On Tuesday 13 March 2018, the Alternate Minister of National Defence Fotis Kouvelis visited Orestiada, escorted by Chief HAGS Lieutenant General Alkiviadis Stefanis and the D’ Army Corps Commander Lieutenant General Georgios Kampas, where he had a meeting at the Army Officers’ Club with the parents of the two members detained in Adrianoupolis.
The Alternate Minister of National Defence addressing the parents of the two Officers stated the following:
‘’ I am here to see you and tell you that our effort is unceasing on many and multiple levels, so that our children, your children, our members will soon return to our homeland. I would like to assure you that our effort is systematic and persistent. I realize that you as parents hurt more than anyone else. Our assurance towards you should be taken as a given : we do all we can in our capacity, in a persistent and systematic way. The Chief has spoken with you, the efforts continue at the best possible level and we expect that our children will soon return to the homeland. ‘‘
The Alternate Minister of National Defence stated the following after the meeting:
‘’ I had the opportunity to inform them on all the actions taken in relation to the course of this matter, as far as their capture and lasting detention are concerned. This case needs be defined in its real dimensions. It is a borderline incident and there is nothing more to it.
We try to accelerate the process, so that the competent Turkish court will conclude on the offence attributed to them. We think that this borderline incident is probably an offence, which if committed it was without guile, unintentionally and, as a consequence, e the court should be the one to drop the charges pressed against our two members, our two Armed Forces members. Nothing more, nothing less concerning this specific fact.
We hope that their detention ends soon, since it is not justified, though an effort is being made to this end in conjunction with the charges on the part of the Turkish judicial authority. We would like to believe, we struggle for it, that the process is going to be concluded and will soon be subject to the judgment of the court, in its true characteristics and dimensions, not overblown.
I would like to inform you that the detention conditions for our two members are satisfactory. Their parents can visit them on a weekly basis and I do believe that the duration of their detention in the Turkish jail will not be long, it should not be long, let alone their overall stay in Turkish territory. We are working hard on their swift return back home.
Our country is a peaceful country, serving peace but at the same time it steadily and strongly sets forth that we defend our sovereignty rights arising from the international treaties and the International Law. Our country steadily serves peace, avoiding any tensions caused by the neighbouring country by not participating in the escalation of these tensions. We protect and serve our sovereignty rights in the best possible way showing at the same time our perennial will to do so.
