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158-666: Imia ( Greek : Ίμια ) is a pair of small uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea , situated between the Greek island chain of the Dodecanese and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey . They are known in Turkey as Kardak . Imia was the object of a military crisis and subsequent dispute over sovereignty between Greece and Turkey in 1996. The Imia dispute is part of the larger Aegean dispute , which also comprises disputes over

316-535: A Greek flag on the east islet on 25 January. To oppose this, on 27 January some Turkish journalists from Hürriyet landed on the islet with a helicopter, lowered the Greek flag and hoisted a Turkish flag , the whole event being broadcast live on Turkish television. On 28 January, the Greek Navy patrol boat Antoniou lowered the Turkish flag and restored the Greek flag, in violation of the political order which

474-523: A Hellenic Navy Bell 212, took off from the Greek frigate Navarino for reconnaissance. The Greek SEALs confirmed the presence of Turkish forces and were ordered to return to the ship where during its return the helicopter crashed over the islets (some speculating due to Turkish fire), but this was concealed by both states to prevent further escalation, although three Greek officers on the helicopter were killed: Christodoulos Karathanasis, Panagiotis Vlahakos, and Ektoras Gialopsos. The immediate military threat

632-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

790-410: A consistent representation of whatever legal opinions they held with respect to these islands, in the work of their cartographic state agencies. There is also the case of a neighbouring islet, only a few miles from Imia, called Zouka , Dzouka or Topan Adası , which was consistently shown as Turkish in Greek naval maps, but as Greek in Greek topographic maps. When the attention of the Greek government

948-585: A cooperation agreement for the construction of the Themistocles class corvette during Greek PM's visit to Israel . This is a multipurpose warship based on the Israeli Sa'ar 72-class corvette design, at 72 meters length and displacement of around 800 tons. It will be able of speeds above 30 knots with an extended endurance. It can operate a medium size marine helicopter, but also supports unique possibilities of deploying Special Forces units. The agreement

1106-541: A crossed Christian cross and trident , with the cross symbolizing Greek Orthodoxy , and the trident symbolizing Poseidon , the god of the sea in Greek mythology . Pericles' words are written across the top of the emblem. "The Navy, as it represents a necessary weapon for Greece, should only be created for war and aim to victory." The history of the Hellenic Navy begins with the birth of modern Greece , and due to

1264-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

1422-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

1580-620: A few days in April 1941. It was then decided to shift the remaining fleet (one cruiser – the famous Georgios Averof – three destroyers and five submarines) to join up with the British Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria . As the war progressed, the number of Hellenic Royal Navy vessels increased after the concession of several destroyers and submarines by the British Royal Navy . The most notable aspects of

1738-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

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1896-466: A fourth ship to be included in the initial production line, if it so chooses. The Greek frigate HS Psara carries three reliquaries permanently on its onboard historical exhibition. Two contain the taxidermic hearts of Greek War of Independence heroes Admiral Konstantinos Kanaris and Admiral Andreas Miaoulis and one reliquary contains the remains of heroine Rear Admiral (posthumous) Laskarina Bouboulina . The frigate's exhibition can be visited when

2054-535: A line that runs where Greece today claims the territorial boundary should be, with Imia on the Greek side. Turkey holds that the agreement about the FIR boundaries was not concerned with determining sovereignty, and thus has no bearing on the issue. During and after the crisis of 1996, both sides put a lot of emphasis on previously published maps, which were cited as evidence purportedly showing that their respective views were shared by third parties, or had even been shared by

2212-460: A lingering issue, regarding the new Type-214 ( Papanikolis class) torpedoes. An order for new multipurpose heavyweight SeaHake Mod4 torpedoes, from Atlas Elektronik , was placed. The contract also included the upgrade of older torpedoes and the purchase of new torpedo batteries. The six older and non-modernized Type-209 units ( Poseidon and Glavkos classes) will be gradually retired, without any replacement announced yet. The optimistic scenario

2370-502: A military helicopter and threw a wreath into the sea around the islets where the three Greek Navy officers were killed in 1996. In December 2016, Turkey's Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu , said that the islets were "Turkish soil", while the Greek government responded that "Greece's sovereignty over its islands in the Aegean, including Imia, is indisputable and established by international law." European Commission spokesperson said that

2528-653: A mine, resulting in the loss of the vessel's prow, while blowing the two-gun forward turret over the bridge. After some minor repairs at Gümüşlük Bay in Turkey Adrias managed to return to Alexandria in a 400-mile (640 km) trip, even though all the forepart of the ship, up to the bridge, was missing. After World War II , the Royal Hellenic Navy was significantly strengthened by the concession of British and Italian ships. The organisation also changed in line with modern naval doctrines of that era after

2686-404: A month later, on 20 January 1996 when the Greek magazine GRAMMA ran a story, one day after Kostas Simitis was appointed to form a new Greek government as prime minister . The article brought a severe reaction from the Greek press, which was followed by four citizens of the neighboring island of Kalymnos , including the mayor and the owner of a herd of sheep that remained on the islets, hoisting

2844-668: A number of destroyers. However, with the outbreak of the First World War , construction of the dreadnoughts stopped. Initially during the war, Greece followed a course of neutrality, with the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos favouring the Entente and pro-German King Constantine I advocating neutrality. This dispute eventually led to a deep political conflict, known as the " National Schism ". In November 1916, in order to apply pressure on

3002-635: A serious step towards modernization. The outbreak of war in Europe, however, allowed only two to be delivered. Greece entered World War II with a navy consisting of two battleships, one armoured cruiser, one protected cruiser, fourteen destroyers, and six submarines. During the Greco-Italian War , the Navy took over convoy escort missions in the Ionian Sea and even embarked on three raids against

