The changing face of the AHI
As Executive
Director of the
American
Hellenic
Institute
(AHI),
Nick
Larigakis is one of the spokesmen for “official” Greek America in both
the United States and Greece. Larigakis was in Athens recently to present
former Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos
with the AHI’s the Hellenic Heritage National Public Service Award.
For
many Greek Americans, AHI is identified by its work on the Cyprus
issue.
Indeed, the membership-based organization was founded on August 1, 1974,
in the wake of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and one of its biggest
achievements was the United States arms embargo on Turkey imposed by
Congress despite the then administration’s objections.
On
the Cyprus issue, the fight being waged by AHI with the US government and
in the US Congress today has shifted from foreign aid and foreign military
sales (“As an issue, foreign aid for Turkey is very low,” says
Larigakis) to subtler and more complex issues like the use of assistance
funds for Cyprus, the finer points of the United Nations
peace
plan and the continuing negotiations towards a settlement. Also,
in
the last ten years other issues such as FYROM,
the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Aegean have all required more
attention as acute problems have developed with these issues. “Whenever
there’s a crisis, people react and engage in whatever action you ask
them to take. At AHI we initiate legislation, track issues, analyze them,
and prepare talking points, as we did in recent months when a US business
delegation was planning to visit the occupied north of Cyprus and more
recently with the group of US Representatives who also visited there.
We
found people reacted immediately, sending e-mails to these companies and
Representatives’ offices,” says Larigakis.
“The problem is trying to prevent crises and to prevent issues from
reaching a point where you have to react this way. Unlike other global
issues, Greek-Turkish relations are not played out on television, so
people
don’t
perceive the threat is real. There’s no real fear here; there’s
nothing
happening
on the surface. But I view the Aegean as one of the areas where a crisis
is brewing.”
In
the thirty-odd years since AHI was founded, the issues before the Greek
American community may remain the same, but the Greek American community
has changed. So has AHI.
As
an organization, it has branched out, expanding its internship and
publications
programs as well as its annual dinners. In addition to hosting
dinners
in Washington to honor American and Greek dignitaries, AHI
this
year initiated its first Athens Hellenic Heritage Achievement and National
Public Service Awards Dinner as part of its annual visit to Greece. The
first award in Athens was presented recently to
former
Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos.
At the same Dinner,
Hellenic
American National Council (HANC) President Ted Spyropoulos
presented
ex- President Stephanopoulos
with the HANC Freedom Medal award.
“The
Greek American community is changing and we have to deal with this change
in terms of how it affects US Greek issues as framed by AHI policy,”
adds Larigakis. “AHI has tried to address this issue through our
Hellenism
Conferences. We’re hosting the fourth one this fall in New York, and it
is the first time it will be held outside Washington, D.C. It’s the kind
of conference we’d like to take around to different cities.”
AHI
also has a very active business network, “a tangible way in which
young,
upwardly mobile Greek Americans can relate to AHI and a good
way
to bring them into the organization because we need this constituency for
our lobbying efforts.”
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