Interview by Lili Panagoulia

Kyriakos Maridakis, descendant of World War II Hero, Georgiou Maridakis, founder and vice-president of the Salamis International Foundation, and Founding President of the Hellenic-Israeli Association. A man who has contributed a lot to the cultural diplomacy of Greece.

He managed to turn a war event like the Battle of Salamis into a World Peace Day, internationalizing the anniversary of this great victory in 52 embassies. Heads of state such as Albert II of Monaco, the president of Israel Reuven Rivlin as well as the president of the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, as well as international organizations commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Salamis every year.

His persitant, selfless and philanthropic actions and initiatives in the cultural events of our country as well as internationally are supported by the Greek Government and are recognized at a global level, as he has been honored with awards not a few times for his voluntary contribution to the effort to highlight and promotion of our Greek Cultural Heritage such as from the World Center of Hellenism, groups of the international Rotary, the Hellenic American Organization AHEPA (Icarus) and knight of the order of the international Diplomatic Club of Switzerland “St.Gabriel”.

Issue 3 – Summer 2022