Athens, 31 May 1987 Acropolis tour, peace rally highlight , Sunday's activities

by Bob Van Leer

(Athens, May 31, 1987)   We began the day with a tour of Athens centering on a visit to the Acropolis, a limestone plateau in the middle of present day Athens that rises to 500 feet above the surrounding plain.  On it are several of the greatest works of Green architecture.  The hill had been used since the beginning of time for monumental purposes, but the present buildings that give the Acropolis its fame date from the Golden Age of Pericles, about 400 years before the birth of Christ.

      The Parthenon is the largest building on the Acropolis and the finest example of Doric architecture anywhere.  In 2000 years no one has been able to surpass it.  It is a monumental building with columns six feet in diameter and 34 feet high, a building without a straight line.  The architects varied the lines just slightly so they seem to be straight to the eye. 

    In and around Constitution Square, which is just across the street from our hotel, scaffolding is being put up for a rally of the New Democracy Party planned for Tuesday evening.  Tonight, Sunday, there was a rally and parade sponsored by the Communist Party, a “Peace” rally. Since signs and most speeches were in Greek it was difficult to follow all the action but the main themes were clear, anti anything nuclear and against U.S. bases in Greece.

      So far we have noticed two clear political controversies.  One is an age-old one of conflict with the Turks and the other is over U.S. bases in Greece.  Greece was occupied by Turkey for 400 years ending 150 years ago, the date celebrated as Independence Day.  The two countries have squared off on a number of occasions since.  On the surface there is some tolerance but it is not very deep.  One man we talked to downplayed differences with the Turks, saying this was overplayed by the newspapers.  (He did not know at that time we were all in the newspaper business.)  But we asked, would he want his daughter to marry a Turk?  And the answer was a flat “no”.

      The issue of U.S. bases is of more recent origin, since World War II.  The U.S. has four major and 12 secondary installations in Greece.  These are on 5 year leases and are due for renewal in 1988.  The Prime Minister, Andreas Papandreou, has to be considered hostile to the U.S. even though he was at one time a U.S. citizen and a professor of economics at Berkeley.  He is proposing to put the issue of U.S. bases in Greece up to a referendum.

      We get mixed readings on the issue.  Some we have talked to want the bases out (but the U.S. tourists in).  But this is not a universal opinion.  Watching the “Peace” demonstration I engaged in conversation with a Greek free-lance photographer who was assigned to cover the demonstration and he was obviously hostile to the motives of the demonstrators.  He is a proponent of the New Democracy party and promised a huge demonstration Tuesday compared to what he called a very small one of the Communists.  (The third party is PASOK which is now in power, a Socialist party.)

      We had not yet had dinner so our new acquaintance, Yiannis, led us to a small outdoor restaurant near the Acropolis where we dined on lamb, drank Greek beer and listened to the music of a Greek band.  Our guide was a talented singer as well as a photographer and often joined the band in songs.

      The weekend of entertainment is now over and we start tomorrow at 7 a.m. with a meeting with the Associated Press correspondent, followed with a meeting at the Green Foreign office in the morning and a meeting at the U.S. embassy in the afternoon.