The Minister of National Defence Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Nikos Dendias informed the members of the Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs, on 26 May 2020, during a scheduled meeting which was held in “Ioannis Kapodistrias” hall at the Ministry of National Defence.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee Mr. Konstantinos Gkioulekas stated the following:

“Dear colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen good evening!

I am opening this meeting as responsible to chair this Committee, although we are hosted in this place by the Minister of National Defence who is on my right.

Minister, thank you very much for hosting the Committee in the Ministry. It is the second time that our Committee holds a meeting here. Moreover, it is particularly important that this briefing will be conducted by the two competent Ministers on this matter, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of National Defence.

Of course, we hold this meeting at crucial circumstances. Over the last months, due to the “battle” we are fighting in the health sector, Committees could not convene and so we had this two-month pause. During this pause, however, many things happened, among which was also the famous “crisis” on our borders at Evros, which was dealt with very effectively by the Greek side.

At this point, as Chairman of the Committee and being confident that I am expressing also the feelings and views of all the members of the Committee, I would like to congratulate the leaders of the Armed Forces and I would like to ask you Minister and Chief to convey to every woman and man of the Armed Forces our warmest thanks for what they did and they keep doing for our Land, and also convey them the message that the Parliament embraces them with full trust. They have always our support, and I think that it was very important that a message was sent from our country as a result of this “crisis”: that it is a strong country and determined to defend its sovereignty rights effectively. And I believe that this message was useful too, as was also the fact that heads of significant organizations, in European Union and other organisations, came to our country to visit Evros region and they confirmed by themselves who exactly provokes and what is going on. Of course, Turkey’s provocativeness is going on, so today’s meeting is particularly interesting for us to see what the situation is today.

I would like to inform you, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the meeting we had scheduled here, in the Ministry of National Defence would be attended by The Minister and the Deputy Minister of National Defence regarding matters of their responsibility and we had agreed with the Minister that we would expand also on other issues beyond the ones about the current situation, on issues regarding the defence industry absolutely pertinent to these ones. Obviously, we will not have the time to discuss these issues here, due to the current issues, so we agreed with the Minister – Minister and Deputy Minister, please, as soon as possible – to have a next meeting of our Committee, so you can inform us on the other matters.

Both Ministers will conduct this briefing today. Our meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Dendias in the Plenary Session had been scheduled for tomorrow, but, since these two matters are related to each other, it was suggested that both Ministers be present, as was asked by many members of the Committee. Mr. Loverdos, as well as other colleagues, suggested several times that it would be useful if both Ministers were present. So, to begin with the meeting, I would like to ask our host, the Minister of National Defence, Mr. Panagiotopoulos, to have the floor.

The Minister of National Defence Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos underscored the following:

“Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I too would like to remind you that this meeting of the Committee in “Ioannis Kapodistrias” hall of the Ministry of National Defence was a scheduled meeting, but it was planned a few days ago and should include a full briefing on all the basic matters of National Defence.

Apart from what happens in Evros and other recent event, we had agreed to discuss the matters of the coronavirus pandemic in the Armed Forces and of Armament Programmes and Defence Industry, although I insist that Defence Industry matters should be discussed in a separate meeting on this agenda. However, due to the recent developments, we cooperated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Minister, in order to perform a joint briefing for the Committee.

And although in the past it might sometimes seem unlikely or even impossible, for the Heads of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and National Defence to address a meeting of the Committee together, in order to inform the Parliament, this is not the case today. There is a constant cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, almost on a daily basis, so that we can decide together about the manner in which we will deal with our essential national matters. An since I am talking about national issues, I would like to say that a very strong political confrontation has begun about a matter which is definitely worth mentioning, but not worthy of this tension that has been caused in the country and of the public debate about it.

So, the Ministry of National Defence should explain some key points to avoid any misunderstandings. I would like to state that our view is clear and I will analyse it point by point:

Point one: Greece’s borders have been clearly delimitated and are firm and unchanging. They cannot change and move, as the river-bed of Evros shifted and moved over decades. I will expand on this later.

