tagged: Democratic Alliance, dora bakoyannis, George Papandreou, Greece, Ilhan Ahmet, Nea Dimocratia, new party, political party, Politics, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Former Greek FM launches new political party – Readies to visit Turkey

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics

Former Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, 56,  launched her political party yesterday Sunday, a party pledging to help Greece come out of the severe economic crisis. How? By applying neo-liberal economic policies… what else?

Bakoyannis’ party carries the name “Democratic Alliance” and  its emblem consists of a  white olive tree on  blue and orange background.

In front of some 5,000 people at the Badminton Stadium premises, former FM and ex mayor of Athens revealed the principles of  her party, which bear clear neo-liberal features:

Is what the citizens need right now?…

A centre-right outcast

Dora Bakoyannis, former member of center-right and main opposition party Nea Democratia, was expelled from the party  last May, when she voted  for the Greece-IMF Memorandum, opposing ND leader Antonis Samaras’s  instructions.

Being an offspring of  the political powerful Mitsotakis family,  Dora Bakoyannis could not stay long away from the active political life. She targets the support of neo-liberals from the centre-right political spectrum, former ND deputies who were estranged from the party, and some powerful businessmen. 

Quite a number of former political friends though turned their back to her yesterday and chose other activities than to attend her party’s presentation. Yet she gained the support of former and disppointed  ND cadres and of members of the Muslim minority in Thrace, like ex ND deputy, Ilhan Ahmet. (source: Turkish state Anadolu News Agency  as quoted by World Bulletin)

Her former political family Nea Dimokratia reacted cool to Bakoyannis’s new party. ”She confirmed her alliance  with the Prime Minister” ND officials commented. 

Political analysts forecast a 3% to 5% citizens’ support for her party,  that could very well function as a supporting beam to governing PASOK and PM George Papandreou.  Bakoyannis herself had said in an earlier interview that “when two or three parties cooperate…”.  Scenarios speak of a political cooperation or even a future coalition government between PASOK – socialists, Bakoyannis’s party, and Democratic Left or LAOS (far-right).

As the her party’s founding  congress is scheduled for March 2011, we should not wait for radical changes in the governance of Greece or even early elections

First foreign visit to… Turkey!

As Athens mayor and foreign minister of Greece Dora Bakoyannis cultivated excellent relations to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

Apparently her heart keeps beating East, then she announced that she will visit to Turkey on December 6-8. She will attend the Bab-i Ali meeting in Istanbul and pay a visit at Panagia Soumela Monastery in Trabzon.

Dora Bakoyannis served as Mayor of Athens from 2002 to 2006 and Foreign Minister from 2006 to 2009.