Former For. Min. to Athens U.: Revoke Putin’s honorary doctorate

Former Foreign Minister and professor of Law, Evangelos Venizelos has requested the revocation of the act of awarding the title of honorary doctor to Vladimir Putin in a letter to the rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athanasios Dimopoulos.

“If the awarding of the title had sent a message in 2001 that the recipient noticed and remembered, now the revocation will send a message again, along with other similar messages from across the world, may, at least slightly, trouble the recipient,” he said. Mr. Venizelos.

Venizelos’s letter to Mr. Dimopoulos

“Although I’m hoping that the issue I’m raising is already under scrutiny, I would like to endorse with this letter, along with a large number of colleagues from the Greek university community, the proposal of Professor, President of the Department of Philosophy and member of the Senate of EKPA – Ms. Vana Nikolaidou-Kyranidou the revocation of the act of awarding the honorary title of doctor to Vladimir Putin.

The awarding of this title by the Department of Economics of the School of Political and Economic Sciences, with the approval of the Senate of EKPA, in 2001 and under the then circumstances, to the President of the Russian Federation was an obviously politically symbolic act and did not concern personal academic performance, and recognition of the honoree.

Today, in the context of the Russian military invasion and the war in Ukraine, it is equally obvious that an act of reverse academic and political symbolism is required. If the awarding of the title had sent a message in 2001 that the recipient noticed and remembered, now the revocation will send a message again, along with other similar messages from across the world, may, at least slightly, trouble the recipient.

I am sure that the competent bodies of the oldest University of the country do not need the encouragement of others, even outside EKPA, to do the obvious, but it is important to know the extent of the support that the obvious would have.”