3160-517: A tactical data link. The weapon suite of the La Combattante IIIs remained unchanged. Thales was also responsible for the integration of existing guns, surface-to-surface missiles and torpedoes. The La Combattante IIa ships are scheduled to be decommissioned upon completion of the two newly ordered Roussen gunboats. The Hellenic Navy Submarine Command operates eleven submarines of four types. The newest and most advanced type operated

3318-487: A €5 billion deal spreading to 2026, with the later class still being configured to meet the Hellenic Navy's needs. It is almost certain that two types will replace the Ellis , in order to maintain a ceiling of at least ten frigates/corvettes. A floating scenario was the purchase of heavy corvettes to replace a number of old Ellis . This scenario has become increasingly more possible, after Greece joined Italy and France in

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3476-433: Is 10 acres (4.0 ha). The islands are also referred to as Limnia (Λίμνια) in Greek, or İkizce in Turkish, or as Heipethes in some early-20th century maps. The toponym "Kardak" is believed to come from the Greek "Kar(y)dakia", i.e. "small walnuts", because of their shape. While several other aspects of sovereignty rights in the Aegean , such as the territorial waters and national airspace, had been disputed between

3634-504: Is a Green-water navy . The total displacement of the fleet is approximately 150,000 tons. The HN also operates a number of naval aviation units. The motto of the Hellenic Navy is "Μέγα τὸ τῆς θαλάσσης κράτος" from Thucydides ' account of Pericles ' oration on the eve of the Peloponnesian War . This has been translated as "The rule of the sea is a great matter". The Hellenic Navy's emblem consists of an anchor in front of

3792-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

3950-773: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system

4108-479: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

4266-546: Is certain that Hydras will undergo a modernization program but its scale is not yet known. Plan for the Hydras is to extend their operational lifespan well into the 2030s. However, the Elli class frigates need to be replaced by new designs. The acquisition of two, with an option for two more, Naval Group FDI Belharra frigates with high-end AAW and deep missile strike (DMS utilising Scalp EG Naval ) capabilities from France

4424-462: Is contained in diplomatic exchanges that have never been disclosed to the public by either of the two parties. Greece also cites as evidence for a former Turkish acceptance of Greek sovereignty the diplomatic procedures around the original delimitation of Flight Information Regions (FIR) within the framework of the ICAO , in 1950. The relevant treaty states that, in the Aegean zone, the boundary between

4582-450: Is harboured in the two major HN naval bases at Salamis Island near Piraeus and at Souda Bay on the island of Crete . Internationally, the Navy used the prefix HS (Hellenic Ship) for its vessels. The Hellenic Navy relies mainly on frigates as its primary surface heavy boats. The fleet consists of thirteen frigates. The types operated are the Hydra class (Type: Meko-200HN ) and

4740-466: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

4898-425: Is replacement with four additional Type-214s, reaching a ceiling of eight units of this type. By 2030, the recently upgraded Type-209/1500 AIP (HS Okeanos , former Type-209/1200) will have exceeded 50 years since entering service; therefore it is questionable whether it will still be part of the Greek fleet by that time. There were two new Roussen class Fast Attack Missile Craft (FAMC) under construction, bringing

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5056-855: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy

5214-475: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around

5372-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

5530-650: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with

5688-637: Is the Type 214 Papanikolis class , which is widely considered to be among the most advanced conventional (non-nuclear) propulsion submarines in service with naval forces at the moment. The Type 214 is a diesel-electric submarine developed by the German Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW) . It features diesel propulsion with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system using Siemens polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cells. A contract to build four boats for

5846-571: The Elli class (Type: Kortenaer ). The Elli class frigates HS Elli and HS Limnos were sold to Greece during construction, the rest were bought directly from the Dutch Navy . The Hydra class vessels were constructed in Greece by Hellenic Shipyards Co. , except from HS Hydra that was constructed by the German company Blohm and Voss based in Hamburg . Modernization of six frigates

6004-682: The Roussen (Super-Vita) , Laskos (La Combattante III) , Kavaloudis (La Combattante IIIb) and Votsis (La Combattante IIa) classes. The La Combattante III and La Combattante IIIb classes were upgraded in 2006. For the La Combattante III craft, Thales delivered a TACTICOS combat management system, including four multi-functional operator consoles, one surveillance radar, a fire-control tracking system, one electro-optical tracking and fire control system, an integrated low-probability-of-interception radar, two target designation sights and

6162-608: The EU is urging Turkey to avoid any kind of “source of friction, threat or action directed against a member-state, which damages good-neighborly relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes.” Tensions around the islets were renewed in January 2017, in light of deterioration of Greco–Turkish relations following Greek refusal to extradite participants of the failed 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt to Turkey. A Turkish navy missile boat accompanied with two special-forces speedboats entered

6320-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

6478-550: The European Patrol Corvette (EPC/PESCO) consortium in early 2020 for the construction of a new advanced 3,000 ton corvette, with Spain joining the program as well. New ships, for all involved Navies, are not likely to enter service before 2027 or 2030 at the earliest. Greece maintains a mixed fleet of modern and older submarine units. In December 2019, the Hellenic Ministry of Defence resolved

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6636-627: The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 in Asia Minor. After Greece's defeat, the 1920s and early 1930s were a politically turbulent period, with the economy in a bad state, so the Navy received no new units, apart from the modernization of four destroyers and the acquisition of six French submarines in 1927 and four Italian destroyers in 1929. In 1938, Greece ordered four modern Greyhound -class destroyers in British shipyards, making

