The Minister of National Defense, Panos Kamenos, the Minister of Defense of Cyprus, Christoforos Fokaidis, the Chief of the National Defense General Staff, Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis (Navy) and the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, Lt general Vassilios Tellidis, attended the event on the honorary promotion of Grigoris Afxentiou to Lieutenant General, held in Akritas village, Kilkis.
The Minister of Defense addressed the following:
“It is a great honor for us to be here today, in Akritas village, Kilkis, where the history of the Greeks of Pontus, Macedonia and Cyprus coincides with the promotion ceremony of hero Grigoris Afxentiou to Lieutenant General, the so-called “Eagle of Mahairas” .
It is the least homage paid by mother Greece to that man and his fellow combatants, who sacrificed themselves, defending the land that bore and bred them, through the history, the battles, the principles and ideals of our nation.
We took a trip down to memory lane, listening to the achievements of his historic action, here, in the place of his military service, where recently the Museum – Outpost “Grigoris Afxentiou” was inaugurated, by the dear friend, the Minister of Defense of Cyprus and the Mayors of Kilkis and Lysis, Cyprus.
Allow us to add at this point that the epic of the battle of Mahairas was the result of the valour and pride of a Greek hero. His famous words on this battlefield were: “ Until now you learnt how Greeks fight, today you will learn how they die”.
This immortal Greek marked with his sacrifice Cyprus’ freedom, passing on to immortality and the everlasting recollection of history.
We bow to the courage and sacrifice of the combatant who defied death.
This event honors not only Lieutenant General Grigoris Afxentiou, but also all those who stood tall and fought hard in the battle to defend the high ideals of freedom and national independence of our beloved Cyprus.
Today, the Greek-Cypriots continue to suffer from the gross violation of basic human rights and deprivation of fundamental liberties. Cyprus is under occupation. Greece always stands firm by the side of Cyprus, as a strong supporter. Let us not forget that it is one nation, the history and conscience are common.
Our firm goal remains the termination of the Turkish occupation, the island’s reunification and the abolition of the 1960 obsolete guarantees, in the framework of a mutually acceptable, just, complete and permanent solution of the Cyprus issue. Our goal is the freedom of Cyprus.
I would like though, from here, from the heart of Macedonia, to stress, once again, to all parties concerned, , that Macedonia is only one and it is a Greek territory, because it is saturated with blood in the thousands of years of our History and no one has the right to dispute this.
As a Minister of National Defense, I would like to point out that this was the message of the Armed Forces’ and the students’ parade in Thessaloniki, making everyone loyal and optimistic regarding the future of our nation.
Finally, I would like to stress that our debt is to always remember and honor Lieutenant General Grigoris Afxentiou, who chose to fight “ until death” for the freedom of Cyprus and who is a part of the tradition that wants Greece to always and everywhere be omnipotent.
To this hero are devoted the following famous words of the oath of the ancient Athenian hoplites: “ I will not dishonor my sacred arms…my native land I will not leave a diminished heritage”.
Thank you”
