Μνημείο Πεσόντων Ιμίων - Pl. Pavlou Mela 36

Ενασπουδαιομνημειοστηναθηναγιατουςτρειςηρωεςτωνιμιωνπουεπεσανυπερπατριδοςτουςευχαριστουμεκαιδενθατουςξεχασουμεποτεαθανατοιναπατεναδειτετομνημειο

Τρεις Έλληνες αξιωματικοί, του Πολεμικού Ναυτικού έχασαν την ζωή τους όταν το ελικόπτερο όπου επέβαιναν κατέπεσε στην θάλασσα. Το ατύχημα αποδόθηκε σε τεχνικά αίτια και την κόπωση του πληρώματος. Η τουρκική πλευρά δεν ανέφερε απώλειες.

Ένα μνημείο εδώ που τελειώνει η οδός Μουρούζη και στρίβει για Σύνταγμα. Ένα μικρό μνημείο στην μνήμη των πεσόντων στα Ίμια καλά κρυμμένο κάτω από θαμνωσκιαση. Για την σημασία και μόνο του γεγονότος θα έπρεπε να είναι σε πολύ πιο κεντρικό σημείο και πολύ πιο ευδιάκριτο!!

The humble monument next to the Athens Armed Forces Officers Club, tells the heroic and tragic story of three Greek air crew members, Lieutenant (ΗΝ) Christodoulos Karathanasis, Lieutenant (ΗΝ) Panagiotis Vlachakos and Chief Petty Officer (HN) Ektoras Gialopsos, who perished on January 31, 1996, in a Hellenic Navy helicopter crash, during a homeland defense mission. The accident was the culmination of a rolling event in foreign relations between Greece and Turkey, known as the "Imia crisis". An event that was very close to starting a war, following an escalation that started by the Turks on December 25, 1995, when a Turkish cargo ship - Figen Akat, ran aground in shallow waters near the island Mikri Imia (15 km north to Kos and 8 km east to Kalymnos) and transmitted distress signals. The Turks decided to use this incident for their political needs and declared that the two islands, Imia and Mikri Imia, are under Turkish sovereignty. Following the Turkish statement, the governor of Kalymnos (the nearby island) Dimitris Diakomichalis, decided to place Greek flags on the two islands on January 25, 1996. The Turks, for their part, sent two days later a photography crew with two journalists, who landed on Mikri Imia with a helicopter. They lowered the Greek flag and raised the Turkish flag instead. From that moment, the situation deteriorated rapidly as the Greek navy entered the picture, simultaneously with the Turkish navy, under the narrative of the "Battle of the Flags". The incident culminated in the morning of January 31, 1996, when an AB-212 helicopter, belonging to the Hellenic Navy, was sent to Imia to locate Turkish special forces that landed the night before on the western side of the island. After completing the mission, while they were on their way back from the island to their home base - frigate "Navarino", the helicopter crashed into the Aegean sea water, with the three crew members on board. According to the official statement of the Hellenic Navy, the helicopter crashed due to bad weather conditions and loss of pilot orientation (vertigo). To this day, however, there are many who believe that the helicopter was shot down by the Turkish navy or by the Turkish commando on the island, and that the real reason for the crash was hidden in order to end the crisis, and not lead the two countries to general conflict or even a war. The conflict ended that day due to an intensive diplomatic intervention led by the president of the USA - Bill Clinton. A tragic story about the fall of three brave Hellenic air crew fighters, on an operational mission of defending their homeland, in the long-standing struggle between Greece and Turkey. May they rest in peace.