FEBRUARY 16, 1952
INVITATION TO NATO: Washington, 25 – The United States today officially invited Greece and Turkey to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after the parliaments of the 12 member states approved the accession of the two countries (…). Greece and Turkey will formally become members as soon as each makes an official announcement to that effect. TRIAL OF BELOYIANNIS GROUP: The trial by military tribunal began yesterday, amid much international interest, of the 29 communist spies that include two of the leading figures in the Communist Party of Greece (KKE): Nikos Beloyiannis, one of (Nikos Zachariadis’s) most trusted associates and a former «brigadier» during the mutiny, and the lawyer Batsis, the «financial dictator» of the illegal KKE. WANTED: Colonel Tsitouras, the most senior officer in the gendarmerie, yesterday announced the arrest of G.D., a livestock farmer from Villia, in the foothills of Mt Kithairon and a member of a gang of rustlers in the environs of Loutraki. G.D. refused to say whether the communist Glykofrydis, who has only one arm, and the fugitive bandit Seretis were members of the band. Meanwhile, bands of gendarmerie officers are continuing to comb the Mt Kithairon area.
