View source for Georgios Papadopoulos

{{short description|Greek military dictator (1919–1999)}}
{{distinguish|George Papadopoulos (disambiguation){{!}}George Papadopoulos}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2009}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
<!-- DO NOT ADD HONORIFICS OR NUMBERS OF SUCCESSION; THEY ARE NOT USED IN GREECE -->| name                = Georgios Papadopoulos
| native_name         = {{nobold|{{Lang|el|Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος}}}}
| image               = Georgios Papadopoulos speaking (2) (cropped).jpg
| caption             = 
| nationality         = Greek
| office              = [[President of Greece]]
| term_start          = 1 June 1973
| term_end            = 25 November 1973
| primeminister       = ''Himself''<br /> [[Spyros Markezinis]]
| vicepresident       = [[General officer|General]] [[Odysseas Angelis]]
| predecessor         = [[Constantine II of Greece|Constantine II]] <br /> (as [[King of the Hellenes]])
| successor           = [[Phaedon Gizikis]]<br />[[Dimitrios Ioannidis]] {{small|(as ''[[de facto]]'' leader)}}
| office2             = [[Prime Minister of Greece]]
| term_start2         = 13 December 1967
| term_end2           = 8 October 1973
| monarch2            = [[Constantine II of Greece|Constantine II]] (until 1973)
| president2          = ''Himself'' (from 1973)
| deputy2             = [[Stylianos Pattakos]]
| predecessor2        = [[Konstantinos Kollias]]
| successor2          = [[Spyros Markezinis]]
| office3             = [[Regent of Greece]]
| term_start3         = 21 March 1972
| term_end3           = 1 June 1973
| monarch3            = [[Constantine II of Greece|Constantine II]]
| predecessor3        = [[General]] [[Georgios Zoitakis|Geórgios Zoitakis]]
| successor3          = ''None'' (monarchy abolished)<br /> ([[General officer|General]] [[Odysseas Angelis]] as [[Vice President of Greece]])
| office4             = [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Greece)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]]
| term_start4         = 21 July 1970
| term_end4           = 8 October 1973
| primeminister4      = ''Himself''
| predecessor4        = [[Panagiotis Pipinelis]]
| successor4          = [[Christos Xanthopoulos-Palamas]]
| office5             = [[Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports (Greece)|Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs]]
| primeminister5      = ''Himself''
| term_start5         = 20 June 1969
| term_end5           = 21 July 1970
| predecessor5        = [[Theofylaktos Papakonstantinou]]
| successor5          = [[Nikitas Sioris]]
| office6             = [[Minister for National Defence (Greece)|Minister for National Defence]]
| primeminister6      = ''Himself''
| term_start6         = 13 December 1967
| term_end6           = 8 October 1973
| predecessor6        = [[Lieutenant general|Lt Gen]] [[Grigorios Spandidakis]]
| successor6          = [[Nikolaos Efessios]]
| office7             = [[Minister to the Presidency of the Government]]
| primeminister7      = [[Konstantinos Kollias]]<br />''Himself''
| term_start7         = 21 April 1967
| term_end7           = 8 October 1973
| predecessor7        = [[Grigorios Kasimatis]]
| successor7          = ''Ministry abolished ([[Georgios Rallis]] becomes minister in 1975)''
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1919|5|5|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Elaiochori, Achaea|Elaiohori]], [[Kingdom of Greece]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1999|6|27|1919|5|5|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Athens]], Greece
| restingplace        = [[First Cemetery of Athens]]
| party               = [[National Political Union (Greece)|National Political Union]]<br />(1984–1996)
| spouse              = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|Niki Vasileiadi|1942|1969|reason=divorced}}|{{marriage|Despina Gaspari|1970}}}}
| children            = 3
| alma_mater          = [[Hellenic Military Academy]]
| signature           = Georgios Papadopoulos signature.svg
<!--Military service-->| allegiance          = * {{flag|Kingdom of Greece|royal}} (1940–1941, 1944–1973)
* {{flagicon|Greece|old}} [[Hellenic State (1941–1944)|Hellenic State]] (1943–1944)
| branch              = * {{army|Greece}} (1940–1941, 1944–1973)
* [[Security Battalions]] (1943–1944) (allegedly)
*
| serviceyears        = 1940–1973
| rank                = [[File:GR-Army-OF6-1970.png|15px]] [[Brigadier general]] (''stripped'')
| battles             = [[Second World War]]
* [[Greco-Italian War]]
[[Greek Civil War]]
| resting_place       = [[First Cemetery of Athens]]
| parents             = Christos Papadopoulos (Father), Chrysoula Papadopoulos (Mother)
}}

'''Georgios Papadopoulos''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|p|æ|p|ə|ˈ|d|ɒ|p|əl|ə|s}} {{respell|PAP|ə|DOP|əl|əs}};<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Papadopoulos|access-date=28 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/papadopoulos|title=Papadopoulos|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=28 June 2019}}</ref> {{langx|el|Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος}} {{IPA|el|ʝeˈorʝi.os papaˈðopulos|}}; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Greek military officer and dictator who led a [[Greek Junta|coup d'etat]] in Greece in 1967 and became the country's [[Prime Minister of Greece|Prime Minister]] from 1967 to 1973. He also was the [[President of Greece]] under the [[Greek junta|junta]] in 1973, following a [[1973 Greek republic referendum|referendum]]. However, after causing a massacre by deploying military riflemen and a tank brigade to attack non-violent protestors to suppress the [[Athens Polytechnic uprising]], he was, in turn, overthrown by hardliner [[Dimitrios Ioannidis]], in a string of events that would culminate in the [[Metapolitefsi|fall of the regime]] in 1974. His and the dictatorship's legacy, as well as its methods he constructed and effects on Greek economy and society as a whole, are still fiercely debated.

He joined the [[Hellenic Army]] during the [[Second World War]] and initially helped resist the Italian invasion of Greece in the [[Greco-Italian War]]. He is widely believed to have later [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborated]] as a member of the [[Axis occupation of Greece|Axis]]-aligned [[Security Battalions]]. After the war, he rose to the rank of [[colonel]] in the army.

