POLITICS IN GREECE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 10 April 1945, Page 3

POLITICS IN GREECE

GENERAL PLASTIRAS RESIGNS OLD LETTER PUBLISHED London, April 8. General Plastiras has handed to the Regent, Archbishop Damaskinos, the resignation ol the Greek Cabinet. The Regent has asked Admiial Voulgaris, a former commander-in-chief of the Greek Navy, to form the new Government. The Athens correspondent of “The Times” in an earlier dispatch said that the' expected resignation of General Plastiras was the sequel to the publication of a letter he wrote to the Greek Ambassador to Vichy in July, 1941, explaining how toward the end of November, 1940, he tried to secure a negotiated peace between. Greece and Italy through the intervention of Germany bcause Greece was not a match for Italy and continuation of the war would only mean disaster and ruin. MONARCHIST PRESSURE The publication of the letter is the climax which the Popular Party, now out-and-out Royalist, has been waging against Plastiras because he resisted their efforts for a speedy plebiscite uu the question of the King’s return and because they consider him too lenient toward the Left, the correspondent said. The aim of the Popular Party is to establish a monarchist dictatorship, for which it is imperative that they should get the King back. Most Greek politicians had been for a long time aware of the letter, which had been tacitly ignored because similar accusations could be levelled against many other public figures. General Plastiras’s first reaction was to do nothing, but the general opinion was that unless he resigned the Regent would dismiss him. His successor would have to decide the plebiscite question. FIRST REFUSED TO RESIGN London, April 8. Greek newspapers report that during an audience with the Regent yesterday, General Plastiras refused to resign. Later in the day the Regent sent him a letter thanking him for his services and pointing out that his Cabinet, in the circumstances, was unfitted to remain in power. General Plastiras is reported to have replied that it was impossible, under the existing conditions, for him to do anything but lo submit his resignation, adding that the responsibility rested with those who provoked it. The text of the letter from Archbishop Damaskinos to General Plastiras, broadcast by the Greek radio, reveals that the Regent, after an interview, asked for the general's resignation. The Regent wrote: “Any unbiassed critic must realise that your Government is not of the character to dispatch the business in hand whicn to-day is indispensable for creating the prerequisites for resumption of the country’s normal political life. The need for another type of government is therefore obvious.” The Regent added that his decision to deprive himself of the Government’s services was imposed upon him by his own consciousness of his reponibility to guide the Fatherland towards normality, especially during the convulsive times that were being experienced internally and internationally. General Plastiras, in reply, said he had known for some time that the carrying out of his Governmental duties had been hindered from all sides. Reuter’s Athens correspondent states that the fall of the Government is acclaimed by the Royalist and Right Wing Press. The Royalist organ, “Kathimerini,” urges immediate elections and a plebiscite. Extreme Left Wing papers express' dissatisfaction at the change and urge the creation of an all-party government. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Athens correspondent says that Admiral Voulgaris, who is 62, is an old supporter of M. tility fromt heLeft msficu fv t((Gxefct Vcnizelos. He is sure of fierce hostility from the Left Wing because of his successful faction against the Greek naval mutiny in Egypt. ' POLICE REINFORCED London, April 8. Athens radio says that the Greek General Staff has ordered the reinforcement of the gendarmerie by 12,000 men. "to enable the gendarmerie to guard all villages.” The men are to be selected from volunteers of the 1941-45 mobilisation classes. The police are also being reinforced by 10,000 men from the National Guard.