The President of the Hellenic Parliament at the presentation of the volume “90 χρόνια από την ένωση της Κρήτης με την ελεύθερη Ελλάδα” (“90 years of the Unification of Crete with Greece”).

With the presence of the President of the Greek Parliament, Dimitrios Sioufas, the presentation of the volume “90 χρόνια από την ένωση της Κρήτης με την ελεύθερη Ελλάδα” (“90 years of the Unification of Crete with Greece”) published recently by the Historical and Folklore Association of Rethymno and the National Research Foundation "Eleftherios K. Venizelos", was held in Atsipopoulo, Rethymno, on Saturday, July 26th, 2008.
The event was organised by the Historical and Folklore Association of Rethymno and the Foundation, with the support of the Hellenic Parliament, the Prefecture of Rethymno, the Municipalities of Nikiforos Fokas and Rethymno, and the Cultural Association of Atsipopoulo. The Prefect of Rethymno, Giorgos Papadakis, the Mayor of Rethymno, Georgios Marinakis, the Deputy Mayor of Nikiforos Fokas, Giannis Anastasakis and the President of the Cultural Association of Atsipopoulo, Despina Agelidaki opened the event. The introductory speech was given by the President of the Historical and Folklore Association of Rethymno and editor of the volume, Mihalis Troulis, who referred to the importance of the publication and the multilateral work of the Historical and Folklore Association of Rethymno.
The volume was presented by Antonis Hourdakis, Professor at the University of Crete and Nikos Psilakis, Journalist -  Writer. A. Hourdakis characterised the volume as a “product of strenuous effort” and made special reference to each one of the six units of the book and positively commented on the volume's cover representing a commemorative postcard that reflects the desire for the unification of Crete with Greece. N. Psilakis emphasised on the importance of conferences, especially cretological congresses, as they leave important historical documents; he also referred to the impressive and continuous activity of the National Research Foundation "Eleftherios K. Venizelos".
The CEO of the National Research Foundation "Eleftherios K. Venizelos" Nikolaos Papadakis spoke on the topic "Why Atsipopoulo?". He focused on the role of Atsipopoulo in the movement of Theriso; it was the second revolutionary centre and suffered bloodshed. He also mentioned the special contribution of the Greek Parliament to the Foundation's efforts, and to the publication of this volume.
The President of the Hellenic Parliament, Dimitrios Sioufas gave a closing speech mentioning that:  "Through the knowledge of our History we can draw experience for today. We ought to comprehend the conclusions of History and to convert them into lessons of our time. Above all, we should all (each one of us from his own position) serve national understanding, national unanimity. If we are united and decisive we can not only overcome the difficulties of our times but also present important achievements on the basis of the national, collective and social interest".
Coordinators of the event were the former President of the Cultural Association of Atsipopoulo, Georgios Perpirakis and the Journalist Manousos Klados.
The MPs of Rethymno Olga Kefalogianni and Ilias Lampiris, the MPs of Hania Christos Markogiannakis, Manousos Voloudakis and Stelios Nikiforakis, the Prefect of Hania Grigoris Arhontakis, the Mayor of Hania
Kiriakos Virvidakis and the former MPs M. Loukakis and Sifis Mihelogiannis attended the event.

The volume, edited by Mihalis Troulis, President of the Historical and Folklore Association of Rethymno, contains the proceedings of the symposium realised in Rethymno in 2003. It includes important historical information on one of the most significant periods of modern history marked by Eleftherios Venizelos who played a leading role during the long and difficult course of Crete towards its unification with Greece.