Athens was draped in 200 blue and white flags for the occasion.
Greece is celebrating with great pomp, Thursday, March 25, the bicentenary of its war for independence from the Ottoman Empire, in the presence of some foreign leaders, even if the Covid-19 pandemic deprives the general public of the festivities.
March 25, the Greek national holiday, marks the beginning of the uprising in 1821 which led to the independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire two years later.
The capital is awaiting the military parade in traditional period costumes.
For the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution, the festivities take place in the presence of representatives of the United Kingdom, Russia and France, the three great powers which had helped Greece to become a sovereign state.
Tense relations with Turkey
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustine, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, French Minister of the Armed Forces Françoise Parly, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades will attend alongside the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
French President Emmanuel Macron lamented not to be part of the party, "because of the health context".
He reaffirmed, in an interview on Wednesday with the Greek public channel ERT, his support for Greece against neighboring Turkey, which has increased provocations in the Aegean Sea in recent months.
I am traveling to Greece today to represent the President of the Republic at the bicentenary ceremony of the proclamation of independence of Greece.
Proud and honored to be with our Greek friends on this important day.
pic.twitter.com/izHLPi0OLX
- Florence Parly (@florence_parly) March 24, 2021
"We must at all times be at the side of the European allies when they are attacked in their sovereignty, when they are threatened in their independence, the respect of their borders. This is what France, moreover, has done in France. 'summer 2020, "he said.
It was on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire that modern Turkey was founded in 1923, a neighbor with which Greece still maintains strained relations.
Tensions rose a notch last summer with the dispatch of a Turkish seismic research vessel to a disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean considered rich in hydrocarbons.
France had temporarily deployed two Rafale fighters and two navy vessels.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for his part, wanted "open channels of communication with Turkey without provocations or aggressive actions".
"Athens remains open but not naive," he warned, alongside Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.
Prince Charles and Mikhail Michoustine
Prince Charles, who had previously attended the inauguration of the new National Painting Gallery, recalled "the special place that Greece occupies in (his) heart", since it is the place where his father was born.
"Today as in 1821, Greece can count the United Kingdom among its friends," he added during an official dinner on Wednesday.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustine also welcomed the special historical ties between Russia and Greece, promising to "continue to strengthen our relations by extending this history and this tradition".
During Thursday's military parade, the public is not allowed to take to the streets, Greece having been under lockdown for almost five months to stem the Covid-19 pandemic, the second and third waves of which were much more virulent than that of last spring.
Around 6,000 police, drones and snipers have been deployed to Athens to provide security and ensure compliance with traffic restrictions.
Two demonstrations planned on the sidelines of the official celebration, one by nationalist groups and the other to protest against recent incidents of police repression, were banned, according to a police source.
"The School of Athens" loaned by France
The traditional cannon on Lycabetus Hill, which overlooks central Athens, is due to fire 21 shots Thursday morning before foreign leaders lay wreaths in front of the monument to the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square.
In the skies of Athens, French Rafales, recently purchased by Greece, and American F-16s will fly over the Acropolis.
The aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower anchored at Souda naval base on the island of Crete, while French and Russian frigates are already in Piraeus, a port south of Athens.
France has also loaned Greece an 18th century tapestry from the Gobelins factory depicting Raphael's famous “School of Athens” fresco.
It was hung on Monday in the Greek Parliament, while a twin tapestry continues to stand in the National Assembly.
Hundreds of Philhellene volunteers gave their lives for the liberation of Greece, including the British poet Lord Byron and the American William Townshend Washington, distant nephew of George Washington.
With AFP
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