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Konstantinos Karamanlis (Κωνσταντίνος Καραμανλής in Greek; 8 March 1907 - 23 April 1998) was a towering figure of Greek politics.
Early life
He was born in the town of Küpköy, Macedonia, Ottoman Empire (now Proti (Πρώτη), Macedonia, Greece). He became a Greek citizen in 1913, after Macedonia was liberated in the aftermath of the Second Balkan War. His father was Georgios Karamanlis, a teacher who fought during the national struggle of the Greeks in Macedonia, in 1904-1908. After spending his childhood in Macedonia, he went to Athens to attain his degree in Law. He practiced law in Serres, entered politics with the conservative People's Party (Laikon Komma) and was elected Member of Parliament for the first time at the age of 28, in the last elections held before World War II. Due to health problems, Karamanlis did not participate in the Greco-Italian War.
First Premiership
After World War II, Karamanlis quickly rose through the ranks of Greek politics. His rise was strongly supported by fellow party-member and close friend Lampros Eutaxias who served as Minister of Agriculture under the premiership of Konstantinos Tsaldaris. Karamanlis's first cabinet position was Minister of Employment in 1947 under the same administration. Karamanlis eventually became Minister of Public Works in the Greek Rally (Hellenikos Synagermos) administration under Prime Minister Alexander Papagos. He won the admiration of the U.S. Embassy for the efficiency with which he built road infrastructure and administered American aid programs.Laurence Stern, The Wrong Horse, (1977) p.17.
When Alexandros Papagos died after a brief illness, U.S. Ambassador John Peurifoy counseled King Paul of Greece to appoint the young Karamanlis as Prime Mininster.Ibid. p.17. The King did so, thus bypassing Stephanos Stephanopoulos and Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, the two senior Synagermos politicians who were widely considered as the heavyweights most likely to succeed Papagos. Karamanlis first became prime minister in 1955, and reorganized the Greek Rally as the National Radical Union (Ethnike Rizospastike Enosis). He won solid majorities in three successive elections (1956, 1958 and 1961).
In 1959 he announced a five-year plan (1960–64) for the Greek economy, emphasizing improvement of agricultural and industrial production, heavy investment on infrastructure and the promotion of tourism. On the international front, Karamanlis abandoned the government's previous strategic goal for enosis (the unification of Greece and Cyprus) in favor of independence for Cyprus. In 1958, his government engaged in negotiations with the United Kingdom and Turkey, which culminated in the Zurich Agreement as a basis for a deal on the independence of Cyprus. In 1959 the plan was ratified in London by Makarios III.
The Merten affair
Max Merten was Kriegverwaltungsrat (military administration counselor) of the Nazi occupation forces in Thessaloniki. He was convicted in Greece and sentenced to a 25 year term as a war criminal in 1959. The arrest of the nazi war criminal caused the ire of Queen Frederica, a former Hitler Youth member herself, who protested "turning the past into vampires" and wondered whether "this is the way mister district attorney understands the development of German and Greek relations"Giannis Katris, "The Birth of Neofascism in Greece", Papazisis Editions, pp 100-106. On the 3rd of November of that year, Merten benefited from an amnesty for war criminals, and was set free and extradited to the Federal Republic of Germany, after immense political and economic pressure from West Germany (which, at the time, hosted thousands of Greek economic immigrants).Kathimerini on the Merten affair In Germany, Merten was eventually acquitted from all charges due to "lack of evidence."
On 28 September 1960 German newspapers Hamburger Echo and Der Spiegel published excerpts of Merten's deposition to the German authorities where Merten claimed that Karamanlis, the then Minister of the Interior Takos Makris and his wife Doxoula (whom he described as Karamanlis's niece) along with then Deputy Minister of Defense George Themelis were informers during the Nazi occupation of Greece. Merten alleged that Karamanlis and Makris were rewarded for their services with a business in Thessaloniki which belonged to a Greek Jew sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He also alleged that he had pressured Karamanlis and Makris grant amnesty and release him from prison.
Karamanlis rejected the claims as unsubstantiated and absurd, and accused Merten of attempting to extort money from him prior to making the statements. He also pointed out the incongruous nature of the claims ; for example, Doxoula Makri and himself were not related in any manner, contrary to Merten's allegations. The West German government also decried the accusations as calumniatory and libelous. Karamanlis accused the opposition party of instigating a smear campaign against him. Although Karamanlis never pressed charges against Merten, charges were pressed in Greece against Der Spiegel by Takos and Doxoula Makris and Themelis, and the magazine was found guilty for slander in 1963. Merten did not appear to testify during the Greek court proceedings. The Merten Affair remained at the center of political discussions until early 1961.