Point two: Greece secures and protects its frontiers. The government will do what it must for this. We proved this last March on Evros, where we faced an organized attempt to violate the borders in terms of an invasion or of a hybrid threat, as I have explained. However, the excellent cooperation between the Armed Forces and the Hellenic Police brought the desired result which was to repulse this organized attempt.

Honestly, until recently, I thought that only Turkey was bothered by this strong and decisive position. Now, I realize that it bothers also various groups within Greece. And this cause might probably be used as an opportunity to tarnish the achievement in Evros, that is the successful management of this crisis as is confirmed by the results. It is these shadows on our country’s established right to protect its borders which are also European borders, particularly when this rights was exercised in the most emphatic manner last March.

Point three: I believe that this type of sensitive national matters are not apt for expressing petty opposition in the form of opportunism! Because it is an act of opportunism when political parties reproduce false news published by a foreign media which referred to tenths of Turkish soldiers entering the Greek territory and it even mentioned a wrong place, it said they were in Melissokomeio. Although there were no problems in Melissokomeio!

These are blatant lies, which unfortunately were given attention by people in our country. So if political parties agree with this type of news, create a political rumour or damage to the government or even an increase of tension, whether intentionally or not, I cannot tolerate it. These are not good services for our Homeland.

Point four: The main cause, in my personal opinion, of everything that happened in the political debate over the last days is the lack of knowledge, as it has been proved, about the geography of the territory in Evros and the precise delimitation of the borders. It is not, Ladies and Gentlemen, a river that flows and on the one side of it is the Turkish bank and on the other the Greek bank. This happens probably on some parts of the Danube which has a width of some thousand meters. Evros river is not the same.

And I remind you: The land frontier of Greece – Turkey has been delimitated, based, on the one hand, on the Treaty of Lausanne and, on the other hand, on the Protocol of 1926 and further based on the then riverbed of Evros. Since then, it’s the riverbed that has changed, and not the frontier. As a result, there are today some parts of the Greek territory which are on the east of Evros river, the so called “bridgeheads”, and in our particular case the Feres bridgehead. On the other side, there are parts of the Turkish territory that are on the west of Evros river. Usually, these parts have some common features:

• thick vegetation, bosky territory and even impassable at certain points, a real jungle.

• Floods in winter and land covered by water in winter. Constantly, almost every year when Evros floods. And this has been happening for decades.

• The difficulty to mark the territory precisely makes this issue a technical issue, as the Turkish ambassador stated some days ago, a technical issue and nothing more, definitely not a territorial dispute.

• The access of every person to these places is difficult. For many many years, nobody, neither Turk nor Greek, has set foot on these places and, of course, not a military.

Point five: That said and given the explicit will and determination of the Government to reinforce our frontier, a fence is now constructed in Evros region long enough to cover the land borders. It is a procedure that will take several time, at a length of 26 km. Many preparatory works for the mapping and marking of the territory which are not conducted by the Ministry of Citizen Protection, which has typically assumed to build the fence, but by the Army, specifically by the Hellenic Military Geographical Service, which is competent to perform this precise, but difficult at certain points, marking of the territory.

It is known that some have a poor opinion about the construction of the fence. Their views are known but this does not concern us, this is not what we discuss today. The fence will be built. This is an explicit will of the government and it will be performed soon. In this manner we will protect our land frontier better, But the preparatory works for the construction of the fence on this particular bridgehead of Feres – and not the bridgehead of Melissokomeio, as it has been falsely mentioned in the news – have caused a reaction by the Turkish side.

The Hellenic Army began to clear-cut an area of bosky ground, as I said, to proceed to this marking. When notice was taken of this fact, some Turkish Soldiers and Police Officers came to the area. They remained for some days, they camped for some days, and they set up fires in the woods on the Turkish territory.

