SYRIZA drops Roma candidate from ballot

The premature flirtation with the inclusion of Ms Sabihah on the euroticket ended abruptly after eight days when SYRIZA struck her off the list with a simple announcement that gave no reason.

It was known that Ms Sabihah had vehement enemies and fanatical friends. She has been honored by president Papoulias for her role as the heart and soul of the Roma organization “Elpida” (hope) at Drosero Xanthi, which fights to differentiate Roma populations from Muslims of Turkish ethnicity in Thrace.

The ethnic Turkish minority has been keen to lump all Muslims as Turkish, including Pomaks and Roma, in order to use them as leverage by Turkey. These efforts are funded by the Turkish consulate in Xanthi. Because of her efforts to frustrate Ankara's game in Thrace, Ms Sabihah has been a red flag for the minority.

She has also been charged with having contacts among nationalist circles inside and outside official state channels, as well as businessmen of right wing persuasions.

However, it's not really clear who proposed Suleiman Sabibah and who urged her deposition. The proposal did meet with the approval of SYRIZA's central committee. There are those within the party that propose hard lines on national issues such as Alexis Tsipras' diplomatic counselor Giorgos Ayfantis.

The announcement of her candidacy caused remonstrations by the party majority in Xanthi, as well as from MP Hussein Zeibek, a staunch proponent of Turkish ethnicity, as well as other Turkish speaking members. Academic Dimitris Christopoulos, also on the euroticket, in a statement to xanthipress.gr, noted that he worked against Ms Sabihah's candidacy saying “some others are Trojan Horses of one nationalism within another.”

Among those supporting her candidacy was Failos Kranidiotis, whose candidacy for the New Democracy ticket was revoked after he was accused of nationalism. Mr Kranidiotis wrote in Dimokratia newspaper that “in Thrace Alexis [Tsipras] is being dragged like a dog behind the cart of the [Turkish] consulate,” adding that he preferred that “this brave woman” should be on New Democracy's ticket.

Finally, central committee secretary Dimitris Vitsas undertook the onerous duty of felling the ax and after going to Xanthi replaced Ms Sabihah with Turkish speaker molecular biologist Mestan Osman Umiz, in the hope that it will get a fair share of the vote, despite the embarrassment already caused.