GREECE

GREECE / ЕΛΛΑΣ.

Return of the Dodecanese Islands to Greece.
Map of Kasos Island and ship.
Sixth stamp in a set of 13, issued on 05.11.1950.
Face value: 800 Greek drachma.
Printing: Offset litography.
Print: 16,000,000 copies.
Size: 37 x 27 mm.

Catalogues
- AFA No. 584.
- Karamitsos No. 693.
- Michel No. 568.
- Scott No. 530.
- StampWorld No. 550.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 673.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 560C.

The Dodecanese (in Greek, Δωδεκάνησα) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey. Kasos (Κάσος), 49 km² (19 sq mi), is the southernmost island of the group and the closest to the island of Crete.

In 1522, the Dodecanese came under the Ottoman Empire. When Greece proclaimed its independence, in 1822, the incorporation of the islands was foreseen, but the London Protocol of February 3, 1830 left them outside the new Kingdom. Kasos stood out especially in his attempt to free himself from Turkish rule, but in 1824 it was destroyed by the Egyptian Ottomans (the stamp recalls that episode). In 1912 the entire Dodecanese was occupied by Italy, which officially annexed it after the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). On May 8, 1945, after the defeat of the Axis in World War II, the islands became a British military protectorate, and by the Paris Peace Treaties, on September 15, 1947 they were permanently incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece.