The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
HISTORY OF ATHENS
Post-War
Period
The last four decades
The
1970s found the Greek society moving in the maelstrom of the colonels’
dictatorship, who tried to disguise the oppressive regime that
they had imposed through strong economic policies (creation of
high growth rates). A characteristic of that period was the generous
funding of various economic activities, usually in order to secure
foreign investments. At the same time, the adoption of a corrupt
dominating pattern of economic relations (without giving any emphasis
on competition and productivity) created explosive inflationary
pressures during the first years of the 1970s.
The
international oil crisis of 1973 led to a general increase of
goods and a two-figure inflation, which would constitute an inherent
phenomenon in Greek economy for decades. High recession affected
sectors of activity, such as building and construction, while
emigrant and foreign travel exchange had been temporarily reduced
along with public investments.
Enormous
expenses on heavy military equipment meant that reforms in state
infrastructure (e.g. education,
health) became of secondary importance. Conditions in employment
did not develop normally during the second half of the decade
with unemployment rising, intensifying strikes etc.
In
1975, following a referendum to confirm the deposition of King
Constantine II, a democratic republican constitution came into
force. Another previously exiled politician, Andreas Papandreou
also returned and founded the socialist PASOK party. A new constitution
was approved by parliament on 19 June 1975 and Constantine Tsatsos
was elected as President of the republic.
N17
November
17, also know as 17N or N17 and named after the Polytechnic uprising
against the junta, was formed in 1975. Since the Regime of the
Colonels was backed by the United States as part of that country's
anti-Communist efforts, this newly-founded terrorist group often
attacked American targets.
The
group's first attack in December 1975, was directed against the
Athens station chief of the CIA, Richard Welch, who was gunned
down outside his residence. After the 1983 slaying of Nikos Momferatos,
a note was found which stated that Greece "remained a puppet
regime in the hands of the American imperialists and the economic
establishment".
In
addition to its anti-American agenda, the group was also opposed
to Turkey and NATO. In total, N17 has conducted 19 attacks against
U.S. targets and 9 against Turks. However, the majority of the
103 attacks carried out between 1975 and 2002 were directed against
right wing Greeks and Greek companies.
One
of their most prominent targets was New Democracy member Pavlos
Bakoyannis, who was gunned down in Athens in September 1989. Other
victims included:
•
George Tsantes Jr, Captain in the United States Navy and head
of JUSMAGG (Joint
United States Military Aid Group to Greece), together
with his Greek driver, was shot
dead on 15 November 1983
• on 21 February 1983, Nikos Momferatos, the publisher
of the conservative newspaper
Apogevmatini, was shot in downtown Athens
• one of Tsantes' successors, Captain William Nordeen
U.S.N., was killed by a car
bomb a few meters from his residence, as he drove past
by on 28 June 1988
• U.S. Air Force Sergeant Ronald O. Stewart was killed
by a car bomb outside his
residence on 12 March 1991 in an anti-Gulf War protest
• Cetin Gorgu, a Turkish press attaché, was shot
in his car on 7 October 1991
• Omer Haluk Sipahioglu, a Turkish Embassy official was
shot in an Athens street on
4 July 1994
• Anglo-Hellenic shipping tycoon Constantinos Peratikos
was shot when he was
leaving his office on 28 May 1997
• Brigadier Stephen Saunders was shot in his car on his
way to work on 8 June 2000
By
no means, the above list is complete.
In
many attacks, N17 used a .38 caliber pistol taken from a policeman
killed in 1984 or a .45 M1911 handgun, which became their trademark.
Even though face to face assassination was most used by the group
as modus operandi, they also used rockets and bombs on over 55
occasions starting with an attack on a Greek police bus in which
14 police men were wounded and 1 was killed.
After
their attack on CIA station chief, Richard Welch in 1975, the
group tried to get mainstream newspapers to publish their manifesto
but none did so. After subsequent attacks, N17 usually sent a
communiqué to the Eleftherotypia newspaper. In this and
later communiqués, N17 stated that they wanted to free
Greece of U.S. bases, to remove the Turkish military from Cyprus
and to sever Greece's ties to the NATO and the European Union.
As
no member of the group could be identified or arrested during
that period, N17 carried out its attacks unpunished between
1975 and 2002. On 29 June 2002, the Greek
authorities captured Savvas Xiros who was injured following a
failed bombing attempt on the Flying Dolphin Company in Piraeus.
