Greece’s top living composer, a leading light of the pro-democracy movement against the 1967-74 military dictatorship, has agreed to the ultimate challenge — to persuade his fellow Cretans to abandon their rampant gun culture.

Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis — a Cretan himself — announced yesterday that Mikis Theodorakis, 79, has accepted his invitation to lead an anti-gun campaign on the notoriously trigger-happy island.

Voulgarakis made the announcement following a meeting, in the Cretan town of Iraklion, with a nine-year-old boy who was seriously injured in a gun accident in October. The youngster had written to the minister to urge a crackdown on illegal firearms possession.

“We Cretans used firearms during hard times in the past to protect our country and our island,” Voulgarakis said. “Now, sadly, we effectively turn them against each other.”