White House | Prime Minister for the celebration of 25th of March

March 9, 2010

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MR. G. PAPANDREOU:  Mr. President, Your Eminence, distinguished friends,

My first trip to Washington in my capacity as Prime Minister coincides with the celebration in the White House of the anniversary of the independence of Greece.

So let me first of all thank President Obama for inviting me here today in order to participate in this commemorative ceremony.

Together we celebrate the proud heritage of Greek Americans. Together with recognize the longstanding friendship between Greece and the United States. And together we reaffirm our common values and principles, our shared desire for freedom, democracy, peace, stability, human rights and the rule of law around the world.

Mr. President, although democracy was born in my country, we have no nor do we desire to have any patent on it. The concept of democracy has become part of worldwide heritage, part of a common wealth for all of humanity.

We can, and we do, however, feel great pride when democracy flourishes. And your country, and your personal journey, has inspired, given life to the concept of democracy in today’s world.

Your country has also been inspired by our common democratic heritage, as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison and all the other founding fathers of this great nation successfully set up a social and political system of which you and your fellow citizens can be proud.

In the same unfaltering way, the first Greeks who aspired to freedom and liberty at the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1821 had, in their turn, sought and found a noble pattern in the struggle of the American people for their independence. Allow me to pay tribute to those Americans who traveled across the waters to Greece to fight as philhellenes for our struggle for freedom.

Mr. President, I should like to commend in this solemn moment His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, for his commitment to the mission bestowed on him, and his very important work as a spiritual leader of the Greek Americans. He is successfully leading the Greek American community to contribute to the prosperity of this great nation.

During his years of ministration, the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America has succeeded in nurturing the Christian faith to the Greek American community, by preaching words of love and justice.

The Greek American community is a further and lasting link between our two countries. We are proud – and I am part of this community – we are proud of their accomplishments in academia, in business, in culture, in politics. They contribute much to the US, and are always a source of innovation and strength, as they bring their ideas and aspirations to Greece when they visit our country.

And they know very well that, though Greece today may be facing problems, it remains a most hospitable country: filoxenia, an ancient concept, which holds true for all in Greece today. And our people would certainly welcome you, Michelle, and your daughters Malia and Sasha to our beautiful country whenever you find it possible.

In these difficult times, I would like to thank President Barack Obama for his support and confidence. I can assure you, Mr. President, as I can assure the Greek American community, we are doing what it takes, with determination and credibility, to steer our economy on a new path, a viable path for the future.

Revamping our public administration, health and education system, our tax system, cutting down bureaucracy, opening up for investment, particularly in areas such as the green economy and tourism.

But also furthering our strategic role for peace and stability in the Balkans and promoting solutions to conflicts that have festered for long, such as in Cyprus and in Greek-Turkish relations.

We also appreciate your will to work with us in the European Union, to tackle issues such as the rules and regulations in this globalizing economy, making sure that it is a more just world, a more just economy, a more humane world.

In that, Mr. President, let me quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” said by Martin Luther King in his famous letter from Birmingham jail.

Greece will continue to stand with the United States in our common quest for justice, against all forms of tyranny and oppression, in order to keep our world a place where it is worth living.

Thank you very much, and I now have the honor to invite His Eminence, the Archbishop. Archbishop, it’s very nice to be here with you.

H.E. ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS: Mr. President, once again, as a Greek American Orthodox community we have the great honor and privilege to be your guests at the White House on the occasion of the annual celebration of the Greek Independence Day.

We are deeply grateful for your kindness and for your commitment to pursue what St. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, describes as “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and whatever is gracious.”

It is exactly in the spirit of these words of St. Paul that we experience this celebration at the White House today.

We are also happy and honored to have with us the Prime Minister of Greece, Mr. George Papandreou, and his wife, Ms. Ada Papandreou. Mr. Prime Minister, I am very honored by your very, very kind words.

This is the first time ever, Mr. President, that the prime minister of Greece is present in a celebration of Greek Independence Day at the White House. And the fact that the First Lady, Ms. Michelle Obama, is here also for the first time for a first lady certainly enhances the joy of the day.

The Greek Revolution and the War for Independence which started on March 25th 1821 was, by all sound criteria, a predictably lost cause. The reasons for such a pronouncement are well known: four centuries under occupation by the mighty and relentless Ottoman Empire, barely organized revolutionaries, far outnumbered by huge and well organized armed forces, limited weapons and ammunition, and a hostile reaction by some strong European countries.

Yet against all odds and pessimistic predictions the heroic revolutionaries of 1821 achieved the impossible. They were victorious; they defeated a mighty empire, and established, after four centuries of foreign occupation, a free and independent state, the new Greek state.

This truly amazing achievement became a reality, first thanks to the soul of the fighters, a soul dominated by faith in God and by faith in their destiny to live free and independent.

Secondly, thanks to the heart of the fighters, a heart inundated by unusual courage and astonishing fearlessness, even in the face of devastating suffering and death.

And thirdly, thanks to mind of the heroes of 1821, a brilliant mind, which made out of ordinary people extraordinary military tacticians and strategists, able to outwit experienced Ottoman military commanders.

Souls filled with unwavering faith, hearts filled with enormous courage and minds shining with brilliance made the impossible possible, in the epic of the great War for Independence in 1821.

Today, we pay homage to those heroic fighters of 1821, assisted by philhellenes, and American fighters too. And we all know their universal legacy for freedom, democracy and independence.

Having the great honor of being their descendents, and the distinct privilege to live in this country, where freedom and independence constitute absolute values, we feel the need to intensify what we can do in order to assist the efforts for establishing freedom, democracy and justice for all, even to the ends of the earth.

