ROME (ITALPRESS) – “This is also an opportunity to pay deferential tribute to all the soldiers who have lost their lives for the homeland or bringing relief in peacekeeping missions decided within the international community. National Unity Day and Armed Forces Day — Nov. 4 — is a date that evokes distant events, wars and bloody fighting that brought disastrous devastation to the society of the time that would not heal for years, with premises that led to a later, terrible and distressing period of history.” This was said by President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, speaking at the Quirinale at the ceremony for the awarding of honors of the Military Order of Italy, on the occasion of the November 4 holiday. “In World War II, the scale of the horror, triggered by Nazi-Fascist barbarity, grew, involving even more defenseless civilian populations, victims of indiscriminate bombing and massacres perpetrated, up to the annihilation of citizens of Jewish origin – the head of state stressed. Today, after the decades of peace ensured by the Euro-Atlantic choice, the war unleashed by the wretched invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, and the renewed war in the Middle East, re-propose the challenge of security and peace as precious values to be promoted, guarded and defended with perseverance and determination.” For Mattarella, “it is not acceptable to get used to war. The constant vision of devastating images, the continuous updating of the numbers of victims, on the battlefields and among the civilian population, must shake our consciences. The gravity of the situation requires concerted action in the European Union, in close coordination with our transatlantic allies: only in this way will it be possible to take effective initiatives to mitigate the threats to international security and to initiate concrete paths to stability and peace. “The Armed Forces are a leading player in this action of containment and deterrence. The institutions’ commitment makes use of the deterrence factor they represent, which is necessary to prevent the resort to arms,” the president said. At this time, our thoughts are with the Italian contingent deployed as part of the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon and all the blue helmets operating in that very delicate scenario. The garrison of affirmation of international humanitarian law that they represent is fundamental. My wish goes out to them that, having completed their important mission, they will be able to return to their families soon. Appreciation also goes to the more than 7,000 of our military personnel who operate with professionalism and competence in dozens of missions spread across three continents, and to the 6,500 military personnel engaged daily to contribute to the security framework of citizens. “I would like to recall the interventions – more than two hundred in the current year – carried out by 2,200 military personnel in collaboration with Civil Defense or other state administrations. Among them, those carried out on the occasion of the disastrous flood that hit Emilia-Romagna. These interventions were carried out thanks to the technical skills, logistical capacity and responsiveness available to the Armed Forces, which are confirmed, even in this respect, as an essential resource of the Republic,” Mattarella concluded. “To all the women and men of the Armed Forces, to the civilian personnel of the Defense, I express my gratitude for the spirit of service with which they carry out the tasks entrusted to them, with loyalty, selflessness, courage, self-sacrifice and love of country.
– Quirinal press office photo –
(ITALPRESS).
