Τhe mother and brother of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Veronica and Alex, were granted honorary Greek citizenship in a decision signed on September 6 by the President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
Veronica and Alex were sworn in during a ceremony hosted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday. Present was also the Greek Freak.
“We always felt Greek, but now we have an official stamp and we are happy,” Giannis said after the ceremony.
Veronica’s and Alex’s citizenship is honorary, as they are formally not eligible under the current Greek law, even though Veronica lives in Greece since 1991 and Alexandros was born in the country in 2001.
Alexandros “Alex” Emeka Antetokounmpo – the younger brother of fellow basketball players Giannis, Thanassis and Kostas – was born in Greece in 2001 and spent the first 12 years of his life here before the family moved to the United States.
Veronica and her husband Charles Adetokunbo (before the name’s transliteration into Greek) migrated from Nigeria to Greece in 1991.
Giannis and Thanassis Antetokounmpo were granted Greek citizenship in 2013, their brother Kostas in 2016.
With a tweet, the Prime Minister greeted that honorary citizenship of Veronica and Alex, saying among others, that
the Antetokounmpo family reflects Greece that struggles, gets over difficulties and keep the family together.”
Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμπο και ο Εμέκα – Άλεξ Αντετοκούνμπο πολιτογραφήθηκαν σήμερα τιμητικά Έλληνες πολίτες. Στο πρόσωπο όλης της οικογένειας Αντετοκούνμπο αντικατοπτρίζεται η Ελλάδα που αγωνίζεται, ξεπερνά τις δυσκολίες και κρατά ενωμένη την οικογένειά της. Θερμά συγχαρητήρια. pic.twitter.com/3OyQjnoOln
— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) September 16, 2021
President Sakellaropoulou will receive the Antetokounmpo family on Friday morning.
They are better people than I am – still loving the country that ostracized them and denied them basic rights and services until the millions started rolling in. The brothers were granted citizenship only because they were NBA-bound, in order that Greece could claim them.
Without one Greek parent, one must be born in Greece, raised and educated in Greece, speak Greek fluently, AND be a professional basketball player to be eligible for citizenship, I suppose.
I was thinking the same think.
Same thing rather.