"I Can't Go Back to Mykonos."

Archaeologist Manolis Psarros

Jeff––Saturday

Those are not my words.  They were spoken by Greek government archaeologist Manolis Psarros in the context of an interview he gave to journalist Giannis Papadopoulos of Ekatimerini, Greece’s newspaper of record. I’m reproducing below the entire article, because it addresses in detail an event and its sequela that I—as the author of The Mykonos Mob––have been asked to write about for months.

 

Giannis Papadopoulos

The event Mr. Psarros describes launched a national outcry and cast a barrage of relentless, unflattering worldwide attention on the place I call home. But it also triggered a long overdue national government response aimed at taking to task those responsible for flagrantly disregarding the law in search of short-term profits for themselves; no matter the long-term harm inflicted upon the island and those who appreciate Mykonos for the paradise it represents.

 

From my perspective, the article fairly presents what confronts the island and why what happens next is so important…for keeping The Mykonos Mob more fictional than real. 

 

a/k/a Island of Secrets

One editorial note. Although Ekathimerini publishes an English-language edition, I could only find this in the Greek-language version. So, what appears below is the Google translation version…but a serviceable one.

 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t go back to Mykonos.”

 

Five months have passed since the day that the archaeologist Manolis Psarros was the victim of a violent attack that endangered his life. Since then, the state and public opinion mobilized against the abuses in Mykonos. He himself would like, he says, to return to work there, but he does not feel safe.

 

The broken nose didn't bother him as much anymore. The nasal bone may not have been straightened and the deformity may be obvious, but at least there was no damage to the airways. He was mainly troubled by his eyesight. He had a cloudiness in his vision, a haze as he describes it, which got worse over time.

 [The attack and its aftermath]

 On March 7, Manolis Psarros, archaeologist of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades with local responsibility for Mykonos, was attacked while returning to his home in Attica. They hit him in the back of the head, kicked him in the ribs, sent him to the hospital emergency room. Initially, he thought that in a few weeks he would return to his post, on the same island. Five months later, however, he rules it out. "I don't feel safe to continue my work there, even though I would like to," he says.

The persistent problem with his vision since the attack and the fact that he initially did not receive adequate medical explanations of when or how it would be restored took a toll on him. It was as if he was experiencing a constant threat, he was afraid that his everyday life would not be the same.

"My specialty is the Mycenaean period, but I also deal with ancient coins. In the first days after the beating, I tried to read some texts about work and it was very difficult for me", Mr. Psarros tells "K[athimerini]." "Every person is holding onto something to live. For me it is a discovery that I will share with colleagues, the work in the service and some personal moments. And I could no longer read, continue my work. I could not perform and enjoy the things I have chosen in my life. All of this created a mental collapse for me."

At the beginning of May, he underwent surgery on his right eye and recently, after following systematic treatment, his condition has improved. From the end of May he began to sleep even better, as the pains that were bothering him subsided. Previously, from the fractures he was unable to turn on his side and would get up before carving.

[The cause of the attack]

The violent attack against him brought to the fore Mykonos and the timeless illegalities on its beaches and settlements. It caused reactions and led to controls. More recently, the issue of free access to the beach, as well as the highlighting of flagrant encroachments and violations, extended to other islands, such as Rhodes and Paros. Citizens are protesting and claiming the obvious, that the laws be applied.

"These should have been done before they hit me," Mr. Psaros tells "K" about the mobilization of the competent bodies in the matter of Mykonos. "These cases, wherever you got them from, could not be legalized, they should have intervened."

He points out that even now, despite the publicity the issue has received, critical positions in public services that also have a controlling role remain understaffed. It refers to the Land Service of the Cyclades, which has few employees, but also to the Archaeological Service.

"What do they expect when from three or four o'clock in the eight hour an archaeologist has to be in the basement, looking for documents in the archive because the Ephorate of Antiquities is understaffed, which is also observed nationwide? Some Ephorates operate with a staff of less than ten people and the colleagues do their work as best they can," he says. "Do we want there to be a State which will control or we don't? Do we think the market can regulate itself? We saw what happened: the Fisherman ate wood [Greek slang for getting beaten], the citizens took to the streets and protested about the beaches. Is this self-regulation?'

He considers the dispatch of the Aegean Appeals Prosecutor Odysseus Tsorbatzoglou to Mykonos as a positive outcome. "He has imposed fines, penalties and investigates any complaint that reaches his hands, without further discussion. It was the right move," he emphasizes. "I think a good job has been done there. It will be seen in the future if they intend to continue it in order to be able to preserve the character of the island even at the last moment. In Mykonos Town, last year alone, a colleague of mine drew up more than 20 stop work signs."

"Without support I will not go down to play the cowboy, in a time when everyone is in danger at any time."

