Renouncing the Recent Past

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Renouncing the Recent Past RENOUNCING THE RECENT PAST, ‘REVOLUTIONISING’ THE PRESENT AND ‘RESURRECTING’ THE DISTANT PAST: LEXICAL AND FIGURATIVE REPRESENTATIONS IN THE POLITICAL SPEECHES OF GEORGIOS PAPADOPOULOS (1967-73) By Emmanuela Mikedakis PhD Dissertation University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia February, 2007. Abstract Abstract This thesis examines the political speeches of the Greek dictator Georgios Papadopoulos from the time his regime—the self-titled ‘Revolution of the 21st April’—usurped power in 1967 until he himself was ousted in November 1973. The thesis proposes that the underlying aim of all of Papadopoulos’s political speeches is the construction of a cyclical narrative of a past, present and future Greece. According to his political speeches, this construct proposes a ‘dangerous’, ‘corrupt’ and ‘undemocratic’ recent past that necessitated his ‘Revolutionary’ present; a ‘revolutionary’ present that strives to create the preconditions for a ‘prosperous’ future Greece; and a future Greece that shall embody the ‘Helleno-Christian’ ideals of the distant past, and detach itself from the failings of the recent past. The premise on which the research is founded is that patterns in his political speeches can be quantitatively identified and that, from these patterns, a qualitative interpretation can be developed. Thus, quantitative data were collated concerning the frequency of key terms and concepts, both literal and figurative, in all of Papadopoulos’s political speeches and, then, cross-referenced with audience composition and date of delivery. These data were subsequently analysed holistically in the context of the political, social, economic and cultural aspects of Greece’s recent history. The thesis developed from the data is divided into three parts. The first part examines the history immediately before and during the 7-year dictatorship. The second and third parts consider specific lexical terms and concepts and medical and biological analogies, respectively, in Papadopoulos’s political speeches. Some examples examined in the lexicon component are Revolution, distant past, communism, security. Some examples analysed in the medical and biological component are doctor, infection, cells and the plaster cast. ii Emmanuela Mikedakis Abstract Clear correlation can be discerned between certain lexical and figurative preferences and audience composition and/or time of delivery; however, while clear lexical and figurative transitions and shifts are noted over the 6-year period, his underlying cyclical narrative is consistently present. iii Emmanuela Mikedakis Acknowledgements Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the School of Modern Language Studies and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, both at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), for the financial support provided to me throughout my candidature. It was largely due to their financial support that I was able to undertake a brief course of study of Classical Greek at the University of Sydney and, importantly, able to travel to Greece for six weeks of necessary research. In Greece, I remain grateful to the Lambrakis Journalistic Organisation; especially, Ms Marina Papakostidou and Mrs Theoni Zervou for their patience, perseverance and help in locating the final two years of Papadopoulos’s speeches in the newspapers of the time. Thank you to Mrs Moschona at the National Library of Greece for allowing me to photocopy some invaluable and rare articles. A particular thank you to all the staff at the Greek Parliament Library for their generosity, enthusiasm and help; especially, Ms Tasia Arakou who gave me much of her time and many of her lollies. Additionally, I acknowledge that the support and consistent encouragement I have received from those who are very dear to me have been fundamental to both the development and the completion of this thesis. I would like to especially recognise Margaret Crouch for our exhaustive discussions that illuminated the, at times, overwhelming minefield of methodology. Her suggestions of, clarity in and passion for method and methodology proved fundamental to my own. Finally, immeasurable thanks to my supervisors: to Dr. Eleni Amvrazi, whose unceasing perseverance saw me through to the end; and to Dr. Alfred Vincent, who showed me how to ‘engage’ in history. Their support, knowledge, patience, encouragement and generosity of time have all finally come to fruition. iv Emmanuela Mikedakis Table of Contents Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents v List of Abbreviations vi A Note on Translation and Transliteration viii Introduction 1 Part One – Historical Overview 1.1 World War Two-1967 21 1.2 The Dictatorship (1967-1974) 53 1.3 A Brief Epilogue 102 Part Two – Lexicon 2.1 Defining the Leadership 104 