October 9 is the 282nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar and the 83rd in leap years. On October 9, the “Fourth Moscow Conference” begins, which will lead to the “Quotas Agreement” between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. And it has enormous significance for Greece.
"Wouldn't it be considered too cynical if it were to be seen that we had settled the fate of millions of people in such a 'rough' way? Let's burn the paper," said Churchill.
"No, keep it," Stalin replied. And folded the napkin...
The dialogue is not an excerpt from a play, nor a product of fiction.
According to Winston Churchill himself, the then British Prime Minister and Joseph Stalin negotiated the division of the Balkans, taking notes on a napkin, on which Churchill wrote his proposals and Stalin approved...
As he later wrote in his autobiography, Churchill proposed that the Soviet Union should have 90% influence in Romania and 75% in Bulgaria, while the United Kingdom should have 90% influence in Greece.
Churchill also proposed that Hungary and Yugoslavia each have 50% influence. Churchill then wrote the agreement in blue pencil on a napkin, which he gave to Stalin, who, after approving it, returned it to him.
