ATHENS, April 7. /TASS/. Victory over fascism must be celebrated for the sake of remembering the heroes and deriving lessons for today, Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras said in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman on Tuesday.
The 70th anniversary of Victory in World War II is an important date for Greece as well, Tsipras said. "Our memories of this are still green. The Greek people’s struggle against the fascist totalitarian regime, against Nazism in 1940-1944 is an integral part of our national identify. I believe that this date must be celebrated not just for the sake of remembering the heroes, but also for deriving lessons we can make us of today," the prime minister said. "That struggle against totalitarianism, against the ideology of hatred, racism and nationalism, I believe, sounds a very important message still relevant these days," he added.
"The threat of another rise of such dark forces, misanthropy, animosity among peoples, racism and other types of totalitarianism is looming on Europe’s horizon again," Tsipras noted. "A common front against the rise of fascism is an imperative of the day. It is regrettable that Greece, which was one of the first to have joined the struggle against Nazism, with the wave of the crisis of recent years saw racist forces gain strength again. One ultra-right party has managed to get into the Greek parliament. It has quite a few seats there," he added.
Tsipras recalled how he went to Kaisariani (the rifle range where on May 1, 1944 the Nazis shot 200 Greek Communists) right after he had been sworn in as prime minister in front of the president of the Greek Republic. "In fact, the oath I took was also an oath addressed to the unknown Greek fighters, who gave their lives for letting us live a free life today. It was an oath in the name of the sovereignty and freedom of the Greek people," he said.