2.2 Defining the Ethnocommunity 124 2.3.1 The ‘Negative’ Recent Past 149 2.3.2 The ‘Revolutionary’ Present 165 2.4 The ‘Ideal’ Future of a Distant Past 202 Part Three – Medical and Biological Analogies 3.1 The Doctor 243 3.2 The Patient 253 3.3 ‘Diagnosing’ the Illness 264 3.4 ‘Prescribing’ the Treatment 280 Conclusion 317 Bibliography 321 v Emmanuela Mikedakis List of Acronyms List of Acronyms AEM Anti-Dictatorship Workers’ Front Αντιδικτατορικό Εργατικό Μέτωπο AMAG American Mission for Aid to Greece ASPIDA Officers Save the Fatherland, Ideals, Democracy, Meritocracy Αξιωµατικοί Σώσατε Πατρίδα, Ιδανικά, ∆ηµοκρατία, Αξιοκρατία AVNOJ Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia Antifašističko V(ij)eće Narodnog Oslobođenja Jugoslavije CIA Central Information Agency DA Democratic Defence ∆ηµοκρατική Άµυνα DET International Exhibition in Thessaloniki ∆ιεθνής Έκθεσις Θεσσαλονίκης DSΕ Democratic Army of Greece ∆ηµοκρατικός Στρατός της Ελλάδας ΕΑ National Solidarity Εθνική Αλληλεγγύη EAM National Liberation Front Εθνικό Απελευθερωτικό Μέτωπο EAS National Liberation Movement Εθνικός Απελευθερωτικός Σύνδεσµος EDA United Democratic Left Ενιαία ∆ηµοκρατική Αριστερά EDES National Democratic Greek League Εθνικός ∆ηµοκρατικός Ελληνικός Σύνδεσµος EDKA Greek Democratic Movement of Resistance Ελληνική ∆ηµοκρατική Κίνησις Αντιστάσεως ΕΕΑΜ National Workers’ Liberation Front Εθνικό Εργατικό Απελευθερωτικό Μέτωπο EENA National Union of Young Greek Officers Εθνική Ένωσις Νέων Αξιωµατικών EK Centre Union Ένωσις Κέντρου EKKA National and Social Liberation Εθνική και Κοινωνική Απελευθέρωσις ELAS National People’s Liberation Army Εθνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός ENA Union of Young Greek Officers Ένωσις Νέων Αξιωµατικών EOKA National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών EOKA-B National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters – B Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών – B' vi Emmanuela Mikedakis List of Acronyms EPEK National Progressive Union of the Centre Εθνική Προοδευτική Ένωσις Κέντρου EPON United Panhellenic Organisation of Youth Ενιαία Πανελλαδική Οργάνωση Νέων ERE National Radical Union Εθνική Ριζοσπαστική Ένωσις GDP Gross Domestic Product IDEA Sacred Bond of Greek Officers Ιερός ∆εσµός Ελλήνων Αξιωµατικών JUSMAPG Joint United States Military Advisory and Planning Group KKE Communist Party of Greece Κοµουνιστικό Κόµµα Ελλάδας KYP Central Service of Information Κεντρική Υπηρεσία Πληροφοριών MAP Military Assistance Program NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation PAM Patriotic Front Πατριωτικό Μέτωπο PEEA Political Committee for National Liberation Πολιτική Επιτροπή της Εθνικής Απελευθέρωσης SKE Socialist Greek Workers’ Party Σοσιαλιστικό Εργατικό Κόµµα Ελλάδος SNOF Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front Slovenomakedonski Narodno Osloboditelen Front UN United Nations US/USA United States of America USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics VESMA Royal Hellenic Army of the Middle East Βασιλικός Ελληνικός Στρατός της Μέσης Ανατολής WW1 World War One WW2 World War Two X Chi X vii Emmanuela Mikedakis A Note on Translation and Transliteration A Note on Translation and Transliteration All translations and transliterations are my own. The capitalisation of particular terms in my translations has been retained to parallel Papadopoulos’s presentation of it. In most instances—for example, in his presentation of the regime as a Revolution (Επανάστασις, Epanastasis)—it is as insightful as the use of particular term itself. Similarly, in my translations, I remained as faithful as I could to Papadopoulos’s syntax and expression. For the English reader, I concede that the translations may seem awkward at times; however, this is conscious on my part in order to better reflect Papadopoulos’s linguistic structure in addition to his lexical or figurative choices. Thus, if a particular expression or syntactical structure seems awkward in the English translation, rest assured that I am limiting myself to Papadopoulos’s rhetorical style. In an effort to make the translations easier to comprehend, however, I have taken creative licence with some of the punctuation. The transliteration in the thesis is minimal and has been used in two instances as a pronunciation aid to the non-Greek speaker. The first instance of transliteration concerns specific terms that Papadopoulos uses, which, in turn, are analysed in the Lexicon and Analogy parts of this thesis. The second concerns references to the Greek publisher or publishing house in the Bibliography. The transliteration uses a simple Latin script and attempts to mimic the Greek pronunciation. Thus, the transliteration of the word δηµοκρατικός (democratic) is rendered dimokratikos. The double vowels οι, ει, αι, and ου in Greek have been kept in the transliteration.
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