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

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 Americans did not seem prepared to undertake any serious initiative to promote a solution of the Cyprus question or to relieve Ankara's pressures on Athens in the Aegean Sea made relations more complicated. Antonis Klapsis is an adjunct lecturer of modern and contemporary history in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Peloponnese.