April 17, 1956
GREEKS IN TASHKENT: The Interior Ministry has released a report from the police chief of Aegaleo that includes the statements of repatriated Greeks regarding the living conditions of Greeks, both abductees and exiled outlaws, living in Russia. In Tashkent, the capital of the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, there are currently about 12-15,000 Greeks, hostages and outlaws, living in building complexes both within and outside the city surrounded by walls and barbed wire. (…) There are 12 of these so-called «cities» within Tashkent and two others in Circik. Between 50 and 60 inhabitants sleep in rooms measuring 7 by 12 square meters or even smaller and they are fed in larger halls. (…) Married couples live in breeze-block houses. Until 1952, each «city» was governed by a Russian colonel along with a Greek administrator and a Greek political committee. Since 1952, they have been managed by a special council comprising nine members, elected by the inhabitants. SIXTH FLEET: The American Information Service has announced that an amphibian battalion belonging to the Sixth Fleet will visit three Greek ports in the last two weeks of April and the first week of May.
