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Viewing cable 07NICOSIA640, YOUTH POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS: CYPRUS'S FUTURE

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07NICOSIA640 2007-08-07 11:16 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Nicosia
VZCZCXRO3314
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNC #0640/01 2191116
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071116Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8043
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0914
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NICOSIA 000640 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL CY
SUBJECT: YOUTH POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS: CYPRUS'S FUTURE 
LEADERS AT WORK 
 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  Every major political party in the 
Republic of Cyprus has a youth branch.  The two largest and 
most significant are EDON and NEDISY, affiliates of Cyprus's 
largest political organizations, AKEL and DISY, respectively. 
 Though distinct from the mother parties, these Greek Cypriot 
youth organizations closely mirror them in structure and 
policy perspective.  The youth branches mainly focus on 
advancing young people's rights and causes, but they also 
provide vehicles for dialogue with Turkish Cypriots and serve 
as valuable proving grounds for the country's future 
political leaders.  The organizations' ability to influence 
young minds seems to be waning, however, a product of the 
growing disinterest of Greek Cypriot youth in politics and 
politicking.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------- 
ALL PARTIES SEEKING YOUNGER BLOOD 
--------------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) Every major political party in Cyprus has a youth 
wing.  The two largest and most significant are the United 
Democratic Youth Organization (EDON) and the Youth of the 
Democratic Rally (NEDISY), affiliates of leading Cyprus 
parties AKEL (communist) and DISY (right-wing), respectively. 
 Others include NEDIK, representing centrist DIKO, and EDEN, 
an affiliate of Socialist EDEK.  Youth organizations 
concentrate on fostering electoral activism among young 
people and promoting youth-oriented policies via the parties 
and the Youth Board of Cyprus (YBC), a quasi-governmental 
organization that functions almost like a youth parliament in 
Cyprus.  The YBC consists of a liaison to the Council of 
Ministers and one representative each from EDON and NEDISY, 
all of whom the government appoints.  It acts as a link 
between the government, parliament and youth parties, and 
dispenses some RoC funding to the organizations.  As to 
additional funding, NEDISY receives only 5000 CYP (approx. 
11500 USD) per year from DISY, while AKEL provides EDON no 
financial assistance (both NEDISY and EDON officials claimed 
that the other organization received significantly greater 
funds from its parent party, however.) 
 
--------------------------------- 
EDON: KEEPING THE COMMUNIST FAITH 
--------------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU) Symbolically located across the street from the 
Cuban Embassy, EDON is the national organization for 
left-wing youth, and has large subsidiary branches for 
university students (Proodeftiki) and high school students 
(PEOM).  EDON also features organizations for Young Pioneers 
and young workers, and it works closely with the youth arm of 
SEK, the Cyprus Workers Confederation.  EDON's membership 
includes about 10,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 
30.  As expected, its leadership structures mimic AKEL's. 
The party congress (all members belong) holds ultimate 
decision-making authority and elects the 60-strong Central 
Committee.  The Central Committee chooses the 15-member 
Executive Council that meets monthly to design policies.  The 
five-person Secretariat, which includes the General Secretary 
and Organizing Secretary, comes from the Executive Council 
and handles daily EDON operations.  Due to the limited size 
of its budget and leadership, volunteers carry out many 
tasks.  Despite the similarities between the youth branch and 
senior party, EDON membership does not bring automatic AKEL 
membership or rights to participate in party congresses or 
elections. 
 
4.  (SBU) As expected based on its communist espousals, EDON 
Organizing Secretary Christos Christofides told the Embassy 
the party strives to "serve the overall goals of the 
left-wing movement" and to "fight imperialism."  Specifically 
regarding youth, EDON aims to promote the rights of the youth 
worker and achieve youth solidarity.  EDON has proven 
successful at mobilizing its membership to events such as 
protests against capitalism and "imperialism," including some 
outside Embassy Nicosia.  Christofides boasted that while 
EDON may compete with NEDISY for the title of the largest 
membership, EDON's members are "undoubtedly" the most active. 
 Other prominent activities include pressing organization 
views at the YBC, organizing an annual festival co-hosted 
with other "progressive" groups, and canvassing support for 
AKEL candidates in national and municipal elections.  EDON 
also has a significant presence outside Cyprus, with its 
participation in the World Federation of Democratic Youth (an 
international communist youth NGO) and various European 
communist youth organizations.  Proodeftiki mainly concerns 
itself with support services like housing and social events 
 
