Alexis Tsipras spoke to supporters in the iconic Cretan village of Anogeia on Tuesday evening, returning to the large island from where, as opposition leader, he once proclaimed that “markets will dance to our tune” when a SYRIZA government assumes power.

“We remained standing when we had a gun at our temple,” the ex-PM told a crowd of supporters.

“They (creditors, EU etc.) saw that the passion of a people to stop its subjugation could not be controlled, therefore, they created a ‘left parenthesis’,” was another of his speech’s highlights.

Speaking in the village’s main square hours after visiting the coastal city of Hania, the radical leftist leader said his seven-month-long government did not buckle, it merely made a compromise.

“We believed in our just cause, and when we faced a major threat we chose to remain standing. We did not buckle, we were not compromised, we made a compromise … we are not the compromised ones, ” was the semantically inspired phrase he used.

He added that he made a tough choice — agreeing to bailout terms for a third memorandum — in order to avoid the country heading into a massive catastrophe.

“We wanted a people standing, in order to continue struggling and challenging for its just cause. We are proud that we gave this battle,” he said.