than that of politics.
– So the politics chapter is finally closed for you?
– They have to say that in politics you should never say never. It's not like that; I think that if it is judged by some that I can offer from somewhere with my knowledge and experience and offer to the place, to help the people, yes, I would do it again. Why not; Unless I'm saying that everything is closed to me and I're just a retired lounger.
– So can we see you as a candidate for President of the Republic?
– I never thought about it and it is not in my ambitions either. The only reason I was in politics is to do what I did in medicine. In other words, I considered politics to be a stepping stone to society and that is why I accepted to enter politics. I served the place as an MP and as an MEP for five years and the reason I did not continue was because I could not spend many hours on the planes. I needed a day and a half to go to Brussels and a day and a half to go back. My colleagues from Europe go by car. It is a problem for Cyprus and well done to those who endured to do both second and third term in the European Parliament.
– But you did not answer us how do you imagine your return to politics…
– Does politics stop? It only stops when someone can't offer. I still think I can offer. I do not have anything specific in front of me. I had something specific when I was proposed by President Anastasiadis to become a minister.
– You had a very specific proposal for the Ministry of Health. You receive a huge amount of recognition and there is the belief of the electorate that you can be offered in the field of health as well as in medicine. Why did you say no? Just because AKEL reacted?
– My desire was to serve. When there was a huge reaction from the party of which I was an MP and because I believe that when you work with a party there should be mutual understanding and respect, I could not move forward. You think about it twice. I wanted to go to the Ministry of Health and have the acceptance of everyone, because I was just knowledgeable about the subject.
– But you could be generally accepted…
– That's how it would develop. But when the party I was a member of parliament had a specific view, I could not function differently. Everyone takes responsibility for their actions. They had this view and I respected it. Besides, I was an AKEL MP for 20 years. I will not lift a cloak now, going against what I have served for so many years. I do not consider it right and moral. I wanted to have their acceptance. E.g. AKEL executives are in charge of various organizations. As in the OAU, in the Anti-Drug Council. However, these are separate organizations and are not part of the government's work in the sense of pursuing a policy of being a member of a Government.
– But the issue of Health is considered after the Cyprus, national issue. Especially after the pandemic and so it should be treated.
– You have put it very correctly. This is how it should be treated. It is not treated that way but you know it. It is viewed from the point of view of the political line of the party to which it belongs. You can also see how they express themselves in Parliament. Each party expresses the line that it believes is the best for the place. This is how democracy is.
– Because the road to the Presidency of the Parliament was blocked for the first time, do you feel any bitterness regarding the behavior of AKEL towards your face?
– I want to say that for the first time I had no idea that I was in the plans for the presidency of the Parliament. I really had no idea. In fact, to be honest, the only one who touched it in the corridors of the Parliament, was George Perdikis. The justification they gave can humanly make me feel a bitterness. However, when after the whole process was over, I was told that since the AKEL secretary general was a candidate, it would not be right for another party MP to be a candidate, I accepted.
– Why with AKEL the active involvement in politics?
– I was offered to be a candidate in the parliamentary elections by the then secretary general of AKEL, Dimitris Christofias. Back then, it was a critical crossroads for me and the one that tilted the scales to do something other than medicine was some health problems. That was when the problem with my heart appeared. I had a heart attack and was absent from work for a month.
I said then, that in order to survive, I have to take a step back from the workload and stress of work. Because the job of the doctor is difficult and especially of the doctor who has to deal with cancer patients. Cancer patients are a special group of patients who not only need medical care, but also need support. I have said many times that we must try to heal these people as a whole.
Why with AKEL? Because AKEL was the party that made my proposal. Then, of course, others followed AKEL's proposal. And Tassos Papadopoulos as then president of DIKO and Nikos Anastasiadis as president of DISY. But I learned to keep my promises and commitments. I was a candidate in 2001 for the first time but was not elected. I was a runner-up. When George Lillikas and Dina Akkelidou were made ministers by Tassos Papadopoulos in his government in which AKEL also participated, I entered Parliament. In 2004 I was a candidate for MEP. I was elected and went to the European Parliament until 2009. I had said even then that the circle was closed politically, but in 2011 before the parliamentary elections, AKEL came and asked me to be a candidate in the province of Limassol and I was elected in 2011 and 2016.
