Just like today, in the early hours of July 20, 1974, at 5:20 a.m.,
Turkish forces arrive in Cyprus
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Meanwhile, in Athens, they have no idea.
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Some international agencies have caught on to this
and at 6 a.m., the news is also released to the journalists' offices in Athens
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But these are times of military dictatorship in Athens, and everyone is afraid to take the initiative
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A journalist finally decides to call the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister, Dimitrios Karakostas
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After several rings, Karakostas’s sleepy voice came through
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The journalist, with a slight hesitation, reports that a Turkish invasion has begun.
Karakostas flies into a rage and screams:
Is that why you woke me up at the crack of dawn???";
Who's spouting this nonsense about an invasion?;
We have conflicting information (he probably had the information in his sleep)
Don't bother me again!
and
hangs up on him
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2 hours later,
and since Karakostas had fallen fast asleep,
He arrived at his office, where the harsh truth awaited him….
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a little while ago,
Around 7 a.m., Ioannidis is informed of the events and rushes to the Pentagon
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He went straight to the office of the Chief of the Armed Forces, while the commanders of the Army, Navy, and Air Force also rushed there
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Everyone had literally lost their minds, and chaos reigned.
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most people, because they didn't have the slightest idea, the slightest bit of information
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Ioannidis had been making sure to keep them all in the dark all this time
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Around 7:30, the embassy's ultra-luxurious cars pull up at the Pentagon.
(Don't ask which embassy—there's only one embassy…)
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The well-trained guards give the “present” command and let the cars pass
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The American delegation goes up to the chief's office
and the meeting begins
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Among the Americans were:
Deputy Secretary of State Joseph Sisco,
Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Elsworth,
Ambassador Henry Tasca,
Colonel Everett Marder
and a few more
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On the Greek side, they were:
the commander of the armed forces, General Grigoris Bonanos,
the army chief, Lieutenant General Andreas Galatsanos,
the Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Petros Arapakis,
the Chief of the Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Alexandros Papanikolaou
and
the shadow dictator, Brigadier General Dimitris Ioannidis
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The doors closed, and the meeting began.
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A meeting, as they say…
In essence, it was a speech by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State,
Joseph Sisco,
in English, which very few people understood
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The deputy minister began by saying:
«The situation has been dramatic up until now; now it has become tragic...»
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and goes on to urge
that
We must all do everything we can to avoid evil and destruction.
next
explains that a war between Greece and Turkey must be avoided at all costs because it would be detrimental to everyone
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"Sisco" ends, and all the Greeks look lost.
No one has understood a thing because no one knows English...
that way
Colonel Everett Marder, with his flawless Greek, takes on the task of translating
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As soon as the translation was finished, Ioannidis jumped to his feet in a fit of rage and started shouting
«You deceived us; we will declare war...»
and
He dramatically walks out of the room, slamming the door behind him
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Apparently, he was expecting some Americans to come running after him,
But
The Americans remained unmoved in their positions and continued
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They are trying to explain to the Greek generals in detail why there should be no war between Greece and Turkey
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Most people listened with interest,
because, until then, the Cyprus issue had been under the exclusive jurisdiction of Ioannidis
and wouldn't let anyone get involved; they weren't even kept informed
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This went on for about half an hour, and when they were almost done
and
Since no one had run after him, Ioannidis returned to the room
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Sullen and silent, he, too, sat there listening to the Americans
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They were serious and kept a poker face; once the briefing was over, they got up and left.
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The Greeks were left on their own, and then someone asked Ioannidis:
«Why'd you leave, Mimi???»
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I did it to scare them; I put on a little show….
Ioannidis replied….
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at 8:30 in the morning, as the American cars were leaving the Pentagon,
was enough,
the President of the Republic, Faidon Gizikis,
Prime Minister Adamantios Androutsopoulos,
and a few more members of the government
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A new meeting begins, and everyone listens as Bonano says to carry out a general mobilization,
so that the Turks can see it and not think we don't care
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«YES, now,» everyone agrees
but
Then the Deputy Minister of Coordination, Michalis Balopoulos, jumps in,
who told everyone that as soon as the draft was announced, everyone would withdraw their deposits and we would collapse
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Give me an hour or so so I can close the banks and savings banks.
so
At 10 a.m. on July 20, 1974, a state of emergency was declared
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P.S. Since then, the motto that has prevailed throughout the Greek world has been "I WILL NOT FORGET,",
but I doubt anyone today knows WHAT MUST NEVER BE FORGOTTEN
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Damn it, if there’s even one person who knows that Cyprus was betrayed by the two pillars of patriotic exploitation
the right
and
the army