In April 1967, Papadopoulos and a group of other mid-level army officers overthrew the democratic government and established a [[Greek junta|military junta]] that lasted until 1974. Assuming dictatorial powers, he led an [[authoritarian]], [[anti-communist]] and [[ultranationalist]] regime which eventually ended the [[Kingdom of Greece|Greek monarchy]] and established a [[Third Hellenic Republic|republic]], with himself as [[President of Greece|president]]. In 1973, he was overthrown and arrested by his co-conspirator [[Brigadier General]] [[Dimitrios Ioannidis]]. After the ''[[Metapolitefsi]]'' which restored democracy in 1974, Papadopoulos was tried for his part in the crimes of the junta and [[Capital punishment in Greece|sentenced to death]], but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Refusing several offers of clemency in exchange for admitting guilt for the crimes of the junta, he spent the remainder of his life in prison.

== Early life and military career ==
Papadopoulos was born in [[Elaiochori, Achaea|Elaiohori]], a small village in the [[Prefecture]] of [[Achaea]] in the [[Peloponnese]], to local schoolteacher Christos Papadopoulos and his wife Chrysoula. He was the eldest son and had two brothers, Konstantinos and Haralambos. After finishing [[high school]] in 1937, he enrolled in the [[Hellenic Military Academy]], completing its three-year programme in 1940.

His biographical notes, published as a booklet by his supporters in 1980, mention that he took a [[civil engineering]] course at the [[National Technical University of Athens|Polytechneion]] but did not graduate.<ref name="Papadopoulos report">Georgios Papadopoulos: Report to the Court and Declaration to the Greek People. (Αναφορά προς το Δικαστήριον και Δήλωσις προς τον Ελληνικόν λαόν). Greek Canadian Patriotic League. Horizons Press, Toronto, Ontario 1980, (Ελληνικός Πατριωτικός Σύνδεσμος. Τυπογραφείον Ορίζοντες Τορόντο, Οντάριο).</ref>

=== Resistance and acquiescence ===
During the [[Second World War]], Papadopoulos saw field action as an [[artillery]] [[second lieutenant]] against both Italian and [[Nazi German]] forces which [[Battle of Greece|attacked Greece]] on 6 April 1941.

Papadopoulos is believed by most historians to have later become a member of the [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborationist]] [[Security Battalions]] in [[Patras]] under the command of Colonel Kourkoulakos, which "hunted down" Greek resistance fighters.<ref>[[Charles_Foley_(journalist)|Foley, C.]], "Greek Dictator in CIA’s Pocket", ''The Observer'', 1 July 1973.</ref><ref name="Magoc2015">{{cite book|author1=Chris J. Magoc|author2=C. David Bernstein|title=Imperialism and Expansionism in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection &#91;4 volumes&#93;: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMEnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1216|year= 2015|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-430-8|page=1216|quote=was Georgios Papadopoulos, a former Nazi collaborator during World War II, ...}}</ref><ref name="Simpson2014">{{cite book|author=Christopher Simpson|title=Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Destructive Impact on Our Domestic and Foreign Policy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3qdAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT89|year=2014|publisher=Open Road Media|isbn=978-1-4976-2306-4|page=89}}</ref><ref name="Pijl2006">{{cite book|author=Kees Van Der Pijl|title=Global Rivalries: From the Cold War to Iraq|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5i1nAAAAMAAJ|date=2006|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=978-0-7453-2541-5|page=168|quote=The coup of April 1967, 'Operation Prometheus', was executed by a group from the KYP led by Georgios Papadopoulos, a former Nazi collaborator and subsequent head of the military junta, on the basis of a NATO emergency procedure ...}}</ref><ref name="Long2008">{{cite book|author=Kenneth J. Long|title=The Trouble with America: Flawed Government, Failed Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPJOl0uXxPgC&pg=PA95|year=2008|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-2830-5|page=95|quote=The CIA hand-picked as leader of the new military junta Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos who was selected for two key ... an important collaborator with the Nazis, knowledge which guaranteed that he would remain subject to CIA control.}}</ref><ref name="Lee2013">{{cite book|author=Martin A. Lee|title=The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZ_cAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA443|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-28124-3|page=443}}</ref><ref name="Χατζηβασιλείου2" /><ref name="καλλιβρετάκης2006">{{cite journal |last=Καλλιβρετάκης |first=Λεωνίδας |title=Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος, Τάγματα Ασφαλείας και "Χ": Μια απόπειρα συγκέντρωσης και επανεκτίμησης του παλαιότερου και νεότερου τεκμηριωτικού υλικού |url=http://helios-eie.ekt.gr/EIE/handle/10442/8762 |journal=Αρχειοτάξιο |publisher=Θεμέλιο |volume=8 |pages=109–147 |date=2006 |access-date=27 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kloby |first=Jerry |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Inequality_Power_and_Development.html?id=OYiXQwAACAAJ |title=Inequality, Power, and Development: The Task of Political Sociology |date=1999 |publisher=Globe Pequot Press |isbn=978-1-57392-356-9 |language=en |quote=Papadopoulos had been a captain in the Nazi Security Battalions...}}</ref> This is contested by Greek historians Evanthis Hatzivassiliou and Leonidas F. Kallivretakis.<ref name="Χατζηβασιλείου2">Χατζηβασιλείου Ευάνθης, ''Απαρχές και χαρακτήρας της δικτατορίας των Συνταγματαρχών'', από τον τόμο των πρακτικών του συνεδρίου "Η δικτατορία των Συνταγματαρχών & η αποκατάσταση της δημοκρατίας", Ίδρυμα της Βουλής των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα 2014, σελ. 23</ref><ref name="καλλιβρετάκης2006"/> According to Kallivretakis, during the Axis occupation of Greece, Papadopoulos worked in the Greek administration’s Patras office.<ref name="καλλιβρετάκης20064">{{cite journal| first=Λεωνίδας | last=Καλλιβρετάκης | journal=Αρχειοτάξιο | title=Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος, Τάγματα Ασφαλείας και "Χ": Μια απόπειρα συγκέντρωσης και επανεκτίμησης του παλαιότερου και νεότερου τεκμηριωτικού υλικού | date=2006 | publisher=Θεμέλιο | volume=8 | page=146 | url=http://helios-eie.ekt.gr/EIE/handle/10442/8762 | access-date=27 December 2016}}</ref> It has also been argued{{bywhom|date=August 2025}} that Papadopoulos, at the end of the Axis occupation of Greece, entered [[Organisation X]], but Kallivretakis considers that this information has not been proven.<ref name="καλλιβρετάκης20065">{{cite journal| first=Λεωνίδας | last=Καλλιβρετάκης | journal=Αρχειοτάξιο | title=Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος, Τάγματα Ασφαλείας και "Χ": Μια απόπειρα συγκέντρωσης και επανεκτίμησης του παλαιότερου και νεότερου τεκμηριωτικού υλικού | date=2006 | publisher=Θεμέλιο | volume=8 | pages=140–145 | url=http://helios-eie.ekt.gr/EIE/handle/10442/8762 | access-date=27 December 2016}}</ref>

Along with other [[right-wing politics|right-wing]] military officers, he participated in the creation of the nationalist right-wing secret IDEA organisation in the [[autumn]] of 1944, shortly after the country's liberation. Those 1940 officers who took refuge in the [[Kingdom of Egypt]] along with [[George II of the Hellenes|King Geórgios II]] immediately after the German invasion, had become generals when their still-colonel former classmates undertook the coup of 1967.

