Anastasios Balkos ( el, Αναστάσιος Μπάλκος, 1916 – 30 October 1995) was a

Greek Army The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...

lieutenant general and conservative politician, who served as Greece's Minister of Public Order and as an intelligence officer in the Greek secret services.

Biography

Anastasios Balkos was born in

Preveza Preveza ( el, Πρέβεζα, ) is a city in the region of Epirus, northwestern Greece, located on the northern peninsula at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. It is the capital of the regional unit of Preveza, which is part of the region of Epiru ...

in 1916. He graduated from the

Hellenic Military Academy The Hellenic Army Academy ( el, Στρατιωτική Σχολή Ευελπίδων), commonly known as the Evelpidon, is a military academy. It is the Officer cadet school of the Greek Army and the oldest third-level educational institution in G ...

and later attended various Greek and international military schools, including the

United States Army Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., and the oldest perman ...

. He fought in the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (Greek language, Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdom ...

in 1940-41, in the Greek Resistance with

EDES The National Republican Greek League ( el, Εθνικός Δημοκρατικός Ελληνικός Σύνδεσμος (ΕΔΕΣ), ''Ethnikós Dimokratikós Ellinikós Sýndesmos'' (EDES)) was one of the major resistance groups formed during t ...

in 1941-44, and in the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...

on the side of the Greek government against the communists. In the postwar years, under the conservative governments of Marshal

Alexander Papagos Alexandros Papagos ( el, Αλέξανδρος Παπάγος; 9 December 1883 – 4 October 1955) was a Greek army officer who led the Hellenic Army in World War II and the later stages of the subsequent Greek Civil War. The only Greek career of ...

and

Constantine Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998), commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time prime minister and twice as the president of ...

(1952–63), Balkos served in the Counterespionage and Security Branch of the Greek Central Intelligence Service (KYP), which at the time had a bad reputation, due to its repression of the Greek Left in the virulently anti-communist climate following the Civil War. After the restoration of democracy in 1974, Balkos established friendly relations with Karamanlis and with Defense Minister

Evangelos Averoff Evangelos Averoff-Tositsa (Greek: Ευάγγελος Αβέρωφ Τοσίτσας) (Trikala, 17 April 1910 – Athens, 2 January 1990) was a Greek politician, leader of the right wing party New Democracy (1981–1984), member of parliament, and ...

, who had much influence among the Greek "hard Right". In January 1975, Balkos was appointed General Secretary of the Ministry of Public Order. From 1977 until 1989, Balkos was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...

, representing

Preveza Prefecture Preveza ( el, Περιφερειακή ενότητα Πρέβεζας) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital is the town of Preveza. Geography The regional unit of Preveza is located northwest of ...

, and also served as Minister of Public Order from November 1977 until May 1980. In October 1981, he attacked the newly elected socialist Prime Minister

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, wh ...

, because he appointed Yannis Skoularikis as Minister of Public Order; Skoularikis was a member of the communist-sponsored National Liberation Front (EAM) during the Nazi occupation and Balkos feared he would purge the security forces from conservatives in order to settle old scores. He died in 1995, aged 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balkos, Anastasios 1916 births 1995 deaths Greek military personnel of World War II Greek MPs 1977–1981 Greek MPs 1981–1985 Greek MPs 1985–1989 Hellenic Army generals Ministers of Public Order of Greece National Republican Greek League members New Democracy (Greece) politicians People from Preveza People of the Greek Civil War National Intelligence Service (Greece)