Units of the Hellenic Army, our soldiers, were opposite them, during this time of their presence there. This now brings me to the final point I wish to mention.

I reiterate it: Greek territory has never been occupied by foreign forces, and obviously not by units of the Turkish Armed Forces in Evros region, over the last days. And I would like to be very clear, as was also the Prime Minister yesterday during his television interview. The press release that the Ministry of National Defence made on Saturday has also been made known.

The Hellenic Armed Forces perform their duty. They fully protect the security of our frontier and they do it very well, particularly over the last months. And they will do it again very well, if it is necessary to face pressure again on our borders. There is relevant evidence of this, but I assure you that our Armed Forces will defend again our borders against any violation, as they did last March.

Unfortunately, this whole discussion, Ladies and Gentlemen, affects negatively also the morale of our personnel. It’s a shame to have all this damage after the great efforts they made and they continue to make and will make again if necessary. I think that I am obliged to send this particular message, from here, from the headquarters of the Chiefs of the Hellenic Armed Forces. It is my final point, but allow me to say that it is not at all insignificant, especially at this time.

So, Mr. Chairman, after the briefing and the speeches of mine and of the Minister of Foreign Affairs that follows, allow me to ask you to give the floor to the military Chiefs as well, so that they proceed to their detailed briefing. I am sure that what they have to say and show will clarify even more thoroughly all the aspects of this matter, particularly the technical aspects which require a particular attention from all of us, but, as you will find out, they will be very illuminating.

Thank you”.

During the briefing, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Nikos Dendias underscored:

“Thank you, Chairman, Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the Ministry of National Defence for hosting this meeting of the Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament. I would like, on my turn, to refer to the excellent relation and cooperation of both Ministries and I ought to reiterate what our host and colleague, Mr. Panagiotopoulos, underlined, in contrast to what was happening in the past, and, of course, I am not referring to the period when Mr. Katrougkalos was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

We will have the opportunity to examine together all the developments of the period after our last meeting in January, from the unprecedented, hybrid, massive attempt of violation of our borders which Greece and European Union faced together in late February and early March, as well as the continuous escalation of the Turkish provocativeness against Greece and the Republic of Cyprus, and generally, in the wider area, but if the time allows it, also the developments in Libya, Syria and the Balkans.

I will stress that we continue to exert our foreign policy with composure, seriousness and decisiveness, based on the principles of International Law and legitimacy, and we defend our sovereignty right and our national interests. Over the last four months approximately that passed since our last meeting, the following things happened:

Firstly, the increase, in quantity and in gravity, of Turkish violations.

Secondly, the intense diplomatic activity of our country to every direction despite the unprecedented circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Thirdly, the contribution of the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the collective efforts to face the consequences of the pandemic, on the one hand, and to return to normal, on the other hand, after the pandemic lockdown.

Before we start our closed-door meeting officially, I would like to say a few words about the real events of the last days in Evros region, because it is important to avoid any misunderstandings, in private or in public about the real facts.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the government never allowed, nor will it ever allow the loss or the call into question of a part of the national territory. And I may say that any Greek government would never allow it. There is, anyway, a relevant constitutional provision. Reports about an alleges “occupation”, I underscore this word, of national territory which were published over the last days and were reproduced in foreign press as well, are false news and should not be reproduced. I find it unimaginable such claims to be adopted and be parts of the Greek public debate.

The government has proven that it knows how to defend Greece and Europe’s borders, the sovereignty and our sovereignty rights.

Please, allow me, shortly to describe what happened in Evros:

Greece began some preparatory works, specifically, some measurements and clear-cuttings for the construction, and extension of the Fence on Evros, in the area of Feres, within the Greek territory. Turkey asked to be informed about the coordinates on which this Fence will be constructed. The Greece side answered to this request that the Fence will be constructed totally within the Greek territory, so there is no need for the Turkish side to be informed about the coordinates they asked for. Following an increased activity of the Turkish side on a territory where preparatory works had been conducted by our side, we gave a new note verbale to the Turkish ambassador, whereas a release of Turkey states inaccurately that we violated Turkey’s frontier.

