There are many points along Vasso Papandreou‘s political course at which someone can stand.
One of them is in November 1998 when Vasso Papandreou visited Iran as Development Minister. However, negotiations on how the minister would appear in Iran without wearing a headscarf lasted about 15 days. Vasso Papandreou had refused to follow the dress code for women, being a supporter of women’s rights.
Panagiotis Louskos, an official of PASOK and a member of the ministry’s mission to Iran, had reported in a post on Vaso Papandreou’s decision to break protocol, and the emotional moments experienced just before boarding the plane home when Iranian women – who belonged to the Revolutionary Guards – approached her and threw their own handkerchiefs in turn.
In a photo of the time, from a visit to Tehraki, Vasso Papandreou is wearing a hat.
Panagiotis Louskos describes: “I had the good fortune in November ’98 to participate in that historic visit of then Development Minister Vasso Papandreou to Iran and I would like to share with you some of my memories. The Greek delegation numbered 13 people. Ten of the participants were men and three were women. Vaso Papandreou’s outright refusal to comply with the Iranian regime’s theocratic dress code requirement to enter their country led to a 15-day negotiation with the Iranian Embassy in Athens. Eventually the regime compromised and allowed the Minister alone to enter Iran without their harsh dress code tradition. If I recall correctly, such approval had been granted to a foreign visitor for the first time before then.”
Mr. Louskos continues his account of what happened in Iran, “The flight had been on the government aircraft and upon our arrival at Tehran airport and before we set foot on Iranian soil, four Revolutionary Guards in full armor entered the aircraft, thoroughly checking for the agreed upon attire of the three women. There was 24-hour guarding of all of us by the Revolutionary Guards both on our official travels and in our hotel accommodation by the armoured guards, whose faces we had NEVER even seen. I will not go into the details of the visit, only one fact.
After ten days of staying, it was time for us to leave. On our way to the airport, always accompanied by the Revolutionary Guards, when we had boarded the plane, the following unexpected and at the same time touching thing happened: the 4 Revolutionary Guards took off the handkerchiefs covering their faces. We were left with our mouths hanging open when we found out after ten days that the guards were women. They embraced Vasso Papandreou and broke into tears over her, saying ‘how important and symbolic’ it was for them that a foreign visitor had managed to enter the country, breaking all the rules of the regime’.
