Relatives, colleagues, and friends are saying their final farewell at this hour in Kifisia to Petros Molyviatis, who passed away at the age of 97 last Sunday.

Petros Molyviatis, who went down in history as the closest associate of Konstantinos Karamanlis, had been suffering from serious health issues over the past six months, mainly respiratory, and had been hospitalized several times.

The body arrived at the Kifisia cemetery wrapped in the Greek flag, while his daughter, Lora, was also present.

Attending the funeral are the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the President of the Hellenic Parliament, Konstantinos Tasoulas, former Prime Ministers Kostas Karamanlis, Antonis Samaras, and Panagiotis Pikrammenos, former President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Minister of Defense Nikos Dendias, Minister of Shipping Vasilis Kikilias, Speaker of Parliament Nikitas Kaklamanis, among others.

(His daughter Lora)

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a wreath with the inscription “to the worthy Greek,” while the family of Achilleas Karamanlis said farewell to Petros Molyviatis with the phrase “to our beloved Petros.” Wreaths were also sent by former Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, the Speaker of Parliament Nikitas Kaklamanis, and the Minister of Defense Nikos Dendias.

The politician and Greek diplomat Petros Molyviatis was born in Chios on June 12, 1928. His mother, Agapi, was the sister of the writer Elias Venezis and came from Ayvalik in Asia Minor.

He was a very close associate of Prime Minister and President of the Republic Konstantinos Karamanlis, and served three times as Greece’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (2004–2006, 2012, and 2015), Director of the Prime Minister’s Political Office (1974–1980), Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic (1980–1985 and 1990–1995), and Member of Parliament (State Deputy) for New Democracy (1996–2004). Since 1983, he had also been the lifetime president of the board of the “Konstantinos Karamanlis” Foundation.

He was married to Niovi Christaki, and together they had two children, a daughter and a son. His daughter, Lora, was the wife of businessman and banker Stelios Panagopoulos, Governor of the National Bank of Greece and Member of the European Parliament for PASOK.