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Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-03-25Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Greek Independence Day celebrated throughout Greece, abroadÔÝëïòöüñìáòÁñ÷ÞöüñìáòGreek Independence Day was celebrated Sunday with parades and memorial services throughout the country, as events marking the 186th anniversary of the March 25, 1821 commencement of the Greek revolution against Ottoman rule was also celebrated by ethnic Greek communities in many countries around the world.President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias officiated at a traditional military Independence Day parade in central Athens, the main event of the celebrations, which was also attended by representatives of the country's political, state, military and religious leadership. A pupilsâ parade took place on Saturday in central Athens. The military parade in Athens was preceded by a service at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral and a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the president laid a wreath. "Today, we celebrate the most glorious page of our history. A people virtually unarmed, but with a passion for freedom, a passion for national independence, rose up against the Ottoman empire. Despite the adverse will of a then reactionary Europe, this people fought and won, and today we live in freedom," Papoulias said. The President added that "the historic messages bequeathed to us by the 1821 freedom fighters are love of country, passion for freedom and the passion, and if required, sacrifices in order to preserve our national independence". "We all bow our heads devoutly before this heroism, the unique human heroism manifested by those fighters," Papoulias said. National Defence Minister Evangelos Meimarakis, representing the government, congratulated the chiefs of the armed forces. "I believe that this day is a day of memory and circumspection," Meimarakis said, adding that "it also offers the opportunity for drawing many conclusions on how we can carry on". "Investment in the armed forces is an investment in peace, an investment in the individual because, when there is security, than indeed investments can be made to open up jobs. And this is precisely why the armed forces are forces of peace and prevention, which wish to make every Greek and every visitor to our country feel safe," the defence minister added. Parliament vice-president Ioannis Trigakis said that Greece's "conscripted youth filled us with pride today". He also noted the overwhelming turnout of people in downtown Athens for the parade. "We fell that the credibility and readiness of the armed forces paraded before us today, and thus tomorrow we will feel greater certainty," he added. PASOK leader on Aghios Efstratios Main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou, who attended a parade on the northern Aegean islet of Aghios Efstratios, which recently came under scrutiny after the Turkish military pleaded with NATO to declare the territory as ?demilitarised?, said the isle "does not require certification ? no one can dispute our sovereign rights". He also praised local residents for their patriotism, adding that they gave a lesson of life by staying on the outlying island, "which makes us proud". "The goal is a strong and free Greece and a just society, and that is the volition of the island's citizens," he said. Earlier, Papandreou attended a memorial service at the islandâs main cathedral. He also laid a wreath at a monument to World War I and World War II war dead. After the parade, the PASOK leader visited the museum of the exiled and the Marasleios Academy. Returning to the nearby larger island of Limnos, Papandreou paid tribute to the memory of 1st Lt. Nikos Sialmas, who fell in the line of duty in 1992 during a midair collision between Greek and Turkish jetfighters while intercepting the Turkish warplane. Thessaloniki, Kavala, Crete A military parade was held along the coastal Megalou Alexandrou Boulevard in downtown Thessaloniki with Deputy Development Minister Yannis Papathanassiou representing the government and PASOK parliamentary spokesman Haris Kastanidis representing the main opposition party. The parade was also attended by a number of MPs, Thessaloniki prefect Panayotis Psomiadis, Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos and representatives of the city's military and religious authorities. Macedonia-Thrace minister George Kalantzis attended the traditional pupils' and military parade in Kavala, after which he congratulated the parading pupils and students and the armed forces leadership. He stressed the need for all Greeks to remain devoted to the principles and values of our ancestors for national unity and national dignity. A Te Deum service was held earlier at the Aghia (St.) Sophia church, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the war memorial at the 3rd Army Corps headquarters. In Hania, Crete, a military parade also included coastguard units, pupils, students, volunteers, boy scouts and girl scouts, folklore organisations and a vintage car club, with Employment Minister Savvas Tsitouridis