[MGSA-L] 45 Years Since Dictatorship Haunted Greece

June Samaras june.samaras at gmail.com
Sat Apr 21 14:00:49 PDT 2012


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June S
=================

45 Years Since Dictatorship Haunted Greece

 ttp://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/04/21/45-years-since-dictatorship-haunted-greece/





By Areti Kotseli on April 21, 2012 in News


It’s been 45 years since the morning of April 21, 1967, when a group
of former officers, decided to “save” Greece by enforcing a
dictatorship lasting seven whole years.

During the military junta, four governments were formed. The last one,
under Androutsopoulos, unable to cope with Cyprus’ betrayal, delivered
his office to politicians that formed a National Salvation Government
under Konstantinos Karamanlis.

The military coup took place in the early hours of April 21, just a
few hours after the ministers’ council of Kanellopoulos’ government,
that was literally caught by surprise.

The success of the three men (Papadopoulos, Pattakos and Makarezos)
was the result of a planned conspiracy that was followed in detail,
step by step, and was facilitated by “planted” officers in
key-positions of the Greek Army. The fact that military camps were
located in central areas of Athens at that period also posed a
significant factor in enforcing the “Regime of the Colonels.”

At 3:30am on April 21, the military coup had already succeeded in
taking over power. Tanks were parading in the center of the capital
city, marches were broadcast on the radio, along with Papadopoulos’
first public “order” which began: “We decide and we order…”

At the same time, a large number of small mobile units were dispatched
to arrest leading politicians and authority figures, as well as many
citizens suspected of left-wing sympathies, according to lists
prepared in advance. One of the first to be arrested was Lieutenant
General Grigorios Spandidakis, Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army.

Right after sunset on the same day, the junta members visited Tatoi,
the house of King Constantine, asking him to declare them as the
legitimate government of Greece. The King initially refused, but in
the end compromised to prevent “Greek blood to be spilled.” District
attorney Konstantinos Kollias was appointed first Prime Minister, who
had a rather decorative role, as Papadopoulos was ruling the country.

Greece then faced a seven year dictatorship. Later, the Cyprus tragedy
with the unfair, criminal Turkish invasion, marked the end of the
“salvation” of Greece’s people by the junta. The country exhibited a
financial progress in those years, but the dismissed rights of the
people as a result of the Colonels’ constitutional amendment, the
imprisonment, expatriation and torture of hundreds, the political
assassinations and the resulting Turkish occupation prove that the
“Regime of the Colonels” was one of the darkest aspects of Greece’s
modern history.

-- 
June Samaras
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-- 
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com



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