“There is absolutely no reason why Greece and Turkey cannot become best friends, but Turkey must accept international law and international law of the sea,” said Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in an interview with “Economist” on the sidelines of the 26th Economist conference in Lagonisi.
“Let’s try to solve a geometry exercise and let’s try to do it together. What happens is that Greece tries to solve the exercise according to Euclidean geometry where there are parallels and Turkey tries to solve the same exercise with a completely different set of rules, its own set of rules with an elliptical geometry where there are no parallels”, noted Mr. Dendias.
“No matter how long we talk, we will never be able to solve the same exercise together,” he pointed out and added that the two countries must use the same set of rules, the one accepted by the international community, international law, the international Law of the Sea , the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
As he pointed out, good relations with Turkey are very important for Greece, but they must have a very solid foundation: international law, namely international law of the sea, human rights, women’s rights, mutual respect and tolerance .
He also reminded that Greece always hoped that Turkey would get closer to this set of ideas, would get closer to the European Union. After all, as he mentioned, Turkey still aspires to become a member of the European Union and Greece is the only country that supports Turkey in this direction.
“If Turkey comes to this kind of understanding, not only with us but also with the international community, I could say that Greece and Turkey and the region will have a very bright future, a very bright future indeed. But this may take some time,” he said.
Referring to the NATO Summit in Madrid, he noted that it was particularly positive because of the green card given to Sweden and Finland to join NATO.
“Honestly, I did not expect to see this in my lifetime. And this is a very proud ‘achievement’ of President Putin, it is a gift to the Alliance and it is a gift to the free world,” he emphasized.
He added that he expects “that Sweden and Finland will change the climate within NATO a bit when they become members, because they are both proud democracies, important democracies.”
It is also particularly important that NATO has adopted the new strategic policy of the Alliance, which reminds everyone that NATO is an Alliance based on values.
“It’s not just a defense alliance, it’s not just a number of countries that decided to help each other defend themselves. It’s a number of countries that decided to defend not only themselves, but values and the international order rules-based”.
Asked about the division that exists between North and South in NATO, Mr. Dendias noted that this has happened many times in the European Union and for the Greeks, after the economic crisis of the previous decade, this is something that is understood and appreciated quite a bit. good.
“As far as NATO is concerned, I don’t see Finland and Sweden as members that, in a sense, will change the balance in favor of the North over the South. I don’t see the situation in the Alliance as one where whoever cries wolf first gets more help and more attention,” he notes.
“And, anyway, we have clearly seen who the wolf is. And the wolf is here, the wolf is in the North, the wolf is in the Black Sea, the wolf is in Syria, the wolf is in Libya, and the wolf is in Sahel”.
“The fact that Finland and Sweden, two countries with important military structures, but also important democracies, countries that respect human rights, countries that respect women’s rights, countries that have the structure that could help us create a better tomorrow for our children, is an important addition to the Alliance. So I am very happy that they are joining us,” he emphasized.
He also expressed the hope that the Turkish government and President Erdogan appreciates how critical the moment is, how important it is to show unity, how important it would be for the Alliance to have Sweden and Finland and what has been achieved in Madrid and will not change his decision again.
Referring to the European edifice, the Foreign Minister pointed out that the European experiment is new, only 70 years old and this is only the first or second stage, we have a long way to go.
“Of course there are problems in Europe and there are problems that the new generation of leaders, like President Macron and Olaf Solz, have to deal with. But, once again, the important thing is that Europe stays on course,” he noted.
“The challenges posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, inflation, the situation in the Sahel of Africa make it more difficult, but these are challenges that we have to face and we can face.”
“But we must face them while remaining true to the main core of this unique experiment in human history and with another dimension that must always be remembered: to keep the Euro-Atlantic bond alive. It is important in this process that the US remains with us.” , he emphasized.
Finally, he said he believes the US will stay close to Europe for a very simple reason: its values. We serve the same values.
“Of course there will be problems, there will be ups and downs. This is human history after all. But we will stay close, because that is what our values dictate, our shared values.”
SOURCE: APE-ME
Source: Capital
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