George Cotzas [ 18/Mar/19 ]

Post date: Jul 8, 2014 6:56:44 AM

96.5FM – Egyptian Radio Show with Jerry Guirguis interviewing Author George Cotzas - Egypt's Port-Tewfick through the eyes of my soul on 96.5FM – Egyptian Radio Show Melbourne, [ Monday 18 March 2019, Time 6:30pm ].

George M. Cotzas

Author :

Egypt's Port-Tewfick through the eyes of my soul

Pre-recorded

1pm Melbourne Sunday 17 March 2019 = 10pm Albany, New York USA Saturday 16 March 2019, Albany New York USA

Hi and Welcome once again on our 96.5FM - Egyptian Radio Show;

Q1] How much time did you spend in getting all those names ?

I wrote the book over a span of ten years; spending the little time I had available while

working as an engineer for the General Electric Company and raising my family.

Two are the reasons why I did not have to spend many hours collecting bits and pieces of

information.

First, my parents were well known, liked by, and involved in the cosmopolitan Suez and

Port-Tewfick society, and exposed me to a lot of information about events, places, people,

and names.

More specifically from my mother’s side of the family I was one of 26 first cousins who all

grew up in Port Tewfick. Furthermore, my father grew up in Suez, had a good job with the

Suez Canal Company where he came in contact with all the Greek employees, and for

many years he was involved as a secretary or treasurer in the Greek Community, as well

as in many of the sports and social clubs of the Suez Canal Company.

Second, from my childhood I still vividly remember places, faces, and names, and in my

book I’ve only included things that either I remembered or others helped me remember.

So, all I had to do about the names in the book was to find, and I was blessed to find, a

few individuals with fantastic memory, who helped me on various topics; I mention their

names with gratitude in the introduction to my book. The topics they helped me on

were: my family’s genealogy, details of the Suez map, the names of Greeks working in the

Shell Company Oil Refinery in Suez, and the names of Greeks in Port Tewfick.

I retired from GE in 2011. A year later, my book was published in Greek. The English

translation of the Book followed a couple of years later

Q2] Why do you think, the Greek community flourished in Egypt during that time?

Jerry, please, allow me a few minutes to answer this question. In the History of

Humanity, great waves of immigration took place when people were driven to a promise

land by an opportunity, or they were running away from famine, or by political and

religious persecution.

Contrary to this, the Greeks immigrated to Egypt because they were invited by two very

important global personalities of the time, in two separated occasions.

The first was Mohammed Ali. He was the Pasha and viceroy of Egypt (1805–48), founder

of the dynasty that ruled Egypt from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of

the 20th century. Mohamed Ali was born in the town of Kavalla in Greece, which then was

part of the Ottoman Empire. So, he knew Greece and the Greeks.

2

Mohammed Ali encouraged the emergence of the modern Egyptian state by supporting

the immigration of Europeans in general, and Greeks in particular, because he realized

how much they could contribute to the success of his plans. Although he had a number of

personal Greek friends, Mohammed Ali followed this policy not because he liked the

Greeks or Greece, in fact his son Ibrahim fought against the Greek revolution against the

Ottoman Turks, but because he believed that the Greek immigrants with their experience

and skills as capitalists, merchants, craftsmen, would be very useful.

Early in 1800’s a few Greeks lived in Egyptian cities; they were merchants, bankers,

contractors of public works as well as craftsmen. Soon after, in conditions favorable to

business, there would be Greek industrialists and professionals: doctors, architects,

agriculturists, etc. In time the Greeks in Egypt became a very vibrant ethnic group and

enjoyed the profound respect of the Egyptians.

Greeks made significant contributions in agriculture in the development of cotton, oil,

vineyards, as well as in industry. In the 1950’s, during my childhood, products like the

fizzy soft drinks Lemongo, Orango; the Koutarelli cigarettes; the Chianaklis wines, the

Zibib Zottos, and many others were produced by Greek industrialists.

In many cities of Egypt the Greeks were organized in Communities, with by-laws,

recognized by the Egyptian Government, aiming at preserving their culture, language,

and religion. To this end they built beautiful churches, cultural and sports clubs, and

Primary Schools in a great number of cities of Egypt, while in larger cities such as Cairo,

Alexandria, Mansoura, Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, they also had High Schools. Finally, in

Cairo and Alexandria where the Greek population was the greatest, they also had

hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, etc.

The Second Invitation came from Ferdinand de Lesseps, the visionary French engineer

who championed the cause and directed the excavation of the Canal.

Originally the French and the Egyptian Governments shared the Suez Canal Company

stocks. Naturally, the British did not like this, and finally succeeded in acquiring the

stocks held by the Egyptian Government. In the process, in 1863 they forced the Egyptian

government to remove all its workers excavating the Canal by exerting pressure on the

Ottoman Turks in Istanbul since Egypt was still part of their Empire.

The DeLesseps call was answered by the Dodecanesian Greeks, that is, folks from the

Aegean Sea Archipelago around the island of Rhodes (for example, from the islands of

Kasos, Kastelorizo, Symi, etc) who immigrated en mass to Egypt with their families.

3

When the Canal was finally excavated, De Lesseps was elated and profoundly grateful

towards the Greeks. He granted as gifts large lots in Port Said and Ismailia to the Greek

Communities there, where Greek Schools were built later. Most people in the employ of

the Suez Canal Company were Greeks.

The Suez Canal Company continued to employ a great number of Greeks in various

positions from the time of the Canal’s inauguration. In the Canal cities of Port-Said, Fort-

Fouad, Ismailia, Suez and Port-Tewfick there was a very strong Greek presence organized

in thriving Communities with Greek Schools, Churches, Clubs, etc.

