Voridis: The names of the victims of Tempe by the Unknown Soldier should be erased immediately

Provocative Makis Voridis, requests that the names of the victims of Tempe be erased in front of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier.

The names of the 57 dead, – written in red paint on the day of the general strike, Wednesday, February 28, and in the evening of the same day were erased by crews of the municipality of Athens, but were rewritten by students on Thursday, during their rally against private universities – they seem to be bothering the Minister of State.

In a radio interview with Parapolitika, Mr. Voridis stated that “the Monument to the Unknown Soldier is the most important place of remembrance, a sacred place and it concerns those who fell during the nation’s struggles. There are written the names of the great battles we have fought.

It is a monument, with which we honor the memory of all Greeks who lost their lives defending the homeland. It has no place or any mention of anything else there. Do we want to make a monument to remember the horrible disaster of Tempe? Let’s do it. This can’t be in The Unknown Soldier […] It is a monument with a specific purpose.”

Of course you shouldn’t…

And, subsequently, he stated that “the names of the victims of the railway tragedy” should not be left written in the specific area.

“Of course, the names should not remain there, they should be deleted immediately”, he said and continued by arguing:

“I have never been afraid of populism, I have fought it for many years and I will continue to fight it. It is quite distinct and separate to pay respect to the memory of the people who perished in this terrible accident, if we want to open a public debate about how to ensure their memory and remember them and therefore make a memorial for it, indeed . I heard that the Mayor of Athens is thinking about something, it is very interesting, if in this discussion about the monument, government bodies should also be involved, but here we are discussing the Unknown Soldier. Nothing will be written on the Unknown Soldier, it will be written about the places, the places where the nation fought and people lost their lives in those war efforts that the nation made to liberate itself. This is the Unknown Soldier.”

“They only hit the right and didn’t hit the left”

Regarding, on the other hand, the position developed by parties and politicians regarding the course of judicial investigations, the Minister of State pointed out that “politicians must refrain from any comment on pending judicial cases. Why do the interpretations of the Human Rights Convention say so? They say this so that there is no manipulation and interference in the work of the judges.” Therefore, “I would suggest that all politicians agree to show restraint when it comes to the actions of justice.”

Regarding the patching, in particular, at the scene of the railway accident, he noted that only one side was patched, and wondered: “If the cover-up was the purpose, did they only patch the right and not the left?”

Finally, on the occasion of the citizen’s resolution on Tempi, he made two findings: First, parliamentary immunity exists only for the exercise of the duties of the deputies. And, secondly, “when there was a proposal for a preliminary recommendation, which concerned breach of duty and disloyalty for (Convention) 717 and Karamanlis, the Parliament ruled and rejected it.”