Ad. Georgiadis responds to the criticism he receives from SYRIZA for ‘Turkaegean’

The Minister of Development and Investments, Adonis Georgiadis, went on the “counterattack” for the severe criticism he receives from SYRIZA, regarding the registration of the Turkaegean trademark.

Speaking earlier in the Parliament, Mr. Georgiadis referred to the registration of the term Aegean, in the year 2018, by the European copyright organization, for a Turkish company that makes robes and towels. In this climate and in response to the official opposition leader’s statement that “if it were Mitsotakis, he would walk back from Madrid”, Adonis Georgiadis urged Alexis Tsipras “to start now from Koumoundourou, on foot, to go to Sounio, to take a dip, in the nice villa he lives on the beach”.

“I am amazed by the hypocrisy. All of you Leftists raise me up as a far-right nationalist, put me down as a far-right nationalist. From being a far-right nationalist, I became “Tourkadonis” yesterday, from the SYRIZA trolls on the internet. Yes. Why did I become “Tourkadonis”? ? Why, he says, did the Turks manage to trademark the term “Turkaegean”. Question, did we lose the Aegean? Did this event become a matter of national sovereignty? No. It’s nice that it happened? Very unpleasant. It happened. That’s why and I also ordered the EDE. I ordered it because the agency didn’t inform me, as it should have, so I learned this from the internet and the channels and that is not correct. And the EDE was done to find out what went wrong in the process. I did not blame no official nor did I question the patriotism of any official. But I said, ‘let’s see in the process what went wrong, so that it doesn’t happen again’. Because it is unacceptable, such a serious matter, to be done in the absence of political leadership,” said the Minister of Development and Investments and continued:

“‘I heard yesterday, Mr. Tsipras, who said that if this happened in his day with the Turkaegean, he would return, he says, from Madrid on foot. Our people have a proverb. The thief and the liar, the first year he is happy. Because we did an investigation in the service, and we found that in 2018, unfortunately, and in 2018 SYRIZA was the government and Mr. Tsipras was the prime minister, a Turkish company, in the very same European copyright organization registered, not the term Turkaegean, but the term Aegean. And specifically, until 2028, in classes 24, 25 and 17, finalized on 31.10.2018, the mark expires in 2028, the products are clothes, shoes and white already. The company is based in ‘ Ankara and the company produces robes and towels. Doesn’t Mr. Tsipras start walking? He should start here, from Koumoundourou, go to Sounio and take a dip in the nice villa he lives on the beach. Because hypocrisy has some limits. I make it clear, obviously, that for the event being that during SYRIZA in the European organization, a Turkish company registered the term Aegean, plainly, I do not think that Tsipras is to blame nor that this obviously shows a lack of patriotism on the part of SYRIZA. But I want to highlight their hypocrisy, because the main characteristic of the Left is hypocrisy. Where a party has now arrived that created Prespes and told us that we cannot fight over a name and where Mr. Tsipras said that the Aegean and the sea have no borders and his MEPs in the European Parliament accuse the Greek port authorities of pushbacks, adopting the Turkish propaganda, the Turkaegean would annoy him so much that he would come from Madrid on foot and we are not a bit ashamed, I say. In other words, Tsipras in Kammenos packaging”.

Mr. Georgiadis also referred to the referral to the special court of the former Deputy Minister of Justice Dimitris Papagelopoulos and the former Corruption Prosecutor Eleni Touloupakis.

“For me personally and all those who were unjustly accused in the Novartis case, last night’s development with the irrevocable will of the judges, for the referral to the special court, for a series of felonies and misdemeanors, of Mr. Papagelopoulos, former Deputy Minister of Justice of SYRIZA but also of Mrs. Touloupakis, former Corruption Prosecutor under the SYRIZA government, is an important step for us to prove this conspiracy”, said the Minister of Development and Investments and underlined: “I certainly cannot prejudge the outcome of a trial. I want to the trial should be clean and fair. All the accused, of course, both of them in particular, maintain the presumption of innocence intact, as is the case in the Western world. But it is, for us, a moral justification that both the investigator and the prosecutor, as ultimately , and the judicial council, three different judicial levels, documented and adopted the view that here was an organized scheme a. We will see what finally happens in the trial, when this special court is over, which I think will cause a lot of interest and will not leave any politician the luxury of hiding, as it has been until today.

Earlier, Mr. Georgiadis was asked to respond to a topical question by MeRA25 MP Giorgos Logiadis about statements by the Deputy Minister of Development Ioannis Tsakiris that provoked the reaction of the accounting industry. “The Independent Movement of Economists of Greece reports that in a meeting with professional bodies, held at the initiative of your MEP Maria Spyrakis, the Deputy Minister of Development and Investments Mr. Ioannis Tsakiris stated, with complete sobriety, “at least half of you should fire the accountants or the consultants they hired to process either the refundable advance payment or anything of the NSRF”. These are unprecedented and unimaginable statements for a government official,” said the MeRA25 MP, noting that these statements have caused anger and indignation.

“These were inappropriate statements made in the context of a casual conversation, to say why the many mistakes were made, in the form of humor. When Mr. Tsakiris realized what exactly had happened, he had the courage to come out publicly and apologize. He was invited by the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, in a special meeting, where he sat for two hours, talked to the accountants, apologized to them, explained how all this happened and then the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce issued a statement that after the relevant explanations, he considers the issue expired”, said the Minister of Development and Investments and added: “The statements were made very badly, but I want to be honest. It will be a bit harsh of me to condemn someone for a wrong statement. I think that those of us who have a public platform, it is very easy to say something that may later be misunderstood and is wrong. Bravery is recognizing your mistake and trying to correct it. This is the specific incidence”.

The Minister of Development and Investments underlined at the same time that “accountants, as a body, as a professional branch, saved the Greek economy, in the pandemic, since they were able to help their businesses and clients, to gain access, through successive tools, successive electronic platforms, with terms and conditions that changed very often along the way”. They succeeded, he said, “despite the difficulties, to carry out the mission for their customers and the national economy and thus the Greek economy remains in operation. We would not have achieved all this, as an economy and as a country, without the help, without their work”.

SOURCE: APE-ME