Dendias to diaspora: Let's gather all the forces of Hellenism

April 15, 2024
Written by E.Tsiliopoulos

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Dendias to diaspora: Let's gather all the forces of Hellenism

The need "to change, to adapt, to reform, to develop", as "our country is at a very important crossroads, we are living in very difficult times", pointed out the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Dendias, in his greeting at an event in his honor, organized by the Consulate General of Greece in Boston, on the occasion of his visit to the USA - as a guest of the celebrations for the national anniversary of March 25, 1821 - connecting his presence with "the enormous reform that is taking place in the Armed Forces Strengths with the universities of Boston.'

“There is much to be gained and achieved from this connection. We are implementing what the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, described as the biggest reform of the Greek Armed Forces in the history of modern Greece. And to do that we need new ideas and we need help. Help from the Greeks and Greek-Americans, who have succeeded and can transmit back to their homeland part of their success", said Mr. Dendias.

“And I would again like to plead that you repatriate a piece of your success to Greece. It is a time when we need it. We believed, perhaps, a few years ago that the planet will live in peace, but this is not happening. On the contrary, we have returned to a very dangerous time. We need, therefore, to gather all the forces of Hellenism", he commented further, once again highlighting the achievements of the Greek diaspora, as well as the role of the consul general in Boston, Simeonos Tegou, "who represents our country here, in Boston, USA . It is very important to see your compatriots succeed, it makes us all very proud, it says something about our genetic material, it says something about what we are all together".

The Minister of National Defense remarked that “also, we have another tragic anniversary. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. And we are not willing to forget it. Frankly speaking, we are not even willing to forgive it. We will do our best in the coming years to change the unacceptable occupation of 40% of the Republic of Cyprus".

"And there are people who say to me, 'look, time flies, you can't change what happened in the past.' If I came from a different country I might consider this a strong argument. But, no, we are Greeks. We walk this earth and identify ourselves as Greeks and speak almost the same language for more than 3,000 years. So, for us 50 years or even 100 years is not a long time, we can wait. What we cannot do is lose our faith," he stressed.

The event was attended by, among others, the Metropolitan of Boston, Methodios, expatriates and Greek citizens who teach or study at universities in the State of Massachusetts.

Dendias had to cut short his visit and return to Greece, after the Iranian attack on Israel, to attend a KYSEA (State Counci on Foreign elations and Defense).

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