The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos accompanied by the Deputy Chief of HNDGS Lieutenant General Konstantinos Floros attended the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the Battles in El Alamein, Egypt.

During the celebrations, the Minister of National Defence had meetings with the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Egyptian counterpart General Sedki Sobhy.

The Minister of National Defence visited the Greek Military Monument of the Fallen in the Battle of El Alamein and addressed the following statement:

“I would like to thank the organizers of the present event, in particular the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, the Greek Embassy in Cairo, and mostly his Excellency Mr. President and the Government of our friend country Egypt; their undivided  support is the reason we are here each and every year to jointly honour –  filled with emotions of respect and pride –  the memory of the heroically fallen Fighters of the 1st Greek Brigade in this imposing space of the Hellenic Military Memorial in El Alamein, where the final countdown for the Italian-German axis began.

I also extend my congratulations to the Hellenic unions and associations, whose active presence and contribution promote and enhance the brotherly ties between two great nations and civilizations, the Greek and the Egyptian. I would like to thank the students who are here today in particular.

Today we are honoured to attend an event of utter importance. It is an event of commemoration, whose character is not just national, but also universal and pan-human.

Today we are honouring the fallen Greeks along with their allies. We are honouring the majesty of victory enjoyed by all democratic and freely resisting peoples over fascism and bigotry, we are inspired by their struggles and we are learning by the example set through their sacrifice.
 
As the great Greek poet Andreas Kalvos wrote, and I quote: “Freedom needs virtue and daring”. Greeks turned his words into actions.

Today our memory is focused on the trumpeting of the soldier which echoes beyond the walls of the cemetery, on the Greek flags waving on the tomb stones of Greek soldiers, on an anniversary which is rightfully engraved with gold letters in the history of the struggles of Greece and the entire region for freedom, on a struggle which was the worthy successor of the heroic struggles in the mountains of Pindos, the struggle of the forts, the battle of Crete and the struggles of national resistance, as well as a predecessor of Rimini, the Aegean and Normandy.

And this was the only way. As the memorial reads “We are Greeks”.

Hellenism never lowered the Flag. It resisted Totalitarianism from the very first moment. Greeks fought with bravery and faith in the ideals of Freedom.

Greeks exerted themselves, in a geographical area that stretched far beyond the immediate surroundings of their country.

Of course, along these glorious pages in our history, lie the pages of pain and strife experienced by our people during the three-fold Occupation.

I mean the atrocities of Nazism and Fascism, which were brutally expressed by the group executions in Kalavryta, Distomo, Kokkinia, Kaisariani, Doxato and all over Greece.

Thus, the contribution of Greece to the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy is great.     

And great is Greece’s share of Victory, which could not easily be claimed, since the evils of the three-fold occupation were succeeded by the storm of the Civil War.

These facts should be communicated to all, they should concern us. They should be remembered by the elder and set an example for the younger ones. A nation not in touch with its history undermines its present and future.

The message conveyed today is the example set by the collective effort of the previous generations who exerted themselves.

The safeguarding of freedom, tolerance and creative dialogue are achieved only through the collective efforts of nations, peoples and Governments which share the same ideals and principles.

We owe to establish new perspectives through cooperation,     by raising embankments to possible future conflicts, thus protecting humanity from the atrocities of war.

El Alamein sealed the friendship between our countries, and established the conviction that peace, prosperity and happiness are feasible only by respecting International Law, values and universal ideals.
 
As far as shaping common strategies and doctrines is concerned, we still have a long way to go. It will be a long way, taking into consideration that we are in a region full of uncertainty and crises, at this South-East Mediterranean crossroad of civilizations and religions, which in our times is playing an important part in international stability and peace among peoples. We want to render this crossroad a source of creativity, not a source of conflicts.

And this exactly is our role, to move ahead, assume our responsibilities, having as priority the responsibility for the security and prosperity of our peoples.

Towards this direction we should not skimp on the efforts to rise to the challenges and the needs of our citizens, whose instinct , like back then, always proves to be right.  

A few hours ago, Greece’s Prime Minister and I returned from the United States of America where the global community asks for the engagement of Greece and Egypt for the creation of a pillar of stability which can bring peace in the wider area. And this is what we do.

Closing, allow me to quote an American philosopher, Richard Rorty, who said “a nation writes its history not to narrate its past, but to state its desire for the future”.

We are all bearing the heavy responsibility and debt against history, glory, sacrifice, bequeathed to us by the 1st Greek Brigade.

All these fighters are immortal, since they live in our souls and minds and we assure them that we will keep the flag of honour and responsibility high, and if needs be, we will follow in their footsteps, defending every inch of Greek territory, or anywhere our country dictates, hoping to become their worthy successors.

The Ministry of National Defence established the year 2017 as the year of veterans and national guards.

We bow before living heroes like Giannis Nikolopoulos who is here today, as well as before all those unknown heroes who are living examples for our course to the future.

We kneel and pay respect to the heroes who fell in this place. Everlasting be your memory, immortal heroes of the 1st Greek Brigade.

We bow before the flags and take an oath that we will be defending our national sovereignty, territorial integrity, Democracy and right across our course to the future.”