Mr. President, we are gratefully aware of and we are with you in your persistence and commitment to promote globally those absolute values, especially in the sensitive areas of the Far, the Middle and the Near East Asia. We thankfully noted that in the first year of your presidency you have repeatedly shown your specific advocacy of the same values in the case of our Ecumenical Patriarchate, strongly defending its God-given right to religious freedom.

We rely on your continued and dynamic support, until, with the help of the omnipotent God, the expected good results are obtained.

We also repeat our plea expressed to you in last year’s celebration for your needed intervention in the still pending issues of the unification of Cyprus and of the appropriate name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Our plea for these issues is accompanied by our warm prayers for the leaders of our people and the people of Greece, the land which gave democracy and universal values to the world.

Mr. President, on this occasion of celebration of the Greek Independence Day at the White House, we boldly declare that we count on your strong support. We also firmly assure you that you can count on our support in your noble efforts for promoting freedom, justice and peace throughout the suffering areas of our planet. And you can definitely count on our warm prayers, for you personally and your beloved family, and for this blessed land of America, the champion of democracy.

Thank you once again.

PRESIDENT B. OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, good evening, everybody, and welcome to the White House. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate the independence of Greece than with the Prime Minister of Greece.

So Prime Minister Papandreou, to your lovely wife Ms. Papandreou, we are honored by your presence here today. And we are pleased that you were able to bring your extraordinary delegation from Athens.

Now, like his father and his grandfather before him, the Prime Minister is leading Greece through challenging times. But as I told him during our meeting in the Oval Office today, whether in good times or in bad times the people of Greece will always have a friend and a partner in the United States of America.

Thank you, Your Eminence, for your very kind introduction and for the wisdom and compassion that has always defined your ministry. Archbishop Demetrios marks his second decade guiding the Greek Orthodox Church and community in America, four decades as a bishop, and recently his 82nd birthday. And he is looking really good. I need to find out what he is eating.

Last year His Eminence tried to compare me with Alexander the Great. I thought this would get me more respect from Michelle and the girls. It did not. They reminded me instead that Greek literature is full of very strong women.

I want to acknowledge the fact that we are joined by leaders who have strengthened the bonds between us, including our Ambassador, Kaskarelis, and from Cyprus Ambassador Kakouris. Please stand up.

We have some outstanding members of Congress who are here. And we’ve got at least one potential member of Congress – Alexi, stand up – from the state of Illinois.

In fact, in addition to Alexi we’ve got a lot of Greek American friends here who have been great friends and supporters of mine, including folks here from Chicago. I think we’ve got just about all of Greek Town here.

And we also have some of the outstanding Greek Americans who are serving in my administration.

Now, Greek Independence Day isn’t for another few weeks, but I’ll be on a trip to Asia, so I appreciate you coming early. Not that Greeks have ever needed an excuse to celebrate – let’s face it.

But on that day we’ll remember 189 years ago another bishop stood up in a monastery in the mountains, raised the Greek flag, declared independence and began the struggle to restore democracy to its birthplace.

But on that day we will not only celebrate a singular moment in time. We will be reminded of the spirit that has defined Greece and its people for all time.

There is a concept that captures it. And it doesn’t translate easily. It doesn’t really have an equivalent in English, but it’s a virtue that all of you know well, because it’s the very essence of being Greek. And you will forgive me if my pronunciation is just so-so. Filotimo. Literally it translates as love of honor. I love that concept: love of honor.

But of course it means much more than that. It’s a sense of love, to family and to community and to country, and the notion that what we’re here on this earth to do is to be all in this together. We all have obligations to each other and to work together.

And so it was that the democratic example of a small group of city-states more than 2000 years ago could inspire the founding generation of this country, that led one early American to imagine that “the days of Greece may be revived in the woods of America.”

It’s the sense of nobility and morality written in the pages of those timeless Greek texts which have instructed students – and tormented them – down the ages, in every corner of the world.

And indeed, when I was living in Indonesia as a child, when my mother would wake me up early in the morning to teach me, among the books that she used to pull off the shelf were the legends of Greek mythology.

Filotimo. It’s a sense of right and wrong, and a duty to do what’s right.

And so 189 years ago Americans of Greek origin crossed the oceans and fought for Greek independence. Greek Americans in turn served and fought to preserve our union. And through two World Wars and a long Cold War, America stood with our Greek allies and friends.

And since the Prime Minister is here, let me acknowledge Greece’s efforts to extend the security and stability in our time, toward a just and final settlement in Cyprus, fully integrating the Balkans into Europe, and the Prime Minister’s personal work to improve relations with Turkey. We thank you for your leadership.

And let me commend Greece, our close NATO ally, for standing up for the security and opportunity of people around the world, from the Balkans to Afghanistan, where Greek service members are helping to give people who have known too much war the chance to live in peace and security.

This solidarity continues today, whether it’s the close counter-terrorism efforts between our governments, or the deep partnerships between our people.

Indeed, as the Prime Minister and I discussed this afternoon, Greece’s participation in the visa waiver program will strengthen security in both our countries. And whether it’s to do business or visit family and friends, it will now be easier for our Greek friends to visit the United States.

And filotimo is a sense of dignity and respect as well. It’s the determination that has driven generations of Greek Americans, like those here tonight, to struggle and sacrifice for the same things that all Americans want: to pursue our dreams, to realize our God-given potential and to give our children an even better life.

That’s the simple hope that caused the Bishop to raise that flag on a mountaintop so many years ago. That’s the profound sense of friendship that will guide our work in the years ahead.

Because what one patriot of Greek independence wrote to John Quincy Adams nearly 200 years ago remains true today: “We are friends, co-patriots and brothers.”

So thank you all for coming. God bless you. God bless America. And Ζήτω η Ελλάς.