ATHENS — Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis received Mayor Moses Elisaf of Ioannina city, northwestern Greece, at Maximos Mansion on Wednesday, on occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"It is my pleasure to welcome the country's first Jewish mayor on this rather symbolic, special day", said Mitsotakis.

Elisaf thanked the Greek Premier for his kind words, and he said their meeting "is the highest honor for me, our city and the community."

Mitsotakis underlined that Greece honors Holocaust victims, including the tens of thousands of Greek Jews who perished at Nazi concentration camps.

Elisaf briefed Mitsotakis on the history of Israelite communities in Epirus, making a special mention of those who survived the horrors of Nazi atrocities, among them Elisaf's 97-year-old aunt Chrisoula Eliasa, still alive today.

The Prime Minister here mentioned his June 2019 visit to Jerusalem's Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, where, he recalled, found the name of his grandmother's sister, Evaggelia Georgiadou, engraved on the plaques of the Garden of the Righteous, as she had been one of many Greeks who had helped out Jews in several courageous acts.

Greece has been a full member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) since 2005, said Mitsotakis, and is also taking over the IHRA presidency for the first time this year.

Finally, Mitsotakis congratulated Elisaf on the successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic at Ioannina municipality and Epirus at large.