== Post-Second World War career ==
He was promoted to [[captain (land)|captain]] in 1946 and in 1949, during the [[Greek Civil War]], to major. (See also [[Greek military ranks]].) He served in the [[KYP]] Intelligence Service from 1959 to 1964 as the main contact between the KYP and the top [[CIA]] operative in Greece, John Fatseas, after training at the CIA in 1953.<ref name="RWF">TV documentary {{cite web |title=ΤΑ ΔΙΚΑ ΜΑΣ 60's – Μέρος 3ο: ΧΑΜΕΝΗ ΑΝΟΙΞΗ |url=http://www.rwf.gr/episode1-new.php?id=198 |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406222452/http://www.rwf.gr/episode1-new.php?id=198 |archive-date=6 April 2008 |access-date=7 February 2016 |website=rwf.gr}} by Stelios Kouloglu via Internet Archive</ref>

=== Trials and tribulations: The Beloyannis affair ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2009}}
[[Major (rank)|Major]] Papadopoulos, as he then was, was also a member of the [[court-martial]] in the first trial of the well-known Greek communist leader [[Nikos Beloyannis]], in 1951. At that trial, Beloyannis was sentenced to death for the crime of being a member of the [[Communist Party of Greece]] (KKE), which was banned at that time in Greece following the [[Greek Civil War]]. The death sentence pronounced after this trial was not carried out, but Beloyannis was put on trial again in early 1952, this time for alleged espionage, following the discovery of radio transmitters used by undercover Greek communists to communicate with the exiled leadership of the Party in the [[Soviet Union]]. At the end of this trial, he was sentenced to death and immediately taken out and shot. Papadopoulos was not involved in this second trial. The Beloyannis trials were highly controversial in Greece, and many Greeks consider that, like many Greek communists at the time, Beloyannis was shot for his political beliefs, rather than any real crimes. The trial was by military court-martial under Greek anti-insurgency legislation enacted at the time of the Greek Civil War, which remained in force even though the war had ended.

=== Rise to colonel in the 1960s ===
In 1956, Papadopoulos took part in a failed coup attempt against [[Paul of the Hellenes|King Pávlos]]. In 1958, he helped create the Office of Military Studies, a [[surveillance]] authority, under [[General]] Gogousis. It was from this same office that the subsequently successful coup of 21 April 1967 emanated.{{Quote without source|date=March 2009}}

In 1964, Papadopoulos was transferred to an artillery division in [[Western Thrace]] by a decree of Defense Minister Garoufalias, a member of the [[Centre Union]] (EK).<ref>{{Cite news |title=28 June 1999 Obituary |url=http://archive.enet.gr/1999/06/28/on-line/keimena/politics/pol2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929105041/http://archive.enet.gr/1999/06/28/on-line/keimena/politics/pol2.htm |archive-date=29 September 2007 |work=[[Eleftherotypia]]}}</ref> In June 1965, days before the onset of the major political turmoil known as ''[[Iouliana]]'', he made national headlines after arresting two soldiers under his command and eight leftist civilians from settlements near his military camp, on charges that they had conspired to [[sabotage]] army vehicles by pouring sugar into the vehicles' petrol tanks. The ten were imprisoned and tortured, but it was eventually proven that Papadopoulos himself had sabotaged the vehicles.<ref name="RWF"/> [[Andreas Papandreou]] wrote in his memoirs that Papadopoulos wanted to prove that under the Centre Union government, the [[Communist Party of Greece|Communists]] had been left free to undermine national security.<ref name="Papandreou_sabotage">{{cite book |last=Papandreou |first=Andreas |title=Democracy before the Firing Squad |year=2006 |publisher=Livanis Publishing |location=Athens |language=el |isbn=960-14-1237-9 |pages=60}}</ref> Even after this scandal, Papadopoulos was not discharged from the army since the [[Prime Minister of Greece|Prime Minister]], [[Georgios Papandreou|Geórgios Papandreou]], forgave him as a compatriot of his father.<ref name="RWF"/>
In 1967, Papadopoulos was promoted to [[colonel]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