6794-596: The Greek Government on the type and country of origin of the new Hellenic ships, was scheduled for 2021. Final decision was made in September 28 of 2021 and after many months of deliberations. During his visit to the French capital and his meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the procurement of 3+1 French FDI-HN Frigates and 3+1 Gowind-HN class Corvettes in

6952-570: The Hydra class in a €5 billion deal that initially extends up to 2026. Since 2022, three frigates of the Kimon Class have been under construction in France by Naval Group . These are HS Kimon (F-601), HS Nearchos (F-602) and HS Formion (F-603). Delivery of HS Kimon (F-601) is scheduled for early 2025 and the rest are to follow over the succeeding months. Greece has a contracted option for

7110-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

7268-509: The Type 209 submarines , whereas US military aid continued in the form of FRAM II type destroyers. In 1979, the Hellenic Navy placed an order in the Netherlands for two modern Standard-class frigates (the Elli class ). These were the first acquisitions of new main surface vessels, rather than the use of second-hand ships, in almost four decades. The arrivals of Hydra class (MEKO 200 HN) and more Standard-class frigates along with

7426-575: The United States to replace older Ellis and proposed to the US a wider package of upgrades and future coproduction opportunities involving the Constellation class frigate, currently being developed for the US Navy . The final decision on the type and origin of the new frigates was scheduled to be made in 2021, after examining closely all available proposals from a list of other countries, apart from

7584-657: The continental shelf , the territorial waters, the air space , the Flight Information Regions (FIR) and the demilitarization of the Aegean islands. In the aftermath of the Imia crisis, the dispute was also widened, as Turkey began to lay parallel claims to a larger number of other islets in the Aegean. These islands, some of them inhabited, are regarded as indisputably Greek by Greece but as grey zones of undetermined sovereignty by Turkey. The islets lie 5.5 nautical miles (10.2 km; 6.3 mi) east of

7742-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

7900-461: The "Neptune I" modernisation program and the Poseidon and Okeanos vessels with the "Neptune II" program. The Okeanos upgrade included AIP capabilities very similar to Type 214 so extensive to justify HS Okeanos as a new, separate class when compared to the rest of Type 209/1200 vessels. New dimensions are similar to Type 214 boats. The Navy operates the endogenous AAWV Aginor (Αγήνωρ) which

8058-482: The 1960s, these islets are shown as Greek territory. After the incident Greece threatened to reopen debate on implementation of an EU customs union accord with Turkey and to block an EU aid package that is part of the accord. Greece mentioned that Turkey broke a commitment under the accord to have amicable ties with EU members. Many EU foreign ministers urged the parties to solve differences amicably. EU members were concerned that Greece's moves against Turkey would violate

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8216-470: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into

8374-550: The Aegean Sea was secured for Greece. The Balkan Wars were followed by a rapid escalation in 1914 between Greece and the Ottoman Empire over the status of the islands of the eastern Aegean. Both governments embarked on a naval armaments race, with Greece purchasing the battleships Lemnos and Kilkis and the light cruiser Elli as well as ordering two dreadnoughts , Vasilefs Konstantinos and Salamis and

8532-491: The Athens and Istanbul FIRs was to follow the boundaries of the territorial waters. This implies, according to the Greek view, that both parties at that time were taking for granted that a mutually agreed border did indeed exist, which would contradict the claims of persisting "grey zones" made today by Turkey. The maps of the air zones published after that agreement (e.g. an official map published by Turkey in 1953) do indeed show

8690-628: The EU's so-called Permanent Structured Cooperation . Naviris expected the EU fund to issue a Request for Proposal for projects in 2020, with proposals to then be submitted by industry in 2021, and for decisions on fund allocation to be made the same year. Also, plans for the Hellenic Navy to acquire the Sa'ar 72 Israeli corvette of the new Themistocles class [1] came to fruition after an agreement signed in June 2020, with exclusive production in Greece. Frigates are

8848-621: The FAC were built in the late ‘70s. Four of them have been modernised extensively and the new ships have integrated all updates. All older vessels of other types, with the exemption of three Votsis class boats which are about to be retired soon with the introduction of the new Roussens , have replaced their old MM38 and Penguin missile systems with Harpoon launchers. In addition, the boats that had no electro-optical tracking (Mirador) sensors, received new endogenous Miltech [2] TDR-10A and TDR-300 systems. The fleet also consists of ten gunboats . With

9006-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

9164-433: The Greek flagship Hellas , to take up the throne as King George I of Greece . During the 1866 Cretan revolt, the Royal Hellenic Navy ships were in no condition to support it. Such failure led to the government awakening to the problem of naval insufficiency and the adoption of a policy stating that: "The navy, as it represents a necessary weapon for Greece, should only be created for war and aim to victory." Because of this,

9322-438: The Greek island Kalymnos , 1.9 nmi (3.5 km; 2.2 mi) southeast of the Greek island of Kalolimnos , 3.8 nmi (7.0 km; 4.4 mi) west of the Turkish peninsula of Bodrum , and 2.2 nmi (4.1 km; 2.5 mi) from the Turkish islet of Çavuş Adası . The islets lie some 300 m (1,000 ft) apart from each other, the eastern one being slightly larger than the western one. Their total surface area

9480-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

9638-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

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9796-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

9954-618: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

10112-425: The Hellenic Navy was signed between February 2000 and June 2002. The first boat was built at HDW in Kiel , Germany , and the rest at Hellenic Shipyards Co. in Skaramangas , Greece. The Hellenic Navy named them the Papanikolis class. Other types operated are the 209/1100 Glavkos class , the 209/1200 Poseidon class and one boat of the 209/1500 AIP Okeanos class . The Glavkos submarines were upgraded with

