Beyond the Bi-Polar World. Greece’s Relations with China, Israel and Africa, 1967-1973 (original) (raw)

American Foreign Policy towards the Colonels’ Greece: Uncertain Allies and the 1967 Coup d’État by Neovi M. Karakatsanis and Jonathan Swarts

Mediterranean Quarterly, 2018

Public opinion polls confirm that Greeks are one of the most anti-American publics in Europe, with roughly over ninety percent of its people holding critical views of the United States. one reason for the pervasive anti-Americanism is the commonly held belief that the United States was actively involved in launching and maintaining in power the military regime that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. For half a century, this perception of American complicity has been common both in the public imagination and in the popular and more scholarly literature on the topic. 1 The view is also nearly universally held by many of the country's political and military elites. The words of several former members of the Greek parliament, nearly thirty years after the launching of the coup, are illustrative of Greek public opinion: [We] know that the coup in Greece was launched with the help of the Americans, and we know that, without US assistance, the coup would not have been successful. … [A]s I said, the dictatorship happened for US political interests. 2

From Dictatorship to Democracy: US-Greek Relations at a Critical Turning Point (1974-1975

Mediterranean Quarterly, 2011

:The essay examines the way US-Greek relations evolved during the first critical year after the collapse of the seven-year military dictatorship in Greece. It is argued that the new prime minister of Greece, Konstantinos Karamanlis, wished to promote cooperation between Athens and Washington but on condition that this cooperation would be equally beneficial for Greece and the United States. That

The Significance of Aligning Greece with the West during the Cold War

2015

When looking at Greece’s Foreign Policy in the 20th century, one can see the clear alignment of Greece with the West. Undoubtedly, Greek Politicians took major long-term decisions, which propelled the country in the West’s sphere of influence. These were: the alliance of Greece with the winners of the First and Second World Wars, Greece’s membership in NATO in 1952, and the entrance of Greece in the European Economic Community in 1981. Although this alignment directed Greek foreign policy to a great extent throughout the Cold War, the subject of Greek-Turkish relations has attracted the interest of a large number of scholars and historians due to its significance in the regional affairs of the Eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, although the topic of Greek-Turkish relations has already been studied extensively, the significance of Greece’s alignment with the West has not been thoroughly assessed. When assessing the effects of this decision, it is evident that it created a foundation for Greece’s economic development and also made a small country in the Mediterranean an important strategic ally for the U.S and Western Europe. However, although one can argue that this alignment came with the cost of abandoning the unification with Cyprus, this analysis will support that the Cyprus issue is a case of missed opportunities since in principle the West favored Greece on the matter. In addition, though some scholars correctly have stressed that the West and particularly the U.S, exerted influence on Greek foreign policy during the Cold War, this analysis will focus on the benefits of this influence. Finally, Greek policy makers often have stated that Greek Foreign Policy has needed and still needs alternatives. However, when looking upon the alternatives during the Cold War, Greece could not consider an option of aligning with the other side of the Iron Curtain. In essence, had Greece not been invited to join the Western camp in the aftermath of the World War Two, it would have looked far from different as we know it today.

Greece and the People’s Republic of China in the Cold War, 1972 – 1989

Janick Schaufelbuehl, Marco Wyss and Valeria Zanier (eds.), Europe and China in the Cold War: Exchanges Beyond the Bloc Logic and the Sino-Soviet Split, 2019

This chapter explores the development of relations between Greece and the People’s Republic of China, as well as Greek perceptions of the latter, from late 1971, when the Greek junta initiated the process of re-establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing, to 1989. This chapter aims to provide a first brief, yet comprehensive, account of Sino-Greek political, diplomatic and economic/trade relations during this period. The two states established relations in June 1972. After the fall of the Greek junta in July 1974, both the conservative government of Konstantinos Karamanlis and the socialist one under Andreas Papandreou pursued a ‘multidimensional’ foreign policy. The two states reached a mutual understanding on a series of political issues around the globe, but opportunities of further political and/or economic cooperation did not actually arise. Athens would not go so far as to let its contacts with the PRC disturb a recent improvement in Greek-Soviet relations, while Chinese officials maintained a policy of ‘equal distance’ regarding Greece and Turkey. Even so, contacts between the Greek and the Chinese leadership continued and, overall, relations between Greece and the PRC remained friendly. The Tiananmen Square Massacre dealt a severe blow to the image of China in Greece, though.

The Relevance ofDétenteto American Foreign Policy: The Case of Greece, 1967–1979

Diplomacy & Statecraft, 2014

This article contributes to the historiography of détente from an original viewpoint, namely the relationship between the United States and Greece. It substantiates the argument that the supposed spirit of détente did not help lessen American realpolitik considerations concerning Greece and its surrounding geostrategic region; in fact, the more Cold War antagonisms intensified in the region, the more Greece was locked in the morass of superpower rivalries. This tendency was also, ironically, re-invigorated following Greece's adoption of its own Ostpolitik largely thanks to the spirit of détente. This paradigm was reflected in the policy of the four successive American administrations between 1967 and 1979 during which détente had become the most popular notion in the Cold War lexicon.

Greek–Soviet relations 1959–1962: the Greek response to the Kremlin's challenge

2021

In 1959–62, relations between Greece and the USSR entered a new phase. The tactics of the Soviet Union regarding Cyprus in 1955–9 did not pay off, as the rift between Greece, Turkey, and NATO was largely bridged in the aftermath of the 1959 Cyprus agreements. However, the search for a Cold War détente engendered pervasive insecurity in a frontline state like Greece, always afraid that its larger allies might abandon it. Nuclear intimidation, Greek anti-communism on the one hand; on the other, the impressive development of trade relations, created a complex environment. This article, based on the archives of the Greek Foreign Ministry, and the personal archive of the Greek prime minister, Constantine Karamanlis, discusses Athens’ response to the new Soviet policy.

The Greek Dictatorship, the USA and the Arabs, 1967-74

Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, 2004

This paper is based primarily on the heavily censored Athens press, interviews with Brigadier Stylianos Pattakos, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and the memoirs of Spyros Markezinis, leader of a military-authorized civilian government in October-November 1973. Its chief aim is to examine Greece’s reaction to the various crises in the Near East in the years 1967-73 in relation to the US interests in the area, especially with regard to Cyprus and Israel.