An End to Medieval Darkness

Greece's first civilian Cabinet in more than seven years moved confidently last week to consolidate its power. Despite the urgent demands of the Cyprus crisis, which has brought his country to the brink of war with Turkey, new Premier Constantine Caramanlis worked methodically to erase the remnants of repression by the military junta's iron-fisted rule--what one newspaper newly freed from censorship called the "days of medieval darkness."

He restored the Greek constitution of 1952, guaranteeing civil rights to all Greeks; the junta had abolished it in 1967. A Cabinet spokesman promised that a referendum would be held "in due time" to decide whether Greece would remain a republic or again become a monarchy. He pledged "the formation of a democracy in which all Greeks will have a voice." In the meantime, the Cabinet would legislate by decree. At Caramanlis' urging, the Cabinet fired all the military-appointed provincial prefects and all secretaries-general of the government ministries. Most of Greece's ambassadors and top officials of the national bank, the government-controlled radio and television network and the official Athens News Agency are expected to be removed next. Minister of Education Nicolaos Louros plans to revise school texts, poems and songs to rid them of their pro-junta slant.

Much of the country's political left has expressed satisfaction with the pace of Caramanlis' reforms. Charalambos Dracopoulos, the secretary of the relatively moderate "interior" wing of the outlawed Communist Party, declared that "this government is a great step forward." He demonstrated his confidence by meeting with a small group of foreign journalists--the first time in three decades that a Communist leader has dared to meet openly with the press. Student activists, who triggered last year's anti-junta demonstrations, also seem willing to give Caramanlis a chance. Said one student at Athens Polytechnic: "Caramanlis may not be our idea of the man of the future, but we have received him as a guarantor of democracy."

The left's confidence in the new Premier probably results mainly from his inclusion of left-of-center ministers in his largely center-right Cabinet. Heading the Ministry of Industry is Socialist Charalambos Protopappas, who tried in vain to build a social welfare movement in Greece. George Magakis, a liberal academic who was imprisoned by the junta, is Minister of Public Works, and Economist loannis Pesmatzoglou, a former deputy governor of the Bank of Greece and an advocate of social democratic policies, is Minister of Finance.

Allaying Fears. The leftists vocally critical of Caramanlis are the "exterior" (pro-Moscow) wing of the Communist Party and Andreas Papandreou, the maverick radical who has lived in exile for six and a half years. Papandreou insists that the new government was a creation of the CIA and is still in the hands of the armed forces.

Papandreou's charge reflected some of the continuing concern in Greece over the military's potential influence over the government. Because the members of the junta voluntarily turned the government over to civilian rule after the Cyprus debacle, they may feel that they have the right to take over again if they think Caramanlis' reforms go too far. They certainly have the power, since key members of the former regime still hold high positions in the armed forces.

To allay such fears, Caramanlis revealed that he had agreed to become Premier only after being promised that "the armed forces would return to their duties and not in any way interfere with the policymaking of my government."

He added: "I wish to declare that these conditions are respected to the letter and that the government controls the situation and freely formulates its policy."

As if to emphasize Caramanlis' words, the Cabinet last week restored to the civilians in the Ministry of Defense complete authority over the armed forces. The E.S.A., the hated military police, was deprived of its powers to arrest and interrogate civilians. It was the E.S.A. that Brigadier General Dimitrios loannidis used to make himself the junta's strongman and terrorize the Greek populace. Widely blamed for planning the coup against Cyprus' President Makarios, which led to the Turkish invasion, loannidis has not been seen publicly since the civilian government was installed. He has been stripped of his power and placed on inactive service for the next six months.

No Purges. The lingering question: Can Caramanlis make all this stick? He may currently be independent, but he realizes that he must not completely alienate the generals. His Minister of Public Order, Solon Ghikas, has already promised that there would be no purges among the National Security Forces. Last week's signing of a Cyprus ceasefire agreement may have angered some ultra-nationalists but it may also have relaxed some of the tensions between the new government and the military, for the generals were no doubt painfully aware that it was the best that Greece could get in the face of Turkey's superior military power. The Geneva declaration was almost entirely in Turkey's favor (see story page 27), but as one civil servant in Athens observed: "The people blame the junta for the whole mess and so they know that they have to pay the price of an unfavorable bargain."

Beyond Cyprus and establishing the authority of his government, Caramanlis must take bold measures to strengthen Greece's shaky economy, which has been aggravated since the Cyprus crisis began July 15--an estimated $400 million lost in tourism, foreign remittances and shipping, and a 40% cut in industrial production. So far, Caramanlis has demonstrated an impressive ability to make the most of a grim situation. Yet he still has a long way to go--politically and economically--if he is to succeed in constructing a democracy on the ruins of the junta's dictatorship.

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