President marks ‘black page’ in Greece’s history

Democracy requires citizens to remain vigilant over the protection of its institutions, Greece’s president said yesterday in a message marking the 53rd anniversary of the military coup that brought down democratic rule in 1967.

“Every country, every nation, apart from the illustrious pages, also has black pages in its history – pages that we have an obligation to remember, to learn from the mistakes that led us to them and not repeat them,” Katerina Sakellaropoulou said in a statement.

She said the Regime of the Colonels violated the Constitution, the rights of citizens, exploited the notions of country, state and religion, cultivated national division and eventually led to the “tragedy of Cyprus” in 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied the island in response to a coup backed by the junta.

“We must not forget that nothing is a given and that defending democracy and its institutions is a continuous challenge for all… especially in times of global crisis, such as today, where even within the European Union various aspiring ethnocentrists, under the pretext of protecting citizens, are targeting democratic rights and victories.”