1921 in Greece - The National Assembly

The National Assembly

On October 3 Nikolaos Stratos, one of the chiefs of the opposition and leader of the National Reformist Party, had an audience of the king, and demanded the convocation of the National Assembly so that the latter should take a responsible decision regarding the general political situation and the desirability of requesting foreign mediation in the Turkish-Greek conflict. The National Assembly was hurriedly convened on October 16, and after hearing a statement by the premier, granted Gounaris a vote of confidence and endorsed his decision to visit London and Paris. After meeting with a cold reception in Paris, Gounaris and Valtatzis (the foreign minister) arrived in London on October 27 and saw the Marquess Curzon at the British Foreign Office. At the suggestion of the British foreign secretary a meeting of the foreign ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy to be held at a future date was proposed to discuss the Near Eastern questions. As Gounaris' mission to London had failed to bring about any definite results the Greek premier and foreign minister left London for Rome, where lately a less hostile attitude to Greece had been noticeable.

In the meantime internal party strife continued in Greece, and great excitement was caused in Athens by the election in Constantinople in December as Ecumenical Patriarch of Mgr. Meletios Metaxakis, the ex-archbishop of Athens, deposed in 1920 in consequence of his Venizelist sympathies. On December 21 an attempt was made in Athens to assassinate Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis, the ex-regent and prominent Venizelist.