Greek Press

Proinos Tipos - Drama

7 May 2006

Margaritis Tzimas, Drama MP, made the following declaration about “Muslim” Gülbeyaz Karahasan who was nominated as candidate for the chairmanship of Xanthi-Kavala-Drama extended prefecture ;

"In our political system, all the Greek citizenships have the right to elect and to be elected but it is undeniable that the local authorities have great responsibilities to represent our folk who fought for democracy and the freedom of our country and the local authorities must have the capacity to conceive this important features of our history and our folk. Neither political interests nor shallow politics can have a part in the formulation of local authorities.

We would like to ask Dear Mr. Papandreu, PASOK Chairman:

Has he taken any support guarantee from Gülbeyaz Karahasan about the following topics before he nominated him as candidate for the chairmanship of Xanthi-Kavala-Drama extended prefecture ?

a. What were the reasons for PASOK to establish Xanthi-Kavala-Drama extended prefecture PASOK and make the system work? Why were these three provinces not organized as separate governor generalship?

b. What is her attitude towards occupied land of Cyprus?

c. What is her attitude towards the re-opening of Heybeliada Clergy School?

d. What is her attitude towards the re-opening of holy temples in Istanbul, as an example Ayasofia, for religious exercises?

c. What is her attitude towards national liberation celebrations of Drama on national and local levels?

Furthermore our folk is absolutely free to decide whom to elect but also they have the right to learn the attitudes of the candidates, who have the motivation to govern them, towards critical problems of our region and our country before the election.

Margaritis Tzimas, Nea Dimocratia Drama MP

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Paratiritis - Komotini

10 May 2006

Kostas Skandalidis, creator of the Rhodop-Evros and Xanthi-Kavala-Drama extended prefecture idea, accepted the fact on the News of Channel Alpha on 8 May 2006 that this Extended Presidentship of Provinces idea was developed to hinder the election possibility of a Muslim governor.


Mr. Skandalidis meant that Andreas Papandreu, called him and they even discussed about postponing the governor elections about 12 years ago. Mr. Skandalidis, the Minister of Interior Affairs in 1994, expressed that the situation has changed since this political period and he continued that Yorgos Papandreu has also expressed this policy and situation change at his last election.

Meanwhile, the most surprising item comes from Georgios Karacaferis, the chairman of Orthodoks Nation Awakening (LAOS) and European Parliement MP. He confused everyone by saying “If we truly want everyone to be equal in front of the laws and have equal rights (isonomia - isopolitia) then we should abolish “Super Governor” system and make some overall reforms.

Besides, Dimitris Hatzisokratis, member of Leftist Alliance Political Secretariat, called PASOK and Leftist Alliance for action in this framework.

After all these improvements, one question emerges in my mind. As LAOS and Leftist Alliance offer to abolish “Super Governor” system, why do not they still offer to abolish the 3 percent election barrage. The mentioned election barrage was formed as a result of hindering the election of Muslim deputies on national reasons. Besides the abolishment of this election barrage turn out to LAOS’s and Leftist Alliance’s advantage otherwise they have the risk of being out of the parliament after the election.

Giannis Giankinis