The Minister of National Defence, Panos Kammenos, in view of the Christmas holidays, visited the units of the Greek Contigent in Cyprus, where he had talks with the cadres and soldiers and wished them a Merry Christmas.
Furthermore, the Minister of National Defence had a meeting with the Minister of Defence of Cyprus, Christoforos Fokaidis.

In his speech addressed to the cadres and soldiers of the Greek Contigent in Cyprus, the Minister of National Defence stated the following:

‘It is an honor to start from the glorious Greek Contigent in Cyprus, with you, who serve in the final frontier of Hellenism and I am especially happy, because you, the conscripts who are  here, are volunteers, meaning that you chose to come here to serve the country.
You are here with your own initiative, to serve in the land that gave birth to heroes. It is a special honor to see here, in the middle of this hall, a table for those missing in action.
In the Greek Contigent in Cyprus, as in all Hellenic Armed Forces, we have heroes, who fell for the country, serving the common ideals that you also continue to serve, under the command of the superior ones, because here in Cyprus serve the best Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers.
I would also like to point out that your Christmas carols you sang are quite significant, because Hellenism is not only the mother land. Hellenism is the straight line starting from the byzantine carols, meaning unforgettable lands, the Black Sea, Constantinople, Imvros, Tenedos, Ismir, Asia Minor, North Epirus and furthermore Thrace, our islands and Cyprus.
The axis of Thrace-Aegean-Cyprus is the axis of Hellenism. Cyprus may be an independent member state of the EU, but it is inhabited by the same Nation, Greeks, who managed to live peacefully with the Turk-Cypriots, until ‘Attilas’, in 1974, decided to proceed with violating every international rule by invasion and occupation, as stated by the Prime Minister the other day before the President of Turkey, by breaching the UN resolutions in a devious way, by killing civilians and occupying half of Cyprus.
The Cyprus issue will have been settled the moment we sing the Christmas carols to Apostle Andreas, when Cyprus will have been liberated and its people reunited.
The Hellenic Contingent in Cyprus has the responsibility to defend the island, along with the National Guard, to safeguard international law and to protect the flags of Greece and Cyprus.
So, allow me to stress that we are very proud of you.
Not only I personally, but also the Government address wishes and the total of the Greek people. We know that you are here and you will be spending Christmas away from your homes, because you chose to do so, realizing your debt towards the homeland.
I would like to thank you for this and I want to assure you that you are in our thoughts. I would also like to tell you that this coming year will be a much better year than the past ones. Our homeland is emerging from the dire financial crisis, which fell upon all Greek families and the Armed Forces.
 Nevertheless, the Armed Forces’ members, even with the injustices at their expense, resisted, kept their high morale and despite the Armed Forces’ reduced budgets, they remain ready.
All aircraft violating the national air space were intercepted. There was immediate response for every boat entering territorial waters. We protected and we will protect every inch of the Greek land, until the last drop of our blood.
Coming out of the crisis, the fact that the Armed Forces have endured has another special meaning, the meaning of the geopolitical upgrade of our homeland. Because through this geopolitical upgrade we managed to find the way out of the crisis, under the subjugation of the creditors.
Yesterday, we were here with the Defence Ministers of Cyprus and Egypt and we signed together a trilateral agreement regarding joint exercises, thus establishing a stability axis, starting from Greece and through Cyprus reaches Egypt.
This axis extends to the north with allied countries, like Bulgaria and Romania and also to the south and east with other countries, like Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, focusing on Greece and Cyprus.
This has to do with the environment that surrounds us, with the Middle East set ablaze and most of North Africa being in the hands of terrorists. This terrorism did not remain only in the regions that some tried to radicalise and  fanaticise leading to bloodshed, but it also expanded to Europe, the USA and Russia.
To fight terrorism, which is a common enemy, the North-Eastern Mediterranean should become a sea, without weapons, drugs, people trafficking and essentially without terrorism funding. In this effort, Greece and the Hellenic Armed Forces will play this exact role of geopolitical stability, pursued by international community.
So, once again, it is asked of Greece to play the most important role in this difficult coincidence. We were always by the side of the good guys in all world wars, in all international situations and this thanks to you, thank to the Armed Forces’ members, because no matter how many weapon systems a country possesses, no matter how much the money is spent to procure modern equipment, the most important weapon system in the Armed Forces is its personnel. It is the only weapon system that only Greece can acquire, having the best personnel, Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and conscripts as well, the Greek people themselves, along with national guards by their side.
So, I would like to thank you, one more time, for everything you do and wish you a Merry Christmas. You convey the message to the Greek people that we have nothing to fear, neither in Greece, nor in the Aegean, Thrace, or Cyprus, or where there is a Greek flag.
 Even if one of us is left, this flag will not be lowered, it will be replaced, only  by a brand new one.
Merry Christmas’.