The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos accompanied by the Chief of HNDGS General Michail Kostarakos, the Chief of HAGS Lieutenant General Vasileios Tellidis, the Chief of HAFGS Lieutenant General Christos Vaitsis attended the field exercise “NYCHTERINI ASTRAPI 2015” which was conducted in Northern Evros.

The exercise was also attended by the Deputy Minister of State Terens Kouik and the MP of Independent Hellenes party in Kozani Constituency Christos Katanas.

After the exercise was completed, the Minister of National Defence made the following statement:

“We attended the long lasting night exercise “Nychterini Astrapi 2015” (night lightning), together with the Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff, the Chief of Hellenic Army General Staff, the Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff, the Deputy Minister of State and MPs of all parties, representatives of the Church, Mayors and the local community of Evros.

It is an excellent exercise conducted with the participation of both the Land Forces and the Air Force which proves the professionalism, the excellent readiness level and the high morale of our Armed Forces. Officers, Warrant Officers, NCOs, National Guards, men and women of the Armed Forces, in an excellent coordination among themselves, proved that the Greeks, the Armed Forces, along with the National Guards, people and our conscripts are ready to oppose to any threat against our country’s territorial integrity and national independence.

These exercises aim to prepare our Armed Forces, to make them ready to ensure peace. I wish someday our country face no threats. But as long as threats exist, the Armed Forces will be ready to repel them.

I would like to wish, just like the Armed Forces are ready to repel the war threats against our national sovereignty, we too, civilians, be ready to repel the financial war which threatens our country through the financial crisis. I am certain that we will be. This nation always succeeds its goal when it is united. So, all the Greeks, united, we will move onto tomorrow.

JOURNALIST: Minister, you announced something about the huts a few weeks ago. Has this issue gone forward?

P.KAMMENOS: The huts are a defence space, a military area and people, who live in the huts, no matter whether they are hunters some times of the year, they belong to the National Guard.

So, these court procedures should not have been opened, because we shall not abandon these areas which are a valuable emerald for our national defence.

We agreed with the Mayor that next week we will submit a regulation, on behalf of the Ministry of National Defence. As I promised before the elections, as well as a Minister of National Defence, this area will be delimitated as defence zone and the hunters, as National Guard, must be there to defend this defence zone.

JOURNALIST: What about the enhancement of National Guards’ role, which you mentioned before?

P.KAMMENOS: The National Guard is what we call civil defence. As you saw, from the first moment when I assumed the political competence of the Ministry of National Defence, we started, along with the military leaders, to engage National Guard members; first of them were the residents of Evros and Dodekanisa who never stopped being here ready to participate in every exercise.

It is a government’s decision in order to bring people closer to the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces are an indivisible part of the Greek people.

The upgrade of the National Guard is being implemented through its wider participation in joint exercises, as happened today, through their participation in ceremonies, such as the military parades on March 25 and October 28, as well as, in parallel, through their involvement in the preparation of the Armed Forces. We will do the same with conscripts too. We want Greek people to cooperate closely with the Armed Forces, in a democratic country, not only in the war but in peace time as well.

The engagement of the National Guard with the Engineer of the Armed Forces, during the floods in Evros, did not happen by chance. The same will be implemented also in the new structures we have introduced, like the “DIDERGON”; there, we will give the opportunity to young people who serve as conscripts, to remain in the army for two or three years and gain professional experience. For a young man who will be unemployed after his military service, it is helpful to remain as machine operator and receive a certificate, gain a professional experience. The Armed Forces are indivisibly connected to the Greek people.

Thank you very much.