10270-414: The Hellenic Royal Navy's participation in World War II include the operations of the destroyer Vasilissa Olga which, until sunk in Leros on September 23, 1943, was the most successful Allied destroyer in the Mediterranean Sea ; the participation of two destroyers in Operation Overlord ; and the story of the destroyer Adrias , which while operating close to the coast of Kalymnos in October 1943 hit

10428-481: The Imia and the related "grey-zones" issue, are the following: The problem is because Imia is situated just outside the three-mile boundary of Article 6 and Article 12, but is also not in an obvious, strict sense geographically "dependent" (Article 15) on the larger Dodecanese islands (being still closer to the Turkish mainland than to the next larger island). Greece considers that the wording of Articles 12 and 16 together precludes any Turkish claim to territories outside

10586-403: The Imia issue in favour of either side. However, both Greek and Turkish public opinion has been eager to observe the stance of foreign governments on the issue, as evidenced through details such as the cartographic treatment of Imia in maps published by state agencies. Particular close attention has been paid in this context to maps published by US government agencies. Shortly after the 1996 crisis,

10744-435: The International Court of Justice. The resolution by the European Parliament entitled "Resolution on the provocative actions and contestation of sovereign rights by Turkey against a Member State of the Union" also stated that Greece's borders were EU borders. In addition, it stated that the islets of Imia belongs to Dodecanese group of islands pursuant to the 1923 , 1932 and 1947 treaties and whereas even on Turkish maps from

10902-409: The Italian government during the 1930s and the Greek government between 1947 and the 1950s had shown itself to be well aware that the 1932 protocol did not provide legal grounds for an exact delimitation of the boundary. Conversely, Greece claims that Turkey, already during the 1930s, had explicitly confirmed to Italy that it considered the 1932 protocol valid and binding. However, most of this evidence

11060-460: The Italian supply convoys in the Strait of Otranto , although without success. The most important role was given to the submarines, which although obsolete, sank some Italian cargo ships in the Adriatic, losing one submarine in the process. The Greek submarine force (six boats) was however too small to be able to seriously hinder the supply lines between Italy and Albania (between 28 October 1940 and 30 April 1941, Italian ships made 3,305 voyages across

11218-400: The Navy, of an advanced Asymmetric Warfare Vessel (AWV) that uses the latest technologies and composite materials. The first vessels have already been added to the Navy’s fleet. They are capable of a number of missions including insertion and extraction of Special Operations Forces, interdiction and coastal patrol, as well as search and rescue (SAR) operations. In April 2020 the Navy received

11376-579: The Otranto straits, carrying 487,089 military personnel, including 22 field divisions , and 584,392 tons of supplies while losing overall only seven merchant ships and one escort ship). When Nazi Germany attacked Greece , the RHN suffered heavily at the hands of the Luftwaffe , with 25 ships, including the old battleship, now artillery training ship, Kilkis and the hulk of her sister Lemnos , lost within

11534-628: The Sultan called upon his strongest subject, Muhammad Ali of Egypt , for aid. Plagued by internal strife and financial difficulties in keeping the fleet in constant readiness, the Greeks failed to prevent the capture and destruction of Kasos and Psara in 1824, or the landing of the Egyptian army at Modon . Despite victories at Samos and Gerontas, the Revolution was threatened with collapse until

11692-480: The Treaty of Lausanne. There are also issues relating to the interpretation of a later protocol signed between Italy and Turkey in 1932; regarding certain diplomatic exchanges made between the three parties at various times between 1932 and 1996; and regarding the relevance of actual practice (the factual exercise of sovereignty by either party) prior to 1996. The provisions in the Treaty of Lausanne that are relevant to

11850-613: The Turkish Foreign Ministry notified the Greek authorities that it believed there was a sovereignty issue, and on 29 December it declared the islets Turkish territory. On January 9, Athens rejected the claim, citing the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the Convention between Italy and Turkey (1932) and the Treaty of Paris (1947). The whole event was barely reported in the media so it was not widely known to public until

12008-564: The US National Imaging and Mapping Agency (NIMA) removed the Greek name Vrakhoi Imia from its maps, adding instead a note saying "Sovereignty undetermined", but in a new edition a few months later, in October 1996, it reverted that move and returned to the Greek name. In addition, the U.S. administration suggested that Turkey's claims be taken to a peaceful resolution according to the international law. The government of Italy ,

12166-582: The US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo , on his first official visit to Greece, when asked about a potential Imia scenario involving an escalation of Turkish aggression in the Aegean, stated that the US and Greece share the same values on sovereignty and vowed that the US would "protect […] these basic ideas of sovereignty". Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ )

12324-711: The US. France , Germany , the Netherlands and the UK also participated in the selection process. Finally, in September 2021 the decision for the future of the HN frigate fleet was announced, including gradual replacement of the Elli class with the French-built Belharra Hellenique ( Frégate de défense et d'intervention - FDI) class warships, officially constituting the Navy’s new Kimon Class, and modernisation of

12482-485: The United States and Germany, lasted for months after France was eventually awarded the contract. He also announced the immediate upgrade of all four Hydra (Meko-200HN) class frigates , already in service. Greece has also signed on to a program between Italy and France in making a new multirole heavy corvette, with Spain joining as well. The program, dubbed the European Patrol Corvette , has also been inserted in

12640-617: The account of its former navigation officer it is possible that the islets in question were wrongfully charted as belonging to Turkey by his predecessor. The reason was that during the Second World War boats of a British Special Boat Service flotilla often evaded German patrols by making fast alongside Turkish fishing boats near the islet and convincing the Germans that they were Turkish fishermen in Turkish territory. Out of this experience one officer of HMS Childers, who had served

