Panagiotis Vlahakos

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis paid tribute on Wednesday to the three Greek Navy officers who lost their lives during the Imia crisis, which brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war 28 years ago.

It's 1996 and Greece is on a collision course with Turkey over a cluster of islets in the eastern Aegean. Twenty-seven years later, one of the protagonists of the Imia crisis, the regular commander of the area and captain of the Navarinon frigate, retired vice admiral Ioannis Lioulis, speaks about events that have never been made public before, in an exclusive interview with Kathimerini.

Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday reiterate Greece's position that there are no grey zones in the Aegean, marking the anniversary of the 1996 Imia crisis, which brought Athens and Ankara to the brink of war.

Always one for the grand gesture, outgoing Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, decided to use the ministerial Huey helicopter _ which he mistakenly calls HU1 instead of UH-1 in his Tweet _ to fly over the Imia islets, site of a 1996 incident between Greece and Turkey that brought the to countries to the brink of war.