/>
/>
/>
/>
/>
/>
/>
/>
/>The Minister of National Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos attended the handover-takeover ceremony by the retired Chief of HAGS General Athanasios Tselios to the newly appointed Lieutenant General Christos Manolas at the Hellenic Army Academy. The ceremony was attended by the military and political leaders of the Ministry of National Defence.
In his address, Mr. Avramopoulos stated, among others:
«General Tselios was a capable Chief and is gifted with virtues which are rare in our times, such as prudence and cautiousness. What he described earlier in his Order of the Day reflects totally his own contribution to our collaborative effort to keep the high courage and battle worthiness of the Hellenic Army.
He must be, and he is, proud of his work and of the task he fulfilled. I felt with him the feeling which accompanies him at this time, especially in this sacred place of the Hellenic Army Academy where he started from, 39 years ago. Then, his parents’ blessing and the country’s confidence accompanied him in this beginning.
I would like to stress that his replacement was not due to an issue of performance, behaviour or lack of competence. On the opposite, it was decided in the context of a further planning and programming of the structure of the Armed Forces’ leadership.
We welcome Lieutenant General Christos Manolas who has also been an excellent choice. He has so far a successful career within the Hellenic Army and today, at his new post, we wish him to succeed in his task.
…Today’s ceremony is an occasion to announce that a bill on the mandates of the Chiefs of General Staffs will soon be deposited to the Parliament. This is an institute that, as you all may know, and particularly those of you that serve in the Hellenic Army, is in force in all member states of the Alliance. And this will reasonably contribute to further enhancing the reliability, prestige, status and respect of their institutional role.
It is true that we have activated issues which must be dealt with immediately. As a great foreign General said “A cap is not enough for you to command. You must also have an army”. It is this army that we try to build under the dire circumstances of our time, and make it battle worthy, capable of maintaining strong courage and ensure that it is managed with meritocracy. And this will ensure for us what the Greek people expect from the Armed Forces and what our country has confided them: security, integrity, stability and deterrence…
…I hope that we will soon have good news about the veterans too. You will remember that from the beginning of my first mandate I have always been saying that the term “retired” cannot reflect the deeper meaning of this mission with which the Armed Forces personnel have identified themselves from the beginning of their career.
By closely watching their actions and concerns I would like to tell them that there are no retired officers for the political leadership of the Ministry. Because, if it is ever needed, they will be the first to report in every national fight. We must stand before them with respect and acknowledgment of their contribution, and so our country has today on of the most powerful and reliable defence systems.
We are very proud of our veterans, as we are of our active soldiers…
… We constantly create, even under the difficult circumstances of our times, Armed Forces which are powerful, battle worthy, well equipped with the necessary materiel and follow a procedure of constant reorganisation. Our weapon systems which have been obtained through sacrifices of the Greek people unfortunately were not treated properly in terms of maintenance, support and modernisation. It is nice to say good words but our responsibility is to face reality. And this is why together with the military leadership we have fully drawn a plan which will make this entire system battle worthy, ready and effective”.