12798-526: The acquisition of four Multi-Mission Surface Combatants ( Freedom class MMSCs) , also known as Littoral combat ships , that are already in full production for Saudi Arabia , also tested and in use by the US Navy . The Germans came to the table with the Meko-A200 design, a new and advanced version of the Meko-200HN, that could additionally offer homogeneity to the fleet, especially after the upgrade of

12956-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

13114-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

13272-589: The area around the islets on 29 January 2017. According to the statement issued by the Defence Ministry of Greece, they were blocked and warned by Greek coast guard vessels and withdrew from the area after about seven minutes. The Turkish armed forces denied that the ships were blocked but did not otherwise deny the incident; they stated that the mission was a part of an inspection of the Aksaz Naval Base by chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar , who

13430-478: The area of Faneromeni of Salamis and a few years later it was transferred to the area of Arapis where it remains today. At the same time the Naval Academy was founded and Ilias Kanellopoulos was made Director. A French naval mission , headed by Admiral Laurent Joseph Lejeune  [ fr ] , introduced a new, advanced naval organization and the methodological training of enlisted personnel through

13588-471: The assessment of the legal status of the islets, acknowledged as such by both sides, is the Peace Treaty of Lausanne of 1923. With this peace treaty, Turkey confirmed large cessions of former Ottoman territory to Greece and Italy which had been de facto under their control since 1911 or 1913. The chain of the Dodecanese islands, which includes the islands neighbouring Imia, were ceded to Italy. Later

13746-444: The causes for the different sovereignty claims. Bill Clinton said about the crisis: "I thought my aides were joking when they said Turkey and Greece would engage in war over rocks on which none but sheep live. I held phone calls with the leaders of both countries, and convinced them to not go to war over the rocks that inhabited mostly 20 sheep". After 1996, most foreign countries have carefully avoided taking an unequivocal stand on

13904-713: The complete modernization and upgrade of four other aircraft in Hellenic Aerospace (HAI) . The option included the complete modernization and upgrade of that aircraft as well. The "interim solution" aircraft has already been delivered, while all the remaining aircraft are expected to be delivered by 2023. The Hellenic Navy will soon begin the use of a new UAV called Archytas. This will be a VTOL aircraft used for surveillance and it will be able to take-off and land on warships. It may also be lightly armed. However, this will not be flying until 2024. [REDACTED] The Hellenic Navy's fleet of warships and auxiliary boats

14062-439: The customs union accord and interfere with developing ties and access to Turkey's market. The United States were also concerned since they were a proponent of Turkish-European links. The French President Jacques Chirac “indicated that the fewer new problems Greece created for EU-Turkish cooperation, the more likely France would be to show solidarity with Greece.” Other European governments reportedly implied that if Greece sabotaged

14220-675: The customs union, then they would stall talks on Cyprus EU membership. Greek Prime Minister said that Greece would cooperate with the EU once Turkey agreed to International Court of Justice jurisdiction, but Turkey must initiate an appeal to the International Court of Justice since it is questioning Greek rights. The Greek opposition criticized the government, for its inability to get more support from Europe, while Turkey sent officials to Europe to explain their views and to counter Greece's attempt to impede Turkish-EU relations and recalled its ambassador from Athens. In October 2019,

14378-404: The distress call. The Turkish captain initially refused the assistance offered, maintaining that he was within Turkish territorial waters. He ultimately accepted being towed to the Turkish port of Güllük by the Greek tugboat. The Greek captain filled in the necessary papers for the salvage fee but the Turkish captain objected, arguing that the freighter had been in Turkish waters. On 27 December,

14536-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of

14694-546: The east islet undetected. On the 30th of January, Turkish and Greek officials gave statements, each insisting on their sovereign rights on Imia. Also, Turkish armored units moved to the Green Line on Cyprus , which caused the alert of the Cypriot National Guard . On 31 January at 1:40 am Turkish special forces SAT Commandos also landed on the west islet escalating the tensions. Around 3 hours later,

14852-457: The education of officers were initiated. Young people were initially trained at the military school of Scholi Evelpidon and afterwards they were transferred to the navy, as there was no such thing as a Naval Academy. In 1831, Greece descended into anarchy with numerous areas, including Mani and Hydra , in revolt. It was during this revolt that the flagship Hellas , docked at Poros, was set on fire by Admiral Andreas Miaoulis. Capodistrias

15010-452: The entrance into NATO in 1952. At the beginning of the 1950s, US military aid formed the core of the country's armed forces. The Royal Hellenic Navy received the first Bostwick -class destroyers which took on the name Beasts (Θηρία), while withdrawing the British ones. The next significant change was during the early 1970s, when Greece was the first Mediterranean naval force to order missile-equipped fast attack craft (Combattante II) and

15168-618: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute

15326-459: The establishment of a training school in the old building of the naval base in Poros. During the government of Charilaos Trikoupis in 1889, the fleet was further increased with the acquisition of new battleships: Hydra , Spetsai , and Psara from France. Thus, when Greece went to war in the Greco-Turkish War in 1897, the Hellenic Navy established its dominance in the Aegean Sea. However, it

15484-407: The exception of the four Machitis class (Osprey HSY-56A) , the rest of the gunboats need modernization and, some of them, replacement. The two Asheville class boats are at least 50 years old. The remaining four boats (Osprey-55 and HSY-56) have already received new electro-optical systems. On June 16, 2020, ONEX Neorion Shipyards SA in the Greek island of Syros and Israel Shipyards LTD signed

15642-618: The first four Mark V Special Operations Craft , ordered via the United States Excess Defense Articles programme. The craft are utilised by the Underwater Demolition Command . In 2019, the U.S. State Department cleared a $ 600 million foreign military sale (FMS) of seven MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission helicopters to Greece. In July 2020, Greece signed a contract for the purchase of four new units, via this program. In November of

