Lesvos Events

A statue of the great 20th-century Greek revolutionary leader and statesman Eleftherios Venizelos was unveiled yesterday in the square of Kalloni town, on Lesvos. The statue was appropriately erected a few kilometers distance from Petsofa hill, where the last battle to free Lesvos from the Turks was fought in 1912.

Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1936) is considered as the most important figure in Greek politics during the early 20th century. He struggled with passion for the liberation of Crete, his birthland, from the Turks, which was finally achieved after the First Balkan War of 1912. He was highly successful in Greek politics and served as Prime Minister till 1933. His ideas were usually opposite to the beliefs of the King and the royal family. When the Greek monarchy was restored in 1935, he was forced to go into exile. He died in Paris in 1936. The statue in the square of Kalloni celebrates the man who marked his indelible stamp on Greek Politics in the first three decades of the 20th century.