Editing Giorgos Seferis (section)

===Later life===
In 1967, the repressive nationalist, right-wing [[Greek military junta of 1967–1974|Regime of the Colonels]] took power in Greece after a coup d'état. After two years marked by widespread censorship, political detentions and torture, Seferis took a stand against the regime. On March 28, 1969, he made a statement on the BBC World Service,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.protagon.gr/themata/misos-aiwnas-apo-to-istoriko-diaggelma-tou-seferi-sto-bbc-kata-tis-xountas-44341806928|title=Το πάντα επίκαιρο διάγγελμα του Σεφέρη κατά της χούντας|access-date=September 10, 2020}}</ref> with copies simultaneously distributed to every newspaper in Athens. In authoritative and absolute terms, he stated "This anomaly must end".

Seferis did not live to see the end of the junta in 1974 as a direct result of [[Turkey]]'s invasion of Cyprus, which had itself been prompted by the junta's attempt to overthrow Cyprus's president, Archbishop [[Makarios III]]. He died in Athens on September 20, 1971. The cause of death was reported to be pneumonia, aggravated by a stroke he had suffered after undergoing surgery for a bleeding ulcer about two months earlier.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/21/archives/george-fieieris-dies-at-71-poet-won-63-nobel-prize.html|title=George Seferis Dies at 71; Poet W on '63 Nobel Prize|date=1971-09-21|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-04|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

At his funeral, huge crowds followed his coffin through the streets of Athens, singing [[Mikis Theodorakis]]' setting of Seferis's poem [[Denial (poem)|'Denial']] (then banned); he had become a popular hero for his resistance to the regime. He is buried at the [[First Cemetery of Athens]].