YOUTH POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS: CYPRUS'S FUTURE

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