Chief of the Army General Staff (GES), Lt.-Gen Constantine Ziazias, tendered his resignation on Wednesday, a GES announcement said. Just hours before a top government meeting of Greece's council on foreign policy and defense, which is to be chaired by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Ziazias said that he was resigning from his post "for reasons of ethics and dignity, both mine and the Army's". No further details were given.
Ziazias, 57, was appointed nine months ago, just before the previous Socialist government stepped down. Changes of government in Greece are routinely followed by new top military appointments, and the current three-party coalition took over last month. But it was not entirely clear why Ziazias quit as chief of staff.
Opposition parties reacted to the resignation by accusing the conservative-led ruling coalition of trying to interfere in the appointments of army officers, a charge Defense Minister Panos Panayiotopoulos denied. Panayiotopoulos said the council decided to replace Ziazias with Lt. Gen. Constantinos Ginis.
Following his resignation, Ziazia's political ideologies took over (even though George Papandreou's PASOK party -which he was a proud fan of, is non-existent) and he called for a gathering of officers (!) in the auditorium of the General Staff (!) and announced his political manifesto! The move was indeed unprecedented and can only be described as being an institutional diversion with unknown intentions.
The move can also be viewed as a "mini" coup and it is truly a wonder who allowed him to do so.
In his speech he said he was given several lists of names of army personnel so that he can evaluate their work, and that he found this insulting because he felt that this was a direct interference in his work. Ziasia also (ridiculously) criticized the government's determination to select and appoint the correct staff - and place them in critical and strategic positions - so that they can better meet the department's needs.
As if he was appointed to his position because of his brilliant skills! His arrogance is unprecedented... and he is probably suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Doesn't he remember that he was "given" the post of Chief of the General Staff because George Papandreou was in power? Let us refresh his memory.
Doesn't he remember that on November 2, 2011, and in a shock announcement, former Defense Minister Panos Beglitis - a very, very close ally of Papandreou - said that the chiefs of the Greek army, navy and air force would be replaced by senior officers? He then announced changes just two days before the government staged a confidence vote; and perhaps weeks before the so-called referendum vote, on the bailout rescue package that Greece received from leaders of the European Union (EU).
At the time, General Ioannis Giagkos, chief of the Greek National Defense General Staff, was replaced by Lieutenant General Michalis Kostarakos; Lieutenant General Fragkos Fragkoulis (probably the best Greece has to offer), who was acting chief of the Greek Army General Staff (and later became defence minister), was replaced by Lieutenant General Konstantinos Zazias; Lieutenant General Vasilios Klokozas, chief of the Greek Air Force, was replaced by Air Marshal Antonis Tsantirakis; and Vice-Admiral Dimitrios Elefsiniotis, chief of the Greek Navy General Staff, was replaced by Rear-Admiral Kosmas Christidis. All these men were the best that Greece's forces had to offer... but Papandreou overlooked this, and through Beglitis appointed men to these posts who did not even fulfill the criteria.
At the time, neither Beglitis nor any other government official in Papandreou's governmed cared to explain why they did this but reports at the time stated that said that Papandreou or someone in his regime feared that a military coup was threatening to overthrow his government. This was NEVER proven, and reports later on showed that this was a lie that was used by Papandreou as an excuse for the "referendum" issue.
At the time, all opposition parties, from far-right to far-left, condemned the government’s decision to replace the military bosses and the New Democracy which is now in power had vowed in a statement back then that if it won the next elections it would not accept these military assignments because they were politicizing the army. Moreover, even the SYRIZA party had slammed Papandreou's decision stressing that his government wanted to create "a highly politicized armed forces that it can control at a time of political crisis.”
So who is Ziazias kidding?
Editor's Note - He can't speak about "honor" when he knows that the chair he was sitting on was simply given to him because he was loyal to a political party, and it was not earned because of hard work and service to one's country as it was by all the other generals mentioned above. The difference with him and all these other army generals is that they are patriots and follow protocol... he is only a "komatoskylo" (a servant of his political party) and follows whatever his political party says. Good-bye and good riddance!
References
http://www.defencenet.gr/defence/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48780&Itemid=139
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2011/11/beglitis-replaces-chiefs-of-staff-with.html
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2011/11/shocking-report-senior-official-charges.html
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