Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has declared emphatically that “Greece does not discuss sovereignty issues with Turkey” in relation to the “grey areas” claim in the Aegean.
Mitsotakis stressed that point, among many others, in an interview with SKAI.
During that interview, he noted that “Greece will never accept any grey zone theory and will never accept Turkey telling it what to do or what not to do within areas of Greek sovereignty”.
He stated that the marine parks in the Ionian and southern Aegean Seas “are purely an environmental initiative and should be embraced by all countries”.
“The marine parks extend across the breadth of our territorial waters. Our territorial waters are defined by the islands that belong to Greece and there is no question of Turkey disputing Greek islands,” he emphasized and noted that contrary to the policy of other governments, the government has chosen a different path.
“In chess, I prefer to play with white. I want to have the initiative on the moves. Many of the reactions are the result of initiatives by the Greek Government. I counter the theory of immobility and acceptance of faits accompli with an active foreign policy, which obviously also provokes reactions.”
Responding to ruling party officials who question this, Mitsotakis noted:
“I don’t remember any significant initiative between 2004 and 2009 in Greek-Turkish relations. The government at the time tried to delimit maritime zones with Libya but they didn’t succeed. Twitter diplomacy is easy, but I would recommend that they be a little more careful.”
Mitsotakis said that he always looks forward to “calm waters” with the neighbouring country and added that to a certain extent “we have at least succeeded in avoiding” extreme tensions and better management of immigration.
He reiterated that the only difference between Athens and Ankara is the delimitation of maritime zones and continental shelf, while saying that the next High-Level Cooperation Council between the two sides will be held in due course.
He also announced a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
Referring to relations with Libya, he noted that there is a distance between going for ratification” of the Turcolibian Memorandum ” and “ratification”.
The Greek PM said Libya is “practically a broken country, divided in half and in civil war.”
“Any understanding is not always an easy task. The government has sought to have relations with both sides. At the moment, the official government on the ground respects the middle line, hence the boundaries of Greece.”
“We invite the Tripoli government to discuss with Greece the delimitation of the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone. I believe that we will soon see technical committees discussing this perspective. The Turcolibian Memorandum is not only illegal but also absurd…”.
Regarding immigration, Mr. Mitsotakis recalled that Greece protected its borders in March 2020 and that protecting maritime borders is a more complex matter.
“We made a difficult decision. We want to send a message to smugglers and their clients that arriving in Greece will not amount to an easy entry,” he said, wondering if anyone was proposing anything different.
“The country cannot tolerate a mass influx of illegal immigrants and we will do everything in our power, within the framework of international law, to prevent it.”
Regarding the Great Sea Interconnector between Cyprus and Greece, the Prime Minister stated that it will proceed and be completed at the appropriate time and when we close outstanding issues with Cyprus regarding the sharing of the cost of the project.
“The routing of a cable does not require the approval of any coastal state. At this moment, Turkey is raising completely unjustified questions. The cable will proceed at the right time…”, he said.
OPEKEPE
Regarding OPEKEPE (the Greek Payment Authority of Common Agricultural Policy (C.A.P.) Aid Schemes), Mitsotakis said that the government tried to address the problem.
“The issue of OPEKEPE is a timeless, cross-party, political, social problem. For 40 years, generations have learned logically to depend on its future only on agricultural subsidies.”
“The fact that today there are already decisions that have been heard means that someone has been involved. We did not wait for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. OPEKEPE had to be reorganized on the go. The decision to dissolve OPEKEPE came before the European Public Prosecutor’s Office case. We were not able to reorganize OPEKEPE on the go.”
He said that the procedures have already been initiated and the “party is over.”
“However, we will start with those who were dancing in the centre of the dance floor. A large number of Tax Registration Numbers are already being checked, from those who took the big money. But my suspicion is that the problem is much more widespread than some people think. Does anyone believe that only New Democracy did this?”
“In this matter, I have assumed my responsibilities. It is a battle that we have not yet won. We must win the war,” he said, reiterating that at the moment “we do not see any criminal responsibility on the part of our ministers”.
Finally, regarding the measures he will announce at the Thessaloniki International Fair, he said that “our aim is to ease and relieve the middle class, especially salaried workers. I won’t tell you how.”
REACTIONS
“The Prime Minister, as a self-appointed judge in the OPEKEPE case, acquitted on a nationwide network his two ministers. for whom the European Public Prosecutor’s Office sent the relevant case file to Parliament,” the press spokesman for PASOK-Movement for Change, Kostas Tsoukalas, said regarding Mitsotakis’ comments from the interview.
“He openly disagreed with himself, who a short time ago stated that ‘when a case comes up involving political figures, the government will not obstruct justice’…”
“Mitsotakis, clearly irritated by internal party criticism of his foreign policy handling, attacked former Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and at the same time criticsed Dora Bakoyannis as Minister of Foreign Affairs, or did we misunderstand?”
In a harsh statement, SYRIZA-PS also commented on Mitsotakis’ interview, claiming that “it was revealing of how stressed, nervous, and unrepentant he is. He was what everyone knows, a delegitimized prime minister”.
“On foreign policy: Instead of apologizing for leading the country to dead ends, with constant defeats on critical issues and shrinking its diplomatic capital, he began attacking his predecessors…”
“The Prime Minister did not answer any of the open questions that the irresponsible government foreign policy has created, both regarding the Libya issue and on how to deal with the Turkish challenges.”
Regarding what the PM said about OPEKEPE, SYRIZA stated: “He set a record of lies. He claimed that he announced the dissolution of the organization and the transfer of its responsibilities to the AADE on his own initiative, while the truth is that this happened after the European Prosecutor’s raid on OPEKEPE…”.
“We saw a prime minister tired, distressed and above all panicked in a delirious interview in a ‘friendly’ environment with his relative, Mrs. Kosioni…”, said the president of the Greek Solution Party, Kyriakos Velopoulos.
GERAPETRITIS
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giorgos Gerapetritis, also referred to Greek-Turkish relations in response to a timely question from the independent MP, Michalis Hourdakis, regarding the exercise of deterrent diplomacy in the wake of the new Turkish NAVTEX and the provocations in the Aegean Sea.
“Greece is for the first time taking the initiative in movements on major issues by exercising its rights on the ground,” the Foreign Minister said,
He noted that noting that an exercise in field diplomacy is “to come -as is the case today- and implement those things that are recognised, such as the possibility of exploiting natural resources and deposits with the proclamation of marine land south of Crete, as is the case with the Marine Spatial Plan, as happened very recently with the delimitation of Marine Parks in the Aegean and Ionian Seas”.
“Greece is at its strongest point, as we independently create a strong diplomacy, with simultaneous strong defence, and after decades we have an extremely strong position from a deterrent perspective,” Gerapetritis said.
“Greece is self-reliant, it has built its alliances, it shapes international developments and does not simply follow them, and there is never a chance that it will retreat from any of its national positions.”
Regarding the research activity of the ship “FILIA” between Lemnos and Samothrace with the assistance of the Navy, Gerapetritis said that it was completed normally, in accordance with its schedule.
He pointed out that for this investigation, Greece issued a NAVTEX on 5 July, Turkey issued an illegal ANTI NAVTEX on 7 July, which, however, was appropriately responded to by Greece on 8 July.
“This proves that what is planned is being done and completed.”
