23 Facts About Konstantinos Mitsotakis

Konstantinos Mitsotakis graduated in law and economics from the University of Athens.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis's grandfather Kostis Mitsotakis, a lawyer, journalist and short-time MP of then Ottoman-ruled Crete, founded the Liberal Party, then "Party of the Barefeet" with Venizelos, and married the latter's sister, Katigo Venizelou, Constantine's grandmother.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis was married to Marika Konstantinos Mitsotakis from 1953 until her death on 6 May 2012.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis's second daughter Alexandra Mitsotakis Gourdain is a Greek civil society activist.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis developed a large collection of Minoan and other Cretan antiquities, which he and his wife donated to the Greek state.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis was very interested in promoting reforesting of Greece, including in particular the mountains of Crete.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis was elected to the Greek Parliament for the first time in 1946, standing for the Liberal Party in his native prefecture of Chania, Crete.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis followed most of the old Liberal Party into Georgios Papandreou's Center Union in 1961.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis was arrested in 1967 by the military junta but managed to escape to Turkey with a help of Turkish foreign minister Ihsan Sabri Caglayangil and lived in exile with his family in Paris, France, until his return to Greece in 1974, following the restoration of democracy.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis was re-elected in 1977 as founder and leader of the small Party of New Liberals, and he merged his party with Constantine Karamanlis's New Democracy party in 1978.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis served as Minister for Coordination from 1978 to 1980, and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1980 to 1981.

The ND government was defeated by Andreas Papandreou's PASOK in 1981, and in 1984 Konstantinos Mitsotakis succeeded Evangelos Averoff as ND leader.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis soundly defeated Papandreou, embroiled in the Koskotas scandal scandal, in the June 1989 election.

However, Konstantinos Mitsotakis was still unable to govern alone, as ND won 150 seats, one short of a majority.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis's government moved swiftly to cut government spending as much as possible, privatise state enterprises and reform the civil service.

In foreign policy, Konstantinos Mitsotakis took the initiative to have Greece formally recognize the state of Israel, and moved to reopen talks on American bases in Greece and to restore confidence among Greece's economic and political partners.

In June 1990, Konstantinos Mitsotakis became the first Greek Premier to visit the United States since 1974.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis promised to meet Greece's NATO obligations, to prevent the use of Greece as a base for terrorism, and to stop the rhetorical attacks on the United States that had been Papandreou's hallmark.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis supported a new dialogue with Turkey, but made progress on the Cyprus dispute a prerequisite for improvement on other issues.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis' government restored the pre-1989 electoral system, which allowed Papandreou's PASOK to obtain a clear parliamentary majority after winning the premature 1993 elections and return to office.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis then resigned as ND leader, although he remained the party's honorary chairman.

In January 2004 Konstantinos Mitsotakis announced that he would retire from Parliament at the 7 March election, 58 years after his first election.

Konstantinos Mitsotakis died on 29 May 2017 in Athens, aged 98 of natural causes.