I synomosia ton Syntagmatarhon Pattakos Part2
I synomosia ton Syntagmatarhon Pattakos Part2.
Georgios Rallis, a great Patriot, then Minister of the Interior, and subsequently anti junta resistance leader, a close associate of the Ethnarch Constantine Karamanlis, tried to rally Greece's Third Army against the plotters, but did not succeed and was arrested. Rallis' orders the fateful early morning hours of April 21, 1967 were:
"Προς Γ' Σώμα Στρατού. Τούτο να αναλάβη την κοινοποίησιν προς Α' και Β' Σώματα Στρατού. Πρόεδρος κυβερνήσεως και υπουργός Αμύνης συνελήφθησαν υπο επαναστατών. Ευρίσκομαι ελεύθερος εν επαφή μετά Βασιλέα και εντέλλομαι οπως κινήσετε τάχιστα προς Αθήνας δυνάμεις σας κρατούντες εις περιοχήν μόνον τα απαραίτητα δι' ασφάλειαν ταύτης τμήματα. Εάν προβληθεί υπό στασιαστών αντίστασις αύτη δέον εξουδετερωθή αμέσως." Γεώργιος Ράλλης, υπουργός Δημοσίας Τάξεως.
Rallis' ordered the third Army to "neutralize the coup plotters". He told them "he was in contact with the King."
At 8 AM the coup leaders enter the Royal Palace, unarmed, but the 27 year old King did not arrest them.
Our focus is on Brigadier General Stylianos Pattakos' role in the April 21st 1967 coup d'état that overthrew democracy in Greece. He was indispensable to the coup's success because he controlled the tanks in the Attica region. He became Minister of the Interior.
The most amazing thing, was that many of the plotters, were Colonels and beat to the punch the Generals, who were plotting their own coup and arrested Lieutenant General George Spantidakis, a Stefanopoulos appointee, the Commander in Chief of the Greek Army, who was extremely confident of his "control" of the Armed Forces of Greece, as Pattakos observes in the documentary!
Perhaps the saddest thing in the whole affair, was that ex-King Constantine II swore in and thereby legitimized the plotters, rather than arrest them. Furthermore, ex-King Constantine II, far from being a guarantor of democracy, was plotting his own coup with the Generals. A move that was skillfully exploited by the anti-royalists in the December 1974 plebiscite, that sealed the fate of the monarchy in Greece.
It is true that there was political instability in Greece and George Papandreou's "unrelenting struggle" as well as Andreas "revolutionary rhetoric" and ex-King Constantine II interference, divided Greeks sharply and contributed to the political polarization of the country. Demonstrations and counter demonstrations, fights with the police and among the various party supporters, were commonplace. However the Army is not and should not be a decider of elections. This is the role of the people in a democracy. Nor should the Army decide if and when elections are to be held.
Pattakos claims, part of the reason for the coup, was to save Greece from Andreas Papandreou's "revolutionary rhetoric" of forming a government in a central square of Athens, if his father won the upcoming election of May 28th 1967 "whether the King likes it or not". Andreas, subsequently, became Prime Minister of Greece under the PASOK party he created in 1974, but he toned down his rhetoric and stayed within NATO and the EU.
The Junta and Stylianos Pattakos' claims have been seriously challenged and do not have much merit, viewed 40 years later. History has judged the leaders of the coup to be opportunists, who oppressed the Greek people, for seven long years, hang on to power to the bitter end and were responsible with Henry Kissinger for the Cyprus tragedy.
The rank and file junta members were Greek patriots who genuinely worried about the political violence and the possibility of a communist takeover; the cold war was very much a reality in 1967.
It was funny and tragic at the same time, them cartoon characters, with very little brain power among them, kept the Greek people enslaved for seven long years.
Upon his return to Greece, risking his life in the process and under dramatic circumstances, in the early morning hours of July 24th, 1974 aboard the French Presidential jet, of President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the Ethnarch Constantine Karamanlis, put the junta leaders on trial for "rebellion and treason", including the man who executed the coup against the Archbishop Makarios III, Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannidis and Brigadier General Stylianos Pattakos along with the rest of the 1967 coup leaders. They were sentenced to death. That was later commuted to life imprisonment.
The Greek people will always be grateful to the people of France and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, for their military and political support, during the difficult days of 1974 and afterwards.
Length: 326
Rating: 4.70 (32 ratings)
Tags: Diktatoria Junta Stylianos Pattakos Panousopoulos Glezos Rallis Constantine Karamanlis Georgios Papandreou Farmakis
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