April
21st 1967: Military junta in Greece backed by the US
On April
21st 1967, a group of colonels will oust democratic government under
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos administration to take power, claiming that
Greece was under the “Communist danger”. Seven years of
brutality, terror, tortures, political persecutions, exiles, will
follow. The junta will end in 1974 with the biggest tragedy: Turkish
invasion in northern Cyprus, a Kissinger-type plan from the US.
The
seven-year junta will leave its marks in future generations and the
psychosynthesis of modern Greeks.
In the
post-civil war Greece, mainly during 50s, 60s and 70s, interceptions
of citizens from para-state agents and all kinds of informers had
become a routine. Indeed, the Greeks who lived during that time have
plenty, often grotesque, stories to tell around this issue. This
phenomenon, which peaked during the seven years of junta, has
influenced Greek society in such a degree that even today, even the
younger generations who have no memories of such situations,
"inherited" the syndrome of distrust against state
institutions, from the older ones.
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