representing the government. The parade was preceded by a Church service and a wreath-laying ceremony at the city's war memorial. Similar events were held in other cities throughout Crete. SAE President in Alexandria The March 25th anniversary was celebrated with pomp and spectacle in Alexandria, Egypt, attended by the new president of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) Stefanos Tamvakis. Tamvakos also attended a memorial service officiated by Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa. The event was also attended by representatives of the Greek state and government, including vice-chairman of the Greek parliament's inter-party committee on overseas Greeks. Other overseas celebrations Ruling New Democracy (ND) deputy Dimitris Christofiloyannis and PASOK deputy Apostolos Fotiadis represented Greece at the Greek Independence Day parade in Melbourne, while deputy culture minister for sport George Orfanos, currently on a US visit, served as the grand Marshall of the Greek Independence Day parade in Chicago. An annual Greek Independence Day parade will also be held along Fifth Avenue in New York. White House Meanwhile in Washington, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis attended a special event at the White House marking Greek Impendence Day, during which US President George W. Bush officially proclaimed March 25, 2007 as "Greek Independence Day: National Day of Celebration of Greek and American Democracy". President Bush and Archbishop Demetrios of America addressed the White House event. Caption: Greek army special forces parade in Athens on Sunday, March 25, 2007. ANA-MPA / P. Saitas. [02] Papandreou on Treaty of Rome anniversary"The European Union is the natural strategic space for Greece and its people," main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou said Sunday, in a message on the 50th anniversary of the signature of the European Union's founding Treaty of Rome, adding that the EU's course and future "concerns us all, political forces and citizens alike". The completion of 50 years since the historic initiative for European unification finds the EU at a critical period for its future, Papandreou's message said, adding that the adoption on Sunday of the high-profile Declaration of Berlin "cannot hide the serious institutional and strategic orientation problems of the European Union". Throughout the historic course of development of the common European vision, significant conquests for Europe and its peoples have been recorded, Papandreou said. For Greece and its people, the message continued, the country's accession and its 26-year course in the European institutions contributed decisively to the creation of a modern democratic European Greece, an equal member and participant in the decisions and operation of the European Union. The EU constituted the natural strategic space for Greece and its people, and the EU's course and future concerned all, both political forces and citizens alike. "At a time of crisis and seeking of the new institutional and political model for the European Union, which will enable the confrontation of the modern-day problems and challenges of globalisation, Greece must be dynamically present with its proposals and initiatives," Papandreou stressed. In this common space of tough daily negotiations, where nothing is given away and everything must be earned through plans, knowledge and consistency, the (preceding) governments of PASOK wages battles for many years and achieved significant results for Greece's economic and social progress, he continued. Today, Papandreou's message said, it becomes apparent that the European Union needs a new political vision and plan that will inspire and mobilise its citizens. In the face of this strategic challenge, Papandreou continued, Greece needs its own new political vision and plan. PASOK, he added, as a European socialist and democratic party, with a deep European experience in government, can guarantee and defend its programme, a Greece of development, progress, social cohesion and self-confidence in the European Union.[03] Moderate quake jolts CephaloniaA moderate earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richer scale jolted the island of Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea on Sunday afternoon, causing concern among residents but no damages or injuries.According to a Patras University seismology professor, the epicentre of the earthquake, which was recorded at 5 p.m., was in the sea region northwest of Cephalonia, with an epicentral depth of approximately 35 kilometres. Researchers said the earthquake's epicentre was not the same one as that produced the devastating earthquakes of 1953. According to initial information from the local Fire Brigade, no damages have been reported from the earthquake in Cephalonia, or on the neighbouring islands of Lefkada and Zakynthos, apart from some rockfall at points along the Cephalonia provincial road network. Caption: A file photo showing the town of Lixouri on the Ionian island of Cephalonia. ANA-MPA Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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