February 16

Events

1810: A major earthquake (7.5 on the Richter scale) strikes Crete. 2,500 persons are killed.
1914: The Greeks of Northern Epirus form a government under Georgios Christakis-Zografos.
1923: The Julian Calendar is officially replaced by the Gregorian in Greece. February 16 becomes March 1.
1933: Workers and Policemen clash in Thessaloniki. The number of dead and injured reaches 100.
1942: The military wing of EAM - "ELAS" - is founded during the Axis occupation of Greece.
1943: Italian occupation troops execute 118 Greeks from Domeniko and Mesochori, Larisa prefecture.
1964: The Centre Union party of Georgios Papandreou triumphs in the Greek elections winning 52.8% of the vote. Panagiotis Kanellopoulos' National Radical Union receive a mere 35.2%.
1968: Aristides Pangratidis is executed, by firing squad, as the serial killer nicknamed "the ogre of Seikh Sou".
1985: Andreas Papandreou inaugurates the Stadium of Peace and Friendship in Neo Phaliro, Piraeus.
1994: Greece imposes an embargo on FYROM.
2003: Tasos Papadopoulos is elected President of Cyprus from the first round as he receives 51% of the vote. Former President, Glafkos Clerides, receives only 39%.
2012: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu visits Cyprus marking the first time an Israeli leader has ever visited the nearby island republic.

1936: Olympiakos thrash Panathinaikos 6-1 in a Greek league game.
1972: Thomas Mavros makes his debut with Greece in a match against Holland (0-5) in Athens.
1991: Panathinaikos footballer, Danut Lupu, is arrested as leader of a criminal gang.