CIA+Coup+(Involvement+in+Greece)

Home February 1964 July 1965 Methods of Torture Greece 1967 CIA Coup (Involvement in Greece) =**Greece**=

//CIA Coup// The CIA Coup had taken place two days before the national elections because the elections promised to bring the veteran liberal leader George Papandreou back as prime minister. Therefore the plot to make sure he does not win take place went underway. It was a joint effort of the Royal Court, the Greek Military, the American military and the CIA who were stationed in Greece. Philip Deane, a former UN official, worked as a messenger to Washington for the Papandreou government. He wrote about this conspiracy to "enhance the position of the military plotters, and of the raw power exercised by the CIA in his country. ... Greece was looked upon much as a piece of property to be developed according to Washington's needs. During this time period, Greece and Turkey were having a dispute over Cyrus and it was spilling over onto NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization it was an agreement of defense in response to an attack by any external party). Gen. Loannides attemped in July 1974 to overthrow Archbishop Makarios, the President of Cyprus, brought Greece to the brink of war with Turkey, which invaded Cyprus and occupied part of the island. "President Lyndon Johnson met with the Greek ambassador and told him somewhat of the plot. President Johnson was quoted saying: "fuck your Parliament and your Constitution. America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea. If these two fleas continue itching the elephant, they may just get whacked by the elephant's trunk, whacked good.... We pay a lot of good American dollars to the Greeks, Mr. Ambassador. If your Prime Minister gives me talk about Democracy, Parliament and Constitutions, he, his Parliament and his Constitution may not last very long". After telling President Lyndon Johnson that this plot was unacceptable, Johnson threatened the Ambassador by referring to America as an elephant who might smack Greece with its trunk. In July 1965, George Papandreou was finally maneuvered out of office by royal sanction. King Constantine had an alliance with Center Union Deputies, who were Papandreou's party, and rightists (who believed the ideology of the political right) were waiting in the wings to form a new government, now that Papandreou was out of the picture. Later it was learned that John Maury who was the CIA Chief-of-Station in Athens worked with Greece in 1965. Furthermore, he helped King Constantine

persuade Center Union Deputes so that Papandreou's government could be toppled. For two years there was no official government in Greece, so cabinets ruled over Greece. On April 21, 1967, just before scheduled elections, a group of colonels led by Col. George Papadopoulos seized power in a coup d'etat. The junta suppressed civil liberties, established special military courts, and dissolved political parties. Several thousand political opponents were imprisoned or exiled to remote Greek islands. Andreas Papandreou who was given the American citizenship by Pres. Johnson had "betrayed America". President Johnson said: "We gave the son of a bitch American citizenship, didn't we? He was an American, with all the rights and privileges. And he had sworn allegiance to the flag. And then he gave up his American citizenship. He went back to just being a Greek. You can't trust a man who breaks his oath of allegiance to the flag of these United States. He leaned toward opening relations with the Soviet Union and other Communist countries on Greece's border. Therefore Johnson viewed him as a threat to Democracy. Under the seven year rule of Papadopoulos civilians were being tortured by the Secret police in Greece. James Becket, an American attorney was sent to Greece by Amnesty International and in his report he said: " some torturers had told prisoners that some of their equipment had come as US military aid: a special "thick white double cable" whip was one Item; another was the headscrew, known as an "iron wreath", which was progressively tightened around the head or ears and other methods of torture were used. At the trials held in 1975 of junta members and torturers, many witnesses made reference to the American role. However, politicians argued that for the sake of preserving good relations with the US, the evidence should not be made public. Therefore no one really knows what happened.



(//Third World Traveler: Greece 1964-1967 by William Blum//. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Greece_KH.htmlhttp://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/biography/ //) (History of Greece:George and Andreas Papandreou by Dmitri Kessel// [|http://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/biography/)] (U.S Department of State **//Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs// November 2007** http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3395.htm)