On the occasion of the Greek Prime Minister’s visit to the U.S., Alternate Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis stressed in an interview on Athina 9.84 radio, with journalist Noni Karagianni, that Greece is going to the U.S. with the agenda of a trusted, firm and longstanding partner. He called the Mitsotakis-Trump meeting a first-class opportunity to explain to the White House Turkey’s role as a destabilising factor creating insecurity and directly threatening the territorial integrity of a NATO member state such as Greece. Moreover, he underscored, a broad coalition backing Greece’s positions has already been created through our bilateral and trilateral agreements with countries in the region.
Asked about the prospect of recourse to The Hague, the Alternate Minister said this is still a distant option. In any event, such recourse will not be Greece’s first step.
Finally, Mr. Varvitsiotis reiterated that we are not prepared to play Turkey’s game of militarising the two countries’ disputes, but we are determined to defend our sovereign rights if the need arises.
January 7, 2020