Dimitrios Ioannidis | |
|---|---|
| Δημήτριος Ιωαννίδης | |
 | |
| De factoleader of Greece | |
| In office 25 November 1973 – 17 December 1974 | |
| Preceded by | Georgios Papadopoulos(as President) |
| Succeeded by | Michail Stasinopoulos(as President) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1923-03-13)13 March 1923 Athens,Kingdom of Greece |
| Died | 16 August 2010(2010-08-16) (aged 87) Athens,Greece |
| Alma mater | Hellenic Military Academy |
| Awards |  Cross of Valour |
| Nickname(s) | The invisible dictator (ο αόρατος δικτάτωρ,o aóratos diktátōr) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Greece Greek junta |
| Branch/service |  Hellenic ArmyEDES |
| Rank |  Brigadier (stripped) |
| Commands | ESA |
| Wars | |
Dimitrios Ioannidis (Greek:Δημήτριος Ιωαννίδης[ðiˈmitri.osi.oaˈniðis]; 13 March 1923 – 16 August 2010),[1] also known asDimitris Ioannidis and asThe Invisible Dictator, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in thejunta that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Ioannidis was considered a "purist and a moralist, a type of GreekGaddafi".[2]
Ioannidis was born in Athens to a wealthy, upper middle-class business family (although he claimed to come from poverty) with roots in Epirus. However, as it was recently revealed, he was descended fromRomaniote Jews, long established in Ioannina.[3][4][5]
During theAxis occupation of Greece he was a member of theNational Republican Greek League (EDES) resistance group. After the war he studied at theHellenic Military Academy and complemented his military education by studying at the Infantry School, the War School, and the School of Atomic-Chemical-Biological Warfare.[6] As an army officer he took part also in theGreek civil war.
Ioannidis began his career as an officer inNapoleon Zervas's guerrilla forces.[6]
Ioannidis took an active part in planning and executing thecoup d'état of21 April 1967 (he was Director of theHellenic Military Academy), but despite his great power he preferred to stay in the shadows, allowingGeorge Papadopoulos to take the limelight. Ioannidis became chief of theGreek Military Police (ESA) which he developed into a feared paramilitary force of more than 20,000 men.[7][8] The ESA men brutally hunted down andtortured political dissidents. They also became notorious for insulting their nominal superiors, the Generals of the Greek Army, who were generally royalist or republican and opposed to the junta leadership.[9] HisThe Daily Telegraph obituary described Ioannidis as "the brutal head of military security during the Greek colonels' dictatorship" who "oversaw the creation of EAT/ESA, the special interrogation section of the military police, at whose headquarters opponents of the regime, both civilian and military, were systematically tortured."[10]
He was promoted tocolonel in 1970, during which he would oppose Papadopoulos's efforts to democratize, and tobrigadier general later in 1973.[4][11]
At a time when democratization seemed imminent, theAthens Polytechnic uprising of November 1973 was met with bloody suppression.[12] Ioannidis, the most hardline of hardliners, became enraged with the "liberalizing" tendencies of the Papadopoulos leadership and hatched a plot to overthrow him using his loyal ESA forces.[13][14][15] On the night of 25 November 1973, Ioannidis overthrew Papadopoulos in a successful and bloodless coup.[16] Papadopoulos was arrested by the loyalists of Ioannidis in his opulent seaside villa atLagonissi. This was the second successfulcoup d'etat by Ioannidis, following the original of April 1967 which had abolished democracy. Ioannidis proceeded to install his friendPhaedon Gizikis as figureheadPresident of Greece, although total power belonged to him. He did not control the higher military hierarchy completely, but he could impose his will on them with the support of the lower ranks nicknamed "the small junta" (Ta Paraskinia tis Allagis-Stavros Psicharis-1975).[full citation needed] This new balance of power granted him the moniker of the Invisible Dictator.[5][17][18]
Ioannidis pursued a crackdown internally and an aggressive expansionism externally. He was determined to annexCyprus to Greece and achieveEnosis. He also felt a bitter personal antipathy towards the President of Cyprus, ArchbishopMakarios III, considering him opportunistic and communistic. He called him the "Red Priest".[19] This antipathy was further fueled by the bishop rejecting actions against Turkish Cypriots.[20] To that end, he organized the15 July 1974coup d'état in Cyprus (his last chance to do so since Makarios decided to expel all Greek officers from Cyprus by July 20 (fromThe Tragic Duel and the Treason of Cyprus, M. Adamides, 2011) which overthrew the government of ArchbishopMakarios III. This was the third successful coup organized by Ioannidis, and at first things seemed to go along according to plan. Ioannidis put in powerNikos Sampson, a controversial figure.
While in power, Ioannidis would regularly place conditions on all discussions with the U.S. embassy as noted by then ambassadorHenry Tasca, despite maintaining publicly support for NATO due to hisanti-communist stance.[6]
When he did not manage to appoint the President of the Supreme Court and an ex-minister Zenon Severis, he tried to show to the outside world that the coup was merely an internal affair, but this effort went without any success. However, the coup provided the pretext for theTurkish invasion of the island on 20 July, which ultimately restored Makarios to the presidency (and was the prelude to the island's current, divided state). Ioannidis could not survive such a humiliation, and was pushed out by the "coup of the generals" in August, headed by thenPrime MinisterKonstantinos Karamanlis, ending seven years of military rule.[4][21]
On 14 January 1975, Ioannidis was detained andtried on charges of hightreason, rebellion, and of being an accessory to themanslaughters perpetrated during theAthens Polytechnic uprising. The trial ended after less than a month of testimony and deliberation. He received alife sentence, for the charge of treason, which he served atKorydallos Prison.[18][22]
While in prison he would claim that he was betrayed by American military leaders who he alleges had promised him assistance in dealing withTurkey.[18]
On 21 July 2007, the 84-year-old Ioannidis filed a request to be discharged for health reasons, which was subsequently denied. Imprisoned until his death, he got married in prison, and died on 16 August 2010 at the age of 87 from respiratory problems, having been taken to hospital the previous night. Thus, he spent 35 years in prison (1975–2010).[5][23]
Ioannidis gilt als Purist und Moralist, eine Art griechischer Khadafi
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