Alexandros Matsas

Alexandros Matsas ( Greek Αλέξανδρος Μάτσας , born May 3, 1910 in Athens , † February 5, 1969 in London ) was a Greek ambassador .

Life

Alexandros Matsas studied law at the University of Athens and in 1931 four semesters of political science and ancient Greek at Christ Church (Oxford) . In 1934 he joined the foreign service. In 1938 he was Vice Consul in al-Mansura , Egypt . From 1939 to 1940 he had exequatur as consul in Alexandria . From 1940 to 1945 during the German-Italian occupation of Greece , he followed the Greek government in exile to London and later to Cairo . From 1947 to 1950 he was first class secretary of the legation in Paris. In 1949 he was chargé d'affaires in The Hague . From 1951 to 1953 he headed the economics department at the Foreign Office in Athens. From 1953 to 1957 he was Minister Counselor in Rome. From 1957 to 1959 he headed the politics department. In 1958 he was appointed Ministre plénipotentiaire . From 1959 to 1962, based in Ankara, he was also accredited as ambassador to the governments in Tehran and Karachi .

On February 13, 1962, he was appointed ambassador to Washington, DC , where he was accredited from February 28, 1962 to September 25, 1967. After the Yalta Conference, Greece and Turkey belonged to the sphere of influence of the western allies, from which Dean Acheson derived a task of order in the Cyprus conflict . He developed the plan, which provided for the annexation of Cyprus by Greece and an unlimited leasing of a military base on Cyprus to Turkey. As an approximation of the Greek position, Acheson saw that he limited the lease to 50 years. Matsas suggested to Lyndon B. Johnson that if Turkey promised the United States not to invade Cyprus, Greece would give its military support to Makarios III. (Cyprus) would hire. Johnson replied that the [invasion] of the Turks could not be prevented without a basis for negotiation.

In the summer of 1964, Matsas raised constitutional concerns about Dean Acheson's plan, whereupon Lyndon B. Johnson made his point known:

"Then listen to me, Mr. Ambassador, Fuck your parliament and your constituion. America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea. Greece is a flea. If those two fleas continue itching the elephant, they may just get whacked by the elelphants's trunk, whacked good. ... We pay a lot of good American dollars to the Greeks, Mr. Ambassador. If your Prime Minister gives me talk about democracy, parliament and constituion, he, his parliament and his constitution may not last very long. "

- Lyndon B. Johnson

"I must protest your manner"

- Alexandros Matsas

"Don't forget to tell old Papa-what's-his-name - what I told you. Mind you tell, him, you hear "

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Matsas telegraphed transcripts of the conversation to Georgios Papandreou .

By telephone, Johnson confirmed the recording of communications from the Greek embassy and the correctness of the verbatim transcript:

“Are you trying to get yourself into my bad books, Mr. Ambassador? Do you want me to get really angry with you? That was a private conversation me and you had. You had no call putting in all them words I used on you. Watch your step. "

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Alexandros Matsas spent the night of April 20 to 21, 1967, the Colonel coup , in the hospital.

plant

Alexandros Matsas published three books of poetry (the first in French) Midday Contemplation at Delos and 1940: Sleep at Delos and three political dramas with classical themes, of which Clytemnestra , 1957 Croesus , 1963 by the then Βασιλικό θέατρο National Theater (Athens) were performed .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Evanthis Hatzivassiliou: Greece and the Cold War: Frontline State 1952-1967 , Digitalisat
2. ^ Fotini Bellou, Theodore A. Couloumbis, Theodore C. Kariotis: Greece in the Twentieth Century. P. 90 ; Evanthis Hatzivassiliou: Greece and the Cold War: Front Line State, 1952-1967. P. 156
3. ↑ Papa-what's-his-name : Georgios Papandreou from November 8, 1963 to December 30, 1963 Prime Minister Georgios Papadopoulos from 1959 to 1964 Liaison officer of the Ethniki Ypiresia Pliroforion to John M. Maury (* 1912 in Charlottesville ; † July 2, 1983)
4. ^ Daniele Ganser : NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe. P. 219 , [1]
5. ↑ Thomas Doulis: The Iron Storm: The Impact on Greek Culture of the Military Junta, 1967-1974. P. 26
6. ^ John Gassner, Edward Quinn: The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama. P. 339

predecessor	Office	successor
Konstantinos M. Sakellaropoulos	Greek ambassador in Ankara from 1959 to 1962	Alexander Sgourdeos
Alexis Liatis	Appointed Greek Ambassador to Washington on February 13, 1962, accredited from February 28, 1962 to September 25, 1967	Christos Xanthopoulos-Palamas