Kissinger: ‘Maybe they are heading to Thessaloniki’
Athens was not alone in being wrapped up in confusion. Over in Washington, [then US secretary of state] Henry Kissinger was also confused over the Turks’ exact plans. The American minister at some point got his hopes up because Turkey’s landing fleet appeared to be changing course, obviously as it reached the island’s northern tip and headed toward Kyrenia.
Most US analysts expected that the landing would take place at Famagusta so they were not sure when the landing fleet moved north whether it would sail to Kyrenia or return to Turkey after [conducting] yet another threatening maneuver. Kissinger thought that perhaps [under secretary of state Joseph J.] Sisco had achieved a 48-hour postponement, but did not have time to inform him. After he was told that the fleet was heading north, he said:
“Maybe they are heading to Thessaloniki.” One of his aides said that Thessaloniki “is too far away.” Kissinger tried to correct his mistake, and this time said: “Perhaps they are heading to Rhodes. I have not lost it yet.” “Maybe you should check with your map,” his aide said, which caused him to lose his temper: “I know they are not heading to Thessaloniki. Let’s see what they’ll do when the landing starts then,” he said.
Most US analysts expected the landing would take place at Famagusta so they were not sure when the landing fleet moved north whether it would sail to Kyrenia or return to Turkey
The shock of Ioannidis
Greek Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kypraios called Charalambos Palainis [staff officer in the Army Command], looking for Ioannidis. “The Turks are landing,” he told him… Ioannidis seemed bemused and told his aide: “What are you on about? Have the Turks really landed on Cyprus?” Immediately after, he ordered that armed forces chief Grigoris Bonanos be located immediately and for a meeting of all the parties involved to take place at the Defense Ministry. The only people there at the time were the officers on night shift in the operations center… Another aide, Georgios Stavrou also went to the Defense Ministry and recalls that “when Ioannidis found out that the Turks had invaded [Cyprus] he was in a state of shock. He was at a loss. His eyes had turned red and he was not speaking.”