The Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias attended today, Monday 10 March 2025, the event for the International Women’s Day, hosted by the Hellenic National Defence General Staff at the “Major (Pilot) Dimitrios Kamberos” hall.
Other attendees to the event were the Deputy Minister of National Defence Giannis Kefalogiannis, the Chief of HNDGS General Dimitrios Choupis, the Deputy Chief of HAGS as representative of the Chief of HAGS, the Chief of HNGS Vice Admiral Dimitrios-Eleftherios Kataras HN and the Chief of HAFGS Lieutenant General (Pilot) Dimosthenis Grigoriadis, women officers and NCOs of the Armed Forces, as well as delegations of female students of the Armed Forces military academies.
The event was honoured by the presence of the esteemed actress Katia Dandoulaki and the Taekwondo paralympic medallist Elena Papastamatopoulou, who talked about the role of the woman in art and sports correspondingly.
In the framework of the event, the Minister of National Defence, the Deputy Minister of National Defence and the Chief of HNDGS awarded women Officers, NCOs and Female Students of the military academies.
The Minister of National Defence stressed the following, in his address:
“Ladies and gentlemen,
We are here today to honour the International Women’s Day. As the Chief of HNDGS characteristically said earlier, the pillar, the spearhead of the foundation of the Greek society, of the Greek family.
I always say that without the Greek family, the way it functions, its inner bonds, the country would not have surpassed the ten-year crisis of 2010-2019. We would not have survived. We lost 30% of our Gross National Product. This percentage is usually the result of war. We survived because the Greek family supported its members. Moreover, the mother is always at the centre of the family. She holds the family together.
Women fight daily, claiming equal treatment in every sector of their lives, social, professional. They claim the same in our Homeland’s Armed Forces. A particularly challenging work environment, as I have to acknowledge, in which, however, they distinguish themselves and in which we have an enviable participation percentage. You said it earlier Madame colleague – I am referring to the legal capacity – 17,5% percentage. It is enviable. This does not mean that we cannot go even higher. However, if we look at what other countries have achieved, perhaps much more advanced than us, then we can feel satisfied. We will do better so we can be proud.
However, apart from honouring the women who distinguish themselves professionally in our Armed Forces, bearing rank, as NCOs, as Officers, we do not forget, I am opening a parenthesis, our civilian personnel.
I wish to tell you something that for me constitutes one of the absolute goals of my presence in this Ministry. I am referring to the “2030 Agenda”, an overall approach in the reformation of our Homeland’s Armed Forces, which, however, partly contains the voluntary enlistment of women. Something which has been stipulated before, in Law 705/1977, but has never been implemented up until now.
In addition, I have to say that I am looking forward to that because it will give us access to a major human capital, not just numerically, not solely to cover the huge index that separates us in terms of population from the country which threatens us, but also in terms of quality. It will give us access to a bright piece of the current Greek reality.
Besides that, I would like to say that it also assists in another aspect. We, here in Greece, since antiquity, since the far reaches of our past, do not believe in the missionary army.
We believe in the army of civilians, commanded worthily by professional members coming also from society. The formation of the Athenian Phalanx, the shield of one hoplite covering the other. The civilian defends the Homeland, defends Democracy.
Besides that, I would like to address the ladies attending today’s ceremony. To warmly thank them. Thank you for standing by our side, as colleagues, as mothers, as protagonists of our lives. I am looking forward to continuing our work together, for a world where dignity and respect will be the founding principles. I wish you eternal love and happiness.
Thank you very much”.