This was the slogan that Royalists used to apply during the period of 1920 to support King Constantin I (or Cotso), who was imported to Greece from Germany, and who used to reign upon Greeks at that time. It was a very strong slogan that divided Greeks because the King (who had nothing learnt on how to reign from English Royalty) wanted to govern and make war to the Prime Minister coming from the Center and Left wing of the Parliament called Eleftherios Venizelos and who gave Greece today’s geographical size.
In two words:
“but not exactly…”
In fact, Eleftherios Venizelos wanted more for Greece, he wanted to bring together again with the Main Land the land that Greeks used to have during Antiquity and especially the Asia Minor territory that was still under the Ottoman Empire. He had the vision to make Greece a country of 2 continents and 5 seas and so he made war with Turks and their allies Germans, who had imposed the First World War to Europe, but his allies were England and France that is the Endente Powers facing Germany and their allies. He had chosen the winners of the Great War even if at that time nothing was certain at all!
Unfortunately, the King Constatin, who was a friend of Germans due to his blood line, won a decisive election for the progress of the War in Asia Minor, and decided to remove the troops from that land. This decision brought Greeks on these lands to absolute destress and resulted to their complete eradication because they were slaughtered and forced out of their land by the forces of Kemal who at that time was fighting to eradicate the Ottoman Empire and finish up with Greeks. This complete disaster transformed in refugees more thanone million people and is known as the Asia Minor Catastrophe , it also resulted to the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and of course resulted to the drastic decrease of Greek community in Constantinople which unfortunately never became Greek again since its fall in Turkish hands on 1453 and the end of the Byzantine Empire.
, it also resulted to the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and of course resulted to the drastic decrease of Greek community in Constantinople which unfortunately never became Greek again since its fall in Turkish hands on 1453 and the end of the Byzantine Empire. To come back to this video and to the slogan which literally means « Bread, olive and Cotso as King » (ΨΩΜΙ ΚΙ ΕΛΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΩΤΣΟ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΑ), you need to know that it was invented by the Upper Class in order to demonstrate that they could restrict their food in order to support the King but it was also adopted by many in the poorer classes who either way already eat that kind of food and was much more simpler to support the King in this context with disastrous results as we saw.
Even if for me this video is self-explanatory, if we speak Greek and we know a bit of History, I had to explain the context for the French public and others :-)
So I wanted to use Still Life to mock a bit at this slogan and give it a place it deserves since ages! So “Bread, olive, and Cotso as King…. but not excacly…”
Many kisses to all,
Dimitra
