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Glavkos John Clerides Biography

Glavkos John Clerides

(Nicosia, 1919) Greek Cypriot politician, historical leader of the Greek part of Cyprus since 1974 and president from 1993 until the 2003 elections, when he was replaced by Thasos Papadópulos.Son of Ioannis Klirids, also a prominent politician who worked for the island's independence, Glavkos Clerides served as a pilot in the service of the British Air Force during World War II and was a prisoner of war.After finishing the fighting he returned to London, where he finished his law studies.

Back in Cyprus, between 1955 and 1959 he participated in the British Colonial Courts as a defense lawyer for the members of the National Organization of Cypriot Combatants, known by the Greek acronym EOKA.He was also part of the Greek Cypriot Working Group that prepared the Accords for the independence of Cyprus.In 1959-1960, the transitional period towards independence, he was Minister of Justice, and headed the Greek Cypriot Delegation for the Joint Constitutional Commission.

On August 16, 1960, the Republic of Cyprus was proclaimed under the orders of the President, the Orthodox Archbishop Miriarthos Makarios.In July 1960 he was elected a deputy in the House of Representatives of the Republic, and from August 1960 to 1976 he was president of this Parliament.In the Intercommunal Conversations, which began in 1968, he represented the Greek Cypriot population, against Rauf Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader.

In July and August 1974, following the coup by the military junta in Athens against President Makarios (who had to leave the country) and the military invasion of northern Cyprus by the Turkish army, Clerides was appointed alternate president of the Republic, and managed to restore constitutional order.In December 1974, Archbishop Makarios returned to Cyprus and Clerides was appointed representative of the Greek Cypriot side at the Intercommunal Conversations on the division of the island, held in Vienna.He remained as a negotiator until April 1976.Since 1974, when Turkey invaded the north of the island occupying 37%, Cyprus remains divided.In 1983 he proclaimed himself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara.

In May 1976, the leaders of the Unified Party (founded by Clerides), together with the Progressive Front and the National Democratic Party , created the Democratic Convergence Party (DISY), which in the legislative elections of 1985 and 1991 obtained a greater number of votes.On February 14, 1993, during the second round of the presidential elections held in the Greek Cypriot area, Clerides was elected president with 50.3% of the votes, compared to 49.7 obtained by George Vasiliu, an independent supported for the Communist Party (AKEL).

In December 2001, President Clerides visited the northern part of the country for the first time and held a meeting with his old political rival, Rauf Denktash, in a historic gesture that raised high expectations about the future reunification of the island.The resolution of the Cypriot conflict began to be seen in the following months, since the European Union agreed to negotiate the accession of this small state and the United Nations drew up a reunification plan that sought to turn Cyprus into a "bicomunitarian and bizonal" confederate state.

In this historical context, Clerides announced to his compatriots that he would leave office once the reunification of the island was achieved; But, in the presidential elections held on February 16, 2003, the Cypriots rejected their continuity and granted the victory to Tasos Papadópulos, candidate of the center-right (DHKO), who with the support of socialists and communists managed to concentrate 51.51 % of the votes, compared to 38.80% for Clerides.

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