Putting the party above the country

By Costas Iordanidis

The case of Sabiha Suleiman, the Roma activist whose candidacy for the European Parliament was announced by SYRIZA only to be withdrawn shortly afterward, is an illustration of the leftist opposition party's inexperience and immaturity.

In an effort to justify the unjustifiable, SYRIZA’s champions argued that the left is ideologically opposed to any form of “nationalism” and that Suleiman, through her efforts to assimilate Roma children into Greek society, is a nationalist. This is exactly the kind of ideological argument that puts off any conservative Greeks from even considering the left.

The crux of the matter is that this particular candidate was opposed by a section of the Muslim minority in Thrace and as such – in one sense at least – served no purpose to the opposition party’s efforts to win that vote.

Coalition partners New Democracy and PASOK were quick to score points on the back of SYRIZA’s repeated bungling, accusing the opposition party of setting its standards very low. Neither, of course, took the initiative to offer Suleiman a spot on their candidate lists. They obviously thought they couldn’t afford the loss of votes either.

The consequence of this ludicrous policy is that the initiative eventually rested in the hands of the Turkish Consulate in Komotini and so for the first time we are seeing the emergence of an independent minority ticket for the European elections, which may extend to national elections in the future as well.

Of course, the Muslims of Thrace are not a homogenous group led by the Turkish consular authorities, as some ignoramuses contend. These Greeks who follow the Muslim faith are not Turkish agents; far from it.

But a ballot of 42 candidates who...