The Minister of National Defence Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos attended the opening speech at the two-day event for the “100 years since the Balkan Wars” anniversary, organised by the Army History Directorate of the Hellenic Army General Staff, at the Old Parliament Building.
The event was also attended by the the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff General Michail Kostarakos, the Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff Vice Admiral Kosmas Christidis, the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff Lieutenant General (AF) Antonios Tsantirakis, the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff Lieutenant General Konstantinos Gkinis, honorary Chiefs of the Armed Forces, Officers of the Armed Forces on active duty or retired, delegations from Military Academies and foreign countries’ Defence Attachés.
The highlights of Mr. Panagiotopoulos’ speech are the following:
“I would like to congratulate, in this figurative building, the one who has chosen this circumstance, this time and location, to organise this two-day event, I mean the Hellenic Army General Staff, personified in the face of its Chief, General Gkinis.
…Such choices and events have a further goal than, of course, exciting the spirit during these hard times and re-establishing collective memory in the route of those events; before and above anything else, such events aim at showing that Nations that have a historic tradition, that have a past, a present and a future, cannot simply exist without orientating based on History.
It is often that we hear at various international fora the view that nowadays – with technology galloping, when communications, informatics and the internet have overwhelmed us and control our everyday life – politics cannot be made with History.
We reply: “to a degree, yes”. Naturally, History cannot be our single navigator, yet nothing can be achieved without it. Full knowledge of historic facts our Nation has experienced are an essential condition for us to form our present and future. It is what the call in mathematics: a necessary condition. Without this knowledge, we cannot go forward.
This year is the 100th anniversary since the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913.
If one would go back to the years that have preceded the beginning of this bright and victorious course of our Nation and its Armed Forces, he would see that before the triumphs and the glory of the years 1912-13, we had the defeat of 1897 and the bankruptcy of that period.
Back then, it only took few years for our Nation to find its self-confidence, reconstruct and, with its capable political and military leadership, move forward and succeed – by making moves still admired by all the politicians, military men and academic observers – in doubling, within a very short period, our country’s territory and sovereignty.
Greece, the borderline of which, before the beginning of the Balkan Wars, were at Melouna in Thessaly, doubled its territorial territory and sovereignty. Macedonia was liberated, the city of Thessaloniki was liberated, the basic part of the country’s National body was reformed, so that within a course of decades, it would be completed with more, mainly insular, parts. Greece found its feet and moved forward.
Nonetheless, few years had passed from the dishonourable defeat and bankruptcy of 1897 until the victorious and glorious course of the years 1912-13.
Through this retrospect of historic events and re-examination of the role the historic, political and military personalities of that era had, we are called to seek out for a correlation but, essentially, for lessons with regard to the course of present and future times.
…Therefore, let’s go back to these lessons, these conclusions, and draw wisdom, lessons, endurance and inspiration, feeling sure that in this way Greece will find its feet again and go forward…
…Addressing the personnel in the Armed Forces, I would like to underline that the Hellenic people, notwithstanding their political preferences, recognise your sacrifice, the contribution you traditionally make to the country, the fact that -once more- you assume a historic, great burden, and admire the determination and spirit that lead you, as you perform your duty, every day”.
