he IPA at 70 – IPA Greece
17 Jan 2021
The Hellenic Section was founded in 1965 and was recognised the same year at the 7th IEC in Barcelona, on 29 September.
The pioneers of our section were Konstantinos Vasilakis, then Lieutenant Colonel of the Gendarmerie, who was also the chairman of the founding committee, and our other founding members. We would also like to highlight the late Antonakis Demestihas, the first elected President of IPA Greece. All of the above were inspired by the values of our late founder Arthur Troop. Our sponsor section was IPA Germany.
in 1986, our section bought the 5th floor of an apartment building at 2 Iktinou Street ,in the centre of Athens, covering an area of 180 m2, and this is where the heart of our national section has now been beating for 34 years. On 19 July 1995, our IPA House on Acharnon Street in Athens was inaugurated, marking the start of operating IPA Houses in our country. This was followed by the opening of the IPA House in Thessaloniki on 14 June 1997. Nowadays, we also have an IPA House for our members on the beautiful island of Chios, which is managed by the local region, while two more Houses were opened in the last three years for our members in the enchanting Nymfaio of Florina and in the exotic Sternes village in Chania (Crete).
In 1982, the first issue of our quarterly magazine “IPA News” was published, and in 1992 the first annual calendar.
The Hellenic Section has initiated a huge range of innovative actions over the years, and with more than 11,000 highly active members both serving and retired we are towards the top with regard to overall IPA membership within our great Association. Our section has shown a continuous and active presence in World Congresses, as well as the International Executive Board: Mr. Ioannis Panousis held the position of Assistant Secretary General in the three years from 2003 – 2006, and was thereafter succeeded in the same position by the late Georgios Katsaropoulos from 2006 – 2009, after which he became the IPA’s Secretary General, a position he held until his death in 2019. In 2019, Kyriakos Karkalis was elected as IPA Vice President and chairperson of the Socio-Cultural Commission.
In 2016, our section was honoured to be awarded the IPA World Prize for the solidarity and the great contribution shown in the face of the refugee crisis, in particular to unaccompanied children, working in close cooperation with UNICEF.
IPA Greece organised the 28th IEC in October 1998. Since then, dozens of international events have followed: the first International Meeting of Women Police Officers in Heraklion (Crete) in October 2014, the International IPA House Managers Meeting in the same year, the International Symposium in Ancient Olympia held in 2016, Mediterranean and other regional meetings and many more.
We are proud to organise the IPA World Congress 2022 in our country.
At the World Congress in Romania in 2011, our section presented the seven fundamental principles of the IPA: Friendship, Hospitality, Humanism, Solidarity, Unity, Universality and Volunteering. At the World Congress in Copenhagen in 2013, we proposed the Peace Resolution submitted to the UN.
We are pleased to have been the Sponsor Section for the national Sections of Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus (for the last one, in conjunction with IPA Austria).
In our lives as members of theIPA we feel that volunteering and contributing create a more humane and hospitable world. We will continue energetically, responding to the challenges of the new era.
SERVO PER AMIKECO – HAPPY 70TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE IPA!
Vlassios Valatsos – President IPA Greece
Vasilios Papas – Secretary General IPA Greece
