(Image from tovima.com)

The Restoration of Democracy Day is not an official public or national holiday in Greece. It is instead recognized as an official national observance.

The Restoration of Democracy Day in Greece commemorates the July 24, 1974 fall of the military junta and the return of civilian rule under Konstantinos Karamanlis, marking the birth of the Third Hellenic Republic.

The Military Dictatorship (1967–1974)

• A coup d’état on April 21, 1967, led by right-wing army colonels, overthrew the elected government.
  
• The regime stripped citizens of basic political and personal rights, jailed or exiled political opponents, and used strict censorship.
  
• Popular resistance peaked with the Athens Polytechnic Uprising in November 1973, which the junta suppressed with tanks, causing civilian deaths.
  
  The Collapse of the Junta
  
• The regime tried to orchestrate a coup in Cyprus in July 1974, prompting a Turkish military
  invasion of the island.
  
• The catastrophic handling of the crisis caused the military regime to collapse under
  leadership of Dimitrios Ioannidis.
  
• Military leaders surrendered power and called for a national unity government on July 23,
  1974.
  
  The Return to Democracy (Metapolitefsi)
  
• Konstantinos Karamanlis flew back from exile in Paris and was sworn in as Prime Minister at dawn on July 24, 1974.
  
• The new leadership freed political prisoners, legalized banned political parties like the Communist Party, and set free elections for October 1974.
  
• A democratic constitution was adopted in 1975, and a historic referendum ended the Greek monarchy.

(Contributed by Zoë Robinson, H.W., M.)