== 21 April 1967: ''Coup d'état'' ==
That same year, on 21 April, a month before the general elections, Colonel Papadopoulos, along with fellow middle-ranking Army officers, led a successful coup, taking advantage of the volatile political situation that had arisen from a conflict between the young [[Constantine II of the Hellenes|King Constantine II]] and the popular former prime minister, [[Georgios Papandreou|Geórgios Papandreou]]. Papadopoulos used his power gained from the coup to try to place Papandreou under house arrest and [[political engineering|re-engineer]] the Greek political landscape rightward. Papadopoulos, along with the other junta members, are known in Greece by the term ''Aprilianoi'' ('Aprilians'), denoting the month of the coup.<ref name="Chondrokoukēs1983">{{cite book|author=Dēmētrios N. Chondrokoukēs|title=Hē atheatē pleura tou PASOK|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2yzPAAAAIAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Isokratēs|page=145|quote=βραχυκυκλωθή άπό άτομα τά όποία έχουν λιβανίσει μέχρι άηδίας τό έπάρατο καθεστώς τής 7ετίας μέ τά άλλεπάλληλα τηλεγραφήματα, τά όποία έχουν στείλει στούς " Απριλιανούς" δηλώνοντας πίστη, άφοσίωσι, υπακοή κ.τ.λ. }}</ref><ref name="Papandreou1976">{{cite book|author=Andreas George Papandreou|title=Apo to P.A.K. sto PA.SO.K.: logoi, arthra, synenteuxeis, dēlōseis tou Andrea G. Papandreou|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PX4tAQAAIAAJ|year=1976|publisher=Ekdoseis Ladia|page=127|quote=Τέλος ένοχοι είναι καί Ιδιώτες πού χρησιμοποιώντας τίς προσωπικές τους σχέσεις μέ τούς Απριλιανούς, έθη- σαύρισαν σέ βάρος τοϋ έλληνικοϋ λαοϋ. Ό Ελληνικός λαός δέν ξεχνά πώς, άν είχαν τιμωρηθή οί δοσίλογοι τής Γερμανικής κατοχής, δέν .}}</ref><ref name="Katrēs1983">{{cite book|author=Giannēs Katrēs|title=Hē alētheia einai to phōs pou kaiei|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QagKAQAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Ekdoseis Th. Kastaniōtē|page=30|quote=με αυξημένη βαρβαρότητα απ' ό,τι στους υπόλοιπους καταδικους. Και δεν εννοούμε, φυσικά, τους ελάχιστους Απριλιανούς, που έχουν απομείνει στον Κορυδαλλό, με τους κλιματισμούς, τα ψυγεία και την ασυδοσία των επισκεπτηρίων.}}</ref><ref name="Chondrokoukēs1976">{{cite book|author=Dēmētrios Nik Chondrokoukēs|title=Hoi anentimoi kai ho "Aspida"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gmw_AQAAIAAJ|year=1976|publisher=Kedros|page=300|quote=Τό δημοσιευόμενο τώρα σκεπτικό τής απόφασης τοΰ δμελοΰς Έφετείου πού δίκασε τούς πρωταίτιους Απριλιανούς, δικαιώνει τήν άποψη τούτη καί λέγει: "... Έπέφερε άποδυνάμωσιν τής έν τώ στρατώ άντιθέτου ιδεολογικής μερίδος, τής έντόνως ...}}</ref><ref name="Chondrokoukēs1976p12">{{cite book|author=Dēmētrios Nik Chondrokoukēs|title=Hoi anentimoi kai ho "Aspida"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gmw_AQAAIAAJ|year=1976|publisher=Kedros|page=12|quote=Επρεπε έτσι νά διαβρωθούν οι πολιτικοι θεσμοι της χώρας και νά διογκωθή ό κομμουνιστικός κίνδυνος. "Ολα τούτα οΐ Απριλιανοί τά προπαρασκεύασαν και τά επέτυχαν έντεχνα αλλα "νόμιμα" κάτω άπό τις ευλογίες ενός συντεταγμένου κράτους.}}</ref> The term ''Aprilianoi'' has become synonymous with the term "dictators of 1967–1974".<ref name="Εκπαιδευτικών2014">{{cite book|author=Ομάδα Εκπαιδευτικών|title=Λεξικό Σύγχρονο της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Od8CBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA141|date= 2014|publisher=Pelekanos Books|page=141|id=GGKEY:QD0C0PRDU6Z|quote=απριλιανοί: οι δικτατορες του 1974}}</ref>

=== Regime of the Colonels ===
{{main|Greek junta}}

King Constantine appointed a new government nominally headed by [[Constantine Kollias]]. However, from the early stages, Papadopoulos was the strongman of the new regime. He was appointed Minister of National Defense and Minister of the Presidency in the Kollias government, and his position was further enhanced after the King's abortive counter-coup on 13 December, when Papadopoulos replaced Kollias as [[Prime Minister of Greece|Prime Minister]]. Not content with that, on 21 March 1972, he nominated himself [[Regent of Greece]], succeeding [[General]] [[Georgios Zoitakis|Geórgios Zoitakis]].
Torture of political prisoners in general, and communists in particular, was not out of the question. Examples included severe beatings, isolation and, according to some sources, pulling out fingernails.<ref>{{cite book |title=Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II |last=Blum |first=William |year=1995 |publisher=Common Courage Press |location=Monroe, ME |isbn=1-56751-052-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/killinghopeusmil00blum_0/page/219 219] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/killinghopeusmil00blum_0/page/219 }}</ref>

