The Minister of National Defence, Mr. Nikos Dendias, attended this Friday, 26th April 2024, representing the Government, the events in “Honor and Memory of the Fallen during the Gallipoli Campaign” that were organized in Limnos by the North Aegean Region in cooperation with the Municipality of Limnos, accompanied by the Chief HNDGS General Dimitrios Choupis and the Chief HAGS Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis.
The Minister of National Defence attended the memorial service at the Moudros Commonwealth Cemetery during the commemoration events and laid a wreath.
The Member of the Parliament for Lesvos with New Democracy party Charalampos Athanasiou – representing the Hellenic Parliament, the Member of the Parliament for Lesvos with PASOK – Movement for Change Panagiotis Paraskevaidis, the Lieutenant General (ret.) of the Hellenic Police Zacharoula Tsirigoti, representing SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance, the Provincial Governor of Limnos and Agios Efstratios Apostolos Koutsogiannis, representing the District Governor of Northern Aegean, the Mayor of Limnos Eleonora Georga, his Eminence the Metropolitan Ierotheos III of Limnos and Agios Efstratios, the Ambassador of Australia in Greece Alison Duncan, the Honorary Consul of New Zealand in Greece Ioanna Gkouvatsou, the Mayor of Agios Efstratios Konstantinos Sinanis, representatives from the Security Forces, the Regional and Local Administration, as well as from local authorities and associations, also attended the events.
Mr. Dendias in his address stated the following:
“Your Eminence, dear colleague – representative of the Hellenic Parliament Mr. Athanasiou, dear colleague from PASOK Mr. Paraskevaidis, General, dear representative of SYRIZA Ms. Tsirigoti, Ms. Mayor, Your Excellency the Ambassador of Australia in Greece, Mr. Deputy Regional Governor, Ms. Honorable Consul of New Zealand in Greece, Chief HNDGS, Chief HAGS, Ladies and Gentlemen, Regional Counselors, Deputy Mayors, representatives from the Local Administration, distinguished guests, it is a great pleasure and honor to be here today at the ceremony in memory of the fallen during the Gallipoli Campaign, one of the most decisive battles during World War I.
On April 25th, allied troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula after a naval operation of mainly British and some French ships in the Dardanelles strait that was marked by failure, caused by the hesitancy of the British fleet to suffer and accept the sacrifice of ships. Therefore, it was actually an attempt to open a line of communication to Russia. This was Winston Churchill’s genius plan to break through the straits and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war.
The Gallipoli Campaign failed to achieve its strategic goals; however, it left an indelible mark as a monument to human bravery and effort, and forged bonds of blood between Greece, particularly in Limnos and its hospitable people, and soldiers from India, Australia and New Zealand who landed here.
Allow me to say that this monument, which we are honoring today, proclaims the significance of a different perspective of human life that was common among many young people; people who believed that fellowship and joint effort outweighs selfhood, and that the survival instinct constitutes a wider social and national, rather than an individual characteristic.
Accordingly, out presence here today is an attempt to retain this event in Collective Memory, mainly through “Lemnos Remembrance Trail”, as has already been noted by the Mayor, as a show of respect towards and recognition of those who regardless of their nationality have sacrificed themselves for the wider ideals of the humankind.
I should like to quote the exceptional ode for the fallen by the English poet Laurence Binyon:
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn”.
Thank you very much.”
