Ohi Day (also spelled
Ochi Day,
Epeteios tou "'Ohi", Anniversary of the "No") is celebrated throughout
Greece,
Cyprus and the
Greek communities around the world on October 28 each year, to commemorate Greek Prime Minister
Ioannis Metaxas' (in power from August 4, 1936, until January 29, 1941) rejection of the
ultimatum made by Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini on October 28, 1940.
The Italian ultimatum
This ultimatum, which was presented to Metaxas by the Italian ambassador in Greece,
Emanuele Grazzi, on October 28, 1940, at dawn (04:00 am), after a party in the German embassy in
Athens, demanded that Greece allow Axis forces to enter Greek territory and occupy certain unspecified "strategic locations" or otherwise face war. It was allegedly answered with a single
laconic word:
όχι (No!) However, his actual reply was,
Alors, c'est la guerre (Then it is war).
In response to Metaxas's refusal, Italian troops stationed in
Albania, then an Italian
protectorate, attacked the Greek border at 05:30 am--the beginning of Greece's participation in
World War II (see
Greco-Italian War and the
Battle of Greece).
On the morning of October 28 the Greek population took to the streets, irrespective of political affiliation, shouting 'ohi'. From 1942, it was celebrated as Ohi Day.
Anniversary
During the war, October 28 was commemorated yearly by Greek communities around the world and in Greece and Cyprus, and after World War II it became a
public holiday...
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