The crisis in the armed forces
Navy Vice Admiral Georgios Theodoroulakis’s resignation, due to the unheard of attempt by Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou to determine the composition of the navy’s highest echelon, was an act of bravery and responsibility, and not a coup attempt, as some ministry sources have claimed. The defense minister of any period is responsible for shaping the general outlines of defense policy and creating the required conditions for the armed forces to function properly. It is also the defense minister and the government’s right and responsibility to appoint the head of the chiefs of staff and the heads of the three branches of the armed forces. Theodoroulakis was appointed navy chief in 2001 by Costas Simitis’s previous government because he was thought the most suitable person for the position. He was not imposed by the opposition or by any other extra-institutional agency. What is unfair, especially on the part of Papantoniou who has been at the ministry for just over four months, is the attempt to dictate the composition of the upper echelon of the three services, because he simply does not have the knowledge or necessary criteria to judge the abilities and performance of senior officers. A more fundamental question, however, arises when one takes into account the fact that the minister’s only advisers are none other than the chiefs of staff, and Papantoniou’s behavior in the matter of the composition of the upper echelon of the navy shows that there is some external agency providing fatal advice and influencing the defense minister. Naturally, one would expect Prime Minister Simitis’s intervention and the immediate removal of Papantoniou, who treats the chiefs of staff like insignificant party officials who owe blind obedience to their instructor’s orders. Following the return of democratic rule, governments held the armed forces in deep suspicion, and when PASOK came to power, its leader Andreas Papandreou also took on the portfolio of national defense. But at least he was careful to appoint as his deputy Antonis Drossoyiannis, a retired general who had distinguished himself and won many medals during the national army’s campaign against the communists. Even during the most highly political disputes in Parliament, the late Evangelos Averoff always praised Drossoyiannis’s national contribution, while blaming the government for attempting to politicize the army. Papandreou had appointed a colleague whose ethics, patriotism and professional ability were questioned by no one, even though there were serious disagreements with his political choices. The interventions that PASOK attempted during Papandreou’s time in office were never as outrageous as those of last Friday. In Simitis’s time, the ruling party’s relations with the armed forces are uncomfortable, to say the least. The crisis Papantoniou caused is indicative of the instability of the present government, which, despite the decidedly unhealthy atmosphere created in connection with corruption and entangled interests, does not want to act decisively to restore the prestige of the political and business world. The crisis is obviously becoming structural, and Friday’s events confirm that this government has come to an end.