=== "Patient in a cast" and other metaphors ===
Throughout his tenure as the junta strongman, Papadopoulos often employed what have been described by the [[BBC]] as gory surgical metaphors,<ref name="The Listener">{{cite book|title=The Listener|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NhBAQAAIAAJ|access-date=25 March 2013|date=January 1968|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|volume=79|page=561|quote=It's no secret that Mr George Papadopoulos, the top man of the bunch, with his gory surgical metaphors, his flinty eyes, his flood of garbled messianic language, was for years under psychiatric treatment. Mr Pattakos, the strutting, bullet-headed ...}}</ref> where he or the junta assumed the role of the "[[Doctor of Medicine|medical doctor]]".<ref name="McDonald1983">{{cite book|first=Robert|last=McDonald|title=Pillar & Tinderbox: The Greek Press Under Dictatorship|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YD4TAAAAMAAJ|access-date=24 March 2013|year=1983|publisher=New York : Marion Boyars|isbn=978-0-7145-2781-9|page=110|quote=Papadopoulos, returning to his metaphor of Greece as a patient in plaster, described this legal construct as 'a light walking cast.' The Law on the State of Siege, he said, was 'striving for breath, dying, trying in vain to stand on its feet.}}</ref><ref name="Current Biography Yearbook">{{cite book|title=Current Biography Yearbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KfgZAAAAYAAJ|access-date=24 March 2013|year=1971|publisher=H. W. Wilson Company|volume=31|page=342|quote=Clinging to his predilection for medical analogies, Papadopoulos declared after the referendum: "The country is still in a plaster cast and the fractures have not healed. The cast will be kept on even after the referendum so that it should not ...}}</ref><ref name="Greek Report">{{cite book|title=Greek Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfonAAAAMAAJ|access-date=24 March 2013|year=1969|page=24|quote="We have a patient. We have placed him in a plaster cast. We keep him there until the wound heals," said Premier George Papadopoulos, the colonel who is strongman of the current Greek military regime. He was only trying to explain why ...}}</ref><ref name="Green2004">{{cite book|first=Peter|last=Green|title=From Ikaria to the Stars: Classical Mythification, Ancient and Modern|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ROX7f6UwdI8C&pg=PA228|access-date=24 March 2013|year=2004|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-70230-1|pages=228–|quote=Papadopoulos made great play during the Junta years in Greece: something in it for everybody. ... For every philosophical sect, as Nussbaum emphasizes, "the medical analogy is not simply a decorative metaphor; it is an important tool both of discovery and of justification" }}</ref><ref name="Dyck1998">{{cite book|first=Karen|last=Van Dyck|title=Kassandra and the Censors: Greek Poetry Since 1967|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnJx1r-85CIC&pg=PA19|access-date=24 March 2013|year=1998|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-9993-7|pages=16–19|quote=And yet metaphor was a necessary part of his persuasive rhetoric; he described Greece as a patient to convince journalists ... Papadopoulos's desire for a mimetic relationship between what one said and what one meant is evident in his press law, which ... doses; that the "cast" would be constantly replaced "where it [was] needed"; and that language and literature would be "cleansed.}}</ref><ref name="Barnstone1972">{{cite book|first=Willis|last=Barnstone|title=Eighteen texts|url=https://archive.org/details/eighteentexts0000barn|url-access=registration|access-date=24 March 2013|date=1972|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=xxi|isbn=978-0674241756 |quote=Thanasis Valtinos' story, "The Plaster Cast," is based entirely on a metaphor frequently used by Colonel Papadopoulos to justify the military coup and later the prolongation of martial law. Greece, he would say, was in grave danger. We had to ...}}</ref> The "[[patient]]" was [[Greece]]. Typically, Papadopoulos or the junta portrayed themselves as the "doctor" who [[surgery|operate]]d on the "patient" by putting the patient's "foot" in an [[orthopedic cast]] and applying restraints on the "patient", tying him on a surgical bed and putting him under [[anesthesia]] to perform the "operation" so that the life of the "patient" would not be "endangered" during the operation. In one of his famous speeches, Papadopoulos mentioned:<ref name="Dyck1998"/><ref name="Emmi Mikedakis"/><ref name="Athens Academy">{{cite web|title=Θρυμματίζοντας το γύψο της Χούντας: ο λόγος κι η σιωπή στα Δεκαοχτώ Κείμενα (1970)/Shattering the junta's plaster: the discourse and the silence in Eighteen Texts (1970)|url=https://www.academia.edu/1147135|publisher=[[Athens Academy]]|access-date=25 March 2013|author=Άννα- Μαρία Σιχάνη Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών|quote=Η μεταφορά ωστόσο, είναι ο κυρίαρχος ρητορικός τρόπος που χρησιμοποιεί οΠαπαδόπουλος στους λόγους του. Θυμίζω το περίφημο διάγγελμά του: "ευρισκόμεθα προενός ασθενούς, τον οποίον έχομεν επί χειρουργικής κλίνης…οι περιορισμοί είναι ηπρόσδεσις του ασθενούς επί κλίνης δια να υποστή ακινδύνως την εγχείρισιν}}</ref>  {{blockquote|"ευρισκόμεθα προ ενός ασθενούς, τον οποίον έχομεν επί χειρουργικής κλίνης, και τον οποίον εάν ο χειρουργός δεν προσδέση κατά την διάρκειαν της εγχειρήσεως και της ναρκώσεως επί της χειρουργικής κλίνης, υπαρχει πιθανότης αντί δια της εγχειρήσεως να του χαρίσει την αποκατάστασιν της υγείας, να τον οδηγήσει εις θάνατον. [...] Οι περιορισμοί είναι η πρόσδεσις του ασθενούς επί κλίνης δια να υποστή ακινδύνως την εγχείρισιν}} Translated as:
{{blockquote|“...We are in front of a patient, whom we have on a surgical bed, and whom if the surgeon does not strap on the surgical bed during the time of the surgery and the anesthesia, there is a chance instead of the surgery granting him the restoration of his health, to lead him to his death [...] The restrictions are the straps, keeping the patient tied to the surgical bed so that he will undergo the surgery without danger.}} 
In the same speech Papadopoulos continued:<ref name="Dyck1998"/><ref name="Emmi Mikedakis">{{cite web|title=Manipulating Language: Metaphors in the Political Discourse of Georgios Papadopoulos (1967–1973)|url=http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/bitstream/2328/25577/1/Emmi%20Mikedakis%20.pdf|publisher=Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au|access-date=25 March 2013|author=Emmi Mikedakis}}</ref>  {{blockquote|"Ασθενή έχομεν. Εις τον γύψον τον εβάλαμεν. Τον δοκιμάζομεν εάν ημπορεί να περπατάει χωρίς τον γύψον. Σπάζομεν τον αρχικόν γύψον και ξαναβάζομεν ενδεχομένως τον καινούργιο εκεί όπου χρειάζεται Το Δημοψήφισμα θα είναι μία γενική θεώρησις των ικανοτήτων του ασθενούς. Ας προσευχηθώμεν να μη χρειάζεται ξανά γύψον. Εάν χρειάζεται, θα του τον βάλομεν. Και το μόνον που ημπορώ να σας υποσχεθώ, είναι να σας καλέσω να ειδήτε και σεις το πόδι χωρίς γύψον!}}
which translates as follows:
{{blockquote|"We have a patient. We test him if he can walk without a plaster cast. We break the initial cast and, if warranted, we put another cast where is needed. The referendum will be a general overview of the capabilities of the patient. Let us pray that he may not need a cast again. If he needs one, we will put one on him. And the only thing I can promise you, is to invite you to see the foot without a cast!}}
Other metaphors contained religious imagery related to the [[resurrection of Christ]] at [[Easter]]: "Χριστός Ανέστη – Ελλάς Ανέστη" translating as "[[Paschal greeting|Christ has risen]] – Greece has risen", alluding that the junta would "save" Greece and resurrect her into a greater, new Land.<ref name="Emmi Mikedakis"/> The theme of rebirth was used many times as a standard reply to avoid answering any questions as to how long the dictatorship would last:<ref name="Emmi Mikedakis"/>{{blockquote|Διότι αυτό το τελευταίον είναι υπόθεσις άλλων. Είναι υποθέσεις εκείνων, οι οποίοι έθεσαν την θρυαλλίδα εις την δυναμίτιδα δια την έκρηξιν προς αναγέννησιν της Πολιτείας την νύκτα της 21 Απριλίου.}}
Translated as:
{{blockquote|Because the latter is someone else's concern. They are the concerns of those, who lit the fuse of the dynamite for the explosion which led to the rebirth of the State the night of 21 April 1967.}}
The religious themes and rebirth metaphors are also seen in the following:<ref name="Emmi Mikedakis"/>
{{blockquote|Αι υποχρεώσεις μας περιγράφονται και από την θρησκείαν και από την ιστορίαν μας. Ομόνοιαν και αγάπην διδάσκει ο Χριστός. Πίστιν εις την Πατρίδα επιτάσσει η Ιστορία μας. [...] η Ελλάς αναγεννάται, η Ελλάς θα μεγαλουργήσει, η Ελλάς πάντα θα ζει.}}
Translated as:
{{blockquote|Our obligations are described by both our history and our religion. Christ teaches Harmony and Love. Our history demands faith in our country. [...] Greece is being reborn, Greece will accomplish great things, Greece will live forever.}}

=== Assassination attempt ===
[[File:Panagoulisontrial.jpg|thumb|Alexandros Panagoulis on trial by the junta.]]

