Greece - US Department of State

Greece 621
The King then briefly described his meeting on March 31 with
Deputy Prime Minister Pattakos which had taken place at the Greek
Embassy. In response to Mr. Pattakos’ statement that the King should
not press for his return to Greece, the latter had replied he was not
pushing for this, but thought he and the government should now start
talking about the future of Greece. The King was surprised to hear Mr.
Pattakos say that it was not possible for the Greek Government representatives
to meet with the King because if this became public the government
would be overthrown. The King had nonetheless asked Mr.
Pattakos to tell Prime Minister Papadopoulos that he still felt it would
be useful for the two of them to meet. The King observed that the Prime
Minister was under the strong control of the younger officers in the
junta. The King also sensed that the Prime Minister was worried as to
what the younger officers might do if Papadopoulous should win any
eventual elections.
The Secretary asked for the King’s views on what the U.S. attitude
should be towards the Greek Government. The King responded that
the U.S. should keep up strong pressures for constitutional evolution,
because if there was no pressure on the Greek Government, it would
just play for time, stay in power a long while, and continue the process
of removing senior army officers. It would also take advantage of any
opportunity to enhance its image, such as the fact that the President
had had a private meeting with Mr. Pattakos at the White House reception
but not with himself.
The Secretary noted that there was a limit as to what the USG
should and could do in this regard. The USG had repeatedly been asked
to become involved on different sides of international problems, (e.g.,
the Nigerian-Biafran issue) and the USG was very reluctant to do this.
It would be inappropriate to become involved in what was a domestic
matter. The Secretary continued that the USG respects the King’s
role as Chief of State and the importance of having a strong Greece as
a member of the NATO alliance. This stance poses a dilemma for the
United States on the issue of deliveries of military equipment to Greece.
The King stated that the Greek Government needs the equipment
both for military strength and also for psychological reasons. He suggested
the USG tell the Greek Government that it should either implement
the constitution fully or there would be no military aid. He
added that the Greek Government is extremely sensitive to United
States views. Such a posture on military aid would also help the rest
of the army who would then realize that the USG meant to link constitutional
evolution to military aid.
The Secretary responded that we would be reluctant to tie our assistance
to a NATO partner strictly to Greece’s internal affairs. He added,
however, that we had made clear to Greek Government officials that