Savvas Kalenteridis

Savvas Kalenteridis was born in Veria, Serres, in 1960. In 1977, he entered the Hellenic Military Academy and graduated in 1981 as a second lieutenant. He served in various units and attended all armored and commando schools. Additionally, he held critical positions both domestically and abroad for several years. In March 2000, while attending the Higher War College, he resigned from the ranks of the Hellenic Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. His resignation was due to his disagreement with the Greek government's handling of the "Ocalan Affair" in January 1999 in Nairobi, Kenya. Savvas Kalenteridis, who accompanied the Kurdish leader during his adventurous journey to Russia, Belarus, and Kenya, authored the book "The Surrender of Ocalan: The Hour of Truth," providing his historical testimony. The book topped sales, surpassing 15,000 copies. Since the fall of 2000, he founded and has been directing the publishing house "Infognomon," and since 2008, the blog "Infognomon Politics." Since 2011, he has been a regular columnist for the newspaper "Democracy" and "Sunday Democracy," while his analyses and articles, mainly focusing on Turkey and other regional issues, have been published in various newspapers, magazines, and websites. Writing Work: Under the pseudonym Kostas Nikopolidis, he translated from Turkish and edited the publication of the book "Gang State," and also translated the "Susurluk Report" from Turkish. He has written historical travel guides such as "Eastern Pontus," "Western Pontus - Bithynia - Paphlagonia," and "Kozani - In the Embrace of the Mountains," and the books "The Surrender of Ocalan: The Hour of Truth" (2007) and "Crisis and Patriotism" (2016). In collaboration with the "Friends of the Melpo Merlier Folklore Museum" foundation, he participated in and prefaced the release of the double CD "Songs of Pontus, Recordings of 1930" and the CD "Songs from the Coastal Cities of Pontus and Asia Minor." He translated and edited the publication of the book "The Anatomy of War in Kurdistan" by Murat Karayılan, one of the leaders of the Kurdish National Liberation Movement and deputy of Abdullah Ocalan. He also edited the publication of the two-volume work "Analysis of Turkish Foreign Policy: Myth and Reality," the book "Minorities in Turkey," and a series of historical travel guides such as "Southern Italy - Magna Graecia," "Sicily," "Rhodes - Marmaris - Caria - Lycia," "Aeolia: Lesbos - Ayvalik," "Ionia: Samos - Ephesus - Miletus - Priene," "Chios - Smyrna," "Bulgaria - Eastern Rumelia," "Cappadocia - Central Anatolia," "Istanbul - Marmara," "Crete," among others. For his literary work, he has been awarded the Gold Medal of the "Parnassos" Literary Society.