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In memeory of Captain Kostas Iliakis

Today Greece commemorates the death of Captain Kostas Iliakis who lost his life on May 23rd, 2006, while defending his country. A Greek F-16, which had taken off from Souda, and a Turkish F-16 collided near the island of Karpathos during a Turkish reconnaissance flight.
On this day, 11 years ago the Turkish F-16 aircraft crashed into the Greek F-16 aircraft while attempting to prevent the latter from identifying a Turkish RF-4 reconnaissance airplane, approximately 35 nautical miles south off the island of Rhodes. Greek pilot Kostas Iliakis was tragically killed, and the Turkish pilot Halil Ibrahim Ozdemir bailed out and was rescued by a cargo ship.
According to reports, Captain Iliakis approached the Turkish aircraft maintaining a steady course and the required safe distance while trying to identify the unresponsive aircraft.
The Turkish pilot, 1st Lieutenant Halil Ibrahim Ozdemir, made a turn in close proximity, crashing on top of Captain Iliakis’ airplane.
According to Greek pilot reports, Ozdemir is one of many Turkish pilots from an infamous Turkish Air Force squadron. The pilots of that squadron have been consistently responsible for multiple near misses in the Aegean due to their disregard for flight safety.
Fortunately a crisis in diplomatic relations between the two countries was avoided, but the Turkish side remains determined to pay no attention to international sea borders or fly zones, with even European authorities recently having to remind them of the error of their military ways.
A memorial was erected on Karpathos in the pilot’s honour and this year, to mark the anniversary, the Greek Post Office are issuing a commemorative and limited edition of envelope and stamp sets.