These are the facts.

I would also like to say that our national matters should not be exploited for politics, or even worse, for petty politics. We cannot and we must not put our national interests at stake in order to gain some temporary publicity at home. Our country has paid many times in its past, in its recent and old past, every effort of exploitation of national matters. And I do not intend to participate in such a procedure.

Once more, Mr. Chairman, Minister, thank you very much for hosting us here at the Ministry of National Defence, in a familiar hall and place and after the initial speeches, I am absolutely ready to discuss any matter our colleagues consider necessary during this meeting of the Committee”.

The Chief of HNDGS General Konstantinos Floros delivered the following statement:

“Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ministers, MPs, Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament, I would like, in my turn, to welcome you to the Ministry of National Defence.

I will start by stressing, as you all know, that we have to face a neighbouring country which continuously provokes:

• It violates worldwide respected rules of air traffic.

• It violates the National Airspace and conducts overflights above the National territory.

• It proceeds to non innocent passage in our territorial waters.

• It conducts illegal maritime researches and illegal drillings in the EEZ of Cyprus.

• It violates the UN arms embargo on Libya and it does not hesitate to exploit human pain and hopes of tormented people – I am talking about the migrants – to put pressure on the European Union and at the same time to destabilize our country.

Since December 2019 and on, right after the illegal Turkish-Libyan Memorandum was signed, the air violations committed by our neighbouring country have increased sharply. I assure you – you already know it anyway – that we react to every violation.

Our Armed Forces are here to react with poise to every provocative activity of Turkey on land, in the air and at sea. Our fighters respond actively to everyday interceptions and engagements and, at the same time, the Armed Forces are highly ready for every contingency.

Our experience from the developments in Evros last March, when in cooperation with the Security Services we successfully repulsed the organized hybrid attack which Turkey launched against us using the Migration Issue, was very valuable for our personnel.

Since 28 February and for a month, we deterred almost 50 thousand illegal migrants from entering the Greek territory.

We protected the Greek borders like a “crown jewel”, we fulfilled our duty with professionalism and self-sacrifice, and we reinforced the morale of the Greeks. The Greek people acknowledged this and reciprocated, by expressing once more their strong and constant trust and love to the Armed Forces of our country.

For us, though, the end of Evros developments was not the end of our effort. On the contrary, it was a new beginning. Since then, without loosening our alertness, we reinforced more our borders and we still do it, we increased our forces in personnel and assets and we definitely adjusted our operational plans.

We are therefore ready to repulse any potential wave, whether it is against our land or sea borders, and all this without omitting any part of our main mission which is the constant preparation to successfully and victoriously deal with any incident of purely military nature, whether it is on land, at sea or in the air and whether it involves a local or total conflict.

As far as the recent reports about an alleged Turkish invasion and occupation of our territory in Evros region, I would like to state clearly and explicitly that they are absolutely untrue and they do not reflect a real situation to any extent.

A probable violation of our borders is an issue that differs from the settlement of a technical issue between our country and Turkey in cases where ground differentiations may arise due to the shift of Evros riverbed, for example, because of floods which, as we all know, happen often almost every year in this area.

These issues were solved, are solved and will be solved obviously in the future too, by specialized committees of experts. And this practice has been followed since 1926, when the riverbed of Evros in the form it had at that time, and specifically its lowest point was defined as the frontier between the two countries, along the greatest part of the common borders.

As a conclusion, I would like to state clearly and explicitly that there has never been any occupation of even one mere millimeter of national territory. Also, I would like to underscore – and be sure about this – that if our territorial integrity is indeed threatened, if our National Independence is, indeed, disputed, and if the supreme good of National Security is put into question, which the Armed Forces absolutely guarantee, then we will perform our duty totally once more, immediately, decisively and victoriously, drawing our force from the trust and love of the Greek people towards the Armed Forces.

Thank you”.