Dimitrios Ioannidis, hardliner who led army counter-coup against Greek dictators, dies at 87

Dimitrios Ioannidis, who toppled Greek junta, dies

ATHENS, Greece — Dimitrios Ioannidis, the feared security chief who led a countercoup against Greece’s military leaders and provoked Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974, has died. He was 87.

Ioannidis, who was jailed for life for his part in the 1967-74 dictatorship, died Monday in an Athens hospital, a day after experiencing breathing problems in prison, the justice ministry said.

As head of the brutal ESA military police, Ioannidis was a key figure in the military dictatorship that seized power on April 21, 1967.

The dictators imposed martial law and cracked down heavily on political opponents, imprisoning or exiling thousands, many of whom were tortured by ESA.

The junta was condemned in the West, and the U.S. temporarily banned arms sales to Greece. But a 1971 visit by Vice President Spiro Agnew, who was of Greek descent, was viewed by many as tacit approval of the dictatorship.

Following a student pro-democracy uprising that the army crushed in November 1973, dictator George Papadopoulos tried to slowly introduce some democratic reforms.

This angered army hard-liners who, led by Ioannidis, staged a successful countercoup and ruled with increasing harshness and incompetence for the next eight months.

Although Ioannidis appointed a military president and a civilian prime minister, he was the real head of the regime, under which relations with neighboring Turkey — as well as President Makarios’ government in Cyprus — quickly deteriorated.

In mid July 1974, the military overthrew Makarios, prompting Turkey to exercise its rights as a guarantor power on the Mediterranean island and invade on July 20. The attack caught Athens unprepared, and the dictatorship ended with a return to civilian government after four shambolic days in which Greece came close to war with Turkey.

A second Turkish advance in August gave Ankara control of nearly 40 percent of the island, which remains divided along ethnic lines.

No funeral arrangements for Ioannidis have been announced.