SYRIZA: Letter to the Prime Minister and Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense

Open letter of the Heads of Defense, Theodore Dritsa, Foreign Minister George Katrougalos and Deputy Head of Defense George Tsipras, of K.O. of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, to the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Mr. Nikos Dendias and of National Defense Mr. Nikos Panagiotopoulos, on the topic: Conference of the Union of Retired Army Officers (E.A.A.S.), against the Prespa Agreement.

The open letter in detail:

Theodore Dritsa, Head of Defense
George Katrougalos, Head of Foreign Affairs
George Tsipras, Deputy Head of Defense

Π Ρ Ο Σ

Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nikos Dendias
Minister of National Defense, Mr. Nikos Panagiotopoulos

We wonder if you have been informed that the Administration of the Union of Retired Army Officers (E.A.A.S.), organizes a Conference “open to the public” in Velideio in Thessaloniki tomorrow, Wednesday 22 June with the theme: “We denounce the Prespa Agreement”, four years after its signing.

If so, what do you do? Do you tolerate this initiative of an Association that is a Legal Entity under Public Law supervised by you? Even more, do you approve and cover it?

We note that, as the organizers announce, “the main purpose of the meeting is to examine all developments, but also the text of this agreement itself, from the perspective of a drastic change or cancellation by the Greek side.”

Please note that:

1. The Management of E.A.A.S. is involved among many others for her official visit to the offices of Golden Dawn in the past, but also for the organization of an intolerant spirit of ceremonies in Vitsi and Grammos, in which events were attended and laid wreath by representatives of Golden Dawn and other nationalists, false and fascist organizations, with more extreme, the laying of a wreath through a representative by the convicted of forming a criminal organization, Kasidiaris. We remind you that this fact led to the deletion from the K.O. of N.D. of the MP Mr. Konstantinos Bogdanos, because he attended and tolerated the presence of the goldsmiths. But then you avoided controlling the Administration of E.A.A.S. as you should.

2. The E.A.A.S., is by law a Legal Entity under Public Law, that is, an institutional structure of the official Greek state, supervised by the Minister of National Defense. The Government therefore has full responsibility for the actions of the Union.

3. A simple reading of the legal purposes and responsibilities of E.A.A.S., as described in detail in its approved Articles of Association, clearly leads to the objective assessment that this meeting and its subject, completely deviate from the legal purposes of the Union, even in the case that their general reference to its statutory purposes, ie “preservation of an undiminished National Wisdom”, “offer to the homeland”, “national interest”, etc.

4. It is absolutely clear from the text of the announcement of the event that the organizers are defending the well-known view of extreme nationalist circles, that is, the opposition to the solution of the complex geographical designation for the name of the northern country. In other words, they oppose the official, established policy of almost all Greek parties, as well as of all governments from Costas Karamanlis onwards.

The fact that N.D. as an opposition, he courted and hypocritically flirted with extreme rallies that had such a character, while officially the N.D. was in favor of the complex geographical designation, ie in favor of the use of the term “Macedonia” in a compound name, it is a problem of N.D.

A Legal Entity under Public Law under the supervision and financing of the Minister of Defense, can not openly and officially adopt such extreme views and in fact on behalf of all retired Army officials.

5. The Prespa Agreement includes a contractual obligation of the two Contracting States (Greece-Northern Macedonia), not to encourage – and even at the level of public bodies – initiatives that lead to an intensification of a climate of intolerance between the two peoples.

6. Among the speakers at the conference, there are also people who led the nationalist hate rallies in Athens against the Prespa Agreement and in fact, in the detailed program of the conference, this “achievement” is projected as a… title of honor!

7. Finally, such initiatives, in these critical developments for our country and our region, regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the escalation of the Turkish provocation by Erdogan, pose well-founded threats and dangers to the detriment of national and social cohesion, but and the consistent defense of International Law by our country.

Mr. Prime Minister,
Chief Ministers,

How is it possible for you to accept the Administration of the Legal Entity under Public Law EAS under your supervision, to deviate from its responsibilities and its statutory limits and to call publicly, in opposition to its fixed and legally established positions? Greece for a complex name erga omnes, putting the country’s international relations and their future in obvious danger? Will you do something?

Thodoris Dritsas – Head of Defense
George Katrougalos – Head of Foreign Affairs
George Tsipras – Deputy Chief of Defense
of K.O. of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance