“The model of three officersof Navy heroes, Christodoulos Karathanasis, Panagiotis Vlahakou and Hector Gialopsouwho gave their blood for their country in Imia, on January 31, 1996, guides us day and night, in our tireless efforts to support the homeland, sovereignty and sovereign rights”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritis in Parliament.

“A country that does not honor its heroes cannot have a future,” he added.

Previously, the Parliament observed a minute’s silence in memory of the fallen Greek Navy officers in Imia on January 31, 1996, Christodoulos Karathanasis, Panagiotis Vlahakos and Hector Gialopsos.

The lessons learned from the crisis of Imia are many and for every area that was involved in any way in the crisis, as noted by the First Vice-President of the Parliament, Yiannis Plakiotakis, to add that the right and wrongs of those days have been analyzed and evaluated and they have left their mark, not only in history but also in shaping the politics and strategy of the future.

“However, if one wants to reflect and shed light on the highest, the most tragic but also the most glorious moment of the crisis, this cannot be other than the sacrifice of the three Greek Navy officers who were on board the fatal helicopter that was taken down by the frigate Navarino, that, literally, dark night, to do their duty to the motherland. At 4:50 in the morning of January 31, the helicopter with Christodoulos Karathanasis, Panagiotis Vlachakos and Hector Gialopsos gives its last report, regarding the situation in little Imia, informs and is not heard from again. It is lost, it and its crew, in the waters of the Aegean but at the same time it emerges on the glorious steps of our history, as a bright beacon of sacrifice and memory”, emphasized Mr. Plakiotakis, pointing out that the Greek officers did not cower, did not hesitate, did not think for a moment the dangers of their mission and “these are the heroes of the Imians”, who “did their duty and gave their very lives to the supreme ideal, to which they swore”, “responded to the call of the country”. “With their sacrifice, they passed into the pantheon of Greek history”, said the First Vice-President of the Parliament and underlined: “Let us close in our minds their own sacrifice and let us make it a beacon and consciousness of life, which if required will also have a continuation” , because “only then will we all be able to say that this sacrifice was not wasted” and “because the Aegean has no gray countries and the sovereignty and sovereign rights of the homeland are non-negotiable”.

The president of “Niki”, Dimitris Natsios, referring to today’s anniversary, reminded that in Nicosia, where the heroes of EOKA are buried, there is the emblematic inscription “death of the brave, death is not counted”. “All three brave men wrote with their blood that the Aegean, because it was once heard from official lips and this, the Aegean has borders and the borders of the Aegean are written with the blood of the heroes, Kanaris, Miaoulis, Kountouriotis and of three officers of our Navy”, said Mr. Natsios.