ATHENS (AFP) — Greece will hold events to honour the poet Lord Byron and other foreigners who fought in the early 19th century Greek war of independence from Ottoman rule, officials said on Thursday.
A decree signed by Greek President Karolos Papoulias establishes April 19, the day Byron died fighting the Turks in 1824, as the "day of philhellenism and international solidarity," a Greek parliament statement said.
"The events to be held on April 19 every year will keep alive the memory of Lord Byron in tribute to a great man who deeply believed in fundamental democratic values and the idea of Hellenism," the statement said.
Byron died of a fever inside the besieged city of Messolonghi, western Greece, around a year after arriving with money and resources for the bedraggled Greek revolutionary forces.
His sacrifice inspired other young men from Britain, France, Italy, the United States and other countries to join the uprising which eventually liberated Greece with the intervention of the British, French and Russian governments.
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