Former Greek Navy Admiral Nikos Pappas, who opposed the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967-74, has passed away after a battle against cancer. He had been hospitalized at the Athens Naval Hospital but recently returned home for his last days.
Kostas Gortzis, who was with Nikos Pappas aboard the Velos, said goodbye to him through his Facebook page with this message: “Nikos Pappas was one of the pioneers in the Navy Movement, which was expressed in May 1973 and was the most significant resistance against junta until then. The movement was organized for the liberation of Greece and naval, Air Force and military officers were involved.”
Pappas was chief of the destroyer Velos but decided to withdraw from a NATO exercise and ask for political asylum in Italy, causing a big blow to junta, renewing resistance, impressing people from abroad and making the Velos Mutiny a front page story around the world.
Pappas had repeatedly refused to take part in political parties or in government because, as he said, he didn’t want “party characteristics for an effort, which intended only to restore Democracy for all Greek.” He later served in the government of Xenophon Zolotas, as Minister of Mercantile Marine from Nov. 23, 1989 to April 11, 1990.
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