Ploutis Servas (Πλουτής Σέρβας in
Greek; 22 May 1907 – 14 February 2001), was a
Cypriot
Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus.
* Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes:
**Armenian Cypriots
**Greek Cypriots
**Maronite Cypriots
**Turkish C ...
former politician, reporter, and author. Servas was born Ploutarhos Loizou Savvidis (''Πλούταρχος Λοΐζου Σαββίδης'') and changed his surname to Servas while still a student in secondary education.
Servas was born in
Limassol in 1907. In 1929–1934, he studied political and social sciences at the
Communist University of the National Minorities of the West in
Moscow. He returned to Cyprus in the 1930s and had to sign a declaration saying he would not be involved in politics in order to be allowed to set foot in the country. He became a member of the Secretariat of the illegal Communist Party of Cyprus (CPC) and founder and first general secretary of
AKEL
The Progressive Party of Working People ( el, Ανορθωτικό Κόμμα Εργαζόμενου Λαού, ; abbr. , AKEL; tr, Emekçi Halkın İlerici Partisi) is a Marxist–LeninistHelena Smith, Cyprus gets ready for a communist 'takeover ...
(1941–1945). He was also the first elected Mayor of Limassol 1943–1946 and 1946–1949. As mayor he participated in the consultative assembly and advocated accepting the British plan of self-government for Cyprus in 1948. For that opinion he became isolated within his party and was expelled in 1952.
He supported
Ioannis Clerides
Ioannis Clerides Queen's Counsel, QC Order of the British Empire, CBE (Greek language, Greek: Ιωάννης Κληρίδης, 1887–1961), sometimes known as John Clerides, was a Greek Cypriot lawyer and politician. He served as Mayor of Nicosia ...
in the 1960
elections, but wasn't an active politician again himself. He worked mainly as a reporter and a writer. He wrote books such as: ''Spain on Fire'' (1936), ''The Labour Issue'' (1936), ''AKEL and Local Issues'' (1942), ''Portraits of Palmer's Era'' (1946), ''Korea'' (1949), ''Prague Spring'' (1973), ''How Did We Manage to Get to Zero; The Cypriot Tragedy'' (1975), ''Old and New China'' (1977), ''Responsibilities'' (first volume 1980, second volume 1984, third volume 1985).
His death on 14 February 2001 caused controversy in Cyprus as in his will he had asked to be cremated. There were no crematoria in Cyprus and there was a heated debate between those supporting the availability of cremation as an alternative and those (mainly religious
Orthodox Christians
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churc ...
) who disapproved of it.
1907 births
2001 deaths
Cypriot journalists
Cypriot political writers
Leaders of political parties in Cyprus
Mayors of Limassol
People from Limassol
Progressive Party of Working People politicians
Cypriot atheists
Cypriot communists
Leaders of the Progressive Party of Working People
20th-century Cypriot writers
20th-century journalists
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