Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, alongside wife Mareva Grabovski-Mitsotakis, has today visited the World Trade Centre in New York and paid tribute to the 41 Greek Americans who lost their lives during the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The pair were accompanied by Anthoula Katsimatidis, who lost her brother, Giannis, in the 2001 tragedy.They stood at places where victims of Greek origin are listed, placing small Greek flags and white flowers in their honour.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis also laid a wreath at the Survivor Tree, a tree that was found almost destroyed in the ruins of the Towers, recovered with human care and replanted in the memorial area.
In an official statement, Prime Minister Mitsotakis said: “I felt the need to come today to this holy place to lay a flower and lay a wreath in memory of the 2,977 innocent people who lost their lives unjustly in the terrorist attack of 9/11.”
“Among them were 41 Greek-Americans, one of whom was Yiannis, who was trapped on the 104th floor when the first plane hit the North Tower.”
“The fight against terrorism is a constant fight, it is a fight that we have an obligation, as democracies, to fight, to be able to preserve our way of life and to be able to continue to function in open democratic societies like these which we have built with so much effort”, continued the Prime Minister.
“The victims of terrorism – because we in our country have also been hurt by our own domestic terrorism – we will always continue to honour them and we will never forget them,” he added.
The Prime Minister then visited the Greek Orthodox church of Saint Nicholas which was destroyed during the attacks and has been rebuilt with a large contribution from the Greek American community to be reopened soon.
Mitsotakis and his wife were welcomed by the Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and the architect who designed the church, Santiago Calatrava, who gave them a tour of the site.
“This is indeed an extraordinary building. I would say that the building is fully aligned with the special spiritual significance of this space,” Mitsotakis said.
“It is right next to a spot marked by pain and suffering. It is a church that symbolises hope and unity. I am sure that it will become a point of reference for New York and a beacon of hope for all its visitors.”
