By Annie Charalambous

The son of a priest, Beirut-born and raised Greek ambassador Vasilis Papaioannou says he is open-hearted – just like his father.

“My father was a priest, an ordinary man, a priest very closed to his people and very much loved because he was open-hearted. It looks like I got something from him,” he tells The Cyprus Weekly.

“Don’t think I grew up praying from dawn to sundown because my father was a priest. I grew up in a normal family environment, I did not have a seminary upbringing,” adds the 57-year-old approachable diplomat.

He underlines that both his late parents were uprooted from their birth places because of war – the father being from Asia Minor, the mother from Nazi Germany-occupied Ikaria island.

The two met and fell in love in Jerusalem and after the birth of their first son, the ambassador’s only sibling who is a tour guide in Greece, the Papaioannou family moved to Beirut in 1948.

“I was born a few years later. I did go to a Greek junior school but because there was no secondary-level Greek education I followed the French system,” says the ambassador who speaks French, English, Italian and “street Arabic”.

He describes the decision of his parents to leave Beirut in 1967, in the aftermath of the six-day war, as very emotional as well as frightening.

“The fear of war was looming over us. I was a teenager then and that was a time I will never forget…the blackouts, the sense of fear in the air. The repatriation to Athens was a real experience,” he says.

A few years later, he is off to Toulouse for his studies in political sociology and anthropology. That’s where he meets Ellada (Greece), his wife, whose parents are both Paphos-born Cypriots who had emigrated to Congo, Africa.

“We met at the student cafeteria,” he says and cracks up. “I was inviting her there again and again. What do we have in common? We are both aries – would that help? We are both decisive, in the good sense, and both love traveling,” he says.

In fact, one of his biggest wishes is to travel all over the world one day.

“I will (do it), at a given time,” he says before disclosing that if he was not a diplomat he would have loved to be a ship captain.

“I love the sea, it inspires me. It’s in my blood. If during my summer holidays I don’t get on a service boat from Piraeus to somewhere, anywhere – even for a day – I feel deprived,” he says.

Vasilis, who also loves painting and photography as well as reading literature, has some regrets in life.

Not learning a musical instrument is one, and leaving good friends behind every time he moved to a new posting is another.

These moves were also problem for his wife, but especially for his only daughter, Danae, who is now studying applied arts in Paris.

“Danae had it hard in the first years - changing schools, losing friends. It is a problem. My wife had to give up her career. She was a teacher of French, but she could not really pursue a career. It is no coincidence our profession, worldwide, is high ranking in divorces,” he says.

Talking about Danae’s keen interest in film shooting, reminds him of a personal favorite pastime – going to the movies, at least once a week.

He is a big fan of James Bond flicks, especially those with Sean Connery.

Memorable films for him are also “Scent of a Woman” with Al Pacino and “Erin Brockovic” with Julia Roberts. “I have to admit I loved her in Pretty Woman, too,” he says and laughs.

As for his favorite food, this is pasta – ‘pastitsio’ in particular. But he is not too proud of his cooking skills.

“I can cook pasta, an omelette, and also a pork chop. But that’s where I draw the line,” he says and laughs again.

A challenging job

“I was not a born diplomat,” says Vasilis Papaioannou who took over the Nicosia embassy in February.

 “Before joining the diplomatic service I worked for three years in an investment bank. I was involved in investment promotion, exercising my sociology and anthropology skills,” he adds.

“(Becoming a diplomat) was a bit of a coincidence…don’t forget that sociology at the time was a bit grey. When you said ‘I’m a sociologist’, the response was: “explain yourself,” he adds.

Papaioannou finds diplomacy very challenging – primarily because you get a chance to meet and exchange views with very important persons.

“You feel you can contribute towards the solving of problems,” he says.

The Beirut-born diplomat who has already served in Damascus, says: “I feel very comfortable with people from the Middle East, they are very warm and unpretentious, especially when it comes to Greeks. When you say you are Greek, it’s almost a passport for these countries”.