The meeting at the airport on May 2 displayed the cordiality of old friends, for Dalan and Mrs Dalan were repaying the visit made by Mayor Evert of Athens and his wife to Istanbul in March. The mayors’ wives are both professional women, Mrs Dalan being an economist who has recently retired after 20 years with Mobil Oil, and Mrs Evert, daughter of archaeologist Eugene Vanderpool, a well-known photographer.
Upon his arrival, Mayor Dalan, heading a delegation of 95, was pleased to announce that he was bearing a message from Prime Minister Ozal to Prime Minister Papandreou which, he believed, promoted the recent peace initiative being followed by both countries – what has come to be called ‘the spirit of Davos’.
Even the banquet held that evening in Mayor Dalan’s honor at the Piraeus Yacht Club had its diplomatic uncertainties. Earlier in the day it was discovered by protocol officers that the mayor was to dine directly under a historical painting depicting the Battle of Navarino (1827) in which the entire Ottoman fleet was sunk.
Since this friendly occasion was to be televised for home (Turkish) consumption, Deputy Mayor of Athens Zahos Hadzifotiou took it upon himself to have the controversial picture removed before the dignitaries arrived.
Nevertheless, this act of discretion (or cowardice) was hotly attacked later by zealots who claimed in the media that Greece was reverting to its despised role of servility before Turkey. Even the government spokesman said, “The Greek people are proud of their history and have no reason to conceal it.”
An extreme view was voiced that the removal of the painting should lead to Evert’s removal of his deputy mayor. Other hotheads, claiming that it was an ethnic insult to remove the artistic rendition of Greek victory over the Turks, had to be reminded that the Greeks, though they may have won their freedom due to the victory at Navarino, did not in fact take part in it. In any case, the Mayor of Athens re-established good sense, good manners and good neighborliness by saying that he thought the matter of no great importance.
The following day, street clashes became more violent when demonstrators interrupted the ceremony of Mayor Dalan’s wreath laying before the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of Parliament. This time, police had to call in members of the riot squad.
As soon as the motorcade of mayors had driven away, demonstrators broke through police lines, tore the wreath with the legend ‘Istanbul’ from its tripod, ripped it to shreds and left the marble pavement littered with red and white carnations.
“When Ozal comes,” cried a Cypriot, “we’ll be here in thousands and he will not be able to lay a wreath in this sacred spot!”
Tourists in the area, photographing evzones and pigeons, expressed confusion or curiosity at the spectacle, thinking that it might be the reenactment of some ancient ritual.
At midday Mayor Dalan presented Premier Papandreou with his message from Ozal. After an hour’s conversation, the prime minister expressed great pleasure at Ozal’s message.
Nevertheless, demonstrators assembled again the following day, this time in front of the old Athens town hall where yet another banquet was being spread. Relatives of missing Greek Cypriots requested a meeting with the Mayor of Istanbul “for humanitarian reasons”. Ankara deplored the demonstrations but was satisfied with the Greek government’s handling of them.
On May 4 the spirit of Davos descended again, this time over Holy Rock. Visiting the Acropolis that fine morning Mr Dalan made the most celebrated statement of his visit: “Historical monuments are like flowers,” he said. “They are only beautiful in their own place.” “It is sad,” he added, “to see what destruction the Parthenon has suffered. I hope the pieces that are in London will come back one day.” In the far distance Melina could be heard chuckling and Mrs Thatcher grinding her teeth.
In the afternoon Dalan met with Greek and Turkish businessmen at the Chamber of Commerce where the subject of the exploding population of Turkey was no longer considered an ethnic threat but a potentially lucrative market. Then a cordial meeting took place between conservative leader Mitsotakis and Dalan who invited him to Istanbul. Mitsotakis accepted and praised Dalan for being the first mayor to visit the Ecumenical Patriach, for allowing the restoration of the Patriarchate’s delapidated buildings and for helping settle problems concerning Greeks still living in his city.
“I am returning home with the best impressions,” Dalan said at the conclusion of his visit. “This is just the beginning of our exchanges; not the end.”
The mayor’s Athenian reception wasseen as a test for the state visit of Premier Ozal in mid-June. With this in mind, Papandreou invited other party leaders to discuss the details. But Mitsotakis would only agree to meet the premier if he was given full prior knowledge of the messages the two premiers had already exchanged. Government spokesman Yiannis Roubatis, however, replied that since none of these messages were binding it was pointless to reveal them. This impasse seemed to imply that the spirit of Davos might bring Greek together with Turk but not Greek with Greek.
