Greece


1942-1944:

Fierce resistance to the occupation by communist and royalist factions alike. [1]

1944:

British and Greek forces combine to force Nazi withdrawal. With backing from Britain, Georgios Papandreou becomes prime minister. Communists protest. Tensions rise and there is sporadic violence. [1]

1946-1949:

Royalist parties win elections, restore monarchy. Civil war ensues. [1]

U.S. intervenes in the civil war, taking the side of the neo-fascists against the Greek left which had fought the Nazis courageously. The neo-fascists win and instituted a highly brutal regime, for which the CIA create a new internal security agency, KYP. Before long, KYP is carrying out all the endearing practices of secret police everywhere, including systematic torture. [2] [3]

1952:

New constitution declares Greece a parliamentary democracy with a monarch as head of state. Greece joins Nato. [1]

1955:

Konstantinos Karamanlis becomes prime minister. [1]

1964:

King Constantine II succeeds his father, Paul. [1]

Papandreou is elected in February with the only outright majority in the history of modern Greek elections. Machinations to unseat him begin immediately, a joint effort of the Royal Court, the Greek military, and the American military and CIA stationed in Greece. [2]

1965:

July - George Papandreou is finally maneuvered out of office by royal prerogative. The king had a coalition of breakaway Center Union Deputies (Papandreou's party) and rightists waiting in the wings to form a new government. It is later revealed by a State Department official that the CIA Chief-of-Station in Athens, John Maury, had "worked in behalf of the palace in 1965. He helped King Constantine buy Center Union Deputies so that the George Papandreou Government was toppled. For nearly two years thereafter, various short-lived cabinets ruled until it was no longer possible to avoid holding the elections prescribed by the constitution. [5]

1967-1974:

A military coup takes place in April 1967, just two days before the campaign for national elections are to begin, elections which appeared certain to bring the veteran liberal leader George Papandreou back as prime minister. The coup is followed immediately by the traditional martial law, censorship, arrests, beatings, torture, and killings, the victims totaling some 8,000 in the first month. This is accompanied by the equally traditional declaration that this was all being done to save the nation from a "Communist takeover." Corrupting and subversive influences in Greek life are to be removed. Among these are miniskirts, long hair, and foreign newspapers; church attendance for the young will be compulsory. [2] [3] [4] [5]

It is torture, however, which most indelibly marks the seven-year Greek nightmare. James Becket, an American attorney sent to Greece by Amnesty International, writes in December 1969 that "a conservative estimate would place at not less than two thousand" the number of people tortured, usually in the most gruesome of ways, often with equipment supplied by the United States. [2]

Becket reports the following: Hundreds of prisoners have listened to the little speech given by Inspector Basil Lambrou, who sits behind his desk which displays the red, white, and blue clasped-hand symbol of American aid. He tries to show the prisoner the absolute futility of resistance: "You make yourself ridiculous by thinking you can do anything. The world is divided in two. There are the communists on that side and on this side the free world. The Russians and the Americans, no one else. What are we? Americans. Behind me there is the government, behind the government is NATO, behind NATO is the U.S. You can't fight us, we are Americans." [2]

George Papandreou was not any kind of radical. He was a liberal anti-Communist type. But his son Andreas, the heir-apparent, while only a little to the left of his father had not disguised his wish to take Greece out of the Cold War, and had questioned remaining in NATO, or at least as a satellite of the United States. [2]

1973:

November - A falling-out within the Greek inner circle culminates in the ousting of Papadopoulos and his replacement by Col. Demetrios loannidis, Commander of the Military Police, torturer, graduate of American training in anti-subversive techniques, confidant of the CIA. loannidis names as prime minister a Greek-American, A. Androutsopoulos, who came to Greece after the Second World War as an official employee of the CIA, a fact of which Mr. Androutsopoulos has often boasted. [5]

1974:

July - The loannidis regime overthrows the government of Cyprus. It is a fatal miscalculation. Turkey invade Cyprus and the reverberations in Athens result in the military giving way to a civilian government. [5]

Exiled Karamanlis recalled and sworn in as prime minister. Referendum rejects restoration of monarchy. [1]

1975:

New constitution declares Greece a parliamentary republic with some executive powers vested in a president. [1]

1980:

Karamanlis elected president. [1]

1981:

Greece joins EU. Andreas Papandreou's Socialist Party (Pasok) wins elections. [1]

1985:

Karamanlis resigns in protest at government plans to reduce powers of president. Christos Sartzetakis becomes head of state. [1]

1986:

Constitutional amendment transfers some of president's powers to the legislature. [1]

1990:

Centre-right New Democracy party forms government under party leader Constantine Mitsotakis. [1]

1991:

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia declares independence. [1]

Greece objects to name and flag of Republic of Macedonia on grounds they imply territorial claims to the Greek province of Macedonia. [1]

1993:

Election returns Papandreou to power. [1]

1995:

Relations with Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia normalised. [1]

1996:

Tension flares between Greece and Turkey over disputed Aegean islet. [1]

Papandreou resigns because of illness and dies shortly afterwards. Succeeded by Kostas Simitis. [1]

1999:

September - Earthquake hits Athens - dozens killed, thousands left homeless. [1]

2000:

June - Senior British diplomat, Brigadier Stephen Saunders, shot dead in Athens by left-wing guerrilla group November 17. [1]

2001:

May - Pope John Paul II visits, asks for forgiveness for sins committed by Roman Catholics against Orthodox faith, in particular sacking of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) by crusaders in 1204. [1]

2002:

January - Euro replaces drachma. [1]

March - Greek, Turkish governments agree to build gas pipeline through which Turkey will supply Greece with gas. [1]

July - Suspected leader and members of November 17 terror group arrested after one of them is injured, allegedly by his own bomb, and provides information to police. [1]

2003:

December - Trial of November 17 suspects ends with their conviction. Head of group and its main hitman jailed for life. [1]

2004:

February - Following Mr Simitis' decision to call March elections and stand down as Pasok leader, George Papandreou takes over as party chief. [1]

March - Conservative New Democracy party led by Costas Karamanlis wins general election, ending over a decade of Pasok government. [1]

June - Greek football team wins Euro-2004 tournament. [1]

August - Athens hosts Olympic Games. [1]