Merten's accusations against Karamanlis were not corroborated either by evidence, or by other witnesses in a court of law. Today, even ardent critics of Karamanlis consider them slanderous. One such critic, historian Giannis Katris, has argued that Karamanlis should have resigned the premiership and pressed charges against Merten as a private individual in German courts, in order to fully clear his name. Nonetheless, even Giannis Katris rejects the accusations as "unsubstantiated" and "obviously fallacious".Giannis Katris, "The Birth of Neofascism in Greece", Papazisis Editions, pp 100-106
Self-Exile
During the elections of 29 October, 1961, ERE won 50.80% of popular vote. On October 31, George Papandreou stated that the electoral results were due to widespread vote-rigging and fraud. Karamanlis replied electoral fraud, to the extent that it happened, was masterminded by the Palace. Political tension escalated, as Papandreou refused to recognize the Karamanlis government. On 14 November 1961 he initiated an "unrelenting struggle" ("ανένδοτο αγώνα") against Karamanlis.
Tension between Karamanlis and the Palace escalated even further as Karamanlis vetoed fundraising initiatives undertaken by Queen Frederika. On 17 June 1963 Karamanlis resigned the premiership after a disagreement with King Paul of Greece, and spent four months abroad. In the meantime the country was in turmoil following the assassination of Dr. Gregoris Lambrakis, a leftist member of Parliament, by right-wing extremists during a pro-peace demonstration in Thessaloniki. The opposition parties castigated Karamanlis as a moral accomplice to the assassination.
In November the National Radical Union (ERE), under his leadership, was defeated by the Center Union under George Papandreou in the general election. Disappointed with the result, Karamanlis fled Greece under the name Triantafyllides. He spent the next 11 years in self-imposed exile in Paris, France. Karamanlis was succeeded by Panagiotis Kanellopoulos as the ERE leader.
In 1966, Constantine II of Greece sent his envoy Demetrios Bitsios to Paris on mission to convince Karamanlis to return to Greece and resume a role in Greek politics. According to uncorroborated claims made by the former monarch only after both men had died, in 2006, Karamanlis replied to Bitsios that he would return under the condition that the King were to wage martial law, as was his constitutional prerogative. Alexis Papachelas, "Constantine Speaks", TO BHMA, 29 January 2006.
U.S. journalist Cyrus L. Sulzberger has separately claimed that Karamanlis flew to New York to visit Lauris Norstad and lobby U.S. support for a coup d'état in Greece that would establish a strong conservative regime under himself; Sulzberger alleges that Norstad declined to involve himself in such affairs. C.L. Sulzberger, "Postscript with a Chinese Accent," Publisher MACMILLAN PUBLISHING CO, 1974, p. 277.
Sulzberger's account, which unlike that of the former King was delivered during the lifetime of those implicated (Karamanlis and Norstad), rested solely on the authority of his and Norstad's word.
When in 1997 the former King reiterated Sulzberger's allegations, Karamanlis stated that he "will not deal with the former king's statements because both their content and attitude are unworthy of comment."Karamanlis reaction from Ta Nea The deposed King's adoption of Sulzberger's claims against Karamanlis was castigated by left-leaning media, typically critical of Karamanlis, as "shameless" and "brazen".Reaction from the Left: Ta Nea It bears noting that, at the time, the former King referred exclusively to Sulzberger's account, to support the theory of a planned coup by Karamanlis, and made no mention of the alleged 1966 meeting with Bitsios, which he would refer to only after both participants had died and could not respond.
On 21 April 1967, constitutional order was usurped by a coup d'état led by Syntagmatarkhis George Papadopoulos. The King accepted to swear in the dictatorship as the legitimate government of Greece, but launched an abortive counter-coup to overthrow the junta eight months later. Constantine and his family then fled the country.
The Stazi smear campaign
In 2001, former agents of the Eastern German secret police Stazi, claimed to Greek investigative reporters that during the Cold War, they had orchestrated an operation of evidence falsification,Mega channel television, Gkrizes Zwnes, 2001" Greek press on Stazi falsifications in order to present Constantine Karamanlis as having planned a coup and thus damage his reputation, in an apparent disinformation propaganda campaign.Greek press on Stazi campaign The operation allegedly centered on a falsified conversation between Karamanlis and German official Strauss. They also alleged that a photograph of the former New Democracy leader Constantine Mitsotakis standing next to a uniformed Nazi officer, that had been repeatedly published by the PASOK-leaning Greek daily Avriani, was in fact a photomontage fabricated in Bulgaria. Their disclosures have not been challenged to this day.
