ABSTRACT
Greece’s integration in the West was the major priority of the Karamanlis government and, not surprisingly, NATO membership was a crucial part of this policy. Presenting the programme of his first government to Parliament, in October 1955, Karamanlis stressed that ‘the history and geography of Greece have determined its place in the side of the western democracies’.1 However, the new Prime Minister had to implement this policy at a time when the Cyprus question had turned Greek public opinion against NATO. Throughout 1955-59, the government persisted in pursuing a Cyprus policy ‘in the framework of the country’s alliances’ (namely, without breaking relations with the West), but this concept was viciously attacked as a sell-out by parts of the opposition and of the press. During a period when the Greek public opinion experienced bitter disappointments by Western policy on Cyprus, Greece’s position in the alliance was not to be taken for granted.
