Anastasios Dalipis (; 1896–1949), usually referred as Tasos Dalipis, was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Army officer and politician, who was elected many times as a member of the

Greek Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme democratic instit ...

and served as Minister Governor-General of

Western Macedonia Western Macedonia (, ) is one of the thirteen Regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. Located in north-western Greece, it is divided into the regional units of Greece ...

from 1946 to 1947.

Biography

Anastasios Dalipis was born in 1896 in the village of Gavros in modern

Kastoria Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...

municipality, then part of the

Manastir Vilayet The Vilayet of Manastir () was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, created in 1874, dissolved in 1877 and re-established in 1879. The vilayet was occupied during the First Balkan War in 1912 and divided between t ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. He was the second son of the captain of the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. From 1904 to 1908 the conflict was p ...

Dimitris Dalipis, who operated in the Korestia area, and was killed fighting against the Bulgarian ''

komitadji Komitadji, Comitadji, or Komita (plural: Komitadjis, Comitadjis, or Komitas) ( Bulgarian, Macedonian and , , , , pl. , , ) was a collective name for members of various rebel bands ( chetas) operating in the Balkans during the final period of th ...

'' and the Ottoman army on 19 November 1906 in the Asvos hill of Korestia, on the road to Prespes. After the death of their father, the young Anastasios and his brothers were helped to escape to the independent

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

, for the fear of the Bulgarians. On the outbreak of the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Greece, Greece and Kingdom of Montenegro, Montenegro) agai ...

in 1912, at the age of 16, presenting false documents due to his young age, he volunteered in the Greek army and participated as a soldier in the

Battle of Bizani The Battle of Bizani (, ''Máchi tou Bizaníou''; ) took place in Epirus on . The battle was fought between Greek and Ottoman forces during the last stages of the First Balkan War, and revolved around the forts of Bizani, which covered the app ...

. In 1917 he graduated from the

Greek Army Academy The Hellenic Army Academy (, ΣΣΕ), commonly known as the Evelpidon, is a military academy. It is the Officer cadet school of the Greek Army and the oldest third-level educational institution in Greece. It was founded in 1828 in Nafplio by Ioa ...

as a second lieutenant. He fought in the

Asia Minor Campaign Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

where he was decorated with the Gold Cross of Valour. His younger brother, second lieutenant Athanasios Dalipis, was killed fighting in the Asia Minor Campaign. In 1923 he left the army, studied in the

National Technical University of Athens The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (NTUA; , ''National Metsovian Polytechnic''), sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, a university in Athens, Greece. It is named in honor of its benefactors Nikolaos Stournaris, Eleni Tosi ...

and worked as a surveying engineer in various areas of Greece. He was involved in politics and was elected MP of the Kastoria-Florina Prefecture in the elections of 1932, 1935 and 1936. With the outbreak of the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian campaign in Greece, Italian invasion of Greece, and War of '40 in Greece, took place between Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This conflict began the Balk ...

in 1940 he was recalled to the army and fought in the Albanian front, as a deputy commander and then commander of the 33rd Infantry Regiment. He was wounded in the Boubesi area (Height 717) and was decorated a second time, with the Gold Cross of Valour. Following the

German invasion of Greece The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Kingdom of Greece, Greece by Kingdom of Italy, Italy and Nazi Germany, Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Gr ...

, Dalipis was evacuated to

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, where he fought in the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (, ), codenamed Operation Mercury (), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May ...

. He was evacuated to Egypt with the last English convoy (29 May 1941), where he joined the Middle East allied forces. There he served as a garrison commander of Alexandria and Tel Aviv. With the liberation of Greece in 1944 he returned to the country and quit the army, having reached the rank of Colonel. In 1946 he was elected for the fourth time deputy of the Kastoria-Florina Prefecture. He served as a Minister Governor-General of

in the cabinets of

Konstantinos Tsaldaris Konstantinos Tsaldaris (; 14 April 1884 – 15 November 1970) was a Greek politician and twice Prime Minister of Greece. Biography Tsaldaris was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He studied law at the University of Athens as well as Berlin, London ...

and

Dimitrios Maximos Dimitrios E. Maximos (; 6 July 1873 – 17 October 1955) was a Greek banker and politician. He briefly served as Prime Minister of Greece after World War II. Life Maximos was born on 6 July 1873 in Patras. He began his career in banking in ...

in 1946–1947, during the difficult years of the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

. He was the first Greek politician who, with an article in the newspaper ''Ellinikon Aima'', accused

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

and Yugoslavia for their direct involvement in the Greek Civil War, with the long-term aim to detach Greek Macedonia. Tito then protested to the UN, and recalled his ambassador in Greece. Dalipis submitted his resignation aiming to facilitate the Greek government. His resignation was not accepted and following that the Greek government complained to the UN against Yugoslavia. In 1947, as a Macedonian deputy, he travelled on his own expenses to the United States of America and Canada, where with speeches to the Greek communities he contradicted all the arguments of the Bulgarian and

Slavomacedonian South Slavic language spoken in North Macedonia and some adjacent areas has been referred to using several different terms. Its native speakers, as well as the Constitution of North Macedonia, call it Macedonian language (, ''makedonski''). It is ...

propaganda, which at that time was very active in the above-mentioned countries. As a result of this trip was the unification of all Greek-Macedonian unions under the aegis of the Pan-Macedonian Union. Anastasios Dalipis was married to Dimitra N. Kyrtsou, and had three children, one boy and twin girls. Anastasios Dalipis died in Athens on July 15, 1949, after a surgery.New Encyclopedia Helios-Volume 14

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalipis, Anastasios 1896 births 1949 deaths People from Manastir vilayet Greek Macedonians People's Party (Greece) politicians United Alignment of Nationalists politicians Greek MPs 1932–1933 Greek MPs 1935–1936 Greek MPs 1936 Greek MPs 1946–1950 Governors-general of Macedonia Greek colonels Hellenic Army officers Greek military personnel of the Balkan Wars Greek military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Greek military personnel of World War II People of the Greek Civil War Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Greece) People from Korestia Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece