G. Gerapetritis: No other weapons have been sent to Ukraine

The Greek-Turkish differences and the attitude of partners and allies was the dominant issue in the interview, in the 1st Program of the Hellenic Radio, of the Minister of State George Gerapetritis, who also answered the question whether our country has sent additional weapons to Ukraine.

First, the Minister of State recorded the “great embarrassment on the part of Turkey”, an embarrassment related, as he said, “to the exceptional presence of the Prime Minister in the United States and the very important contacts he had, the general performance that the “Americans by the prime minister, all the capitalization by the Greek diplomacy. We are not going to be heterogeneous, our diplomacy is based on principles, we are obviously not going to contradict statements with the Turkish leadership, the foreign minister has already stated.”

And, with more emphasis then, “we are absolutely ready to face any form of verbal or other attack”, in other words, as he specialized in his next sentence, “and in the field whether it is hybrid forms of war, such as the ones we experienced “In 2020, with the instrumentation of immigration or any other challenge from Turkey, by land, sea or air. We are in an excellent situation, both diplomatically and operationally, we are looking to have a solid diplomacy, an equally strong national defense,” he clarified.

Asked whether, in his view, Erdogan’s bargaining with the West or setting the stage for tension, he replied that “the attitude of Turkey is one from which it can not benefit, the issue of NATO enlargement as well as that of the Russian invasion “. Therefore, he added, it is a common perception who in the eastern Mediterranean supports freedom and democracy consistently and vigorously, and who does not.

Asked if the Greek government was satisfied with yesterday’s reaction from Brussels, he replied: “The European Commission has taken a firm stand,” he said, adding that “in any case, the latest statements are valid, which may be corrective.” “The European Union shows its full support and solidarity with Greece and Cyprus,” he said, adding that “in order for there to be security in the region, there must first be a common basis of understanding that compliance with the rules of international law “. When, “Greece is on the side of international law, not in words but in deeds, and on the other hand, Turkey indulges in acts and verbalisms, which undermine the force of international law, it is obvious what attitude the “European Union,” he said.

As for the position of the North Atlantic Alliance, things are clearer there, according to the Minister of State: Turkey is a member of NATO, but the founding conditions of the North Atlantic Alliance are clear in case one conspires the sovereignty of a member state.

“It goes without saying that there are no equal distances,” he said, referring to the US president’s statements at a meeting with the Greek prime minister. . There is, after all, he added, something signed, and which is an international obligation of the USA in the framework of the defense agreement for the provision of mutual assistance.

On the issue of the Greek-Turkish dialogue, in the current circumstances there can be no productive dialogue, he said, describing it as “self-evident” that at the same time that “we have desecration of monuments, overflights over Greek territory and inflammatory statements, a dialogue that will bring results can not to exist”.

Nevertheless, “we are data, stable, firm in favor of dialogue and we have proved it both at a technical level and for the Confidence Building Measures and during the meeting that the two leaders had”, he stated with the necessary clarification, again, that a substantive dialogue with incendiary rhetoric – aggressive actions and without a common basis of international law, can not exist.

The Greek-Turkish issue is by definition not bilateral, by definition it has an impact on a wider and more sensitive area of ​​the eastern Mediterranean, he further argued, noting that “this has already been recognized, the EU with very clear acts and reports has raised issues of sovereignty and sovereign rights of Greece and Cyprus, in an issue of the EU itself. He also reminded at this point the presence of the leadership of the European institutions in Evros in the previous crisis.

On the issue of migration flows in recent days, G. Gerapetritis said: “We have an increase in flows, ie businesses that are coordinated by, not necessarily the organized state power in Turkey, but the organized marketing circuits people “. While in a flashback to 2020 in particular, “we had data organized movements on the part of our neighbor at the border.” He made it clear, however, that “this is not going to happen. We are still guarding the Greek border, which is also a European border,” emphasizing the “great confidence” in the Greek Armed Forces.

For the F-35, after talking about a program of a decade, he announced that it will also pass through the Greek Parliament, so that the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense has the necessary information and, if necessary, the Plenary Session. Also estimating that the first phase of discussion will start in 2022, he stressed that the F-35 changes the correlations and works completely deterrently.

No other weapons have been sent

Asked if additional weapons had been sent to Ukraine, the Minister of State said: “No further weapons, further armaments, have been sent in relation to our original design. Obviously there is the use of the necessary consumables, the supplies for the weapons we have sent.”

He also referred to the “big picture”, saying: “Greece stands together with freedom and democracy in the face of the attack by Ukraine, we are together with the whole West […] “If you are in a critical phase and you want to be helped, you should also be willing to stand up to the countries of aggressive revisionism.”

And without hiding his concerns and shock, as he said, about “how much we try to extract problems from where they do not exist”, he insisted: “If we want our country to become the outcast of the liberal world, let us decide and let “Our government is very clear.”

Changing the issue, and when asked if further financial support is imminent, the Minister of State stated: “There is currently no thought of extending / strengthening the relevant measures. Greek citizens should know that we are not going to act recklessly, the recklessness about “We have paid a lot of money during the previous government. We will support our vulnerable fellow citizens who are really suffering from inflation, which is produced by the wider geopolitical environment.”

In fact, citing the European Commission’s latest report, “Greece has invested twice as much as the European average in dealing with the energy crisis. This has been possible because our budget (revenue) went well at the end of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 “, he explained. However, he also spoke about the initial approval received by the Minister of Environment from the Energy Commissioner for the dual intervention program that the government is planning from July 1, in combination with the measures that are already implemented or will be implemented immediately. To conclude, “we have a relative optimism that we will be able to contain this type of increase.” Of course, he added, “it is a package that obviously can not eliminate all the increases, but it can manage part of these increases for the benefit of Greek consumers.”

And, closing with the question about the early elections, the Minister of State stated: “We will exhaust the foreseen constitutional time, at the moment there is no reason to disturb the course of the country, which is going well”.

Source: AMPE