Imia crisis re-examined
Paying respect to the memory of the three Greek navy officers who died in the line of duty during the military standoff between Greece and Turkey in 1996 on the eastern Aegean Imia islets demands a cool-headed and thorough study of what exactly went wrong that night.
One of the outstanding issues in this case, for instance, would be an analysis of the role played by the media as what was a regular incident eventually turned into a full-blown crisis.
Another task of vital importance would be to examine why and how the Greek state’s entire crisis management mechanism ended up collapsing on that night.
Lastly, each and every one of us should consider the following: who used the Imia islets incident and in what way, not as a means of safeguarding the nation, but rather in to score political points and to pander to other assorted interests.
