WASHINGTON, DC, March 25, 2015 — The Coordinated Effort of Hellenes today released the following statement in response to Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) stopping the US Senate from passing, as it has for the last 29 consecutive years, a resolution commemorating Greek Independence Day:
“Senator Dan Coats has no idea what tragedy he could cause America’s men and women of the military with his grandstanding effort today to kill the simple Greek Independence Day Resolution. This resolution is America’s expression, in each of the last 29 years, of gratitude for all the wonderful things Greece has always done for America.
Coats is trying to kill this resolution because of a statement made by a Greek Minister that didn’t meet with Coats’ personal approval. The statement was motivated by the EU’s economic asphyxiation of the people of Greece. It was made out of frustration and anger and was not taken seriously. Among the hundreds of US and other countries’ officials who, unlike Coats, are experts on this matter, none has chosen to conduct themselves like Coats.
“When Americans died because Turkey refused to let us use our military base in Incirlik, Turkey to invade Iraq, Greece came to our rescue with their base at Souda Bay in Crete, Greece. Greece is one of only seven countries in the world that has been our ally in every international conflict in the 20th Century — it has always come to our rescue. In recent years, thousands of our ships and planes and hundreds of thousands of American military men and women involved in the Middle East have desperately needed Greece’s Souda Bay base, that Greece has graciously given it to us.
“If, given the dangerously desperate and volatile economic situation in Greece today, Coats’ grandstanding moves Greece toward doing what virtually all other countries, except for Greece, have done — not always supporting America and its troops — Coats’ legacy will have played a tragic role.
“Please call – don’t email because it will get lost among the over 25,000 emails US Senators receive each week – Senator Dan Coats’ office at 202-224-5623 and urge him to chose America’s interests and release the Greek Independence Day Resolution.”
Photo: Bloomberg.com