A failed assassination attempt against Papadopoulos was perpetrated by [[Alexandros Panagoulis]] in the morning of 13 August 1968, when Papadopoulos was driven from his summer residence in [[Lagonisi]] to [[Athens]], escorted by his personal security motorcycles and cars. Panagoulis ignited a bomb at a point of the coastal road where the limousine carrying Papadopoulos would have to slow down, but the bomb failed to harm Papadopoulos. Panagoulis was captured a few hours later in a nearby sea cave, since the boat sent to help him escape was instructed to leave at a specific time and he could not swim there on time due to strong sea currents.  After his arrest, he was taken to the [[Greek Military Police]] (EAT-ESA) offices where he was questioned, beaten and tortured. On 17 November 1968, Panagoulis was sentenced to death but was personally pardoned by Papadopoulos, served only five years in prison, and after democracy was restored was elected a member of Parliament. He was regarded as an emblematic figure of the struggle to restore democracy, and as such has often been paralleled to [[Harmodius and Aristogeiton]], two ancient Athenians known for their assassination of [[Hipparchus (brother of Hippias)|Hipparchus]], brother of the tyrant [[Hippias (tyrant)|Hippias]].

=== Normalisation and attempts at liberalisation ===
{{Main|Metapolitefsi}}

[[File:To pistevo mas by Georgios Papadopoulos.PNG|thumb|''Our Credo'' by Geórgios Papadopoulos. It was a multi-volume collection of speeches, declarations, messages and other published material by the dictator.]]
Despite his heavy-handed rule, Papadopoulos was one of the more moderate members of the junta. He had indicated as early as 1968 that he was eager for reform.<ref name="The Metapolitefsi that never was">{{Cite thesis |last=Tzortzis |first=Ioannis |title=The Metapolitefsi that Never Was: a Re-evaluation of the 1973 ‘Markezinis Experiment’ |publisher=University of Birmingham |url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/research/hellenicObservatory/pdf/1st_Symposium/TheMetapolitefsiThatNeverWas.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621184459/http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/research/hellenicObservatory/pdf/1st_Symposium/TheMetapolitefsiThatNeverWas.pdf |archive-date=June 21, 2013 |quote=The Americans asked the Greek government to allow the use of their bases in Greek territory and air space to supply Israel; Markezinis, backed by Papadopoulos, denied on the grounds of maintaining good relations with the Arab countries. This denial is said to have turned the U.S. against Papadopoulos and Markezinis." quote#2:"Thus the students 'had played straight into the hands of Ioannidis, who looked upon the coming elections with a jaundiced eye.." quote3: "The latter (editor's note: i.e. Markezinis) would insist until the end of his life that subversion on behalf... ..Markezinis was known for his independence [from] U.S. interests" quote 4: "In that situation Ioannidis was emerging as a solution for the officers in sharp contrast to Papadopoulos, whose accumulation 'of so many offices and titles' (President of Republic, Prime Minister, Minister of Defence) was harming the seriousness of the regime and giving it an unacceptable image, which was not left unexploited by its opponents." quote 5: "The first attempt of Papadopoulos to start a process of reform occurred in the spring of 1968. He was claiming that if the 'Revolution' stayed more than a certain time in power, it would lose its dynamics and transform into a 'regime,’ which was not in his intentions. He tried to implicate Markezinis in the attempt; however, he met the stiff resistance of the hardliners. Another attempt was again frustrated in the end of 1969 and the beginning of 1970; Papadopoulos was then disappointed and complaining, 'I am being subverted by my fellow Evelpides cadets!' As a result of this second failure, he considered resigning in the summer of 1970, complaining that he lacked any support from other leading figures, his own closest followers included. But the rest of the faction leaders renewed their trust [in] him...}}</ref> He had declared at the time that he did not want the ''Revolution of 21 April'' (as the coup was called by the junta's supporters) to become a 'regime'. Around the same time, he had reached out to some old-line politicians, such as [[Spyros Markezinis]].<ref name="The Metapolitefsi that never was"/> Several attempts to liberalise the regime during 1969 and 1970 were thwarted by the hardliners on the junta, including Ioannides.<ref name="The Metapolitefsi that never was"/> In fact, subsequent to his 1970 failed attempt at reform, he threatened to resign and was dissuaded only after the hardliners renewed their personal allegiance to him.<ref name="The Metapolitefsi that never was"/>

As internal dissatisfaction grew in the early 1970s, and especially after an abortive coup by the Navy in early 1973,<ref name="The Metapolitefsi that never was"/> Papadopoulos attempted to legitimise the regime by beginning a gradual "democratisation" (see also the article on the ''[[Metapolitefsi#Prologue|Metapolitefsi]]''). On 1 June 1973, he abolished [[Monarchy of Greece|the monarchy]] and declared Greece a republic with himself as president.  He was confirmed in office via [[1973 Greek republic referendum|a controversial referendum]]. He furthermore sought the support of the old political establishment, but secured only the cooperation of Markezinis, who became prime minister. Concurrently, many restrictions were lifted and the army's role significantly reduced. An interim constitution created a presidential republic. The president would serve an eight-year term, and was vested with sweeping—almost dictatorial—powers. The decision to return to (at least nominal) civilian rule and the restriction of the army's role did not go nearly far enough for those who wanted full democracy. At the same time, this move was resented by many of the regime's supporters, whose dissatisfaction with Papadopoulos would become evident a few months later.

