Mama mia! I wouldn’t have thought that famous Greek singer Yiorgos Dalaras would use a stone-age old graffiti slogan to surprise positively the Turks. The slogan ‘the Aegean belongs to the Fish’ is as old as the Noah’s floods and had appeared on an Athens street as graffiti even before Noah was born… Now Yiorgos Dalaras make use of it to impress the Turkish people obviously on the occasion of his concert in Istanbul.
In an interview to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Dalaras tries to approach the Greek-Turkish dispute on the Aegean Sea in a metaphysical-religious, profound and yet simple-minded way and says among others, that “God has not set boundaries between the countries” etcetera etcetera etcetera…. and that in fact the much disputed sea “belongs to the Fish”. That’s correct! As some internet user commented on the news247.gr that published the interview in Greek “Concert halls belong to the people and therefore Dalaras should give concerts without a ticket – for free”.
Commenting on politics, Dalaras told Hurriyet, that politics is “not a faithful wife, but a dirty woman”. I don’t know what he drinks, but it must have been a cocktail mix of frustration and memory faiding. To hear such a statement by a man whose wife, Anna Dalara, was serving as deputy Minister in the Papandreou government until last June sounds weird. I’m a bit too lazy right now to write some kind of feminist criticism as well… “Dirty woman”? Why not “Dirty man”?
Last year, Yiorgos Dalaras was accused of being ‘Turco-phobe” while in Turkey. The singer had given many concerts for the missing of Cyprus. Now he grew older and wants peace. Me too… and I claim my right to want to live in a gibberish-free world…
Dalaras’ interview as published by Greek portal news247.gr
On the occasion of his visit for a concert in Istanbul, Turkey, Greek singer George Dalaras, in an interview to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, amazed by his statements on the Aegean, noting that “it belongs to the fish.”
“People are born to live together. We live side by side for thousands of years. If you fly a little higher will not see the lines on the map” he said, adding:
“The maps are printed and the boundaries set by the mathematicians and land-surveyors. God does not print. About the Aegean Sea, some say it belongs to Turks, others say to Greeks. But in fact the Aegean Sea belongs to the fish, ” he said characteristically.
The singer referred also to the Cyprus issue, noting that there are problems coming from three sides, Turkey, England and Greece.
“These countries weave such a knot that issue was led to an impasse. However, the soldiers want to leave, and there are people who want to unite and live together,” he said.
Asked about what was the source of pain in Cyprus, he replied that it is the fault of the nationalists and those religion-zealots.
While referring to politics in general, he noted that “politics is not a faithful husband, but a dirty woman.”
“Everything is ready for a solution in Cyprus. Greece withdrew. Turkey does not do anything. In the middle stands England that provokes and incites everyone,” he says.
Before falling asleep, I need to clear a historical thing: Turks moved to the area of what is called today Turkey in the 9th century AD. That was looong after God had created the boundaries but not so many thousands of years passed yet lol
Rolling Stones: What a drag it is getting old
Dalaras uses poetic language to make a point. Yes, the ‘woman’-thing is not political correct. But be honest, would there be any great poetry been written if political correctness would have dominated in the past as it does now?
Still he is, to me, the greatest living Greek singer. Maybe even the greatest, period.
And mentioning the job of his wife is a very… dodgy(?) thing to do. What are the wives and husbands of all the other singers, poets, painters, photograpers etcetera doing? Is Holland any less because Papaconstantinous wife is Dutch?… Ok, bad example 😉
if that’s poetic, I will run the next marathon (ok, I’ll run 68 meters only – damn cigarettes!).
No link to what you write about wives. As long as his wife was a politicians, it was ok? and now it’s not? He may be ok as a talented singer, but I am not ocnvinced of the intellectual capabilities or building peace bridges and so on…
Yes poetry is an elitist art…
What I meant is that you can not judge a persons actions or saying by the profession of their spouses. She might have been a astronaut. And as we all know, there are no fishes in the sky… Well except of the star sign Pisces (which I am very fond of out of personal reasons). So why should he not make comments about fishes and the Aegean Sea?
But why do we always ask artists these kind of questions. Is it not enough that our politicians make a mess of it? Why do people think that an artist’s insight would be more profound than yours or mine? Why are people like him asked to be ‘ambassador’ of a UN-organisation? Just to get money for the club, I guess.
i’m afraid you miss the point of his so-called ‘political’ background, Antonis
Ok. Could you make that point clear, please?