“Your Eminence,

Members of Parliament,

Chief of the Hellenic Navy,

Mr. Mayor,

Mr. Deputy Regional Governor,

Officers, NCOs and personnel of the Armed Forces,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to thank you today for this great honour you made me to invite me here today, on the beautiful island of Leros, for the inauguration of the bust of the hero of our Hellenic Navy, Vice Admiral Christodoulos Karathanasis, who, along with Panagiotis Vlachakos and Ektoras Gialopsos fell for our homeland and offered their own lives, on that night amid the 1996 crisis, at Imia islets.

Today we pay homage to this brave officer, with the emotions and the respect we ought to demonstrate to our heroes. The heroes themselves, however, have been honoured by history and they have the glory that they fell for their faith and their homeland.

Vice Admiral Christodoulos Karathanasis and the heroic crew of the PN 21 helicopter that night of the Imia crisis, inspired by the sense of duty and their great love for their country, they executed their mission under extremely adverse weather conditions.

It is true that we must continue the thorough inquiry into this case and find out whether it was due only to weather conditions or it was an act of war and the fall of the helicopter was a shoot-down.

Their self sacrifice is an example for us too and a moral heritage because, in the Ministry of National Defence and in the Armed Forces which I have the honour to command, we believe that there are values which are worth the last drop of our blood and our last breath.

We are here for the nation; we are here for the Greek people, for the principles and values. These are what we must safeguard. We want a free country, still and proudly standing people and a system of values inspiring faith, courage and love for our homeland. We will never let our flags be struck. We will never forget our heroes and their sacrifices.

What we heard in the past, phrases such as “flags are gone with the wind”, should remain written in the dark pages of our history and never be repeated again and by anyone in this land.

Using all that as a compass that orientates us among notions, such as duty, proper, national interest, we must move forward and continue our effort; an effort that will end up in the reconstruction of our country; in the reinforcement of our national sovereignty.

This is why heroes Christodoulos Karathanasis, Panagiotis Vlachakos and Ektoras Gialopsos fought and fell; for our national sovereignty and territorial integrity, at the moment when some other people believed that they would be able to negotiate these values. Honour and glory to those who never came back; to those who gave their lives so that our country would not become smaller.

Honour and glory also to all of you, who safeguard our national sovereignty, our territorial integrity, our dignity and perform your duty with a high morale and a patriotic concern, from the Chief to the newly drafted private and the National  Guard.

Today, the day is dedicated to this great Greek man, marine and aviator, Christodoulos Karathanasis. It is, therefore, a day of memory, honour and acknowledgement of the Armed Forces of our country that, devoted to their duties, guarantee our country’s national independence and integrity for the Greek people to be able to feel safe.

In the name of this great honour to this excellent Officer I ask you to exclaim:

Let him be immortal,

Long live our Nation,