"Danger Of Civil War In Greece”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31584, 23 January 1968, Page 12

"Danger Of Civil War In Greece”

. (N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) PARIS, January 22. Mr Andreas Papandreou, the former Greek Cabinet Minister, who left his homeland after being released from confinement in a Christmas amnesty, believes that civil war is possible in Greece unless the ruling junta steps down.

“Most Greeks hope the junta will go away under international pressure and because of the nation’s moral resistance,” he said yesterday. “If this does not happen eventually we will have civil war. We . don’t want to face that—we don't want a repeat of the past. Mr Papandreou was speaking in Paris for the C.B.S. television programme, “Face the Nation.” Mr Papandreou said he had decided to leave Greece because he wai “only fictitiously free.” “I was incarcerated in my own home; so I could not h ve helped by staying in Greece,” he said. “My task is to do everything possible to bring back democracy to Greece.” He said he was the official spokesman abroad, for the Centre Union Party; but not head of the party since that position was held by his father, the former Prime Minister. Mr George Papandreou.

Asked about the failure of the coup attempted by King

Constantine, Mr Papandreou said: “The King did not get the message to the people that the coup was under way. Reaction must be organised. That was not done.” As to his own feelings about the King, Mr Papandreou said: “We reject—and I think most Greek people do—the image of the king-politician, but we accept the king-symbol. The King sees himself as a kingpolitician. We hope that he will change.”