INTRODUCTION

On 23 July 1974 in a meeting between the head of the state at the time, General Phaedon Gizikis, and the country's military leadership (Grigorios Bonanos, Chief of the National Defence General Staff, Andreas Galatsanos, chief of the Army General Staff, Petros Arapakis, chief of the Navy General Staff and Alexandros Papanikolaou, chief of Greek Airforce), it was decided to transfer power to the country's political leadership. The dictator, Dimitrios Ioannidis, was invited to the meeting and was forced to accept the decisions taken by the other members of the meeting. The decision marked the end of the seven year and three month dictatorship in Greece (21 April 1967 – 23/24 July 1974) and the country's transition to the period of democratisation.

An hour later Phaedon Gizikis invited Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Georgios Mavros, Evangelos Averof, Georgios Mavros, Evangelos Averof, Georgios Novas, Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Spyros Markezinis, Panagiotis Garoufalias and Xenofontas Zolotas, all prominent right-wing and centrist politicians of the pre-dictatorship period, in a meeting to discuss the procedure for the transition. They decided to proceed with the formation of a government of “National Unity” under the leadership of the ex-Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, who after his disagreement over constitutional reforms with King Paul in 1963, leading to his resignation as Prime Minister, left the country and was living in Paris. The decision was made known to Karamanlis who accepted the offer and returned to Athens in the early hours of 24 July by an airplane which the President of the France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, used for state visits. A government of “National Unity” was sworn into office in the early hours of 24 July 1974 under the premiership of Konstantinos Karamanlis with the mandate to prepare the country for a smooth transition to a democratic regime, organise general elections and take the necessary diplomatic steps for managing the crisis in Cyprus after the Turkish invasion of the island on 20 July 1974.

The invasion, which resulted after the junta regime's interference with Cypriot politics, was the main reason for the regime's collapse. The national army regarded itself as the guardian of the country's sovereignty, a view which had oft en prompted its engagement in Greek politics.