Greek to me !

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras  was present  this year at the Epiphany ceremony for the blessing of the waters , reminding to  the Greeks the days before his election two years earlier, when he had released the dove, following the Christian Orthodox traditon, rising the hopes of the Greek people back then, symbolically , by his promises to release Greece from  the burden of austerity. Even though the leftist PM has declared himself  an atheist , he chooses to attent some of the church ceremonies, so as to meet the wide religious feeling of the Greeks , during periods of time that his populism fails, as it has recently happened- in impressive figures- due to  the hard referrendum measures that his governmenet signed that make day to day peoples' lives impossible .

Epiphany Day, January 2015, 20 days before Greece's election that brought Tsipras  power

This year Alexis Tsipras attended the Epiphany blessing waters ceremony at  the northeastern port city of Alexandroupolis, accompanied  by Alternate National Defence Minister Dimitris Vitsas and made his statement sending his message that Greece extends a hand of friendship and cooperation to all but is determined to defend its territorial rights,

.

"It is no accident that we are here today, in the easternmost major port of the European Union, in Alexandroupolis. Using the opportunity afforded by my own presence here, that of the Alternate National Defence Minister and the chief of the National Defence General Staff, I wish to send a message of friendship, cooperation but also of our determination to defend our rights," the prime minister said.

"We offer a hand of cooperation but at the same time, however, we state our determination to defend our territorial rights, as these arise from international treaties and international law."

Tsipras noted that Greece offered friendship and cooperation toward all peoples, acting as "a beacon" transmitting the great values of peace, cooperation, solidarity, and love for fellow human beings. This, he noted, made the country a pillar of security and stability in a globally destabilised environment.

He also highlighted Alexanroupolis city's future prospects for becoming a hub for energy, trade and transit goods, saying this future could be built with "unity and vision" and again stressed that Europe's eastern borders, from Evros to Kastellorizo, were also those of Greece.

According  to Greek Christian Orthodox tradition Greeks dive for the cross in the cold waters, which this year were frozen due to the bad weather. Alexis Tsipras honored the young man who brouht the cross this year by putting on him a golden cross , stiring at most  the rumors of performing a pre election appearance that could help PM restore his populism    

photos: newsone.gr