15800-470: The fleet was supplied with new and bigger ships, reflecting a number of innovations including the use of iron in shipbuilding industry and the invention of the torpedo; with these advances, the effectiveness and the appearance of the Hellenic Navy changed. Meanwhile, after 1878, because of the Russo-Turkish War and the need to expand the Greek navy, a new and larger naval base was established in

15958-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in

16116-401: The inefficient training of the officers, coupled with conflict between those who pursued modernization and those who were stalwarts of the traditions of the veterans of the struggle for independence, resulted in a restricted and inefficient navy, which was limited to policing the sea and the pursuit of pirates . During the 1850s, the more progressive elements of the navy won out and the fleet

16274-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

16432-704: The intervention of the Great Powers in the Battle of Navarino in 1827. There the Egypto-Ottoman fleet was decisively defeated by the combined fleets of the Britain , France and the Russian Empire , effectively securing the independence of Greece. When Ioannis Capodistrias became governor of newly liberated Greece in 1828, the Greek fleet consisted of few remaining ships, which had participated in

16590-577: The island and the Kasos Massacre during the Greek War of Independence . The two Asheville Class gunboats are former US Navy vessels, bought and transferred to Greece in 1989. The fleet consists of nineteen missile boats also known as fast attack missile craft . Two new ships (P78 and P79) entered service in 2019. The main purpose of these vessels is offensive anti-ship warfare. The Hellenic Navy operates four types of missile boats. These are

16748-441: The islets. Greek and Turkish officials provided assurances to the United States that their military forces on and arrayed around the islets would be removed, with the U.S. agreeing to monitor the withdrawal. While US engagement was instrumental in defusing the crisis, the fundamental territorial issue has remained unresolved since that time. In January 2016, Greek Defence Minister, Panos Kammenos , flew over eastern Aegean Sea in

16906-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

17064-467: The main heavy ships of the Navy, with 70% of the Hydra class frigates having an advanced anti-aircraft missile launching system. However, there is no dedicated Anti-aircraft Warfare (AAW) platform in the fleet since the Charles F. Adams class destroyers were decommissioned in the late 90s. The oldest ship in the frigate fleet is just over 40 years old ( HS Kountouriotis , commissioned in 1978) while

17222-453: The maritime nature of the country, it has always featured prominently in modern Greece's military history. At the beginning of the Greek War of Independence , the naval forces of the Greeks consisted primarily of the merchant fleet of the Saronic islanders from Hydra , Spetsai and Poros and also the islanders of Psara and Samos . The fleet was of crucial importance to the success of

17380-640: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

17538-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

17696-404: The modernization of Standard-class frigates with new electronics and radar systems and the modernization of Glaukos and Poseidon -class submarines with new sonars, electronics and air-independent propulsion engines (programs Neptune I/II). The Hellenic Navy maintains a large number of surface vessels and submarines in its inventory. However, the vast majority of warships in active service are in

17854-619: The new American FFG(X) type frigate. The FFG(X) type frigate, now named Constellation class , is a multi-mission guided-missile ship, under development for the United States Navy by Fincantieri Marinette Marine . However all other proposals, also including those from the Netherlands, the UK, Spain and Italy, remained on the table pending closest evaluation of the packages offered by all participating companies. The final decision by

18012-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

18170-490: The number of vessels of this type up to seven; The 6th ship was commissioned operational in July 2020, with the seventh and final ship expected Autumn 2020. This was after a more than ten-year delay due to financial and structural problems faced by Elefsis Shipyard that was contracted to build the ships. There are no changes in the initial design, despite 20 years since the first vessel in the class entered service. The majority of

18328-536: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It

18486-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

18644-488: The opposite side. For instance, a national road map sponsored by the Turkish Ministry of Defense, published just before the crisis, shows Imia (Limnia) as Greek territory. There are other Turkish maps of before 1996 that show Imia as Greek. However, the cartographic evidence of before 1996 is so mixed that the only safe conclusion one can draw from it is that neither of the two governments ever bothered to enforce

18802-722: The orders for more missile corvettes, Poseidon -class ( Type 209 ) submarines and naval helicopters allowed the retirement of the obsolete vessels. Greece also received four Charles F. Adams -class destroyers from the US Navy in 1991–1992. All four were decommissioned after only ten years in service, since their electronics and armament eventually became obsolete and they required large crews. The advance continued when Greece ordered Type 214 submarines that feature an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, Sikorsky S-70B-6/10 Aegean Hawk helicopters and Project 1232.2 Zubr -class hovercraft from Russia and Ukraine . Later actions included

18960-562: The original contracting party of the 1932 border protocol, stated on 6 February 1996 that it considered the protocol valid, thus lending support to the Greek position. The European Union backed the Greek side on the Imia Islets dispute, and warned Turkey to refrain from any military operations against Greek sovereignty, and, along with the European Parliament , called Turkey to solve any disputes it has with Greece through

19118-435: The present-day Turkish argument, does not bear the formal characteristics of an international treaty. The Greek side now holds that it nevertheless constitutes compelling evidence that the Turkish government of the time had made a binding commitment to accepting the delimitation as described in the protocol. The Turkish side holds that the protocol is not binding as an international treaty and therefore has no value whatsoever for

19276-500: The process of either being replaced by more modern and advanced designs, being refurbished, or being retired. The Navy is awaiting delivery of a three FDI Belharra frigates from France with an option for one more after the Greek Prime Minister announced the purchase from Greece of four new multirole heavy frigates in September 2020, that will replace older Elli class vessels. Deliberations with other parties, including

