Word: junta
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...exquisite ironies. It was the arrogance of his predecessors, the Greek military dictatorship that had masterminded the overthrow of Archbishop Makarios as a move toward unification of Greece and Cyprus, that led to the Turkish invasion of the island July 20 and the fall of the inept junta in Athens. Now, if Caramanlis gives in totally to the Turks, his new government may in its turn collapse and the military-or a much less likely dictatorship of the left-may once again come back...
...Turks. Last week, in a follow-up move that showed his confidence, he sacked the country's ten leading generals and replaced them with men of his own choice. He also purged former Strongman Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannides, who had led the dreaded military police under the junta and who was widely blamed for planning the move against Makarios. Partially to thwart the left and the left's leading figure, Andreas Papandreou, 55, he pulled Greece out of NATO and pointedly hinted that he might close American bases in Greece. Both steps are long-sought goals...
There is every indication that Kissinger and the State Department knew of the Greek junta's planned coup in Cyprus a long time in advance. Although the official U.S. line is that the junta was warned of the possible consequences of the act, there is no evidence that the U.S. made real efforts to stop the Greeks from engineering the Cyprus coup. Judging from past statements and policies, this probably was because Kissinger and the State Department had long been irritated by the neutrality of Cyprus President Archbishop Makarios in the light of U.S. bids to strengthen NATO's base...
...whatever initiative and leverage his reputation could have brought to the cause. All along Kissinger showed no sign of alarm or awareness to the potential dangers the situation posed in Cyprus--highly uncharacteristic of the meticulous and generally extremely foresighted professor. While Kissinger appeared willing to aid the Greek junta, he didn't even make a move to ease the Turkish invasion of Cyprus once the new Greek government was installed. For some reason, the repressive Greek military dictatorship could arouse sympathy and support that the new government is unable to get from Kissinger...
...will remain in peace more than a year indicates that the solution Kissinger engineered is far from permanent. Kissinger still is not willing to depart from the basic framework that has characterized American foreign policy since World War II. This is obvious in Cyprus, where he stayed by the junta that was sympathetic to the U.S. over the Soviet Union, refused to protect a democratic government that was neutral, and jumped to side with Turkey when it seemed possible to lure them more into the U.S. camp and further from the Soviet Union. It held true in Vietnam and Korea...