Officers, NCOs, Privates, Seamen, Airmen and Civilian Personnel,
Today is a day of double celebration.
The Orthodox Christianity celebrates the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and our nation honours the Armed Forces of our country.
In the long and eventful history of Greek people, people’s beliefs and tradition have many times connected Nation and Freedom to religion demonstrating the constant relation between two pillars, Country and Orthodox Christianity. And this relation has been influencing our nation’s entire course.
The Armed Forces have written brilliant and glorious pages in the Greek History by defending our country’s ideals with excessive bravery and gallantry.
They have been constantly making this contribution despite the painful – for our nation and themselves – period of the dictatorship.
Today our memory goes back to those numerous, famous or anonymous heroes and strugglers, to the defenders of the ideals of Freedom and National Independence who died on the battlefields and have become symbols of genuine patriotism and pure self-sacrifice during the past centuries.
Paying tribute to so many brave men allows us to make an association of thoughts about the past and the present.
Their legacy is significant and this honoured struggle is a source of strength and pride, as well as a commitment to make new and hard efforts aiming at enhancing the effectiveness of the Armed Forces. So, the Greek people will feel safe and international legitimacy will have our contribution to the consolidation of peace and stability.
The Greek Armed Forces maintain a strong presence in any part of our planet they are asked to and it is required by our duty, and contribute to enhancing the prestige and image of our country throughout the world.
Our country has one of the most reliable defence systems in Europe; its geopolitical position in the centre of a wider region provides it with an invaluable strategic significance and makes it a stable and stabilising factor in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean and South-eastern Europe.
Today, more than ever, our country needs the stables which will allow it to deal with and overcome the difficulties.
And one of these stables is the strong defence system.
It is to our best interest to assemble the forces of the entire Greek people, to maintain their strength, to reinforce our deterrence and our defence capability, to benefit from the wealth of the Greek territory, in land and at sea.
I assure you that Greece remains still and pride. It will reinforce its position in the world even further and, more importantly, will face successfully these difficult moments which damaged its prestige and, mostly,
discouraged Greece’s society.
I am hopeful that injustice which was caused by the fiscal adjustment will be dealt with and we will find again, as a nation, our self-confidence and orientation to a more auspicious and creative future.
We will succeed because the country has a tremendous comparative advantage which is its people’s ability, our natural ability to overcome difficult circumstances. And the Armed Forces have all you, their personnel who are aware of their responsibility and have a sense of duty and honour.
Men and women of the Armed Forces,
Greek people have expectations from their Armed Forces. They know and realise that our country’s defence and security interests are defended in the best possible manner, they know that every time our society is tested under adverse circumstances, especially in the remote parts of our country, they can rely on our army’s active contribution.
Greek people are aware of it and they honour and thank you for that.
I wish you all and your families health and progress.
May Virgin Mary give us all courage and strength.
Long live the Hellenic Armed Forces.
Long live our Nation.
The Minister of National Defence
Dimitris L. Avramopoulos