Phaedon Gizikis ( ; 16 June 1917 – 26 July 1999) was a Greek army general who was the last President of Greece under the Greek junta from 1973 to 1974.
Early life and military career
Born in
Volos, Kingdom of Greece, Gizikis was a career
Hellenic Army officer. His service number was 21756.
[Legislative Decree 238/1973, as published in ΦΕΚ (Government Gazette Issue) Α 315/1973] He graduated from the Hellenic Military Academy in 1939, achieving the rank of second lieutenant in artillery, and participated in the Greco-Italian War and the Greek Civil War. In 1967, he supported the Georgios Papadopoulos coup d'état and received a number of senior military posts during
Greek junta.
Later life
He was given the title of President of the Republic on 25 November 1973, after Papadopoulos was ousted by Dimitrios Ioannidis as head of the regime in an internal power struggle.
Three days later, he was promoted to full
General officer (
Strategos), a decision he signed himself.
While serving as president, following the supported coup in Cyprus, he would detract from open confrontation with
Turkey forces during the invasion of Cyprus. Ioannidis would later blame Gizikis and other hesitant leaders as the reason for the Greek loss.
As president he gave the task of forming a new government, following the collapse of the Junta, to Constantine Karamanlis.
After the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, he retained his post for four months
pro tempore, until a new constitution could be enacted during
metapolitefsi; he was then replaced by Michail Stasinopoulos.
Gizikis retired from the army in 1974, on the same day he resigned from his position as head of state. In 1976, a military judicial council dropped proceedings against him and 88 other former officers charged with treason and mutiny for collaborating with the former junta.
He died on 26 July 1999 at the NIMTS military hospital in Athens, just one month after his predecessor, Georgios Papadopoulos.[Pace, Eric. "Phaidon Gizikis, '73 Greek Junta Officer, 82." The New York Times 30 July 1999]
