When and why did Konstantinos Karamanlis say that “Greece has turned into an endless madhouse”

In a climate of extreme political polarization, in November 1989, the Konstantinos Karamanlis he made a statement that went down in history and is still remembered. The reasons, after all, are many. In 1989 the country was plunged into one of the biggest political crises it has ever experienced. PASOK and New Democracy are at war over the “Koskota scandal”. And they do it with such intensity that the political opposition reaches the limits of… hooliganism!

“Greece has turned into a vast madhouse”

The central figure of the scandal was apparently the banker Giorgos Koskotas. The starting point is his business activities. In 1982 he bought the journalistic and publishing organization “Grammi SA” from Pavlos Bakoyannis. Two years later he buys 56% of the share capital of the Bank of Crete. At one point, in the middle of that decade, Koskotas came to be the employer of approximately 4,000 workers! But it didn’t stop there. In 1987 he bought Olympiakos while earlier he had tried to buy the Bank of Central Greece but the reactions were intense and so he abandoned his plans. He never, however, gave up his plans for absolute dominance in the field of the press.

Koskotas published “24 Hours” (daily political newspaper) and six magazines. At the same time, he bought three opposition newspapers to PASOK (one of which was Kathimerini) which he turned into… pro-government! He tried to buy out Eleftherotypia as well but it didn’t go ahead. As long as the uncontrolled rise of Koskotas continued, both he and the PASOK which tries to launch a counterattack and exposes various scandals that even affected the then leadership of the ND.

On January 11, 1989, Konstantinos Karamanlis (now withdrawn from the political affairs of the country but with a weighty opinion) is invited to comment on what is happening regarding the Koskotas scandal that had already “leaked” since the middle of the previous year. “The unprecedented events that have taken place in our country lately create the impression that Greece has turned into an endless madhouse,” Karamanlis replies with a remark that has gone down in history.

The course of Konstantinos Karamanlis in politics

The man who was remembered by his supporters as the “Ethnarchis Karamanlis”, died on a day like today, on April 23, 1998. Konstantinos Karamanlis, was elected for the first time as a member of parliament in 1935 with the anti-Venezuelan People’s Party. He was re-elected Member of Parliament in 1936, the last election before World War II.

With the outbreak of the Greco-Italian war, he presented himself to enlist in Sidirokastro, but was deemed unable to serve due to hearing loss. During the German Occupation, he worked exclusively in law. He returned to active politics in 1946, when he took part in the March 31 elections as a candidate of the People’s Party in Serres and was elected as the first member of parliament. The work he did during his tenure as Minister of Public Works in the Papagos government (1952-1955), was enough to be promoted as Prime Minister, after the death of Alexandros Papagos. The initiative of King Pavlos to entrust him with the formation of the government, on October 5, 1955, surprised everyone, since the vice-presidents of the Papagou government, Stefanos Stephanopoulos and Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, were dominant for the succession.

Karamanlis then founded a new party, the National Radical Union (ENE) and contested the elections in February 1956. He won them, even though his party came second in votes, thanks to the “three-phase” electoral system. Winning this and two more elections – in 1958 and 1961 – kept him in power for eight years (1955-1963), an achievement unprecedented in the country’s political history.

The first eight-year government of Konstantinos Karamanlis was unexpectedly interrupted, with his resignation in June 1963, following a disagreement with King Pavlos, which marked his break with the Palace.

In the elections of November 3, 1963, he led the ERE, but under the weight of the opposition’s complaints, he was defeated by the “Center Union” of George Papandreou. At that time, Karamanlis resigned from the leadership of ERE and secretly left for Paris under the pseudonym “Triantafyllidis”, where he private for 11 years until the Postcolonial period.

On July 24, 1974, Konstantinos Karamanlis triumphantly returned to Greece, after the collapse of the dictatorship under the weight of the coup d’état in Cyprus and the Turkish invasion of the Greek island at the head of the “National Unity” government. He legitimized the KKE after 26 years of illegality, while he proceeded with the withdrawal of Greece from the military arm of NATO as a reaction to the Alliance’s refusal to oppose the Turkish advance in Cyprus and replaced the Juntic leadership of the Armed Forces.

In the first free elections (November 17, 1974) Karamanlis prevailed with 54.2%. His victory in the next election, in November 1977, would allow him to remain in power uninterrupted for six years, as head of the New Republic, a newly formed formation, which is part of the center-right space. The holding of a referendum, on December 8, 1974, ended the long conflict over the state, with the definitive establishment of the de-reigned democracy.

Konstantinos Karamanlis left active politics in 1980, after the signing of the accession treaty of Greece to the EEC. He was succeeded as prime minister by George Rallis. On May 5, 1980, he was elected President of the Republic, at a time when his PASOK Andrea Papandreou he was on the verge of power. In 1985, Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou broke his promise to Karamanlis for a second term and proposed the Areopagite Christos Sargetakis as President of the Republic. Karamanlis leaves bitterly. He was re-elected to the highest office of the country in the five years 1990-1995, when he left politics for good.