“I would like to give my warmest thanks to the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff Lieutenant General Christos Christodoulou for the invitation, but also for hosting today’s event, taking place at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, which is our city’s gem.

Chief, I would like to congratulate you for your speech, in which you fittingly mentioned the glorious past of the Air Force, as well as the future challenges which it will face in the context of its mission. Your and all the airmen’s vision for a powerful Air Force in the service of the Hellenic Nation constitutes for our government a key political choice and at the same time the choice of the whole Nation, of the whole Greek people.

Today we have the opportunity due to the 70 – year anniversary of the establishment of the Air Force Band, to attend their performance. The contribution of the Band all these years at a cultural, artistic and social level in Greece and abroad is magnificent.

However tomorrow is the celebration of the glorious Air Force’s Patron Saint Archangel Michael with which we honour all the Greek airmen who even give their own lives for our Country, during peacetime and wartime. Because Greek airmen exercise as they fight and they fight daily over the Aegean Sea. Flying through the skies of Greece they contribute along with the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Navy to the preservation of our country’s national independence and territorial integrity.

So I would like today, on behalf of the Hellenic State, to express everyone’s gratitude towards our airmen, many of whom are no longer with us, because they give everything for the sake of our deterrence force and the consolidation of a sense of security of the Greek people, so that it can continue unhindered during its peacetime efforts. This modest and symbolic reference is one of honour and recognition of their sacrifice and they are publicly praised and respected by the Greek people.

However I would also like to pay my respects to the families, wives, children, siblings and parents of the airmen. They are the ones who daily bid farewell to their relative when he/she goes away to execute his/her mission, without knowing if he/she will come back. And there were times that some did not come back. So we honour all those relatives, siblings, mothers, fathers, grandparents and wives of the great heroes of our Nation.

So we express to the those who are no longer with us our gratitude by assuring them that our modern cadets and airmen will continue to fly tirelessly having faith in the national ideals and reminding everyone the sacrifices of the heroically fallen Airmen at the Balkan front, in Asia Minor, in WWII, at Cyprus an island of martyrdom, but also in the undeclared war of the skies over the Aegean Sea.

They are members of the big family of our country’s heroes and throughout history they have set an example for the Greek men and women and particularly for the younger generations.

Furthermore we honour the current generation of the Air Force, the military and civilian personnel, Officers, NCOs and aircraftmen, the citizens who serve the country daily, night and day, under any circumstances and prove in every occasion that they have received excellent training and they act in the spirit of pure patriotism and self-sacrifice. Through their accomplishments the officers, NCOs, conscripts but also the citizens, under the current circumstances, provide us with the necessary assets but at the same time by demonstrating excellent behaviour when flying, they set the example which will be taught for many years to come, in the future War Colleges.

Let us not forget that apart from the execution of its mission the Air Force along with the flying assets of the Army and the Navy, offers invaluable service to our society and mainly to the inhabitants of the frontiers. Every day we have air evacuations from our islands. During the summer it battles the fires. It also offers Search and Rescue operations and various other actions with its flying assets to our society and our Country.

I assure you that our government and the Prime Minister personally have the volition to support in any way the upgrade of the Air Force so that it can execute its highly important mission, bringing the best possible results.

Paying my respects to the fallen airmen and their families, I wish and piously ask from the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Michael to keep our Air Force and our airmen safe.

Finally I would like to give my sincerest congratulations to everyone involved in the hosting of this event and to the Air Force Band, wishing that it will continue its manifold work in the future serving Culture with great success.

I am confident that we are about to experience magical moments of quality and aesthetics.

The Chief of the Hellenic Air Force mentioned what I also heard when I first took office. The Greek aircraft will always be the last to land. That is the way of things. I hope that the cadets and all the cadres of the Air Force will always land successfully.

Many Happy Returns”.