Karamanlis Returns from Exile

In the early hours of 24 July 1974, Konstantinos Karamanlis landed at Athens airport after eleven years of self-imposed exile in Paris, and he was sworn in as prime minister of a government of national unity. Karamanlis had been prime minister from 1955 to 1963, a period of rapid economic growth, but he had left Greece after losing the 1963 elections and clashing with the palace. As the military junta collapsed following the disaster in Cyprus, the politicians summoned by President Phaedon Gizikis agreed that Karamanlis was the only figure with enough authority to lead the country back to democracy. The French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing provided an aircraft to fly him home. Huge crowds filled the streets of Athens, chanting his name and celebrating the end of the dictatorship. Karamanlis faced enormous challenges, including the danger of war with Turkey over Cyprus and the risk of a counter-coup by the military. He moved carefully, releasing political prisoners, restoring civil liberties and legalizing political parties. He then founded the New Democracy party and led Greece through its transition to democracy.