Lt Gen Constantinos Ziazias quits just hours before defence meeting, leading to accusation of government interference
Greece's army chief of staff has unexpectedly quit just hours before a top government meeting on military policy.
Lieutenant General Constantinos Ziazias resigned for "reasons that touch on ethics and dignity, both his own and of the army", according to a statement on Wednesday.
Ziazias, 57, was appointed nine months ago, just before the previous Socialist government stepped down. Changes of government in Greece are routinely followed by new top military appointments, and the current three-party coalition took over last month. But it was not entirely clear why Ziazias quit.
Opposition parties accused the conservative-led coalition of trying to interfere in military appointments, a charge the Greek defence minister, Panos Panayiotopoulos, rejected.
The resignation came just hours before Wednesday's meeting of the foreign policy and defence council convened by the prime minister, Antonis Samaras. Panayiotopoulos, said the council decided to replace Ziazias with Lieutenant General Constantinos Ginis.
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