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Marina Nikolova

Last week Dora Bakoyanni was chosen for a member of the French Academy for Humanitarian and Political Sciences (FAHPS), where she is the only woman – equal to Pope Benedict XVI and the King of Spain Juan Carlos. Mr. Bakoyanni has the ambition to become a Prime Minister of Greece and this became a reason to ask ourselves who exactly this brave and giving woman is. 

Let us untwine the ball but we will catch the thread of events from the last position Dora Bakoyanni took over. She accepted the prestigious title to become a member of the FAHPS, which the Academy has never given to a woman. She is the only female representative among the 12 members – politicians, scientists, among which are Pope Benedict XVI, the former UN General Secretary Javier Perez de Cuellar, Albanian writer and a Nobel Prize nominee Ismail Kadare, the King of Spain Juan Carlos and the English Prince Charles. The Academy is the oldest institution in France. It teaches human sciences and the main goal is to make them understandable in their entirety as well as to improve the forms of political organization, so they can be of use for the government interests and for the development of the society and of individuals. 

What is the success secret of Dora Bakoyanni – combination of the charisma of her personality and a product of the stormy political past of her family… Certainly, personalities like hers are hard to find – her achievements in the political scene as a Foreign Minister helped build the image of Greece as a country which is up to time. 

Let us track Bakoyanni’s road, which she had to pass before she got her political glory today. She created an active political profile of Greece all around the world and she managed to differentiate the scandals, which shook her Party’s government so much that her name is being prepared for the Prime Minister position.

Daughter and wife

Dora Bakoyanni was ten years old when she heard half of Greece screaming the slogan “Damn you Motzotakis!” Dora’s father is Konstantinos Mitzotakis – one of the most popular Prime Ministers in contemporary Greek history, who governed the country between 1990 and 1993. He was actively participating on the political scene ever since 1946. Just like many other politicians in Greece, Dora Bakoyanni and her father belong to a political dynasty with a long history: Konstantinos Mitzotakis is a nephew of Elefterios Venizelos, who was Greece’s Prime Minister during the Balkan wars and he was left in history with the fact that he succeeded in making Greece Great – the dream of the country to spread onto five seas and two continents. 

Dora Bakoyanni comes from a family of worthy politicians but she manages to create her own name in international diplomacy. In her almost 13^th year career as a politician she manages to build an image, which wins confidence and promises security. 

When Dora was 14 years old, the political take-over of the generals begins and a dictator regime is enforced. Her family runs away from the country and goes to Paris, where most of the Greek political and cultural intellectuals gather. Dora is 15 years old when the French students make their historic revolution in 1969 but her revolutionary step is against her father and mother – just like it happens with the ancestors of the economic and political aristocracy. Dora marries Pavlos Bakoyannis – she is 20 and he 37. 

Dora Mitzotakis and Pavlos Bakoyannis meet during the years when she studies in Munich and he is a journalist in Deusche Welle. Back then, his reports on the dictatorship regime in Greece become very popular. Right after the regime falls, Dora and Pavlos come back to Greece, get married and have two children – daughter Alexia and son Kostas. 

During this period – between 1974 and 1989 no one could bet on Mrs. Bakoyanni’s political career. She was the young wife of one very promising politician, mother of two children and daughter of Kostas Mitzotakis. Dora Bakoyanni graduated from the Law University in Athens. She speaks English, German and French fluently and has all the qualities for a successful career in the state administration. During 1977 she takes some tests in order to be appointed in the Ministry of Coordination – in the European Economic Community department. 

At age 30, Dora Bakoyanni takes the responsibility for the political bureau of her father, who at the time was the leader of New Democracy. After a ten year marriage and raising two children, her desire for a political improvement close to her father was not the best investment for her future – it was actually a runaway from the routine. But Dora has the luck or misfortune not to wonder for too long which road to take. Ground breaking events define the direction of her next moves. On September 26, 1989 her husband Pavlos Bakoyannis, parliament member of New Democracy was killed by the terrorist organization “November 17^th.” 

The tragedy does not allow Dora Bakoyanni to sit back as a devastated widow. Entering the political scene is actually necessary. Her childhood experiences and the fact that she grew older next to Mitzotakis, make her the master of political realism and all of a sudden she was more than ready to undertake the suddenly appeared future. Dora Bakoyanni keeps and protects her family name with everything. After her husband’s death she applies for a parliament member from Evritania region – she wants to take the position, which not long before belonged to her husband. She starts her political career back then and with the votes of the citizens from Evritania, Dora Bakoyanni enters the Greek parliament, where she spends three mandates as a parliament representative of the region. Even though she no longer a representative of Evritania, Dora continues to keep her tight connection with the region, to such extent that she is ready to leave it as an inheritance to her son Kostas when his time comes. 

In her father’s governments (1990-93) Dora Bakoyanni takes positions as a deputy minister and minister of culture and she built her leader profile very quickly. During the 1996 elections she changes the election region and applies in Athens, where the citizen’s vote raises her to first place. During that time, her father withdrawals from politics and she gets married for the second time – for Izidoros Kouvelos. Her political career runs like the wind – during 2002 Bakoyanni becomes the first women in Athens history to become a mayor of the city with the great vote percentage of 60.6%. This percentage is the biggest received by a mayor in Athens. 

