The Evangelos Florakis Naval Base ( el, Ναυτική Βάση «Ευάγγελος Φλωράκης») is a

Cyprus Navy The Cyprus Naval Command ( el, Ναυτική Διοίκηση Κύπρου, tr, Kıbrıs Deniz Kuvvetleri) (also known as the Cyprus Navy or Cypriot Navy) is the armed sea wing of the Cyprus National Guard. The Cypriot Navy has the primary m ...

base, situated on the island's southern coast adjacent to the Vasilikos industrial area and power plant, near

Zygi Zygi ( el, Ζύγι; tr, Terazi) is a small village on the south coast of Cyprus, between Limassol and Larnaca. Before 1974, Zygi had a mixed Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrı ...

, between

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

and

Larnaca Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro ...

Operations

Prior to 11 July 2011, it was the main location of the Command of the Navy Base and one of the five primary commands (also referred to as sub-commands) of the Navy. It was responsible for overseeing all naval shore installations, facilities and associated personnel. The Command's current status is unclear.

Expansion

As a component of the EU's joint military development program (

PESCO The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is the part of the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy, security and defence policy (CSDP) in which 25 of the 27 national armed forces pursue structural European integration, integ ...

), Cyprus designed various upgrades in its defense infrastructure. In 2019 serving Cypriot Defense Minister Savvas Angelides signed a letter of intent with his French counterpart

Florence Parly Florence Parly (born 8 May 1963) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Armed Forces under President Emmanuel Macron from 2017 to 2022. A former member of the Socialist Party (PS), she previously served as Secretary of State for ...

. Speaking at a news conference, he said the expansion of the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base was linked to a military cooperation deal with EU partner states such as France. It was reported that a new docking area was to be built for larger warships.

Renaming

The base was known for decades as the Mari Naval Base. It was renamed after Lt. General

Evangelos Florakis Evangelos Florakis ( el, Ευάγγελος Φλωράκης, Tzoumerka 14 February 1943 – Paphos 10 July 2002 ) was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of lieutenant general. After retiring from the Hellenic Army, from 2000 until his de ...

, who was killed in a helicopter crash in July 2002 while serving as the head of the

Cypriot National Guard , name2 = National Guard General Staff , image = Emblem of the Cypriot National Guard.svg , image_size = 100px , caption = Emblem of the National Guard of Cyprus , image2 = Flag of the ...

Incidents

In February 2009 a Cypriot-flagged vessel carrying 98 shipping containers of military material including explosives, intended for Syria, was intercepted in the Red Sea; the containers were stored at the Evangelos Florakis base, exposed to sunlight. On 11 July 2011 they exploded, killing 13 people and causing more than €3bn of damage. The Commander of the Naval Base, Lambros Lambrou and the head of the

, Naval Commander

Andreas Ioannides Andreas Ioannides () (born November 29, 1975) is a Cypriot midfielder who played for Nea Salamina of Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south ...

, were both killed.

References

External links

OpenStreetMap showing the base and the nearby Vasilikos power station

Main Gate of Evangelos Florakis Naval Base on July 11th, 2011, shortly after the explosion (AP/boston.com)
{{coord, 34.725, N, 33.282, E, format=dms, display=title, dim:1km Cyprus Navy bases Larnaca District