Theodoros Pangalos (politician)

Theodoros Pangalos (Greek: Θεόδωρος Πάγκαλος; 17 August 1938 – 31 May 2023) was a Greek politician and leading member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). He served as the deputy prime minister of Greece, responsible for the coordination of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA) and the new Economic & Social Policy Committee from 2009 to 2012.[1]

Theodoros Pangalos
Θεόδωρος Πάγκαλος
Pangalos in 2010
Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
In office
7 October 2009 – 17 May 2012
Serving with Evangelos Venizelos (2011‍–‍2012)
Prime Minister
Preceded byTzannis Tzannetakis (1993)
Succeeded byEvangelos Venizelos (2013)
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
22 January 1996 – 18 February 1999
Prime MinisterCostas Simitis
Preceded byKarolos Papoulias
Succeeded byGeorge Papandreou
Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
13 October 1993 – 8 July 1994
Prime MinisterAndreas Papandreou
In office
5 June 1985 – 26 July 1985
Prime MinisterAndreas Papandreou
Personal details
Born(1938-08-17)17 August 1938
Eleusis, Greece
Died31 May 2023(2023-05-31) (aged 84)
Athens, Greece
Political party
SpouseChristina Christofakis
RelationsTheodoros Pangalos (grandfather)
Children5

Early life

Pangalos was born in Eleusis, Greece, on 17 August 1938. He was the grandson of General and 1926 dictator Theodoros Pangalos. Some of his ancestors were Arvanites.[2][3][4]

Pangalos was member of the left-wing Lambrakis Youth and, in 1964, a candidate for the Hellenic Parliament with the United Democratic Left (EDA). Pangalos opposed the 1967 military dictatorship, and was deprived by the junta of his Greek citizenship in 1968.

Political career

Pangalos became a member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), rising to its Central Committee, before eventually joining the PASOK socialist party during the Metapolitefsi. He was elected for the first time as an MP in the 1981 general election with PASOK and has been continuously re-elected since until 2012.

Monument at the MCAST campus in Mosta, Malta, which was inaugurated in 1999 during his ministry of foreign affairs

In 1996 he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and held the post until his resignation in 1999, in the aftermath of the scandal involving the leader of PKK, recognized as a terrorist organization by EU, Abdullah Öcalan: helped by individual members of the Greek intelligence agencies Öcalan entered Greece illegally and was then deported to Kenya, where he was captured by Turkish agents after leaving the Greek embassy at Nairobi.

Pangalos came under fire when he said in 2018 on a radio show “The only good Turk is a dead Turk. I believe this because I have not come across a good Turk. They lack basic appreciation.”[5]

Pangalos was briefly made Minister for Culture in 2000, an appointment which was widely criticized, in view of his previous statement that artists who had protested his handling of the Öcalan affair were kuradomanges (Greek: κουραδόμαγκες) (turd tough guys).[6]

Death

Pangalos died on 31 May 2023, at the age of 84. His remains were cremated on 2 June.[7]

Quotes
  • "Mazi ta fagame" (Greek: μαζί τα φάγαμε) (lit. "we ate them together", meaning "we are all responsible for the debt").

A Greek experimental pop band named Plastic Flowers sampled his famous speech "mazi ta fagame" in their song "Sinking ship-vanished crew".[8][9]

References
  1. "New Papandreou government Cabinet announced". Ana-mpa.gr. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  2. Matthias Hüning; Ulrike Vogl; Olivier Moliner (31 May 2012). Standard Languages and Multilingualism in European History. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 158. ISBN 9789027273918.
  3. Πάγκαλος, Θεόδωρος (1950). Τα απομνημονευματά μου, 1897–1947: η ταραχώδης περιόδος της τελευταίας πεντηκονταετίας.
  4. "Τα Ελευσίνια μυστήρια δύο υπουργών". tovima.gr. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  5. "Ex-minister Pangalos makes controversial comment about Turks | eKathimerini.com". www.ekathimerini.com. Kathimerini. 13 February 2018. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  6. "Το ΒΗΜΑ onLine - ΤΟ ΑΛΛΟ ΒΗΜΑ". Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2006.
  7. "Πέθανε ο Θεόδωρος Πάγκαλος - Η διαδρομή του από το ΥΠΕΞ στον Οτσαλάν έως το «μαζί τα φάγαμε»". ProtoThema (in Greek). 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  8. "Natural Conspiracy, by Plastic Flowers". Plastic Flowers. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  9. "I Upset My Least Favourite Big Fat Greek Minister". Vice.com. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
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