NICOSIA 00000640  002 OF 003 
 
 
for students, but it operates branches at all European 
universities and colleges that Cypriot youth attend.  The 
strongest of these overseas arms are in Greece and Britain. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
NEDISY: YOUTH CONSERVATISM AND ADVOCACY 
--------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) NEDISY's resemblance and ties to parent party DISY 
are closer than EDON's to AKEL.  All youth branch members 
simultaneously and automatically hold DISY membership, which 
allows them to vote at party congresses on policy platforms 
and electoral candidates.  DISY often consults with NEDISY on 
policies affecting young people, and the youth branch 
relatively easily advocates its stances to its senior 
partner.  Since 2005, DISY has required at least 30 percent 
youth representation in its governing bodies.  NEDISY's 
structure reflects the divergent demographics of its 
approximately 12,000 members aged 12 to 33, with three main 
subsidiary organizations:  its university student wing 
Protoporia, its high school student branch MAKHI, and ONE, an 
organization for recent graduates in the physical sciences, 
the Organization of Young Scientists.  NEDISY is a member of 
the Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP) and the 
Democratic Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC), the latter a 
pan-European forum for youth conservative democratic parties. 
 NEDISY members choose the youth party leadership at their 
congress, which is held one month after the DISY congress 
every five years.  The NEDISY congress elects the entire 
full-time staff, which includes the president, general 
secretary and economics secretary. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
6.  (SBU) NEDISY General Secretary George Lysandrides told 
the Embassy the party targets specific issues confronting 
Cypriot youth, namely drug use and abuse, education, 
recreation, and employment.  NEDISY intensely opposed the 
recent government attempt to increase in the retirement age, 
as the rise adversely affected youth, especially those 
seeking rare openings as secondary school educators. 
Lysandrides said his organization places great effort into 
backing the electoral campaigns of DISY and DISY-supported 
candidates; the organization intends to back fully 
presidential candidate Ioannis Kasoulides this fall. 
Protoporia, with active branches throughout Europe and the 
United States, assists overseas NEDISY students in returning 
to Cyprus to vote for DISY candidates in key elections, 
processing their paperwork and even assuming some of their 
airfare costs. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
EXTENDING A HAND ACROSS THE GREEN LINE 
-------------------------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU) Without the fears of popular backlash that limit 
senior Greek Cypriot politicians, engagement with Turkish 
Cypriots, the G/C youth organizations enjoy greater freedom 
to conduct bicommunal dialogue and activities.  Both 
Christofides and Lysandrides noted that their information 
campaigns about the Cyprus problem are among their most 
important endeavors.  Lysandrides said the purpose of 
NEDISY's program was to keep Greek Cypriot youth "related" to 
Turkish Cypriots and to reinforce in young people's minds, 
that those north of the Green Line were also Cypriots. 
Christofides said EDON's information program mirrors 
NEDISY's, but he also noted EDON's history as the largest 
Cypriot youth organization with a tradition of bicommunal 
relations.  EDON's links to Turkish Cypriots extended 
further, with unofficial ties to the Youth of the BKP (the 
Turkish Cypriot communist party) and links to "former 
comrades" in the CTP Youth.  Both NEDISY and EDON, in 
addition to NEDIK and other youth organizations, actively 
organize and attend bicommunal events, including music 
concerts and social outings.  In addition, the youth 
organizations are active in their support of Gardash, a 
bicommunal community center in Nicosia that runs youth 
programs geared at understanding and reconciliation. 
 
