Mr. Speaker, today Greeks around the world are celebrating the famous “no”, oxi, which refers to the response given by the prime minister of Greece, Ioannis Metaxas, on October 28, 1940, to an ultimatum given by the Axis forces to allow them to enter Greece in order to occupy strategic locations within the country.
Metaxas rejected the ultimatum with the words “Then it is war”, which led the Axis forces to attack Greece. They expected Greece to fall quickly, but the Greek resistance drove the Italian forces back in less than a month and forced Hitler to change his plans and delay his invasion of Russia by at least two months.
According to Sir Winston Churchill, “If there had not been the virtue and courage of the Greeks, we do not know which the outcome of World War II would have been.” Today we honour the Greek heroes who fought with courage to defend our values.
[Member spoke in Greek]