19434-513: The resolution of the present dispute. Italy ceded the Dodecanese islands to Greece with the 1947 Treaty of Paris . Article 14 enumerates the islands to be transferred to Greek sovereignty, and states that adjacent islets are to be transferred. The Turkish and Greek sides dispute the meaning of the term. Turkey claims that Imia does not fit into the definition stipulated by the Article 14 of

19592-589: The revolution. Its goal was to prevent as much as possible the Ottoman Navy from resupplying the isolated Ottoman garrisons and land reinforcements from the Ottoman Empire 's Asian provinces. Although Greek crews were experienced seamen, the light Greek ships, mostly armed merchantmen, were unable to stand up to the large Ottoman ships of the line in direct combat. So the Greeks conducted the equivalent of modern-day naval special operations, resorting to

19750-451: The rights to these islands were ceded by Italy to Greece with the 1947 Treaty of Paris . However, the Treaty of Lausanne does not mention every single small island by name, but treats them summarily. Accordingly, at the heart of the legal issue of Imia is the question whether these islands, by virtue of their geographic situation, fall under the scope of the renunciation of sovereignty and the cession to Italy as defined by certain articles of

19908-690: The royal government in Athens, the French confiscated the Greek ships. They continued to operate with French crews, primarily in convoy escort and patrol duties in the Aegean, until Greece entered the war on the side of the Allies in June 1917, at which point they were returned to Greece. Subsequently, the Navy took part in the Allied operations in the Aegean, in the Allied expedition in support of Denikin 's White Armies in Ukraine , and in limited operations during

20066-405: The same year, the remaining three aircraft were also included in the order. A decision was made in 2014 for the re-activation of existing Lockheed P-3B Orions and their submission to a program of overhaul, upgrade and service life extension. The contract with Lockheed Martin included the return of one aircraft to airworthy condition with the existing mission equipment as an "interim solution" and

20224-656: The ship opens to the public during National Holidays and celebrations. In January 2024, Defence Minister Nikolaos Dendias announced a proposal to manufacture seven Constellation-class frigate in Greece. The Hellenic Navy operates ten gunboats of the Osprey and Asheville classes . Both Osprey HSY-55 and Osprey HSY-56A classes are designed by the Hellenic Navy following a modular concept so that weapons and sensors can be changed as required. They were built by Hellenic Shipyards (HSY) in Greece. These vessels are similar in appearance to Osprey 55-class gunboats. The first pair

20382-411: The ships already in service. On November 6, 2020, the Navy submitted its initial preference for the acquisition of 4 MMSC Littoral Combat Ships developed by Lockheed Martin . These multi-mission frigates were part of a wider package discussed with the US, that also included upgrade of the four Hydra frigates, intermediate solution ships, and participation of Hellenic Shipyards in the development of

20540-667: The special boat flotilla, probably charted the Turkish name of these islets, Kardak, and attributed them to Turkey. It is well possible that when the whole Dodecanese was ceded to Greece in 1947, these islets may not have been included in official maps because of the wartime experience of a British naval officer. It appears, in short, that contradictory cartographic evidence in this field has been caused either by wartime mistakes, mere inattention or inadvertent proliferation of previous technical mistakes. It does not necessarily reflect consistent legal opinions or policies of either side. The conflicting cartographic evidence may nevertheless be one of

20698-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

20856-482: The three-mile boundary once and for all, and that the criterion of "dependency" must be understood in a rather wide sense as covering everything in the whole general area of the Dodecanese outside the three-mile limit, in order to give the provisions of the treaty an inherently consistent meaning. Turkey, on the other hand, claims that the criterion of "dependency" must be understood in a narrow sense, and that formations such as Imia may therefore constitute "grey zones" that

21014-445: The treaty has left undecided; or indeed that Turkish sovereignty over them still holds. After the Treaty of Lausanne, a dispute arose between Turkey and Italy over some other small islands, not directly related to the area of Imia. This dispute was settled through a compromise, which was sealed in a bilateral treaty in 1932 at Ankara. As an appendix to that treaty, the two governments formally assured each other that they now considered

21172-415: The treaty. After the 1996 crisis, the Turkish and Greek governments have made various claims that certain diplomatic exchanges between Turkey and Italy after 1932, and between Turkey and Greece after 1947, provided proof that the respective opponents at that time held legal opinions different from what they claim today, making their present stance inconsistent and untenable. Thus, Turkey has claimed that both

21330-483: The truth “as always”. The next day footage was revealed showing the Turkish patrol boat ramming the Greek boat. Also, Turkey has started to build a watchtower, a facility to accommodate soldiers and a pier on the nearby islet of Çavuş Adası . Thermal cameras will be installed on the island to enable the Turkish Coast Guard to monitor naval activities around the islets. The crucial point of reference for

21488-503: The two countries for decades, conflicts over the possession of island territory were unknown until the end of 1995. Until 1985 Turkish hydrographic maps recognised the course of the Greek-Turkish border halfway between Imia and the Turkish coast. The dispute over Imia arose when, on 26 December 1995, the Turkish cargo ship Figen Akat accidentally ran aground on the east islet and had to be salvaged . A Greek tugboat responded to

21646-437: The use of fireships ( Greek : πυρπολικά or μπουρλότα ), with great success. It was in the use of such ships that courageous seamen like Konstantinos Kanaris won international renown. Under the leadership of capable admirals, most prominently Andreas Miaoulis from Hydra, the Greek fleet achieved early victories, guaranteeing the survival of the revolution in the mainland. However, as Greeks became embroiled in civil wars,

21804-446: The war for independence. The first minister of "Naval affairs" was Konstantinos Kanaris, and the most powerful ship of the fleet at that time, the frigate Hellas , had been constructed in the United States in 1825. The Hellenic Navy established its headquarters at the island of Poros and the building of a new series of ships began at the naval base, while old ships were gradually being retired. Furthermore, continuous efforts towards

