January 23, 1954
TRIPARTITE: Paris, 22 – The Greek prime minister, Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos, questioned by a reporter from the Le Monde newspaper about Balkan and general international issues, made the following statement: «I am able to say with absolute satisfaction that since we assumed power, bonds between the three countries of the Ankara Pact (Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia) have been getting stronger, both in the military as well as in the political, economic and social fields.» PAPAGOS AGAINST ZACHARIADIS: Asked whether he believed that the recent speech in Sofia by Nikos Zachariadis, general secretary of the illegal Communist Party of Greece (KKE), would provide a fresh impetus to communist activity in Greece, the Greek prime minister replied: «If, as I have been informed, Zachariadis’s speech condemned the current regime in Greece, as well as its foreign policy, and if it proposed the formation of a ‘democratic’ or ‘popular’ front, this can only mean a revival of what are already known to us as aggressive measures.»
