Henry Kissinger, the all-powerful U.S. Secretary of State who was linked more than anyone else to the machinations that led to the Cypriot tragedy.

Dimitrios Ioannidis, the perpetrator of the crime, and the Greek-American CIA agent, Gus Avrakotos, the invisible hand behind the conspiracies.

Guilty, according to the final verdict reached after a multi-year investigation by the distinguished journalists Michalis Ignatiou and Kostas Venizelos in their book “GUILTY,” which is being released these days by RIZES Publications.

The two journalists’ investigation sheds light on the dark aspects of the case and documents the sordid role played by the once-all-powerful U.S. Secretary of State.
 
THE NIXON LETTER

U.S. Ambassador James Spane, whose career would become inextricably linked to Cyprus’s most tragic moment—the brutal Turkish invasion— revealed that on the night of Friday, July 19, 1974, into Saturday, a letter from then-President Richard Nixon arrived in Ankara. An eyewitness, James Spane, who accompanied the then-U.S. ambassador, William Macomber, to Ecevit’s office and was holding Nixon’s letter in his hands, in which Nixon urged him not to invade Cyprus. But by the time they entered Ecevit’s office, events had already overtaken them. At that very moment, the Turkish Prime Minister was speaking with Henry Kissinger… a phone conversation that sealed the course of events. It concerned the possibility of a limited invasion of Cyprus, one that would not, however, lead to war between Greece and Turkey.
 
JAMES SPEIN, American diplomat
: “Ecevit replied: ‘I assure you that we are not trying to conquer Cyprus, but simply to create a bridgehead from which we can negotiate a settlement.’”
 
KOSTAS VENIZELOS—
Journalist: “What Ioannidis had said was that we wouldn’t do anything since Turkey would advance as far as Kioneli and stop there; the key word was ‘bridgehead.’”

In Ankara, the shadowy behind-the-scenes drama is turning into a thriller.
 
JAMES SPEIN, American diplomat
: “Macomber looks at me, and I look at him. He motions for me to keep the letter in my pocket. When Ecevit hung up the phone, he told us: ‘Well, as I was telling Henry, we’ll go tomorrow morning, but you Americans have no reason to worry about it.” The next morning, the Turks invaded Cyprus.”
 
KOSTAS VENIZELOS—Journalist: “They
had overheard the conversation, and the Ambassador said the letter should not be delivered; the invisible hand was the State Department.”
 
According to the two journalists, the one who pulled the trigger on the coup was none other than Henry Kissinger, and the message to Dimitrios Ioannidis was relayed by the CIA agent in Athens, Gus Avrakotos—Washington’s man for dirty work in Athens—was tasked with relaying the message to Dimitrios Ioannidis. An account, provided on condition of complete anonymity, by agents to Michalis Ignatiou confirms the shadowy background.

See the report by Christoforos Nestoros:

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