Florina, 28/08/1999 (MPA)_ Mikis Theodorakis' candidature for the Nobel Peace prize will be formally announced in Prespes this evening within the framework of a concert he will direct in the presence of prime minister Kostas Simitis in the small island of Agios Achillios near the city of Florina in north-western Greece.

The announcement of his candidature for the Nobel Peace prize as well as the presentation of the names of the 200 intellectuals backing it will be made by author Giorgos Skourtis.

Greece has proposed the internationally acclaimed composer Mikis Theodorakis as a contender for the Nobel peace prize. At the same time, the conductor and democracy advocate held his last concert, saying he had retired from live performances.

Heading a list of celebrities from the arts, media, science, sports and politics to sign a petition proposing Theodorakis is Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

Among the petition's signatories are directors Jules Dassin and Costas Gavras; and authors Antonis Samarakis and Vassilis Vassilikos.

Other signatories include Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos, Panathinaikos chairman George Vardinoyannis, and singers George Dalaras and Dimitris Mitropanos.

Among members of the government to sign are Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Development Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Public Works Minister Kostas Laliotis.

A campaign will be launched in Europe and the US to collect more signatures for Theodorakis, known abroad for his resistance to Greece's 1967-1974 dictatorship.

Announcement of the proposal was made by author George Skourtis on Saturday evening at a major outdoor concert Theodorakis gave at the Prespes arts festival in northern Greece that was attended by the premier and much of the Cabinet.

Basking in the full moon, more than 4,000 spectators listened to the internationally acclaimed Axion Esti, a work by the late Nobel-winning poet Odysseas Elytis that Theodorakis set to music.

 

 

 

The presiding board of the Greek Federation  of Journalists' Associations supports the candidature of Greek music composer Mikis  Theodorakis for this year's Nobel Peace prize.

In a statement it has issued it mentions  that if Mikis Theodorakis is the winner of the Nobel Peace prize it will be a vindication of  the struggles and contribution of the Greek people toward peace and cultural development.

THE SUPPORT TO THE CADIDACY OF MIKIS ENLARGES

Ta Nea 28.09.1999

The support to the proposition of the candidacy of Mikis Theodorakis for the Nobel Price of Peace doesn't stop increasing.
Political parties pronounce themselves in favor of the candidacy and mobilize, either by communiqués, either by signings of support of their settings.
Lots of letters and hundreds of signings are sent daily, the interest and the enthusiasm to sustain the candidacy of Mikis show that for the first time in the history of the Nobel Price, a personality, Mikis Theodorakis, is proposed by nearly a people in its totality for an as important distinction that would be prestigious for Greece.
The Nobel Price in hands of Theodorakis at dawn of the new century, will give back justice to his struggles for peace and to the cultural contribution, not only of our great composer, but of the whole Greek people.
It is with similar words and such an enthusiasm that personalities and institutions of the whole civil society sign their letters.

As examples, we quote Président de la République Chypriote, M. Glafkos Clerides, the Municipality of Limassol (AKEL), M Evangelos Machairas, Chairman of the Committee for Détente ands Peace and honorary chairman of the World Organisation for Peace, the dean of the university of Patras, Mr.Alachiotis, and the College of professors of the University, the President of the C.G.T. Greek, Mr. Pouluzogopoulos, the president of the civil servant Union of Town halls of Greece (KEDKE), of the public sector (ADEDY), the Theater Writer Society, the professor and ancient minister G.A. Mangakis, the assembly of the Presidents of Greek Lawyer Associations, the Greek office of the UNESCO, the Union of Singers of Greece, the Consultant Central Israeli of Greece, the Mayor and the Consultant Municipal of the Town hall of Zografou, deputies of Synaspismos,: N. Loulee, G. Kouvelis, St Alifieri, N. Alavano.
Signed also: the Counselor of the Greek prime minister, Nikos Themelis, members of the PASOK: G. Pantayias, Th,. Tsoukratos, the Secretary of state to the Sport, Ant. Fourases, writers Dimitri Papachristos, Georges Lazaris, G. Chryssoulis, G. Giannaris, publishers V. Trikariotises and V. Hatziacovous, painters Ach. Christidis, Helena Avdji, Sp. Papayiannopoulos, the architect MR. Perrakis, the scénographe Y. Mertzikof, the composer An. Papageorgiou, the president of the Theaters of the North of Greece  (KTBE), D. Salpistis, the journalists: M. Kapsis, St Malelis, Mich. Michail, G. Giannaka, the lawyers: Takis Pappas, S. Fytrakis, Z. Manakas, F. Kastrandas, Sofia Petritsi, V. Tzoulis, producers,,: K. Tsonos, V. Kyritsis, St Stassinos, P.Polychronopoulos, St Tsakiris, S. Panayiotatos, Mr. Anastassiou, G. Kordelas, N. Zervos, as well as a great number of actors, among them Dafni Skoura, the chairwoman of the association of actors of Greece (SEH), Anna Fonsou, Chr. Kalavrouzos, Th. Grampsas, K. Themos, M. Revmatas, Periclis Moustakis, Tz. Theodoridis, Th. Boyiatzis, P. Xenakis, G. Giannapoulos, G. Thomas, G. Karatzogiannis, G. Tostikas, Pant,. Papadopoulos, Tz. Vavouras, Chr. Efthymiou, Pasch. Tsarouchas, Nt. Markis, Gr. Patrikareas, Anna Panayiotopoulou, G. Rigas, N. Kalogeropoulos and many others.