Education minister defends buying out military service

Education Minister Costas Gavroglou accused the opposition of attempting a “character assassination” over his decision not to do his military service. Gavroglou came under fire in recent days as a result of the government’s decision to stop the process of schools assigning flag-bearing duties at parades to students based on their academic achievements and to replace this with a draw.

Following a report that he did not serve in the military, Gavroglou, who was born in Istanbul, explained on Tuesday that he took advantage of a law in the 1970s allowing Greeks abroad to buy out their military service. “Let those who want to judge my personal decision to buy out my service during the time of the junta do so,” he said.

New Democracy responded by saying that Gavroglou’s comments “confirm how elastic his conscience is.”