An investigation led to the discovery of two safe houses and
to the arrest of a further six suspects, including two brothers
of Savvas. Alexandros Giotopoulos, 58-year-old professor and
economist, was identified as the group leader and was arrested
on 17 July on the island of Lipsi. On 5 September, Dimitris
Koufodinas, who was the group's chief of operations, surrendered
to the authorities.
In
all, nineteen terrorists were charged with some 2.500 offences
relating to the activities of N17. Because of the 20-year statute
of limitations, crimes committed before 1984 could not be tried
by the court. On 8 December fifteen of the accused, including
A. Giotopoulos and D. Koufodinas, were found guilty. Four were
acquitted for lack of evidence.
The
convicted members were sentenced on 17 December 2003 with A. Giotopoulos
sentenced to 21 life terms, the heaviest sentence in modern Greek
legal history. Koufodinas received 13 life terms, Christodoulos
Xeros receive 10 life terms, Savvas Xeros six, Vassilis Tzortzatos
four and Iraklis Kostaris one. Lesser sentences were imposed for
the remaining nine
Also
in 1975, 24 members of the military dictatorship appeared before
a special court to be sentenced.
Sentence
Name
Dishonorable
discharge and condemned to death
George
Papadopoulos
Stylianos Pattakos
Condemned
to death
Nikolaos
Makarezos
Dishonorable
discharge and life imprisonment
Gregory
Spandidakis
Antonios Lekkas
Nikolaos Dertilis
Dimitrios Ioannidis
Michael Balopoulos
George Constantopoulos
Theodore Theophiloyannakos
Discharge
and life imprisonment
George
Zoitakis
Life
imprisonment
Ioannis
Ladas
Constantine Papadopoulos
Michael Rouphogalis
Dimitrios Stamatelopoulos
Stephanos Karaberis
The
death sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment
The elections of 1977 were won again by New Democracy with 42%.
However, with 12% in less than three years, the losses were significant.
In these elections the centre, the last pole of the pro-dictatorship
two-party system (ERE-EK), collapsed and the radical party of
Andreas Papandreou, PASOK, became the main opposition party, gathering
25% of the electorate. Charilaos Florakis’ KKE was the strongest
(10%) left party, while the alliance of the smaller leftist parties
shrank. In May 1980 Karamanlis was elected President. A few days
later, Georgios Rallis succeeded Karamanlis as Prime Minster.
Since
the restoration of democracy, the stability and economic prosperity
of Greece had grown. Greece joined the European Union as its 10th
member in 1981 and adopted the Euro as its currency in 2001. New
infrastructure, funds from the EU and growing revenues from tourism,
shipping, services, light industry and the telecommunications
industry have brought Greeks an unprecedented standard of living.
In
the parliamentary elections held on 18 October 1981, Greece elected
its first socialist government when the Panhellenic Socialist
Movement (PASOK), led by Andreas Papandreou, won 172 of 300 seats.
On 29 March 1985, after Prime Minister Papandreou declined to
support President Karamanlis for a second term, Supreme Court
Justice Christos Sartzetakis was elected president by the Greek
parliament.
Greece
had two rounds of parliamentary elections in 1989; both produced
weak coalition governments with limited mandates. Party leaders
withdrew their support in February 1990, and elections were held
on 8 April. New Democracy, led by Constantine Mitsotakis, won
150 seats in that election and subsequently gained two others.
After Mitsotakis dismissed Antonis Samaras, his first Foreign
Minister, in 1992 Samaras formed his own political party, Political
Spring. A split between Mitsotakis and Samaras led to the collapse
of the New Democracy government and new elections in September
1993 resulted in Papandreou’s return to power.
Because
of health problems, Papandreou resigned on 17 January 1996. He
was replaced as Prime Minister by former Minister of Industry
Costas Simitis. Simitis won elections in 1996 and 2000. In 2004
Simitis retired and George Andreas Papandreou succeeded him as
PASOK leader. In the March 2004 elections, however, PASOK was
defeated by New Democracy, led by Costas Caramanlis, the nephew
of the former President.
On
12 December 2004, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, leader of
the New Democracy governing party, and George Papandreou, leader
of the PASOK opposition, nominated Karolos Papoulias as for the
position of President, which is chosen by the Parliament. On 8
February 2005, he was elected by an overwhelming parliamentary
majority of 279 votes to serve a five-year term. He was sworn
in as President on 12 March 2005.
Tensions
continue to exist between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus and the
delimitation of borders in the Aegean Sea but relations have considerably
thawed following successive earthquakes, first in Turkey and then
in Greece, and an outpouring of sympathy and generous assistance
by ordinary Greeks and Turks.