Stylianos Pattakos

Stylianos Pattakos was a Greek military officer who played a key role in the coup d'état of 21 April 1967 that established a military dictatorship in Greece. He was one of the three main conspirators, along with Georgios Papadopoulos and Nikolaos Makarezos, who planned and executed the coup that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos. He served as the deputy prime minister and the minister of the interior under the junta regime, and was known for his hardline stance and his decision to strip the Greek actress and political activist Melina Mercouri of her citizenship and property. He was also nicknamed "The Trowel" or "The Man with the Trowel" because of his previous occupation as a builder. Pattakos was born on 8 November 1912 in the village of Agia Paraskevi in Rethymno Prefecture, Crete. He studied at the Hellenic Military Academy and joined the army as a lieutenant. He fought in the Greco-Italian War and the Greek Civil War, and rose to the rank of brigadier general. He was assigned to the tank training centre at Goudi in Athens, where he met Papadopoulos and Makarezos. He shared their anti-communist and nationalist views, and their dissatisfaction with the political situation in Greece. He also had a strong religious faith and was influenced by the ideas of the Greek Orthodox Church. On the night of 20-21 April 1967, Pattakos and his fellow officers launched a coup that seized power in Greece, claiming that they wanted to prevent a communist takeover and restore order and stability. They suspended the constitution, abolished civil rights, banned political parties, censored the media, and arrested and tortured thousands of opponents and dissidents. Pattakos became the second most powerful figure in the junta, after Papadopoulos, and was in charge of the internal security and the administration of the country. He was also responsible for the cultural policy of the regime, which aimed to promote a conservative and nationalist ideology. He clashed with many prominent figures of the Greek cultural scene, such as Mercouri, Mikis Theodorakis, and Costa-Gavras, who opposed the dictatorship and advocated for democracy and human rights. Pattakos remained loyal to Papadopoulos until 1973, when the latter attempted to liberalize the regime and open a dialogue with the political parties and the king. Pattakos opposed this move and accused Papadopoulos of betraying the revolution. He was sidelined by Papadopoulos, who appointed him as the minister of agriculture, and was later ousted by a coup led by Dimitrios Ioannidis, a hardline colonel who wanted to restore the original principles of the junta. Pattakos was arrested and put under house arrest. In 1974, after the collapse of the dictatorship following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Pattakos was tried and sentenced to death for his role in the coup and the crimes of the junta. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. He was released in 1990 for health reasons, and lived in Athens until his death. Pattakos never expressed any regret or remorse for his actions, and maintained that he had acted in the best interest of the nation. He published several books and gave interviews in which he defended his views and criticized the political system of Greece. He also enjoyed a certain popularity among some segments of the Greek society, especially the supporters of the far-right party Golden Dawn, who admired his nationalist and anti-communist stance. He died of a stroke on 8 October 2016, at the age of 103. He was buried in his native village of Agia Paraskevi, where his funeral was attended by many people. He was the last surviving member of the junta leaders, and one of the most controversial and divisive figures in modern Greek history.