The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos, accompanied by the Chief of HNDGS Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis HN and the Chief of HNGS Vice Admiral Georgios Giakoumakis HN, threw a wreath into the sea around Imia islets where three Greek Hellenic Navy officers were killed in 1996.

Afterwards, accompanied by the Military Leadership of the Ministry of National Defence, he attended the memorial service in memory of the fallen of the Naval Air Force which took place at the Naval Helicopter Command at Kotroni-Marathon.

The Minister of National Defence said, among other things, in his speech the following:

“It is a great honour for me to be with you at this memorial service. It is a day of great emotion for all those who are here to honour with us the heroes of Imia who never came back. To attribute the praise due and the respect due to those who fell at duty, at the line of duty.

With the Chief of HNDGS Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis HN and the Chief of HNGS Vice Admiral Georgios Giakoumakis HN, we just came from Imia, where we rendered tribute and laid wreath to the area where our heroes gave their life.

The Hellenic Navy’s glorious history, the beginning of which is lost in time, is written with blood and its celebrated dead, who lay in the watery grave, make our seas sacred, with all the consequences concerning their protection and safeguarding.

I will not speak of the historical incident, yet my dear friends I feel the need to express some thoughts on its significance. First of all, I would like to say that we are the ones who need such ceremonies more than anyone, so as to realise the extent of their sacrifice, to really comprehend what we owe to whom and which are our obligations to this country.

The night of the Imia incident and the sacrifice of the Hellenic Navy Officers are forever engraved on all Greeks’ memory. Three young men gave their life, simply doing their duty, leaving their fathers, mothers, wives and children behind.

They did their duty to the country. Those glorious men, with the brave and consistent life stance remind us of our own mission and duty, and define us. They remind us that we are here for our country, for the Greek people, for our system of values and traditions. They are the things that should be safeguarded. They remind us that the waters that certain people want to colour gray will always stay blue. They remind us that when the wind had to blow to strike the Greek flag, Panaghiotis Vlahakos, Christodoulos Karathanassis and Ektoras Gialopsos stayed behind and made their body the mast that would keep it flying high, thus marking our national conscience.

Some might try to question our sovereign rights to the Aegean. I want to underline that, from this position of national memory, such plans shall not pass. Even today, when we laid the wreath to the memory of those heroes, at 26 thousand feet and south of Imia, Turkish aircraft violated our national airspace and were intercepted by our Air Force.

We shall cede not one span of Greek land, air, seas, sovereign rights, honour or pride. We are here to rediscover our orientation. We should focus on concepts such as country, duty and national interest. Our strategic choice is to protect national sovereignty and our sovereign rights.

We all want dialogue and peace, yet no discussion can be made with retreats and contestations to our national issues and the goals set by political responsibility for our country’s defence. We have the sacred obligation to do this, for the martyrs who have shed their blood throughout this land, air and water. Also, because we do not have the right to disdain the Greeks’ love and anxiety for the fate of all those we have fought for.

I believe that you have all realised the priority we give to the recognition and tribute rendered to our heroes, during the time I have been Head of the Ministry of National Defence. From our side, the respective planning has been made so that we will do our duty against the heroes who have fallen ‘pro aris et focis’.

The recent homage paid to the families of the fallen heroes and the Captain of patrol boat “FAETHON”, Captain Dimitrios Mitsatsos, the homecoming of the relics of the six heroes of the Hellenic Force of Cyprus, are a part of our effort.

Thank you very much”.