“If you want peace, then you have to prepare for war. We want peace and dialogue, but we also send a clear message to Turkey that no one can toy with our national sovereignty”, said Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, speaking today on RealFm 97.8 radio station and Nikos Chatzinikolaou.
On the occasion of the arrival of the first six Rafale aircraft, Mr. Varvitsiotis noted that they create a new balance of power in the Aegean and that procurements of such as those of the Belharra frigates strengthen the country's defence and geopolitical footprint in the Aegean and Southeastern Mediterranean, a fact - as he said - that has provoked the spasmodic and nervous reaction of Ankara. “Because we not only possess the spirit, the worthy Greek officers and soldiers and the Greek patriots who will defend the country, but now we also possess the technical means to counter the Turkish threat”, he stressed.
The Alternate Minister also stated that Greece has exposed Turkish conduct at the international level, highlighting it as a European issue, while at the same time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in constant mobility making contacts inside and outside Europe, sending the message, firstly, that Greece is an actor entering into dialogue with all parties under the terms of International Law and, secondly, that its foreign policy is not limited to a single issue.
January 20, 2022