Georgios Karatzaferis (born August 11 1947) is a Greek politician, and leader of the conservative nationalist Popular Orthodox Rally with close ties to the Greek Orthodox Church. He is a Member of the European Parliament and sits with the Independence and Democracy group.

His party's views, ideas, and electoral campaigns are often broadcast and promoted by the private Greek TV channel TeleAsty, which he founded and owns.

Born in Athens in 1947, Karatzaferis claims to have became a producer of radio broadcasts at the age of 15 and a television producer at 22. In 1977 he founded R.TV.P.R. AE advertising body and he created the TV Press Video Review in 1983. In 1990 he established the radio and televison stations Radio Cityand TeleAsty. He obtained an honours diploma from the London School of Journalism in 1994 and became a draftsman with the newspaper Alpha Ena in 2000. He was also a columnist for Nea Poreia, the official publication of New Democracy, the political organization to which he belonged before founding Laikos Orthodoxos Synagermos, the Popular Orthodox Rally, which he founded in 2000. He also wrote regularly for Eleftheros, Apogefmatini, and Eleftheros Typos.

He became a Prefectural Councillor in 2002 as head of the Me Kathari Kardia party. He was elected Member for Athens in 1993, 1996 and 2000. His responsibilties include Chairman of the Parliamentary Watchdog, (OKE) Public Order, Press and Mass Media Committees (1993-2000), Member of the Committees on Public Administration and Foreign Affairs (1993-2004), Member of the National Communications Confidentiality Protection Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Greco Spanish Friendship Association (1999).

Karatzaferis is the author of five books.

Allegations of antisemitism

Karatzaferis has made antisemitic conspiracy theory claims about the September 11, 2001 attack such as this: "On [[[September 21]] ], Georgios Karatzaferis asked [Greek] Foreign Minister George Papandreou to inform him as to whether he was aware of the articles published in two Israeli newspapers (Ha'aretz and Yedioth Ahronot), and if he had brought them to the attention of his European counterparts. According to George Karatzaferis, these publications “reveal” that the “4000 Jews working in the Twin Towers did not go to work on the day of the attack”; that “Ariel Sharon canceled his trip to New York that day where he was to speak at a celebration of Zionism”; and that “5 Jews were arrested while videotaping the destruction 4 hours after the event [and] are being held by the FBI for suspicious behavior interpreted as ridiculing the tragic event.”" organizations/ghm_mrgg_antisemitism_2002.rtf Anti-Semitism in Greece: A Current Picture

His TV channel TeleAstypromotes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

External links

• Official web site (in Greek)

References

• European Parliament biographical record