 

However, he says he did not receive the guarantees he needed from the state to return to the island. "From the prosecution of extortionists I got the assurance that they will make sure not to hit me again. However, I did not receive guarantees for my presence in Mykonos," he says and refers to the itineraries he would have to do on the island and how someone would ensure that nothing would happen to his detriment during the execution of his work. Similar guarantees were requested by the Association of Greek Archaeologists after the attack on Mr. Psarros, so that their colleagues could do their work without fear. They emphasized that the possible replacement by the Ministry of Culture of those responsible for Mykonos would send the wrong message.

Among other things, as an archaeologist with local responsibility for Mykonos, Mr. Psarros had to handle approvals for building permits for hotels, residences and entertainment centers on the island. He charged Mykonos in 2014 together with two other colleagues and in these years he has seen a lot: from arbitrary things that were built overnight and suddenly sprouted like a mushroom or huge excavation works that were done in the middle of nowhere to open a yard with building materials . Some engineers remained faithful to the legal procedure and applied it reverently, while others – mainly large contractors – might first erect a building, without the relevant autopsies having been carried out and without having received approvals from the competent services, and subsequently attempt to fix it through the loopholes provided by the relevant legislation.

Normally, in the near future, Mr. Psarros should declare new archaeological sites, following excavation data that had emerged on the island. However, after the attack he received in March, he does not intend to return to Mykonos. He repeats that he is saddened by the separation from the island he was assigned to protect and where he had cultivated his scientific interest.

"Without support I will not go down to play the cowboy, in a time when everyone eats wood [gets beaten] at any time. The other child was slaughtered because some people came from Croatia and no one checked them", he emphasizes, also referring to the recent incident of fan violence [at a soccer match between Croatian and Greek teams] in New Philadelphia [close by Athens].

He says that depending on the needs of the service he can probably take over another island, but he will also help his colleagues with Mykonos if needed. He will share his knowledge of the area and engage in the scientific work of excavations there. He did not take this decision lightly. In our previous communication, a few days after the attack he had received, he said that he was thinking about the day he would return. His anticipation was evident in the way he talked about his work there, in the way he described the excavation findings. He emphasized that he did not want to leave an island for which he had worked intensively for years.

[The passion remains in his soul.]

 

Today he speaks passionately about an archaeological discovery from the previous excavation season, an ancient tower house in Drafaki, Mykonos. It describes that the building has internal partitions and a paved courtyard. The first excavated Mykonian coins were also found there, as others were previously only known from foreign private collections and international museums.

"It saddens me emotionally to leave, because now we have the data to start a new investigation into what the island's relations were with Delos, with the great Macedonian kings, how the network of towers and fortified positions was distributed," he says .

We risk ending up with endless imitations of Ibiza

Long before he was hit, in earlier inspections he carried out on the island, Manolis Psarros says he had begun to pick up on a climate of discontent from Mykonos locals over urban planning violations. "They were complaining that they couldn't go to their beaches to swim," he points out.

However, it is obvious that not everyone shares the same perspective on the island, but also on other tourist destinations. "Mykonians must realize that the effects of this negative development do not affect us, we are employees. They will also affect the quality of their tourism. The degeneration and degradation of the tourist product observed in the Cyclades, but especially in Mykonos and Santorini, affects the businessmen themselves and especially the locals. Because the international entrepreneur can at some point invest elsewhere," he says.

Beyond the protection of cultural heritage, the issue that has been raised also concerns the viability of these areas, which are economically based on tourism. "Even if we assume that nobody cares about antiquities, what would the Cyclades be without the traditional settlements?

Without those houses that are built with the human measure in mind and not the measure of valuing the tourist's pleasure? The tourist will have to adapt to them. If they are not taken care of, you end up with endless replicas of Ibiza,” he adds.

We ask him if he considers that the attack against him was the occasion for mobilizations and reactions to issues of encroachment on the beach. He, however, points out that the contribution of the Association of Greek Archaeologists was great, which with their various actions and with a conference they held in Syros highlighted the problem of coastal encroachment on declared archaeological sites and informed the local bodies.

“What would the Cyclades be without the traditional settlements? Without these houses that are built with the human measure in mind and not the tourist's pleasure-valuing measure?”

 

"I want to thank all the colleagues who supported me, because they understood that what happened was not a blow to me, but to the whole service to keep our heads down, not to say anything, not to apply the law," he says.

He did not expect that as an archaeologist he would one day find himself in this position, or that some would target him for doing his job. He chose this profession because, as he explains, he is interested in "experienced time".

[How future generations shall judge us]

Archaeological finds are also a way to understand one's position in the world. As a relevant example he brings the burial excavations. He remembers a case at Marathon, where he had found a child's skeleton, between those of two adults, with the only decoration being a shell bead.

“I'm interested in the footprint, the stamp that people leave on the place before they leave. The material remains and the intangible cultural heritage that remains, signify man's effort to survive on this planet. They make you think that when you enter the room and turn on the light, this is not a given. A lot of people have worked hard to make this happen and you appreciate the value of human life and the effort that has been made," he says. "I became an archaeologist to respect the human life that has gone before us. Let's remember them and their stories. This is how future generations will respect us."

 

––Jeff

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