It will soon be the 40th anniversary of the 24th of July 1974, the day when the military and the people turned a page in the country’s History.
As the years go by, all the dramatic events that led to the collapse of the dictatorship in Athens are historical memories in the bookshelves of History.
The newer generations are often indifferent to the past and are oblivious to the torture that the Greek people was subjected by the junta. Nations without a past have no future though.
Today we must remember Konstantinos Karamanlis who upon his return from his self-exile – which came as a result of the people negative vote – overcame the limitations of the leader of the Conservative Faction in our country. In the annals of History, he stands side-by-side to Eleftherios Venizelos.
Democracy however is not a game with one player, it needs more. Karamanlis wrote History with his management and the reorganization of the military, but thankfully Ilias Iliou – the historic leader of the Left – was also on the table and contributed to the reconstruction of Democracy. With an article in the Avgi newspaper he opened up channels of communication between the far left and the military.
Evangelos Averof, Georgios Rallis, Georgios Mavros, Charilaos Florakis and a host of other Greek politicians tried. And they succeeded in constructing the Democracy that we all enjoy today, with all of its privileges and established democratic rights.
The restoration of Democracy in Greece came and established itself because in our case the “it takes two to tango” rule prevailed… However much we may be blinded by the tries that hide the forest, on the other side of the coin there is Andreas Papandreou. With all of his faults and weaknesses.
Stavros P. Psycharis
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