---------------------------------- 
NURSERIES FOR POLITICAL LEADERSHIP 
---------------------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) That many Cypriot leaders hail from the youth 
organizations' ranks is proof of their contribution to the 
local political landscape; Christofides and Lysandrides 
separately described the passage of promising individuals 
from youth branch to senior party and political prominence. 
As demands from employment and family life made participation 
 
NICOSIA 00000640  003 OF 003 
 
 
in the junior organizations' seemingly endless recruitment 
and mobilization difficult, they noted, late 20s/early 30s 
up-and-comers can take advantage of ample opportunities to 
move first into the highest echelons of the youth groups and 
eventually into the parties themselves.  The persistent 
decline in youth political participation in Cyprus gives 
these young leaders even more prominence in the eyes of 
senior party leadership.  Further, the often nepotistic, 
opaque system of in-party promotions works to the advantage 
of these young leaders, who easily can be taken under the 
fold of a well-known and guiding senior politician. 
 
9.  (SBU) The list of Cypriot politicians with roots in the 
youth organization system reads like a Greek Cypriot Who's 
Who.  Parliamentary president and AKEL presidential candidate 
Dimitris Christofias was extensively involved in EDON, and 
former EDEK leader Vassos Lyssarides chaired EDON's Executive 
Council in his youth.  Cyprus's European Commissioner Marcos 
Kyprianos began his political career with a stint in NEDIK's 
leadership.  DISY-backed presidential hopeful Ioannis 
Kasoulides, former President Spyros Kyprianou, DIKO President 
Marios Karoyian, and Lyssarides all held leadership positions 
with overseas student branches of Cypriot youth political 
organizations.  The pattern of studying at a European 
university and leading an overseas Cypriot student political 
organization appears to be a fairly consistent harbinger of 
later prominence on the national political stage.  It would 
not be surprising for Christofides or Lysandrides to emerge 
prominently in their respective senior parties within the 
next 20 years. 
 
---------------------------------- 
STILL, INFLUENCE AMONG YOUTH SCANT 
---------------------------------- 
 
10.  (U) For all their organizational and mobilization 
skills, EDON, NEDISY and the others have only limited 
influence over Greek Cypriot young people.  Historically, few 
G/C youth participated in non-governmental organizations and 
social causes.  As Cyprus's economy expanded strongly in the 
mid-1990s, however, greater numbers of students chose to 
study abroad.  Upon their return to the island the youth, 
more active in non-governmental organizations in their 
adopted countries, replicated their activity on-island, 
leading to higher patterns of activism.  Despite more than 
half of Cypriot youth now being involved in at least one 
organized youth group, most do not exhibit interest or become 
involved in politics.  Only 15 percent of island young people 
belong to political organizations, and more than two-thirds 
are "hardly interested" in politics, according to a 2005 
Council of Europe report.  Further, a 2001 survey found that, 
of reasons Cypriot youth indicated for not joining NGOs and 
other entities, "too political" ranked high.  Both 
Christofides and Lysandrides acknowledged that participation 
in their bicommunal projects was "not what it could be." 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
BODING POORLY FOR INTERCOMMUNAL DIALOGUE AND A LONG-TERM 
SOLUTION 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
11. (SBU) Comment:  The number of successful national leaders 
to come from the youth organizations' ranks and the 
development of decision-making institutions like DISY's youth 
representation quota highlights the political youth groups, 
ability to affect issues at the national level.  This 
influence might even increase if the YBC succeeds in 
implementing plans to establish a real Cypriot youth 
parliament.  The youth wings' persuasiveness with their 
target audience remains marginal, however, and could in fact 
grow weaker should G/C youth continue to turn away from 
politics.  Despite the junior parties' genuine attempts at 
constructive bicommunal activities, this slide in interest 
means the youth branches can less shape young people's 
attitudes on the Cyprus problem, an unfortunate turn given 
the negative trend in Greek Cypriot youths' views toward 
their Turkish Cypriot counterparts (over 90 percent voted 
"NO" in the 2004 Annan Plan referendum, for example).   As 
long as the senior parties remain inclined to a solution, the 
youth branches and their leaders almost assuredly will follow 
the same line.  Yet they would seem to be swimming upstream, 
since both empirical and anecdotal evidence demonstrate that 
Greek Cypriot young people are among the hardest-liners.  End 
comment. 
 
SCHLICHER