PREZNIKONE appears to be on a mission to prove to the few remaining idiots that still think there is a hint of honesty in what he says are making a big mistake.

The guy just seems to go out of his way to ensure that nobody believes a word he says. The funny thing is that he knows that nobody believes anything that comes out of his mouth, so he insists on using the words of others to prove to us that he was not lying. The message is that if someone else confirms what I say it cannot be a lie.

It is the discourse of the school liar. ‘Miss, I didn’t do that … Ask Costakis who will tell you the truth, ask Giorgoulla who saw everything … how can you believe Christakis, who is a liar.’ Or as Sir Walter Scott put it, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive.”

Nik the First is a master craftsman when it comes to weaving a tangled web. It is so tangled he cannot remember the first version of the lie so he could at least repeat it and appear truthful, at least to the simpletons. He has also forgotten who he can rely on to tell a lie on his behalf, or at least not tell the truth about a thing he lied about in the past.

HE IS ALSO perfectly capable of coming up with new lies, as he did a week ago in an interview on Alpha TV with the insufferably self-regarding and humourless Tasos Tryphonos, also known as TT.

On the show Nik the Liar claimed that while he was EU Commissioner, Christos Stylianides – the poster boy of the pro-settlement camp – had adopted Turkey’s version about the collapse of the Crans-Montana talks in 2017 and had been critical of Nik’s decision at a subsequent meeting of the EU College of Commissioners.

Andreas Mavroyiannis has been used by Nik to publicly give legitimacy to his distorted narratives

This information was conveyed to Nik (according to what he told TT) recently by our then negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis, who allegedly heard of Styl’s alleged treachery from a Greek woman who worked for the then EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini.

When Styl issued a statement on Tuesday denying he had said anything about the collapse of the talks at the College of Commissioners and challenged Nik and Mavroyiannis to check the minutes of the meeting, Mavroyiannis came up with a correction of what Nik attributed to him.

“I never said that Stylianides conveyed anything to the College of Commissioners,” said Mavroyiannis on Tuesday, 24 hours after confirming Nik the Liar’s revelations on the Alpha TV show. The tangled web was getting even more tangled.

MAVROYIANNIS happily let Nik’s lie stand initially, because he has always dutifully supported Nik’s porky pies. Since Crans-Montana, Mavroyiannis has been used by Nik to publicly give legitimacy to his distorted narratives about the collapse of talks he singlehandedly caused but blamed the Turks.

At least this time, the timid civil servant only let the lie stand for 24 hours – instead of seven years – before he put the record straight, but this was because Styl, who is now a minister in the government of Greece, had issued a denial about the College of Commissioners. He also accused nasty Nik’s henchmen, including squeaky clean Mavroyiannis, of being on a mission to destroy him.

The last time Mavroyiannis covered up a Nik lie it was for seven years, so progress is being made. It took him seven years to come clean about Nik’s meeting with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, at which Nik proposed the two-state solution. When Cavusoglu said this a few months later, Nik accused him of lying. Everyone believed Nik because as a Greek he was by definition more truthful than a Turk, even though everyone knew him as an Olympic liar.

It took Mavroyiannis seven years to tell us that Nik was the liar – apparently Nik had indeed told him he had proposed the two-state solution to Cavusoglu the night before the last meeting at Crans-Montana. Mavroyiannis’ vow of silence (some could call it spinelessness) lasted seven whole years, supporting Nik’s fake narrative about Crans-Montana.

HAS NIK bullied the timid Mavroyiannis into a life of total subservience to him? Does he call him up and order him to stay silent, tell him when to speak and what to say when he does?

There was more than one occasion when he forced Mavroyiannis to support his version of events, making him publicly back the dubious things he was claiming about Crans-Montana. Mavroyiannis, being a decent chap, whom people believed was given the job – without pay – of confirming the veracity of Nik’s dubious claims.

It took the bullied negotiator seven years to find the courage to inform us in 2024 that it was Nik who was the liar and not Cavusoglu about the two-state conversation at Crans-Montana. Even more courageously a few days ago, with eight years delay, he said that it was a mistake by Nik to show his cards to the Turks on the eve of the last meeting.

Former EU Commissioner, Christos Stylianides

THE FIBS being spread about Styl, meanwhile, would not stand up to even the most basic scrutiny. After Crans-Montana, the self-serving political careerist Styl said nothing mildly critical of Nik in public for one, blatantly obvious reason. He was hoping the old Pera Pedi liar, if re-elected, would keep him as EU commissioner for another term.

This was why Styl was present at the event at which Nik officially announced he would seek re-election. Until he was informed by Nik in 2019 that someone else would be made commissioner, Styl showed complete deference to Nik and stayed schtum about Nik’s heroic role in the collapse of the talks and his two-state offer to the Turks.

In his defence, Styl stayed schtum for a reason – the possibility of another five years as commissioner. People have sold their soul for much less than that. Mavroyiannis, in contrast, had nothing to gain from being Nik’s obedient servant. He gave his soul to a disreputable and corrupt Prez for free, seeking nothing in exchange.

Who is the better man of the two? The one who backed Nik’s lies for a big job or the one who did it for nothing?