Yiannis Boutaris

Yiannis Boutaris
Γιάννης Μπουτάρης
Boutaris in 2011
Mayor of Thessaloniki
In office
1 January 2011 – 31 August 2019
Preceded byVasilis Papageorgopoulos
Succeeded byKonstantinos Zervas
Municipal Councilor of Thessaloniki
In office
1 January 2024 – 9 November 2024
In office
1 January 2003 – 1 January 2011
Personal details
Born(1942-06-13)13 June 1942
Thessaloniki, Greece
Died9 November 2024(2024-11-09) (aged 82)
Thessaloniki, Greece
Political partyIndependent
Spouse
Athina Mixail
​
​
(m. 1964; died 2007)​
Children3
Alma materAristotle University of Thessaloniki
Wine Institute of Athens
Occupation
  • Politician
  • winemaker

Yiannis Boutaris (Greek: Γιάννης Μπουτάρης; 13 June 1942 – 9 November 2024) was a Greek winemaker and politician who served as Mayor of Thessaloniki from 2011 to 2019. From January 2024 and until his death in November he served as a municipal councilor of Thessaloniki, a position he held again from 2003 tο 2011.

Early life and education

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Boutaris was born in Thessaloniki on 13 June 1942,[1] as son of the winemaker Stelios Boutaris and Fanny Vlachos. His parents were from Aromanian background.[2] His mother's family, the Nichota family, has its roots in the town of Kruševo, now in North Macedonia,[3] while his father's family originates from the town of Vithkuq, now in Albania.

His primary education was at the Experimental elementary school of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, his secondary education at Anatolia College, and he graduated in chemistry from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1965 and in oenology from the Wine Institute of Athens in 1967.[1][4] In his youth he was associated with the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).[5]

From 1969 to 1996 he worked for the family wine company Boutari, based in Naoussa. He left the family company to create the Kir-Yianni wine company, based on two estates in abandoned village of Giannakochori and in Amyntaio, in 1998.

Political career

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Boutaris was elected as municipal councilor of Thessaloniki in 2003, He ran for mayor of Thessaloniki in 2006 and placed third. He was elected mayor in 2010 by a razor-thin margin, ending 24 years of rule by hardline conservative mayors. He was reelected with 58% of the vote in 2014.[6] During the 2010s he was one of the prominent figures of progressive views and politics in Greece as well as a founding member of the ecological organization Arcturos.[7]

Boutaris speaking as mayor in 2012.
Boutaris with his nephew the Governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas in 2014.

In 2012 he was chosen as 'the best mayor of the world' for the month of October, by the City Mayors Foundation, based in the UK.

In his program was the restoration of Agias Sofias Square and Eleftherias Square, as well as the construction of a Holocaust Museum in the city.[8]

Boutaris also declared his wish to build an Islamic mosque, monuments to Thessaloniki's Jews and to the Young Turk Revolution. According to Boutaris, the construction of these monuments will attract Jewish and Turkish tourists to Thessaloniki, who will want to visit their fathers' hometown.[8]

On 20 May 2018, he was hospitalised after being beaten up by a group of Greek ultra-nationalists angry over his appearance at a remembrance event for the Pontic Greek victims by the Ottomans during World War I.[8] The hardliners claimed that Boutaris made a controversial remark on the issue ("I don't give a shit" if Kemal Atatürk killed Greeks or not").[9] Nine persons, including a police officer, were convicted for the incident in 2023.[6] Boutaris had previously angered hardliners in Greece because he tried to facilitate relations between Greece and its neighbors and because he opposed nationalist views on the Macedonia naming dispute, Greece–Turkey relations, and the The Holocaust in Greece.[10][11][12][13] He was also opposed by Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Anthimos, who actively campaigned against him in 2010. On the other hand he was widely respected amongst Muslims and ethnic Turks in Greece for his conciliatory efforts regarding Greco-Turkish relations, the Jewish community, the Albanian community, and the Greek Left. He actively supported the creation of the Holocaust Museum of Greece and invited Macedonian prime minister Zoran Zaev for a New Year reception in 2017, which contributed to the resolution of the Macedonia naming dispute.[6]

In 2024, Boutaris was elected to the municipal council of Thessaloniki, serving until his death.[6]

Personal life and death

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Boutaris spoke several times openly about his struggle with alcoholism and his successful effort to quit drinking back in 1991. He was also a supporter of LGBT rights and the legalization of cannabis. In 2021, he published his memoir, titled 60 Years of Harvests. He was a supporter of Aris Thessaloniki, and was a major sponsor of Aris B.C. in the 1980s and 1990s.[6]

Boutaris died in Thessaloniki on 9 November 2024, at the age of 82, days after undergoing a hip operation.[6] He outlived his wife, who died from cancer in 2007.[14] He had three children.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Yannis Boutaris speaker profile". IMIC 2012 conference. 15–16 February 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Community News". The Newsletter of the Society Farsharotu. 17 (1–2). 25 April 2004.
  3. ^ "The Mayor of Thessaloniki Yiannis Boutaris will build a house in his hometown Krusevo, identical to the one where his mother, from the Aromanian Nichota family, lived, with recognizable ambiance and traditional Krusevo architecture". Kanal 5 (in Macedonian). Archived from the original on 25 June 2012.
  4. ^ Γιάννης Μπουτάρης Βιογραφικό σημείωμα υποψηφίου Δημάρχου Θεσσαλονίκης (in Greek). protovoulia2010.gr. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
  5. ^ "Thessaloniki mayor, Golden Dawn clash over bear sanctuary donation". Kathimerini. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Yiannis Boutaris, winemaker and maverick former mayor of the Greek city of Thessaloniki, has died". Associated Press. 11 November 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  7. ^ "Γιάννης Μπουτάρης" (in Greek). Drasi. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
  8. ^ a b c Magra, Iliana (14 November 2024). "Yiannis Boutaris, Vintner, Animal Defender and Greek Mayor, Dies at 82". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Boutaris called the Turks “brothers”, The ultra-nationalists in order to target him, they also falsely claimed that Boutaris had proposed renaming a central street in Thessaloniki after Ataturk (born in Thessaloniki in 1881). The plan of the fanatics was to de-contextualise his views and portray him as a traitor despite his efforts to make Thessaloniki a popular destination and despite the fact that he gave thousands of jobs to his fellow citizens. In this context they isolated a phrase where he was recorded to state: "Kemal Ataturk was the founder of the Republic of Turkey. (...) I don't give a shit if he killed or not Greeks or whatever else". Aristeia, 20 May 2018, [1]
  10. ^ Greek mayor (75) kicked and punched by 'far-right thugs' at WWI event. May 20, 2018, TheJournal.ie.
  11. ^ BBC News, 20 May 2018, Thessaloniki mayor Yiannis Boutaris beaten up.
  12. ^ Thessaloniki's Yiannis Boutaris hospitalized after attack at event commemorating Greeks massacred in Turkey in early 1900s, 20 May 2018, The times of Israel.
  13. ^ Erickson, Amanda (20 May 2018). "Greece's most liberal mayor beaten by a bunch of far-right protesters". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  14. ^ "Πέθανε σε ηλικία 82 ετών ο πρώην δήμαρχος Θεσσαλονίκης, Γιάννης Μπουτάρης − «Το έζησα, το χόρτασα… Αντίο!»". ProtoThema (in Greek). 9 November 2024. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
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Preceded by Mayor of Thessaloniki
2011–2019 		Succeeded by
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