Celebrations on Thassos
Sunday, October 18, is an annual public holiday on the North Aegean island of Thassos, which celebrates the end of Ottoman rule on October 18, 1912, when a squadron of the Greek Royal Navy liberated the island.
The squadron consisted of the battleships ‘Hydra’ and ‘Spetsail’, the destroyers ‘Thyella’ and ‘Loghi’ and the troop transporter ‘Pelops’; an infantry detachment from the latter landed at 08:00 and captured the island’s Ottoman authorities. Finally, the island had been liberated after 350 years of subjugation, officially becoming part of the Greek nation a year later.
The celebrations, centred in Limenas (Thassos Town), will include the laying of wreaths at ‘The Memorial of the Fallen’ at 11:00, followed at 11:30 by a parade along the town’s promenade by the island’s students, armed services and cultural clubs, watched by local politicians, senior military officers and other dignitaries.
