April 17

Events

1768: 500 Greeks set sail from Gibraltar, along with 900 others, to colonise New Smyrna, Florida.
1897: The Greek Army, under Brig. Gen. Konstantinos Smolenskis, defeats the Turks at Velestino. This was the only Greek victory in the Greco-Turkish War (1897).
1944: Communist resistance group ELAS attack and annihilate EKKA, a republican resistance group. EKKA leader, Dimitrios Psaros, is captured and executed.
1957: Archbishop Makarios III receives a hero's welcome in Athens upon his return from the Seychelles where he had been exiled by the British.
1961: PM Constantine Karamanlis visits Washington, DC and meets with US President John F. Kennedy.
1984: Turkey exchanges ambassadors with the self-proclaimed "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus"
1994: Andreas Papandreou is re-elected party leader of PASOK.

2001: Marousi win the Saporta Cup after defeating Chalon 74-72. Vangelis Vourtzoumis becomes the first Greek player to win three European basketball trophies with three different clubs: Cup-Winners Cup in 1993 with Aris; Champions' Cup in 1996 with Panathinaikos and Saporta Cup with Marousi in 2001.