The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos, accompanied by the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, Lieutenant General Alkiviadis Stefanis, the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff, Lieutenant General Christos Christodoulou and Special Secretary of the Ministry of National Defence, Kalliopi Papaleonida, attended the ceremony for the celebration of Saint George, the Patron Saint of the Army, held in Halkis Infantry School.

The Minister of National Defence,  stated the following in his address:

 “We are all here today, military leaders and Parliament Parties, in order to honour the Infantry School, celebrating its Patron Saint, Saint George.

The Infantry constitutes the avant-guard of the Hellenic Armed Forces and this School has preserved the traditions and professionalism, generating heroes.

I especially would like to thank the people of Evia, of Halkis, the retired officers and reservists, who are here today, in this celebration, because the only thing the Armed Forces need is people’s love.

The Greek people stand by the side of the Armed Forces in these moments, since an officer and a non- commissioned officer are held hostage in a Turkish maximum security prison. As the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff stated in his order of the day, our thoughts are with them and to all personnel as well, who constitute our main weapon system.

No matter the billions of euros we spend on new means, they will have no use without the high professionalism and morale of the Armed Forces, the soul of the Greek soldier, the officer, the non- commissioned officer.

With these great qualities of the Greek people, they cannot be threatened.  We desire peace, we work for peace and we will do anything to preserve  peace, but no one should dare question, not even slightly, not an inch of our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Best wishes to all’’.