===Ties to US intelligence===

Papadopoulos is widely reported to have had certain ties to the [[Central Intelligence Agency]],{{refn|group=note|The extent of these ties as reported in the sources varies. See for example:
* ''Shadow Warrior: William Egan Colby and the CIA'': "In 1967, a group of neo-fascist colonels had staged a coup and seized power in Greece. They installed George Papadopoulos, who had been on the CIA payroll off and on since the 1950s, as president."
* ''[[Legacy of Ashes (book)|Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA]]'': "Most of it came from members and supporters of "the colonels"—the Greek junta that seized power in April 1967, led by George Papadopoulos, a recruited CIA agent since the days of Allen Dulles, and the KYP's liaison to the agency."
*Dr. Andreas Constandinos again confirms in ''America, Britain and the Cyprus Crisis of 1974: Calculated Conspiracy or Foreign Policy Failure?'' that [[William Colby]] had admitted "the agency had 'worked with' George Papadopoulos in the Colonel's 'official capacity'".
*[[Daniele Ganser]] in ''NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe'': "The new ruler George Papadopoulos had operated as KYP's liaison officer with the CIA ever since 1952 and within the KYP was known to be the trusted man of CIA chief of station [Jack] Maury."
*''[[The Independent]]'', in [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-george-papadopoulos-1102966.html George Papadopoulos's Obituary]: "Between 1959 and 1964 [Papadopoulos] served as a staff officer in the Greek Central Intelligence Agency (KYP), following a period in which it is claimed that he was trained by the CIA in the United States."
*''[[The Economist]]'', in [https://www.economist.com/obituary/1999/07/01/george-papadopoulos their Obituary post]: "He had been attached to a Greek army intelligence unit that had links with the CIA."
*''Greek City Times'', in [https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/04/21/papadopoulos-greek-figure-cyprus/ Papadopoulos, a controversial Greek figure: From electrifying villages to betraying Cyprus]: "April 21, 1967, will always be known as a day that forever changed Greek history when the military took over the government and installed CIA-connected Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos into power."
*[[William Blum]], in [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Greece_KH.html quote]: "A CIA report dated 23 January 1967 had specifically named the Papadopoulos group as one plotting a coup, and was apparently one of the reports discussed at the February meeting. Of the cabal of five officers which took power in April, four, reportedly, were intimately connected to the American military or to the CIA in Greece. The fifth man had been brought in because of the armored units he commanded. George Papadopoulos emerged as the defacto leader, taking the title prime minister later in the year. The catchword amongst old hands at the US military mission in Greece was that Papadopoulos was "the first CIA agent to become Premier of a European country"."}} and has also been reported to have undergone military and intelligence training in the [[United States]] during the 1950s.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/jun/28/guardianobituaries2 Georgios Papadopoulos – Obituary], ''[[The Guardian]]'', "During the 1950s, Papadopoulos underwent military training in the United States, which gave rise to the suggestion that he had been recruited by the CIA."</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-george-papadopoulos-1102966.html Obituary: George Papadopoulos], ''The Independent'', "Between 1959 and 1964 he served as a staff officer in the Greek Central Intelligence Agency (KYP), following a period in which it is claimed that he was trained by the CIA in the United States."</ref> On 1 July 1973, ''[[The Observer]]'' published an [[investigative journalism]] article that accused the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) of engineering the 1967 coup, further writing that Papadopoulos was known among senior officials in the [[Military Assistance Advisory Group|Joint United States Military Aid Assistance Group]] in Athens as "the first CIA agent to become Premier of a European country".<ref name="Foley">{{cite news |last=Foley |first=Charles |date=1 July 1973 |title=Greek dictator in CIA's pocket |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/CIA%20Greece/Item%2001.pdf |work=The Observer |issue=9,492 |page=1 |access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="The New York Times; July 1, 1973">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=London Paper Asserts C.I.A. Engineered the Coup in Greece |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/01/archives/london-paper-asserts-c-i-a-engineered-the-coup-in-greece-sent-to.html |work=The New York Times |date=1 July 1973 |page=14 |access-date=6 June 2020}}</ref> 

A day after the ''Observer'' article was published, during CIA agent [[William Colby]]'s confirmation hearings to be [[Director of Central Intelligence]], Colby was asked in response to the article if there was any justification for the assertions. Colby denied that the CIA had engineered the coup or that Papadopoulos was either a CIA agent or otherwise paid by the CIA, but stating that "[Papadopoulos] has been an official of the Greek Government at various times, and in those periods from time to time we worked with him in his official capacity.".<ref name="Committee On Armed Services">{{cite book |author=Committee On Armed Services, United States Senate, Ninety-Third Congress |author-link=United States Senate Committee on Armed Services |year=1973 |chapter=First Session On Nomination Of William E. Colby To Be Director of Central Intelligence; July 2, 20, and 25, 1973 |title=Nomination Of William E. Colby; Hearing Before The Committee On Armed Services, United States Senate |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015074749253&view=2up&seq=1 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |pages=3–4 |access-date=6 June 2020 }}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=April 2023}}

== Fall of the Papadopoulos regime ==
After the events of the student uprising of 17 November at the [[National Technical University of Athens]] (see [[Athens Polytechnic uprising]]), the dictatorship was overthrown on 25 November 1973 by hardline elements in the Army. The outcry over Papadopoulos's extensive reliance on the army to quell the student uprising gave [[Brigadier]] [[Dimitrios Ioannidis]] a pretext to oust him and replace him as the new strongman of the regime. Papadopoulos was put under house arrest at his villa, while Greece returned to an "orthodox" military dictatorship.

After democracy was restored in 1974, during the period of ''[[Metapolitefsi]]'' ("regime change"), Papadopoulos and his cohorts were arrested and were eventually [[junta trials (Korydallos)|put on trial]] for [[high treason]], [[mutiny]], [[torture]], and other crimes and misdemeanors.

On 23 August 1975, he and several others were found guilty and were [[death penalty|sentenced to death]], which was later commuted to life imprisonment.

==Personal life==
In 1942, after 3 years of courtship and 6 months of engagement, he married Niki Vasileiadi (died 2015), originally from [[Troy|Ilion]] of [[Asia Minor]]. Together they had a son, Christos (born 1943), a chemist, who lives in the United States and Chrysoula (1945–2004).<ref name="Daughter">{{Cite web |url=http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/CLA-L/1999/06/0566.php |title=Papadopoulos' biographical notes from Ohio State University |access-date=6 May 2006 |archive-date=13 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060913154252/http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/CLA-L/1999/06/0566.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1954, he met and entered into a [[Extramarital sex|relationship]] with Despina Sereti (née Gaspari) (1930–2023), an employee of the [[KYP|Hellenic Intelligence Service]] and the Geographical Service of the Greek Army, at the time Papadopoulos was posted to the Artillery Division of the VI Division, with the rank of Major. Together, they had a daughter out of wedlock, Hypermachia. Since then, he was estranged from Vasileiadi.

