Nije prestonica, ali je Solun i oproštaj od upravo preminulog bivšeg gradonačelnika, koga autor pomena opisuje kao nekonvencionalnu osobu, od one vrste koje nedostaje Balkanu. Prenosim
Fb engleski prevod sa grčkog.
The Balkans got even poorer
Vlachian descent Giannis Boutaris was born in Nazi-occupied Thessaloniki on June 13, 1942. His origin was Vlachian, from Krusevo in Northern Macedonia
, Nymphaeus of Florina
and Moschopoli in southern Albania
. His grandfather was the namesake of Giannis Boutaris, who founded the family's first winery in Naousa.
Giannis Boutaris was a Greek businessman, oenologist and politician, former mayor of Thessaloniki, and a member of the city council from 2023 until his death. Boutaris was considered one of the most important oenologists and winemakers in Greece. He was chairman and member of administrations of a number of stakeholders, professional, environmental and cultural. Notable: International Wine Academy, Greek Wine Association, Vine & Wine Interprofessional Organization, Thessaloniki Tourism Organization, Thessaloniki Film Festival, WWF Greece. He was a founding member of the Macedonian Museum of Modern Art and the Oasis Addicts Support Center, as well as the founder of "Arturos", an organization for the protection of brown bear and wildlife. He was honored with many international and national distinctions.
He studied at the primary school of the Experimental School of Thessaloniki, the middle school of Anatolia College, and completed his studies in the Chemistry department of AUTH. The unconventional and uncomplicated former mayor described his life in the book titled "Sixty Years of Harvest" published in 2020. He described the alcoholism monster he managed to defeat, and the help he couldto give to other addicts.
He became the 60th mayor of Thessaloniki, winning two consecutive municipal elections in 2010 and 2014. He opened Thessaloniki as mayor to the Balkans, Turkey and the Middle East, following what he called the "Diplomacy of the Cities". He cleverly exploited Thessaloniki's multicultural past, highlighted it, and since then the capital has received millions of tourists every year from a wider geocultural area, and it has become so a big welcoming hug for her guests. From the meetings he had in his office, during his two terms, he distinguished those with the German ambassador Jens Plotner, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu, historian Mark Mazauer and the British bestselling author Victoria Hisslop.
"The benefit is that my contacts with various people highlighted Thessaloniki. They started to talk and there were posts all over the world about the city and its so-called "unconventional" mayor. We have highlighted its past, as we have many Roman, Turkish and disappeared Jewish monuments. Nobody paid attention to the history of Thessaloniki. The Rotonda is a copy of the Pantheos of Rome and is unique. The story and the whole package with Kemal was highlighted. We highlighted the history of the Jews, which was hidden under the carpet," Yiannis Boutaris had said.
Hated and slandered for this reason by nationalists, religious, uninvited Macedonian fighters, ethnocentric politicians, as always with all important people, who go beyond conventional boundaries and intolerant prejudices, building bridges of friendship and cooperation in the Balkans, in the stubbornness of all the precedents who insist on building walls and dividing people and peoples.
Butaris has left a positive footprint with his work in the multiplied Balkans, opening new pages of friendship and cooperation with neighbors, in a city that has suffered for decades - and to a degree continues to suffer - from a phobic cluster, which has been tooled by ethnocentric politicians by gouging cheap votes. He did not succumb to nationalism, but resisted it vigorously, paving the way of overcoming prejudices, friendship and cooperation. Such people are missing from the Balkans. As he used to say: "I've lived it, I've had enough of it... Good-bye!"
George Stamkos