ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News


A telegram tucked away in Lyndon Johnson's library in Austin Texas revealed that former Greek Prime Minister Constantinos Mitsotakis the former King of Greece Constantine II and the CIA plotted to oust Prime Minister George Papandreou in 1965.

The document came to light late last week shaking neighboring Greece.

The document revealed a well-plotted conspiracy to overthrow the democratic government of Papandreou – who formed the Center Union party – in 1965 according to the expose by Greek daily Ta Nea published Sunday. The political undertaking was planned down to the last detail at least six months before Papandreou's government was overthrown in July.

Until now it was believed that the King engineered a split in the Center Union and in July 1965 known as apostasia or Iouliana he dismissed the government following a dispute over control of the Defense Ministry. Constantine II openly opposed Papandreou's government and there were frequent ultra-rightist plots in the army which destabilized the government.

The confidential document found in Johnson's library sheds light for the first time on the plotting that took place well before the Iouliana a precursor of the 1967 Junta and the division of the island of Cyprus something media call “The national tragedy of Cyprus” Ta Nea reported.

In a letter to Ta Nea Constantinos Mitsotakis defended himself writing that he had “absolutely no relation” with the royal palace's plot holding that proof of his non-involvement was the fact he did not gain politically from the events. He wrote that the document is important in the dialogue on what happened and that undoubtedly there were many behind the scenes events that took place on many fronts.

The document revealed that the “conspirators” as the media called them had decided that the Prime Ministry would be given to Stephanos Stefanopoulos as indeed happened. Stefanopoulos unable to gain sufficient parliamentary support lost power in 1966.

The CIA document revealed the Greek “conspirators” also were pressuring the American government to avoid finding a solution for the conflict on the island of Cyprus within the United Nations framework after the summer of 1964 when Turkish fighter planes struck Cypriot villages. The reasoning behind this was that a move to peace would increase the people's support for Papandreou whom the defectors wanted to oust.



Leaning left

The main reason for the overturn of Papandreou's government according to media sources was its shift to more “left” positions and the role of his son Andras Papandreou.

The document which remains classified according to the CIA was published after Greek historian Spyros Draina found the document in an envelope sent to then U.S. president Lyndon Johnson and the National Security Council on the situation in Greece.

The document's authenticity was crossed with State Department archives that were recently released. One of the documents released states that the CIA document was a point of conversation between then King Konstantinos and the U.S. Ambassador Henry Labouisse in which the king stated his intention to make a move against the government of Papandreou.