“Sincerest apologies”, from the agency that referred to Crete as “Ottoman”

The Melbourne based, online multimodal transport search engine, “Rome2rio”, has apologised to Greek all over the world for its error to describe the Greek island of Crete as “Ottoman” in its posts and promotional material.

The island of Crete in an older map Source: Australian War Memorial

The apology came after the uproar of the Greek Community in Australia, its organisations, especially the Cretans and Greece Embassy in Canberra.

The Greek Consul general in Melbourne, Dimitrios Michalopoulo has informed us that his office and that of the Ambassador have received an email with the apology from “Rome2rio” CEO, Yesh Mannugi.

After this development, said Mr Michalopoulos, the matter should be regarded as closed.

The email received by the Embassy and the Consulate-General is as follows:

Hi,

It's Lachlan from the PR Group here. I'm writing an email after speaking to the embassy in Canberra this afternoon on behalf of our client Rome2Rio.

Please find the note below from Rome2Rio CEO Yesh Mannugi.

Dear Ambassador Papakosta and Consul-General Michalopoulos,

I am writing to convey my sincerest apologies for an error on our website which incorrectly labelled the Greek island of Crete.

This error was the result of an automated update and should not have occurred. It has been corrected, and our processes have been reviewed to ensure it is not repeated.

I wish to convey my apologies to you, and to Greek people in Crete, around Greece and around the world for any hurt or offence that we caused. 

As a company founded in a city with the largest Greek expat population in the world, and which helps thousands of people travel to Greece every year, we value our connection to and friendship with the Greek community and want that friendship to continue.

Thank you for your understanding,

Yesh Munnangi,

CEO

Rome2Rio