The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos accompanied by the military leadership, attended:

The Change of Command ceremony between the outgoing Chief of Hellenic Tactical Air Force Lieutenant General Christos Christodoulou and Lieutenant General Georgios Mplioumis, held at 110th Combat Wing.

The Change of Command ceremony between the outgoing Commander of Hellenic First Army Lieutenant General Ilias Leontaris and Lieutenant General Dimokritos Zervakis, held at the Hellenic First Army HQ, Larisa.

The Change of Command ceremonies were also attended by the Deputy Minister of Rural Development Vasilis Kokkalis.

The Minister of National Defence made the following statement:

“Today, here, in Larisa, in the heart of the Armed Forces, the change of command of Hellenic Tactical Air Force and of Hellenic First Army takes place. It is a special day for Larisa, for our country, for our Armed Forces.

Two worthy Chiefs hand over their responsibilities. The Chief of Hellenic Tactical Air Force who assumes the command responsibilities of the Hellenic Air Force as Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff hands over his responsibilities to the newly appointed Chief of Hellenic Tactical Air Force who is one of the excellent Officers and I am sure that he will fulfil his mission along with the entire personnel, Officers, NCOs, privates and civilian personnel, in an excellent manner, as the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force did too.

In Hellenic First Army, the Commander of the Hellenic First Army, a worthy officer who, by decision of the government and following a proposal that we submitted to the Republic of Cyprus, will take office as Chief of the National Guard General Staff within the next few days, hands over his duties and an excellent general officer assumes his duties.

For the Armed Forces, Larisa, as I said in the beginning, is the centre where the heart of our Armed Forces beats.”

JOURNALIST: We have had, Mr. Minister, some incidents, however, like the one with the soldiers who formed the symbol of Albanian eagle with their hands, another case in Cyprus, in the Hellenic Contingent in Cyprus. I would like to hear your comment. It is a very serious incident. How will we face it?

P.KAMMENOS: It is clear that such incidents cannot be tolerated. Every disciplinary and administrative provision will be applied and penal responsibilities will be investigated as well.

I would like, however, to ask the media to be particularly careful and not add any more incidents that have never happened, to the latter ones. For example, there has been a press release that an airman in 112th Combat Wing who was in charge of guarding – and yet there had information about the departure of the Prime Minister. This never happened.

On one hand, these cases will be dealt with, as provided for and with the highest strictness, on the other hand though, we should not reinforce those who try to revive nationalism in our country by offending Greece.