November 28, 1952
MYTH I: The Greek people yesterday clearly indicated their faith in the idea of Greek-Turkish friendship when, in a spontaneous show of enthusiasm, they cheered the President of the Turkish Republic Celal Bayar. No other foreign head of state has been so warmly welcomed. The reception took the form of a people’s rally. From the early hours, a sea of humanity had filled the area between the Piraeus Navy Hospital and Pasalimani Port as far as Alexandras Square, while other crowds had taken up position along Falirou and Tzavella streets, Poseidonos Avenue, Syngrou, Amalias and Vassilisis Sofias avenues as far as Herod Atticus Street. (…) MYTH II: The Communist Party (KKE)’s Central Committee has announced that Nikolaos Ploumbidis (aka Barbas) was a double agent within the party for the last 20 years (…). One of his greatest acts of betrayal was to turn in the popular people’s hero Nikos Beloyiannis. Ploumbidis is a deadly enemy of the people. MYTH III: London, 27 – According to reports from Vienna, Prague radio announced today that Czechoslovakia’s former Foreign Minister Vladimir Clementis, the former general secretary of the country’s Communist Party, Rudolf Slansky, and nine other Communist leaders have been sentenced to death for high treason. They were convicted of conspiring to overturn the Communist regime.
