On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the military coup of April 21, 1967 in Greece, Spiegel magazine publishes an extensive article in its electronic edition. Entitled "When Democracy Died in Its Cradle", Spiegel Online recalls the developments that led to the imposition of the seven-year colonel junta, hosting testimonies from left-wing politician and author Periklis Korovesis.
According to the German magazine, "the new authorities claimed that they were rescuing Greece from a possible communist takeover. They promised that their status was well-intentioned and would be maintained for a short transitional period. - nothing but lies. The army remained in power for seven years. "Thousands of Greeks were arrested, tortured and exiled."
The article points out that "the coup has put the country and its political leadership to sleep. "Special forces and armor left the camps shortly after one o'clock at night and by sunrise they had put Athens under their control."
The article describes how the coup operatives acted on the basis of the Prometheus plan, which, as it is clarified, "was intended in the event of a communist uprising or a Soviet invasion". The article notes that the junta declared the country under siege by suspending eleven articles of the Constitution, while supporters of the left and potential opponents (s.s. of the regime) were arrested. At the end of the first week, according to Amnesty International estimates, at least 8.000 people were in prison. "
The anthem of April 21, 1967:
The coup leaders are dead, their ideas are alive
As Spiegel Online writes, "the most famous members of the resistance movement included the writer and journalist Periklis Korovesis, who until 2009 was a member of SYRIZA. (…) Korovesis had testified before the Council of Europe about the torture he suffered. The relevant report became a point of reference in the media worldwide and was later published as a book in several languages ".
The anthem to the dictator George Papadopoulos: (!)
Periklis Korovesis, now 75 years old, describes to the correspondent of the German magazine from "his small apartment in Patissia" his arrest and the tortures he suffered in the Security buildings. "He was beaten repeatedly, electrocuted and subjected to virtual executions. "In his book he also describes flogging of the soles of the feet (phalanx), one of the favorite methods of torturers", writes Spiegel Online.
After the fall of the junta in 1974, "none of the coup leaders ever showed remorse. And no one lives today. (…) However, their deaths did not prevent the new strengthening of their ideology ", the German magazine comments, referring to the upward course of Golden Dawn from the political margin to its entry into parliament.
According to the German magazine, the current debt crisis in Greece has allowed the emergence of the values of the coup plotters, the triptych Patrice - Religion - Family, combined with a hostile attitude towards Western values. "Some Greeks compare the junta to the EU and believe that democracy and freedom have died once again because of the austerity imposed by European creditors," the report said.
For his part, Periklis Korovesis considers "irrational" the view "that today we live under a new junta. "If that were the case, you and I would not be able to talk freely here today," he told the German magazine's correspondent.
Source: Deutche Welle