Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-03-25

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] FiMin to brief President on Eurogroup decision, developments in Cyprus

[02] PM: The Greeks can accomplish everything if they remain united

[03] President: Decision on Cyprus 'not permissible because it is selective'

[04] Party messages on Independence Day anniversary focus on economic crisis, hardships faced by Greece, Cyprus

[05] Greek Independence Day anniversary celebrated throughout Greece

[01] FiMin to brief President on Eurogroup decision, developments in Cyprus

[02] PM: The Greeks can accomplish everything if they remain united

Samaras called the anniversary a "day of historic memory, in days of national tribulation, for all of Hellenism and today, especially, for Cyprus".

However, he added, "it suffices for us to look back at our entire contemporary history to realise how many tribulations we have gone through, always in a painful way, but always with success"

"And we always emerged stronger as a nation, better as a society, and prouder for what we are, more certain of what we can achieve. Provided that we remain united and standing," Samaras continued.

"The Greeks can accomplish everything if they remain united and standing," the prime minister concluded.

[03] President: Decision on Cyprus 'not permissible because it is selective'

"Today is a great day, it is a day of memory and honor, honor to those who rose up with passion of soul and the passion for freedom as their only weapon, and who gave us a free country and faced up to an Ottoman empire," Papoulias said.

"Their example is also a contemporary example for today's difficult moments as well," the President said, and expressed hope that "the message of this day will reach all the major capitals, and especially Berlin".

Noting that "our thoughts at this time are with sorely-tried Cyprus, Papoulias said: "The European Union's decision is "not permissible because it is selective. The EU should not select its victims as it thinks it should, because this creates a chasm with the dreams of the European peoples that the European Union can be a shelter for all the weak."

Parliament present Evangelos Meimarakis said that "today is a day of memory, of circumspection, of though on how to face the future".

"We showed that we are prepared, and if required we will respond with the same patriotism, the same force. Our thoughts are with Cyprus, with the Greeks everywhere in the world. We send to them the message that Greece will try, and will succeed, to stand tall once again, that it will once again live moments of glory," Meimarakis said, and congratulated the Armed Forces and Security Forces on the impeccable parade.

National Defence Minister Panos Panagiotopoulos said that the message of the present day is exceptionally timely: "The lessons of history but also the great effort Hellenism is making today show that we can succeed again. And we will succeed Provided that we remain united, we will maintain our national and social cohesion and will combine daring with prudence, a high and strong morale with good sense."

[04] Party messages on Independence Day anniversary focus on economic crisis, hardships faced by Greece, Cyprus

"Today, the March 25 anniversary takes on a special meaning," main opposition SYRIZA said in its message. It charged that the three-party coalition government, in harmony with the Troika, irresolute, voiceless and catastrophic, projects the Memorandum policy as the one-way street for society and the country".

Their aim is to destroy whatever is left of the social state and the conquests of a century, SYRIZA said, warning that the labor rights, social security, public education, state property, health, the environment, and even democracy itself, are being sacrificed for the profitability of the big capital, for the creditors, for the select few.

"Today, more than ever, the immediate activation of all the working people, the unemployed, the youth is necessary in a large, collective and unifying struggle not only in Greece but in all of Europe. Today, particularly, the Greek people are at the side of the Cypriot people, knowing that the goal is a common one: to change the correlations, reverse the catastrophic policies of neo-liberalism and austerity. History shows that there are no one-way streets, that the only lost struggles are those that are not waged. The struggle for freedom, democracy and dignity is always timely," SYRIZA said.

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos said that "our national independence is being tried amid exceptionally difficult European and international correlations", adding that the Greek people are undergoing "immense sacrifices in order to avert the worst, which we unfortunately see is threatening Cyprus".

He warned that "blind, conservative ideological choices and economic ethnicism are prevailing, which in reality halt and disdain the idea of European integration".

"This year, the March 25 anniversary finds Hellenism in the vortex of the economic, but also international-political crisis of Cyprus," Venizelos said,

In these conditions, he continued, "genuine patriotism is that which actively offers the maximum possible dignity, security and prospect, without big words, irresponsible demagogy and fleeting but dangerous delusions".

"The anniversary of the national rebirth imposes that we remember that 'national' is the 'true', and that the most crucial factor of our national strength is our unity," concluded Venizelos, leader of the larger of the two junior partners in the three-party coalition government.

The March 25 anniversary is a day of memory, indelibly recorded in the conscience of the Greek people. It symbolises the start of the heroic struggles for liberation, independence and the creation of the Greek state, the leader of the second coalition government junior partner Democratic Left (DIMAR), Fotis Kouvelis, said in his message.

"In the present difficult conditions Hellenism, in its entirety, is going through, the struggle concerns dealing with the dangers of the economic crisis with emphasis on protecting the weaker social strata, the country's incorporation into an internationalised economic and political environment and its participation in a course towards European integration. A course of political, economic and monetary unification which, in order to be sustainable, must consolidate the participation of all the member states, solidarity among the partners and the democratic participation of the peoples," Kouvelis said.

"Everything that has occurred these last three years in Greece but also everything that has taken place in recent days in Cyprus convince even the most unbelieving that the future of our children and our family tranquility and happiness are at risk," Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos said in his message.

"With faith in the ages-old values of Hellenism, and generating lessons, experience and courage from the epic struggle for independence, the anniversary of which we honor today, I call on Hellenism to a united struggle for Greece to remain a sovereign and independent country and not be turned into a protectorate of the German Europe," he said.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE), in its own message, said that the message of the 1821 Revolution is that "history is written with insubordination and disobedience to the laws and legality of the old orders, which do not leave on their own from the forefront of history but must be ousted by the revolutionary struggle of the people".

"In the history of the human societies, revolutions were always the vehicle for society to move forward," the KKE said, adding that "the people must believe, today too, to the justness and strength of their struggle, reject the blackmail by the parties of and the European Union".

"With organisation and alliance, the people must impose their own interests and their own power, disengage the country from the EU and the other imperialistic organisations, and turn the monopolies into their own property in order for them and their children to have a better life," the KKE concluded.

"In 1821 the Greeks, totally on their own, almost unarmed and condemned by the foreign forces, toppled an empire. Proof and lesson for us all, the Greeks of today -- who cannot compare to the giants of that beautiful and harsh era -- that nothing is gained without sacrifices, and freedom is not won without blood," the ultra-right Chryssi Avghi (Golden Dawn) said in its message.

It added that "Alamana, Maniaki, Messolonghi, are the brightest landmarks of resistance, the beacons that show the way and remind us of the Greeks' historic duty. Dervenakia, Tripolits and Valtetsi are the eternal examples of how tough we must deal with those who have designs against the freedom and integrity of our country".

[05] Greek Independence Day anniversary celebrated throughout Greece

The celebration began with a Te Deum presided by Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, followed by the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside parliament by President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias just before the parade began.

The parade, held under stringent security measures, was inspected by Papoulias, while representatives of the government and the political parties attended similar celebrations throughout the country.

Independence Day celebrations were also observed by Greek communities abroad.

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