“It is a special honour to be here today at the opening of the Church and the new Cemetery of the Municipality of Glyfada, part of which will be the Air Force Cemetery.

It is an honour to be here, as Minister of National Defence, for the first Military Cemetery, which I hope will remain unused.We must all know that, every day in the Aegean, dozens of aircraft take off from the Hellenic Air Force’s airfields and the readiness airfields, flown by pilots who are ready to die defending our country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

When I inspected the Hellenic Air Force Academy for the first time, my adjutants told me that, statistically, 10% of the cadets who took their oath that day would not live to retire from the Air Force, because Greek aviators train during peacetime in warlike conditions, for all of us.And they are worthy of such a memorial, which will keep them together, so that we can pay our respects to them.

I am also glad to be here as a citizen of Glyfada. The Mayor was absolutely right describing the cemetery problem.I will never forget how difficult it was, while working with Fani Petralia and Giannis Varvitsiotis, to find a site for the Cemetery.

Our Orthodox Christian faith is an eternal spring from which we draw power every day, to fight and gaze optimistically into the future.

We came here today, with awe and respect, to open a sacred place, a place of memory, a place to honour our beloved departed.

This will be the resting place for our pilots, the “sleepless guardians of the Aegean”, who fly every day to ensure peace through deterrence, ready for the ultimate sacrifice, to give their lives for the country.

For the Ministry of National Defence and me personally, it was from the beginning a matter of utmost national importance and priority to render due honours to those who carry out their duty, to the heroes who fell for God and country.

I would like to say in public that I continued the initiative of Nikos Dendias as Minister of National Defence, in cooperation with the Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff and Hellenic Air Force Officers.

It was quite difficult.We had to overcome a lot of bureaucracy to be here today.

So, we must never forget Giorgos Baltadoros, Nikolaos Vasiliou, none of our fallen hero pilots who, with their sacrifice, earned a place in the pantheon of our heroes of the Hellenic Air Force and the struggles of the Hellenic Nation.

Here, in the new Cemetery of the Municipality of Glyfada, the Memorial and the Air Force Cemetery will become a sacred place and a place of remembrance, worthy of their own sacrifice.

We once again bow before our heroic pilots and their families and reassure them that the loss, the pain, the tears, and the sacrifice of their beloved defines our own duty:to keep their memory alive to serve as an example for the generations to come.

However, it would be unfair not to mention that our Air Force, in addition to its main operational work, also undertakes many social contribution activities, such as providing assistance to deal with the refugee crisis, search and rescue, aeromedical evacuations (taking place every day from our islands), aerial forest firefighting, and dealing with natural disasters.

Within this framework of social contribution, the Hellenic Air Force is once again by the citizens’ side, conceding the area required to solve this very serious problem regarding the lack of a Cemetery, which has been plaguing the Municipality of Glyfada for decades.

This project is an example of proper cooperation of the political and military leadership with the local authorities, which should serve as an example of how we must all work to the benefit of society, overcoming all obstacles.

I would also like to thank those who have had their doubts for this project but are here today, because only united can we move on and create in this country.

In conclusion, I would like to make a special mention to His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Glyfada, Mr. Pavlos, the leadership of the Hellenic Air Force, and the Mayor of Glyfada, Giorgos Papanikolaou, a friend of twenty years, who took the bet and did not let one day pass, since we met, without taking a step, small or big, in order to get to this day.

Congratulations, Mr. Mayor, because, if it weren’t for you, there wouldn’t be a Cemetery.

May our Panaghia, the Defender General, and the Archangels, whom we celebrate in a few days, protect our Air Force, our aviators, and all Glyfada”.