Maria Karystianou responds after controversy erupted over her statement about the deadly shipwreck involving migrants in Chios, where she used the phrase “illegal invasions.” In her post, Karystianou emphasizes that she was referring to invasion as “an act organized by traffickers” and not to people. Consequently, she denounces deliberate distortion of her words to attribute to her an inhumane position about the “justified death” of migrants.
Read: Jason Apostolopoulos fires at Maria Karystianou over Chios shipwreck and Plakias intervenes – “Wasn’t he with her on the panels?”
“The word invasion was turned into… invaders,” she emphasizes, making pointed comments about the timing. “Since the beginning of the process of forming our Movement, whatever I say is deliberately misinterpreted using the familiar method of word distortion,” she notes. “If the goal is to keep me silent, they won’t succeed,” she underlines, while rejecting any suggestion of inhumanity. “I remain the pediatrician who honors my oath and could NEVER supposedly support death, especially of children, to whose treatment I have dedicated my life!” she writes, noting that the people who died “are lives that were cut short, just like the lives of the victims at Tempe were cut short.”
Maria Karystianou’s full statement
In my announcement about the tragic events in Chios, the word invasion (an act organized by traffickers) was turned into …invaders, who supposedly justly drowned…
Since the beginning of the process of forming our Movement, whatever I say is deliberately misinterpreted using the familiar method of word distortion. If the goal is to keep me silent, they won’t succeed! If the goal is to divide society and dissolve our historic struggle for the massive institutional changes we need, they won’t succeed!
Whatever they say, I remain the citizen who fights—together with many others—for the right to dignity, security and the “good life” for all. I remain the pediatrician who honors my oath and could NEVER supposedly support death, especially of children, to whose treatment I have dedicated my life!
The people who died are lives that were cut short, just like the lives of the victims at Tempe were cut short. Let us consider who exploits persecuted people as tools, who is responsible for their current fate through wars and misery, which international and local syndicates and “elites” hypocritically ignore humanity and its security and turn Greece into a paid “warehouse of souls.”
I once said: “Even if I remain alone, I will fight for truth and justice!” Because that is our oxygen. This oath I gave for my child’s vindication. Today, remaining faithful and steadfast to my oath, to the truth and to my mission, I declare exactly the same.
With whatever voice I have.
For all children.
For all parents.
For every human right.
My vision is a free society of justice:
* Where humanity comes above all else.
* Where development and prosperity are given.
* Where we feel safe to create, to work for a civilized and just country.
I know that this common struggle of ours will face merciless attack.
In a country where the government has chronically ignored the uprooting of our children as migrants, I envision becoming the great embrace that will keep them here and bring back those who emigrated.
With the same loving gaze I look at every child and every vulnerable creature. The soul, culture and love for fellow humans have not been extinguished in the country that praised life and creation.
Because to every question the only answer is: HUMANITY
Good will triumph!