On July 23, 1952 the Revolution in Egypt against the British and King Farouq succeeded

sending the latter into exile. Four years later, on July 27, 1956, the Egyptian Leader

Gamal Abd el Naser nationalized the Suez Canal.

The French responded by repatriating all the French employees in the Canal, and urged

all other Nationalities to follow them and resign. They were confident that if all

employees quit, the Canal operations would come to a screeching halt.

Obviously, the French underestimated woefully the invaluable contribution and support

of the Greeks, who helped the Egyptians deal with the situation very well. With the Greek

workers, captains, employees and foremen in their position, the only problem the

Egyptians faced was that they did not have enough pilots.

So, they started hiring new pilots, many of whom were Greeks, and they trained them

hurriedly, and intensively. At the same time, they enlisted the help of the large tugboat

captains, many of whom were Greeks, who along with the existing pilots for several

months would take a ship from Port-Tewfick to Ismailia, and almost immediately they

would take another one from Ismailia to Port-Tewfick with very little rest.

At that time, the Greek presence in Egypt was still quite strong. By some accounts, during

World War II, the Greek community in Alexandria alone, numbered about 100,000! In

1956, most of the industry in Egypt was still in Greek hands.

Unfortunately, the signs that the Greeks had overstayed their welcome in Egypt, were

gaining strength. The Greeks were viewed as foreigners, in the same light as the other

Europeans who colonized Africa. Rising nationalism in Egypt, in combination with laws

passed by Gamal Abd el Naser hostile toward business, prompted the Greeks to leave

Egypt in increasing numbers in the 1950’s. By the mid 1960’s most Greeks had left Egypt

and the few remaining in the Canal departed in 1967 because of the Six Day War, when

Israel staged a surprise attack on Egypt and occupied the Sinai Peninsula.

4

As it is described in the book, both my paternal and maternal Greek ancestors originated

from the island of Symi in Dodecanese, Greece. From my mother’s side of the family we

lived in Egypt, for about 100 years.

Q3] Are you in touch with any of these families ?

Yes of course. There are many Associations of Egyptians Greeks in the major cities of the

World where Greeks moved to after they left Egypt, for example: Athens, Melbourne,

Montreal, Sydney, or Johannesburg. The members of most of these associations are from

a specific city such as Suez and Port Tewfick, Alexandria, Cairo, Mansourah, Zagazik,

and Ismailia. Through these associations Egyptian Greeks get together frequently to

celebrate various occasions, to reminisce, to eat, falafel, kofta, ful mudammes, mulukhiyah,

and have a good time.

Personally, I’m in touch with old friends and family members in Athens and here in

America. I have High Schools friends living in Montreal, Boston, and Sacramento, and we

have been getting together as much as we can here in the US.

I keep up to date with the monthly bulletins published by the Mansourah and the Suez &

Port Tewfick Associations in Athens. The latter always have pages devoted to the

Associations in Sydney and Melbourne.

Finally, in Athens we had reunions to celebrate our 40th and 45th High School

Graduation from the Greek Boarding School in Mansourah. Fellow students and their

spouses came from all over the world.

Q4] How can we download your book ?

As already mentioned, my book was first written in Greek and published in Athens. A

couple of years later I translated it to English. They are now both available and can be

downloaded gratis from the Website Anemi of the University of Crete, in Greece. If you

have a website we can post the links for the two my books.

Egypt's Port-Tewfick through the eyes of my soul / George M. Cotzas.

http://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/metadata/b/d/f/metadata-1427101192-307815-9951.tkl

Το Πορτ-Τεουφίκ Αιγύπτου με τα μάτια της ψυχής: Saratoga Springs NY-2012 / Γεώργιος Μ.

Κοτζάς.

http://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/metadata/2/5/d/metadata-1453118273-466993-23293.tkl

Jerry, thank you vey much for the opportunity to speak to you and your listeners about

my book and the Greeks of Egypt. May God bless you and your listeners...

Listen to podcast;

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VgLP93Tdma0Oax1flG381p7SsUZG51s4/view?usp=sharing

Jerry Guirguis

Presenter

96.5FM - Egyptian radio show

Mobile +61400 718 817

Phone Studio : +613 9457 1718

Jerry.Guirguis@gmail.com

https://sites.google.com/site/jerryguirguis

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bxw764WTM0UhOEEzZ0RVSnY3NlU

www.innerfm.org.au

Listen Live [ https://right-click.com.au/rcPlayer2/index.php?c=innerfm ]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Monday 7 July 2014 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jerry Guirguis interview George Cotzas, about his book My book on my childhood in Port-Tewfick Egypt, speaking to us live to air from America on 96.5FM studio – Egyptian radio show [ Monday 7^th July 2014, Melbourne ].

6:30pm – Our 1^st special guests tonight is George Cotzas, My book on my childhood in Port-Tewfick Egypt,, initially, the book was published in Athens

late 2013 by Egyptian-Greek Association. In Australia, an English version was made available to George Kypreos, from

EEAMA – League of Greeks from Egypt and the Middle East social club.

George Cotzas, a member of the Athens Association of Egyptian Greeks from Suez and Mansoura.

Hi & Welcome …….,

can we start with ......................

Q1] In your book [ My book on my childhood in Port-Tewfick ],

How much time did you spend in getting all those names ?

Q2] Will you be translating it into English and publishing it soon ?

Q3] Why do you think, the Greek community flourished in Egypt during that time?

Q4] Are you in touch with any of these families ?

Jerry Guirguis

Presenter

96.5FM – Egyptian radio show

+61 400 718 817

www.innerfm.org.au

studio : +61 3 9457 1718

CD copy of this interview can be requested by email to: [ Jerry.Guirguis@gmail.com ]