The Deputy Minister of National Defence, Thanasis Davakis, attended yesterday, Thursday 17 July 2025, the celebration of the 113th anniversary of the liberation of Ikaria from the Ottoman Yoke, as representative of the President of the Government, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Other attendees were the Metropolitan Bishop of Samos, Ikaria and Korseoi, Mr Efsevios, the Samos MP, professor Christodoulos Stefanadis, as representative of the Hellenic Parliament, the Chios MP, Stavros Michailidis, as representative of PASOK-KINAL, the Heraklion MP, Charalambos Mamoulakis, as representative of SYRIZA-P.S., the Commanding General of the Higher Military Command of Interior and Islands Lieutenant General Emmanouil Theodorou, as representative of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Dimitrios Choupis, the North Aegean Head of Region, Dimitrios Moutzouris, the Mayor of Ikaria, Fanourios Karoutsos, the Brigadier General (Pilot) Grigorios Dimos, as representative of the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff Lieutenant General (Pilot) Dimosthenis Grigoriadis and the Prefect of Ikaria, Konstantinos Markakis.
Mr Davakis, during his address, mentioned, among other things:
“The liberation of Ikaria is not just a deed of military readiness or patriotic enthusiasm. It was a model of political self-awareness.
Today is not just an anniversary. It is an order of historical alertness, it is a reminder of our debt to keep the flame of that deed alive. Because, what was then built with self-sacrifice and solidarity, cannot be surrendered to oblivion, indifference or – even worse – deconstruction.
Let us learn from our ancestors. Let us prove ourselves worthy of the brave people of Ikaria of 1912. Let us make the paradigm of Ikaria, a beacon of hope, dignity and prosperity for the future.
Because Freedom is not given freely. It is conquered. And Ikaria proved that in the most staggering way”.
After the end of the ceremony, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, visited the Ikaria Island Defence Command and the “MACHITIS” Gunboat, where he met and talked with the personnel.