For the Mitzotakis family, creating and using a mechanism is in the basis of politics. For years there has been a joke about Dora’s father Kostas Mitzotakis, which says that he is the godfather of thousands of children on Crete, the island where his family comes from. This is a characteristic example about the temperament and habits of a long gone era but the tight family contacts and relationships with all social groups within the Greek community continue to be cultivated by all family members because they are a necessary premise for achieving goals. In Crete, even Mitzotakis’ political opponents admit that he has never left anyone close to him “hanging.” Everyone in his surrounding gets settled in accordance to what they offer and give. True to the family tradition, Dora Bakoyanni created a wide circle of people around her, which starts to form from the time she was Athens mayor. 

“I have never felt that my gender makes me different when it comes to my career. And it is not supposed to,” says Dora Bakoyanni for www.worldmayor.com. The website ranked her as the best mayor in the world for 2005. In the website, more than 87 000 people from all around the world vote for their favorite mayor. Dora Bakoyanni wins the title “best mayor in the world” and she was not supported only by Greeks but also by people who voted from countries in Europe, North America, and Australia. Back then the Athens mayor receives many positive comments by 550 mayors from around the world and during the next year, Forbes magazine includes her in the list of 100 most powerful women in the world for 2006. 

Dora Bakoyanni’s success as an Athens mayor during the hosting of the Olympic Games in 2004 and her anti-terrorism fight got the Greek politics addicted to her. “The Olympic Games gave Athens the opportunity to become a modern and easy city for its citizens and visitor.” After the successful execution of Dora’s project to renovate the facades of 3000 buildings in Athens, the EU showed interest to start more similar projects. 

“I am proud that during September 2005 the project “Façade” was presented in the Department of government administration John Kennedy in Harvard University as an example for a program focused in the cooperation between the state and private sectors.” Dora Bakoyanni has been taking care of Athens’ vision ever since she was a Minister of Culture in 1993, when she starts an ambitious plan to change the life of all citizens in the city. This project also changes the image of the city – Bakoyanni embarked in realizing an ambitious project for uniting archeological sites, which in the past was planned by Melina Merkouri and Andonis Tritzis. 

Dora Bakoyanni as a Foreign Affairs Minister of Greece  

In 2006, Dora Bakoyanni becomes Foreign Minister of Greece. In an administration, which is constantly shaken by scandals – Vodafone’s phone tapping, the Olympic Games scandal and Siemens, corrupt high ranked people connected with the real-estate scandal in Vatopedi monastery, Dora Bakoyanni guards her name with dignity. She is one of the most popular ministers in Kostas Karamanlis’ administration and of course, she managed to keep her position even after the reconstruction of the administration. 

“Greek foreign policy is extroverted and determined. Through it we guarantee our national interests,” says Dora Bakoyanni. One of her undisputable successes is that her and her team sends humanitarian help when needed in a lighting speed and adequately. A characteristic case was the crisis in Lebanon in 2006. Greece was the first country to send humanitarian help to the region of about ?7.5 million. During the army riots, Greece gave ?2.5 million, released 2 861 citizens from 54 nationalities and acted as a center through which other European countries sent their help to Lebanon. 

Before the crisis in Lebanon, Greece was also one the first countries to send tons of humanitarian help to the Tsunami victims during the Christmas of 2004. It was again an initiative of the Foreign Minister to be the first one to send emergent help to Gaza on January 1^st, 2009. “What is happing in Gaza is a catastrophe in great proportions. We have to do whatever we can to stop the violence and murder in Gaza and to transport the needed help…” says Minister Bakoyanni. “The Greek society has paid in advance for many years ahead to terrorism,” says Bakoyanni regarding the military attacks against the Palestinian territories. 

Despite all, Dora Bakoyanni is criticized that she did not provide the political protection to the ship traveling with the Greek flag, which was sent to Gaza with volunteers of the “Free Gaza Movement.” Their lives were threatened by the Israeli navy and the ship was forced to return. 

The big problem of the Greek diplomacy still remains unsolved – the name of the Republic of Macedonia. With its relentlessness, Greece astonished some of its allies but it received the full support of other. Last spring it vetoed Macedonia’s admittance into NATO. The Macedonian politicians are also adamant. Slowing down the decision about FYRUM’s name is an obstacle for Macedonia to participate in international organizations. It is also an obstacle for the start of the integrating procedures into the EU.

Women and terrorism

Dora Bakoyanni took the initiative to organize a conference for “Women against Terrorism,” this spring in Athens. She herself has suffered through the loss of her husband, who was murdered by the terrorist organization “November 17^th” in Athens, in front of his office. The conference will host many public representatives, political leaders, scientists, victims of terrorism. Condoleezza Rice and the US State Department have provided a lot of help for the realization of this meeting. Dora Bakoyanni is actively supporting the victims of terrorist attacks and their relatives and has always stood behind initiatives connected to women’s rights and their importance in public life. During March 1992, Dora Bakoyanni was awarded with the “International Leaders Award” by the International women’s center. 

“Two are the things, which need to be clear,” says Dora Bakoyanni – “First: Human dignity and the right for life are holy and are not under any discussion. And second: Human life has the same value in New York, Mumbai, Athens, Istanbul, Madrid, Gaza or in Jerusalem. Just like the sorrow for our loved and lost ones – it is the same no matter what religion we are or where in the planet we may be.” 

Dora Bakoyanni is advancing determined, without giving occasions for gossip or big scandals. She always manages to attract people’s attention when she appears. She is moving exceptionally light but also with caution on the political arena. This is what keeps her for all those 30 years among the leaders with three successful mandates in the Greek parliament – Minister of Culture, Mayor of Athens during the Olympic Games, and Foreign Affairs Minister in Kostas Karamanlis’ administration. Dora Bakoyanni does not hide her leader ambitions and she is always supporting the current Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis.