“The tough stance against Turkish provocations in Evros and the Aegean, the internationalisation and europeanisation of Greek-Turkish disputes and, finally, the clear stance taken by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ankara have currently put Turkey in the position of looking for a way to react to Greece, rather than vice versa,” Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis stressed in an interview today on RealFM97.8, with journalist Nikos Chatzinikolaou.
Regarding the statements made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ankara, Mr. Varvitsiotis stressed that Mr. Dendias was completely right to fully and clearly address Turkey’s provocative behaviour, also pointing out that Mr. Dendias did not act on his own, given that, a few weeks ago, the Borrell report set out the whole framework of Turkish violations of International Law and the European acquis.
In the same interview, Mr. Varvitsiotis reiterated that there is only one Greek-Turkish dispute, which concerns the delimitation of maritime zones. In response to criticism from the main opposition party, he clarified that there is no room for petty commentary on Greek foreign policy, which defends firm national positions. “They were the ones who went to recognise Turkish rights and made friendly overtures that got no results,” he commented.
Regarding the next day in Greek-Turkish relations, he noted that Greece made clear to Ankara that Greece is not willing to back down from firm national positions and that if Turkey wants our relations to be normalised, it should demonstrate this by avoiding provocations and unilateral actions.
The Alternate Minister added that, as he saw from his own visits to Rome and Paris, there has been a deterioration in the bilateral relations between European countries and Turkey, which is putting pressure on the Turkish side, and, moreover, its reactions are holding off the prospect of the positive agenda that it eagerly expects from Europe.
Finally, on the Cyprus issue, Mr. Varvitsiotis reiterated that the two-state solution proposed by Turkey is not acceptable neither to the UN nor the European Union, with the latter seeking to attend the five-sided talks as an observer – an initiative that has Greece’s support.
