Greek president on March 25 anniversary: consensus and unity key ingredients of national efforts

The anniversary of Greece's historic declaration of war for independence on March 25 is "a celebration of all Greeks that will always draw up a sense of liberation, independence, and justice," Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou said in a message on Sunday.

The Greek uprising against the 400-year Ottoman rule in 1821 garnered the admiration of the world, she said. The anniversary also calls for its timeless message, "that passion and self-denial may be the key ingredient of every national effort, but the guarantee of its success lies with consensus, unity, and agreement, as recorded by the herculean struggle of the heroic revolutionaries against an all-powerful empire," she said.

Sakellaropoulou also noted that this year is the 50th anniversary of the restoration of democracy in Greece following the military dictatorship, while she also said that Greece is not forgetting Cyprus, as a part remains under Turkish occupation.

In a world of multiple speeds and uncertainties, continuous crisis, wars, and divisive speech, the Greek president added, Greece's challenge today is "to defend, with the contribution of all of us, the ideals of freedom, human rights and democracy, which we secured with struggles and sacrifices in our long history, as we did our unnegotiable national sovereignty."