21962-469: The whole remaining Dodecanese border between them to be uncontroversial, and appointed a bilateral technical committee to trace its exact delimitation cartographically. The committee produced a technical protocol that was signed by envoys of the two foreign ministries in the same year. This protocol mentions Imia explicitly, as being on the Italian (i.e. later Greek) side. The protocol itself, according to

22120-411: The youngest ship is just over 20 years old ( HS Salamis , commissioned in 1998). None of the ships was equipped with a remote weapon station (RWS) for the purpose of asymmetric warfare and coastal defence and the electronic countermeasures systems (ECM) were absent or obsolete. Raytheon has now installed new electro-optical systems on the ships that were previously not equipped with such sensors. It

22278-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

22436-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

22594-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

22752-427: Was assassinated a few months after. When the new King Otto arrived in the Greek capital, Nafplion , in 1832 aboard the British warship HMS Madagascar , the Greek fleet consisted of one corvette, three brigs, six schooners, two gunboats, two steamboats and a few more small vessels. The first naval school was founded in 1846 on the corvette Loudovikos and Leonidas Palaskas was assigned as its director. However,

22910-462: Was augmented with more ships. In 1855, the first iron propeller-driven ships were ordered from England. These were the steamships Panopi  [ el ] , Pliksavra , Afroessa  [ el ] , and Sfendoni . On October 29, 1863, following an enthronement ceremony in his native Copenhagen and a tour of several of the European capitals, Prince Wilhelm of Denmark arrived aboard

23068-491: Was bought from Italy. In 1910, a British naval mission arrived, headed by Admiral Lionel Grant Tufnell , in order to recommend improvements in the organization and training of the navy. The mission led to the adoption of the British style of management, organization and training, especially in the area of strategy. Shortly before the Balkan Wars , the Navy was composed of a fleet of destroyers and battleships. Its mission

23226-501: Was completed in 2010. The intention for the Hydra class vessels was, as of February 2015, to be modernised with a €400 million upgrade that would extend their operational life to 2035. These plans became a priority for the Navy in 2020, amidst rising tensions with Turkey over delimitation of maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece also negotiated the acquisition of four new Freedom class frigates from

23384-464: Was defused primarily by American officials—in particular, US envoy Richard Holbrooke , working by telephone with officials of both sides during the final hours of the crisis. The Greeks and Turks did not speak directly to one another but were responsive to Washington's assistance as an informal intermediary. Agreement was given by both sides to the United States to return to the "status quo ante"—i.e., differing views on sovereignty and no military forces on

23542-413: Was drawn to this fact in 2004, it was quick to admit that Zouka was in fact Turkish and that the attribution to Greece had been a mere technical mistake, since Zouka in fact lies on the Turkish side of the demarcation line of the 1932 protocol. Some of the existing cartographic problems can probably be traced back to a 1946–47 British cartographic survey conducted by the crew of HMS Childers . According to

23700-559: Was for the construction in Greece of seven vessels, with an option for six more. These will replace an equal number of older gunboats. In February 2020, at a special event held at the Hellenic Institute of Naval Technology (HINT), the technical director of the Unit of Submersibles and Hellenic Navy Works of Hellenic Shipyards Co. , presented project Aginor . The project was the development and construction, in collaboration with

23858-458: Was on board at the time. In February 2018, Greek authorities said that a Turkish coast guard patrol vessel rammed a Greek coast guard boat near the islets. Nobody was injured, but the Greek vessel suffered damage to the stern where the Turkish boat rammed it with its bow. Greece complained to Turkey about the incident. Turkey's Foreign Ministry denied the Turkish vessel was at fault. It said the Greek statement misled Greece's own public and distorted

24016-509: Was only to lower the Turkish flag, resulting in an exchange of fierce statements by the Turkish prime minister Tansu Çiller and the new Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis . Turkish and Greek naval forces were alerted and warships of both countries, both NATO members, sailed to the islets. [REDACTED]   Greece [REDACTED]   Turkey During the crisis, in the night of 28 January, Greek special forces landed secretly on

24174-399: Was ordered on 20 February 1990. HS Pyrpolitis was launched on 16 September 1992 and HS Polemistis on 21 June 1993. Each ship can carry 25 fully equipped troops. Alternative guns and Harpoon missiles can be fitted as required. Pyrpolitis was renamed Kasos on 11 November 2005, after the island of Kasos in the Dodecanese . The ship is based in the area of Kasos, and the name recognises

24332-705: Was primarily offensive, aiming to capture the Ottoman-held islands of the Eastern Aegean and establish naval supremacy. To that end, its commander-in-chief, Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis , established a forward base at the Moudros bay at Lemnos , directly opposite the Dardanelles straits. After defeating the two Turkish sallies from the Straits at Elli (December 1912) and Lemnos (January 1913),

24490-469: Was put on hold in July 2020, despite an intense interest initially expressed by the Navy. Main reasons for this policy change by the Greek Government, were reported to be the increased cost of almost €3 billion for only two units, the exclusion by the French of co-production and the delayed delivery of the first unit, placing it in 2025 at the earliest. Meanwhile, the United States had proposed

24648-550: Was unable to change the outcome of the war on land, which was a national humiliation. In 1907, the Hellenic Navy General Staff ( Γενικό Επιτελείο Ναυτικού ) was founded, with then-Captain Pavlos Kountouriotis as its first head. After the war, in 1897, the Ottoman Empire embarked on a program of naval expansion for its fleet and as a response to that, in 1909, the cruiser Georgios Averof

24806-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

24964-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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