I keep the cooperation from AKEL…
– What do you keep from AKEL?
– The cooperation we had for so many years. It was explained to me from the beginning that I could disagree with their policies, just that these disagreements should be discussed with the party. I had the right to a different point of view and even a different vote. This is the regulation of the New Forces that cooperate with AKEL.
I can not have a complaint from AKEL, despite the fact that things happened that in the ears of the people may seem derogatory towards me for the way they treated me. However, I do not feel that way, because I was explained the various misunderstandings that were made about what the party's policies were and why this course was followed. So after I finished my cycle at AKEL, afterwards I did not consider it right to be out and throw stones. If I wanted to do these things, I had to do them when I was inside. I will not protest.
I want to thank the people of AKEL who supported me. It was not only AKEL people who voted for me, they were from all walks of life, but the large mass came from AKEL, of which I was a candidate for MP. So I can only thank the people who supported me for so many years to be where I was and to leave as Speaker of Parliament.
I experienced the greatest pressure with the Giorkatzi list for the MES
– You gave battles in politics and you also gave daily battles to fight cancer. Which do you think were the most effective and had an impact on the world?
– The battles with the patients. Do you know what it means to be an oncologist, facing a patient with a disease with a very high mortality rate, but managing to emerge victorious from this battle? Do you know what this means for the doctor? Do you know how a doctor feels when treating someone? These feelings are not found anywhere, especially in politics. Whatever one does in politics does not compare to the feeling of offering life to your suffering fellow human being. This is clear to me and so to the question of politics or medicine the answer is in any case, medicine.
– How would you present the policy in medical terms?
– Politics is one thing and diseases are another. I do not want to get into this process. Politics is judged as a whole by all those who serve it. Politics in our country is known to be sick and radical changes must be made in both politics and politicians. If we want to make politics, we must make politicians. We need changes. What we need in short is to mature and become a European country. Beyond that, many words are superfluous.
– What would you advise a young politician today?
– We are waiting for things to change in Cyprus. But for things to change, young people need to change. I am sorry to note that what has just arrived has not offered the issue of change and renewal. They did not add what the young people expected. They just followed the same steps of the party line. What needs to be done is a “revolution” of young people. We are talking about distancing young people from politics. But it should not be so. They need to get closer to politics to change things. But let new people come up with new minds to change this sick state of affairs in politics. Those who distance themselves from politics should not complain about politics.
– What were the most difficult things you had to manage in this course?
– It will seem strange but the most difficult issues and the biggest pressure I had when I took over as Speaker of Parliament, with the list of Giorkatzis and everything that was happening. There were too many issues that pressed me. In the Environment Committee of which I chaired for ten years, we always found solutions and the cooperation from all parties was perfect. We always looked at what was in the well-meaning interest of the citizen.
The time of dogmas is over
– What is your opinion about the role of the New Forces in AKEL? Can he become more active in party processes?
– It is up to AKEL to decide. When one is a candidate with the New Forces, one is explained the context in which one can move. Whether the relationship between those who come to cooperate with AKEL will change, I imagine this relationship as a relationship of cooperation based on a political program with mutual respect and understanding in the position of each other. Certainly you can not cooperate on the basis of ideology, because it is not on this basis that the cooperation with AKEL takes place. It is done on the basis of a political program.
When I collaborated with AKEL, I had before me the political program of the party and I agreed with it. Beyond that, there can be no agreement on everything. There will also be disagreement. In these cases, the mechanism must be found, these disagreements must be discussed and there must be an end. What is not legitimate for cooperation is to go out in public and expose these disagreements and to come into conflict with the party of which you are an MP. AKEL has said many times that it wants to change the institution of the New Forces. I have not yet seen anything happen.
– It was said at the AKEL site that a dialogue could begin on how the fan opens about what is Left in Cyprus…
– No, that did not happen either. Because when you talk about the Left, it is not only AKEL. It is a very broad term that includes both socialist ideologies and communist ideologies and ecological ideologies. It is with these forces that it has to cooperate, since on the opposite side is the maintenance and the parties that serve it. But I think the parties should also be modernized. No party can proceed with blinders and above all with ideologies. The time of dogmas is over.