Second Premiership
Throughout his stay in France, Karamanlis was a vocal opponent of the Régime of the Colonels, the military junta that seized power in Greece in April 1967.
Following the Cyprus debacle, the heads of the Greek military withdrew their support of Junta strongman Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannides. On 23 July 1974, Junta-appointed President Phaedon Gizikis called a meeting of old politicians, including Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Spiros Markezinis, Stephanos Stephanopoulos, Evangelos Averoff and others. The agenda was to appoint a national unity government that would lead to country to elections.
Although former Prime Minister Panagiotis Kanellopoulos was originally backed, Gizikis finally invited Karamanlis to assume that role. Karamanlis returned to Athens on a French Presidency Lear Jet made available to him by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, a close personal friend, and was sworn-in as Prime Minister under President Phaedon Gizikis.
Despite being faced with an inherently unstable and dangerous political situation, which forced him to sleep aboard a yacht watched over by a destroyer for several weeks after his return, Karamanlis moved swiftly to defuse the tension between Greece and Turkey, which were on the brink of war over the Cyprus crisis, and begin the steadfast process of transition from military rule to a pluralist democracy. At the same time he also freed all political prisoners and pardoned all political crimes against the junta.Rise and decline of Democracy: online article Following through with his reconciliation theme he also adopted a measured approach to removing collaborators and appointees of the dictatorship from the positions they held in government bureaucracy, and declared that free elections would be held in November 1974, four months after the collapse of the Régime of the Colonels.
In those elections, Karamanlis with his newly formed conservative party, not coincidentally named New Democracy (Greek: Νέα Δημοκρατία, transliterated in English as: Nea Demokratia) obtained a massive parliamentary majority and was elected Prime Minister. The elections were soon followed by the 1974 plebiscite on the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Hellenic Republic, the televised 1975 trials of the former dictators (who received death sentences for high treason and mutiny that were later commuted to life incarceration) and the writing of the 1975 constitution.
In 1977, New Democracy again won the elections, and Karamanlis continued to serve as Prime Minister until 1980.
First and Second Presidency
Following his signing of the Accession Treaty with the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in 1980, Karamanlis relinquished the Premiership and elevated himself to the Presidency, and in 1981 he oversaw Greece's formal entry into the European Economic Community. He served until 1985, before being succeeded by Christos Sartzetakis.
In 1990 he was re-elected President by a conservative parliamentary majority (under the conservative government of then Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis) and served until 1995, when he was succeeded by Kostis Stephanopoulos.
Legacy
Karamanlis retired in 1995, at the age of 88, having won 5 parliamentary elections, and having spent 14 years as Prime Minister, 10 years as President of the Republic, and a total of more than sixty years in active politics. For his long service to democracy and the European cause Karamanlis was awarded the Karlspreis in 1978. He died after a short illness in 1998, at the age of 91. He bequeathed his archives to the Konstantinos Karamanlis Foundation,Konstantinos G. Karamanlis Foundation website a conservative think tank he had founded and endowed.
His nephew Kostas Karamanlis is now the leader of the New Democracy party (Nea Demokratia), and Prime Minister as of 7 March, 2004.
Karamanlis has been praised for presiding over an early period of fast economic growth for Greece (1957-61) and for masterminding the sucessful Greek bid for membership into the emerging economic community of European nations, which eventually became the European Union.
His supporters came to laud him as the charismatic Ethnarches (National Leader). Some of his left-wing opponents have accused him of condoning of a "para-state" comprising rightist anti-communist groups, whose members undertook Via kai Notheia (Violence and Corruption), i.e., fraud during the electoral constests between ERE and Papandreou's Center Union party. Some of his conservative opponents have criticized his socialist economic policies during the 1970s, which included the nationalization of Olympic Airways and Emporiki Bank. Karamanlis has also been criticized for his management of the Cyprus crisis in 1974. Most agree, however, that Karamanlis successfully orchestrated the transition from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy in 1974.
Cited References
See also
Presidents of Greece | Prime Ministers of Greece | Greek heads of state | Greek politicians | Karlspreis laureates | Natives of Central Macedonia | 1907 births | 1998 deaths
Константинос Г. Караманлис | Konstantinos Karamanlis | Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής | Constantinos Karamanlis | Constantin Caramanlis | コンスタンディノス・カラマンリス | Konstantinos Karamanlis | Konstantínos Karamanlís | 康斯坦丁·卡拉曼利斯
"Constantine Karamanlis"