“Mr. Erdoğan has accustomed us to threats. We are prepared for all eventualities. If these threats become real, he will find we are prepared. We are politically and operationally determined to deal with them. That is the instruction of the Prime Minister”, stressed Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis in an interview on SKAI TV’s morning show “SIMERA” with journalists Dimitris Oikonomou and Maria Anastasopoulou.
In particular, Mr. Varvitsiotis, commenting on the recent statements by the Turkish President that the US has chosen to join the wrong side in the Aegean, pointed out that they are proof of the extent of his isolation. “You realize how important the defence agreement which the government signed with the United States is, how much this whole network of defence and diplomatic agreements that Greece has made has annoyed Turkey and how much they reinforce our country against the Turkish threat”, he noted.
Asked about the management of migratory flows and the questions of the Dutch journalist during the recent joint press conference by the Greek and Dutch Prime Minister, the Alternate Minister pointed out that Greece fully complies with the provisions of the European Regulation on the protection of maritime borders.
He also added that, contrary to Turkish propaganda, no one in Europe accuses Greece of not properly implementing human rights agreements or that it drowns people at sea. “If there is a person in danger, we are rescuing them, there is no doubt about that”, he said.
In the same vein, Mr. Varvitsiotis noted that Europe has been alarmed by what is happening in Poland and Lithuania and has now come to realize that “the instrumentalization of migrants is a direct threat”. “It is something we have always maintained and today it has become commonplace,” he said. He concluded by saying that Turkey has become a permanent issue in Europe, whether on fisheries, human rights, the economy or security. “And whenever we discuss about Turkey, there is a violation,” he commented.
November 12, 2021