“We celebrated a few years ago, under adverse conditions, due to the pandemic, 200 years after the outbreak of the revolution. We celebrated them by impressive and re -established our beginnings, we have re -touched how difficult, how immensely difficult for freedom to Greece, so that by understanding this difficulty the incomparable, especially our generations who did not live in war, And this debt is a debt of gratitude, prosperity, prosperity and protection of the domination of Greece that they have given us. “
With these words, the President of the Republic, Konstantinos Tasoulas, began his disagreement to the Mayor of Messolonghi, Spyros Diamantopoulos, during the official lunch quoted by the mayor for the 199th anniversary of the exit of the free besieged and continued:
“In the years to come, but also with lows, with disasters, but also with triumphs, because we have to do both our self -criticism and self -esteem, we have reached here. A country within the largest international organizations, which creates the myth of its life daily and we are called upon to be at the same time people of the times and people of history. It would be preferable to always be people of the times, that is, people of managing our daily lives, but there are times when we have to turn to people in history as the free besieged. What were the free besieged. They were people of the times who perceived their debt and brotherly, with no stubbornness and envy, in an unbroken bundle of unity, decided to exit and won more than victory. They conquered the eternal glory and the revolution again took over it and again climbed Philhellenism and the Great Powers again thought that the extension of the Greek revolution against the Ottoman Empire also affects their interests and that it must expire. And he began slowly from the exit, from the three gates of glorious hell, to enter Greece. From the same gates, at the same time, freedom in our country began to slowly enter. And after the independence of the 1930s we were constantly growing up and we arrived to this day. “
At the same time, the President of the Republic emphasized that “we remember the difficult times that come to these people of the times, who have become people of history” and added: “We can today, which the international horizon is all -in -law, is curious, an international horizon, who is in the light of us. However, the international horizon must be tackled with our own recipe, with the recipe for coldness, our alliances, with the recipe that Greece has always succeeded since the beginning of the revolution, in times of rearrangement as now, to make the right choice of history. “
Also, Konstantinos Tasoulas noted that “we must follow the example of the free besieged when needed and never hesitate to turn ourselves into this wonderful example.”
Earlier, Mr. Tasoulas, after the doxology at the Church of St. Spyridon, watched the parade and laid a wreath in the garden of heroes. We then awarded the prizes to the winners of the 77th “Road to Sacrifice” and made the following statement:
“Today, here in the Holy City of Messolonghi, people and principles, with modesty and determination in relation to this memory, we honored self -sacrifice and self -denial. We honored immense self -sacrifice and unmistakable self -denial. A people who concentrated with his behavior at night to the Sunday of 1826 “Freedom or Death”, preferring “freedom” to death. “Lucky bird gets pimp and the mother is jealous.” This was the situation in Mesolongi before the exit. Before leaving the three gates that did not lead the free besieged to victory. They led them to something more important. They led them to glory. And this glory has given new impetus and impulse to the revolution, which had begun to bend in 1824, due to the two civil wars.
It gave new impetus and a new impulse to the Pan -European Revolution. Philhellenism was significantly rekindled. And the foreign great powers, seeing the barbarism of the Ottoman Empire over a Christian people, the Great Powers, counting their interests, which were destroyed by the extension, the heroic extension of the struggle, began to slowly confront them.
The Protocol of Petersburg came in 1826, came the London Protocol in 1827, shortly before Navarino, came Navarino, which destroyed the Ottoman fleet. And all this was influenced by both the glory and the sacrifice of Messolonghi. Kapodistrias then came, Central Greece was occupied, things began to turn around and we arrived in the early 1830s, when Greece was officially recognized, internationally, with first borders, I reiterate first borders, to imagine, the estuary of Sperchios and Acheloos. And we used these mouths of Sperchios and Acheloos as a springboard to lift a head in the years to come and reach as much.
Mesolongi was therefore a momentum and a breath for the revolution. But it is also an inspiration for all of us. How does Palamas say Mesolongi? It says it “joy of history”. And it says it “timeless remembrance”.
Entering the heroes park here, you understand what timeless remembrance means. You understand that time disappears. And what happened 199 years ago is like it happened yesterday. And this timeless remembrance, and this joy of justified history today, inspires us. Because we know how we started. We know where we owe.
We owe to the free besieged. Our freedom, our prosperity, our aspirations and our ambitions. And we owe them something else. Even bigger. That if needed, as they are, if our house and our honor is in danger, we will protect them unyielding. This relentless decision, to protect our honor and house, was symbolized today here, by the presence of not only the people of Messolonghi, but a people from all over Greece. And this honor to their memory, it symbolized the wreath I had the supreme honor of depositing in the name of the Greek people, in memory of the free besieged. “
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