=== Divorce by decree rumors ===
The separation, however lengthy, could not lead to divorce at first because, under Greece's restrictive divorce laws of that era, spousal consent was required. It is claimed that, as a remedy to the issue, in 1970, as Prime Minister of the dictatorship, he [[rule by decree|decreed]] a custom-made divorce law with a strict time limit (and a built-in [[sunset clause]]) that enabled him to get the divorce.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 November 2023 |title=Δέσποινα Παπαδοπούλου: Το "αυτόματο διαζύγιο" που δημιούργησε για χάρη της ο δικτάτορας και τα χρόνια της Χούντας |url=https://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/1439583/despoina-papadopoulou-to-automato-diazugio-pou-dimiourgise-gia-hari-tis-o-diktatoras-kai-ta-hronia-tis-houdas/ |access-date=16 February 2024 |website=ProtoThema |language=el}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Βιογραφίες - Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος |url=http://www.sansimera.gr/archive/biographies/show.php?id=254&name=Georgios_Papadopoulos |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113202814/http://www.sansimera.gr/archive/biographies/show.php?id=254&name=Georgios_Papadopoulos |archive-date=2009-01-13 |access-date=2025-10-02 |website=www.sansimera.gr |quote=In 1970, Papadopoulos obtained a divorce from his wife Niki with a legal decree of one use...}}</ref> After having served its purpose, the law eventually expired automatically. Those reports are contradicted by a 1975 article by [[Makedonia (newspaper)|Makedonia]], which claims that Vasiliadi had filed for divorce on 19 September 1969, with the divorce being granted by the Athens Court of First Instance on 27 October of the same year on "''joint liability''" grounds.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 January 1975 |title=Ποια είναι η αλήθεια για το διαζύγιο του Γ. Παπαδοπούλου |language=Greek |trans-title=The truth about G.Papadopoulos' divorce |page=1 |work=[[Makedonia (newspaper)|Makedonia]] |publication-place=[[Thessaloniki]] |url=http://efimeris.nlg.gr/ns/pdfwin_ftr.asp?c=124&pageid=75448&id=-1&s=0&STEMTYPE=0&STEM_WORD_PHONETIC_IDS=ARsASJASYASJASMASkASYASXASdASTASX&CropPDF=0}}</ref> Makedonia's claims are further corroborated by the failure of newer sources to provide the decree specifics (type, number, [[Efimeris tis Kyverniseos]] Issue number). Such rumors are baseless in the case of Papadopoulos' divorce, but in 1972 a bill that would allow divorces on the basis of long-term separation (featuring a built-in [[sunset clause]]) was put forward by the government, only to meet the opposition of the [[Church of Greece]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 July 1972 |title=Αι κυριότεραι διατάξεις του νόμου περί αυτομάτου διαζυγίου |url=http://efimeris.nlg.gr/ns/pdfwin.asp?c=124&dc=6&db=7&da=1972 |work=[[Makedonia (newspaper)|Makedonia]] |pages=1–10 |language=el}}</ref> Such a law (but without a sunset clause) came to be only in 1979, a decade after the divorce of Vasileiadi and Papadopoulos.<ref>Law 868/1979 ''On divorce due to long-term cessation of marital cohabitation'' (published in [[Efimeris tis Kyverniseos|ΦΕΚ]] Α΄ 30/1979)</ref>

In March 1970, he married Gaspari, with whom he lived throughout the years of his separation from Vasileiadi. Gaspari, immediately after the wedding, informally assumed the role of First Lady of Greece, until his overthrow in November 1973. They remained married until his death.

==Death==
Papadopoulos showed no remorse and steadfastly refused to apply for parole or [[amnesty]] or to use the leniency provisions that allowed him to be released on the grounds of ill health, as did several of his associates, such as Makarezos and Zoitakis. In the summer of 1996, his health deteriorated and he was diagnosed with [[ALS]] and [[bladder cancer]], resulting in his being hospitalized for three years in an Athens hospital until his death on 27 June 1999. He was buried in [[First Cemetery of Athens]] three days later, in the presence of old associates and regime sympathisers.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pace|first=Eric|date=28 June 1999|title=George Papadopoulos Dies; Greek Coup Leader Was 80|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/28/world/george-papadopoulos-dies-greek-coup-leader-was-80.html|access-date=4 August 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Today, Papadopoulos is a symbol of [[authoritarianism]] and [[xenophobia]].<ref name="CloggYannopoulos1972">{{cite book|author1=Richard Clogg|author2=George N. Yannopoulos|title=Greece under military rule|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2qQcAAAAYAAJ|access-date=27 March 2013|page=33|date=24 April 1972|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=9780436102554|quote=... Their intense nationalism – by its very nature – contains within it submerged elements of xenophobia that might very easily surface ...}}</ref><ref name="DaviesLynch2002">{{cite book|author1=Peter Davies|author2=Derek Lynch|title=The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9s2mOVfOWg8C&pg=PA229|access-date=27 March 2013|date=29 August 2002|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-99472-6|page=229|quote=GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS ... His ideology was a mixture of anti-Marxism, nationalism and xenophobia. Most observers view Papadopoulos as a paternalistic military man rather than any kind of radical political figure.}}</ref><ref name="The New Yorker">{{cite book|title=The New Yorker|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tw8nAQAAIAAJ|access-date=27 March 2013|year=1975|publisher=F-R Publishing Corporation|page=229|quote=Out of that experience there came a literal xenophobia. ... Colonel George Papadopoulos, who became Prime Minister and later President under the junta, said his purpose was to recreate the Greece of the Christian Greeks — "Ellas Elllnon ...}}</ref> After the restoration of democracy, some support for his type of politics remained which was, for a time, bolstered by the [[National Political Union (Greece)|National Political Union]] (EPEN), a small political party that declared him its honorary leader.<ref name="Daughter"/> The ''EPEN'' eventually dissolved, with supporters scattering to various other political parties such as the [[Popular Orthodox Rally]] (LAOS) and criminal organisations like [[Golden Dawn (political party)|Golden Dawn]] (XA).<ref>{{cite book|title=Protest Elections and Challenger Parties|year=2016|page=150|publisher=Routledge|first=Susannah|last=Verney}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[History of modern Greece]]
* [[Military history of Greece during World War II]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{wikiquote-inline}}

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{{s-ttl|title=[[Prime Minister of Greece]]|years=13 December 1967 – 8 October 1973}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Spiros Markezinis]]}}
{{s-bef | before= [[Grigorios Spandidakis]]}}
{{s-ttl | title= [[List of defence ministers of Greece|Minister for National Defence]] of Greece | years=13 December 1967 – 8 October 1973}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[President of Greece]]|years=1973}}
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