There are politicians who in difficult times disappear, and there are those who choose to carry the load, even if they know they will be in the crosshairs.
The first public interview of Gregory Dimitriadis after four years of silence proved that he clearly belongs in the second category. And perhaps that is why he has caused such intense irritation in certain financial and publishing centers that have recently invested politically in the narrative of the alleged internal conflict with Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
For years Dimitriadis has chosen a certain path. To respond exclusively through Justice and not through TV panels, leaks and public confrontations. It never got into the political fray, even when it was at the centre of an unprecedented attack. Lately, however, certain publishing and financial centers have begun to cultivate the narrative that he is supposedly undermining the government, that he is opposed to Kyriakos Mitsotakis and that he is preparing to create an internal party problem in New Democracy. And then he decided to speak out. Clearly, without half-words and without innuendo. “We will go together and I will be the last one to create trouble”. That was the phrase that demolished the entire construct they were attempting to erect against him.
The annoyance caused by the interview was immediately apparent. Opposition parties and their friendly media attempted to portray the claim of political responsibility as a supposed admission of guilt. This was either a deliberate misdirection or a political failure to understand basic concepts. Political responsibility concerns the position and institutional role of a person. It is the choice to protect the functioning of government and the stability of a country. A guilty plea is something entirely different and involves an admission of wrongdoing. Demetriades never did such a thing. Rather, he chose to politically absorb the shocks to protect the government, the party and most importantly the country’s security services in an explosive international environment.
And herein lies the most essential point of his intervention. Who is served by the continued dismantling of the country’s intelligence agencies in a time of geopolitical instability, wars and hybrid threats? It’s a question that the opposition studiously avoids answering, preferring to maintain a climate of toxicity.
His references to Nikos Androulakis were of particular weight. The description “angry” captures a political stance that seems to be driven more by obsessions than proposals. And the phrase “you don’t do politics with a complex” was perhaps the most apt description of an opposition that invests daily in tension and division.
In sum, Dimitriadis’ interview proved something very simple. That he remained a soldier of the party even when he found himself alone in the crosshairs. And he fully confirmed the saying of his grandfather, the late Konstantinos Mitsotakis, that anyone who wants to get involved in politics must have a strong stomach. It turns out that Grigoris Dimitriadis has it.
