Giorgos Athanasiadis-Novas

Giorgos Athanasiadis-Novas ( Greek Γιώργος Αθανασιάδης-Νόβας , born February 9, 1893 in Nafpaktos ; † August 10, 1987 in Athens ) was a Greek writer, politician and former prime minister.

Political career

Metaxas dictatorship and exile

After studying law and working as a lawyer, Athanasiadis-Novas began his political career in 1926 with the election to the National Assembly (Voulí ton Ellínon) . During the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas , he lived in exile from 1936 to 1941 . After returning to Greece for four years, he went into exile again from 1945 to 1949 after his house was destroyed by communists .

Promotion to Prime Minister

In 1949 he joined the Liberal Party and was initially Minister of Education in the third cabinet of Sophoklis Venizelos from August 1950 to November 1951 . He was then from November 1951 to October 1952 Minister of Industry and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office in the third cabinet of Nikolaos Plastiras . After the merger of the Liberal Party in 1961 with the Enosis Kendrou (Center Union, EC) of Georgios Papandreou , he also joined the EC. When Papandreou became Prime Minister for the third time in February 1964, he became President of the National Assembly.

When Papandreou had to resign on July 15, 1965 due to differences of opinion with King Constantine II , Athanasiadis-Novas tried to form a government. However, he was unable to find a majority in the National Assembly capable of governing, so that he had to resign as Prime Minister on August 20, 1965. He then was Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinets of Ilias Tsirimokos and Stephanos Stephanopoulos until December 1966 .

Military dictatorship and a return to democracy

After the Colonel coup by Colonel Giorgos Papadopoulos on April 21, 1967, he was banned from political activity during the period of the military dictatorship that lasted until 1974 . In July 1974 he was one of the politicians who negotiated the end of the military dictatorship and the appointment of Konstantinos Karamanlis as prime minister.

writer

In addition to his political activities, he was also active as a writer. Under the pseudonym Giorgos Athanas he published seven volumes of poetry, two books with short stories and a novel. Some of his poems were set to music by the Greek composer Giorgos Kasassoglou (1908–1984).

For his services to modern Greek literature , he was appointed a member of the Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Fine Arts of Athens in 1955, of which he was president in 1965.

Biographical sources and background information

• Biography in rulers.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Georgios Papandreou	Prime Minister of Greece 1965	Iliad Tsirimokos