The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos, the Minister of Defence of Serbia Aleksandar Vulin and the Minister of Defence of Romania Mihai – Viorel Fifor attended the multinational exercise of special operation forces “SALAMIS STORM 2018” which was held at Special Forces Training Centre, Nea Peramos.

The exercise was also attended by the Chief of HNDGS Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, the Chief of Bulgarian Armed Forces General Andrey Botsev, who represented also the Defence Minister of Bulgaria, the Chief of Romanian Armed Forces General Nicolae – Ionel Ciuca and the Chief of Serbian Land Forces Lieutenant General Milosav Samovic representing the Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces.

It was also attended by the Chief of Hellenic Army General Staff Lieutenant General Alkiviadis Stefanis and the Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff Lieutenant General Christos Christodoulou.

The Minister of National Defence stated the following:

“I would like to welcome the Defence Ministers of Romania and Serbia, the Chiefs of the General Staffs of Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria – unfortunately the Defence Minister of Bulgaria could not attend the exercise together with us today due to unscheduled commitments – to the exercise “SALAMIS STORM 2018” which is the first Special Operation Forces’ exercise to be conducted by Balkan countries, in the presence of the Ministers and Chiefs of General Staffs.  

We all together, the Defence Ministers and the Balkan countries, want to send a message of cooperation and peace, regarding the creation of a very strong axis of stability from the Balkan area; an area which has suffered by conflicts in the past, an area which is a pillar of stability in the wider area of Europe and South-eastern Mediterranean.

We are working together, the Ministers of National Defence and the Armed Forces, for this geopolitical force which is created to be utilized in order to bring peace and prosperity to our peoples.

As you also had the possibility to confirm, this first exercise of the Special Forces is an exemplary military exercise in which every time objective has been achieved. For the first time, the Special Forces cooperated, we saw that there was a perfect coordination and this is very important also as a political message to our allies, as well as to everybody who might think to create any security challenge in the wider area of the Balkans.

They should know that we will work together, and, with our peoples, our Armed Forces and within the alliances, we wish to send the message that the Balkans is not a war zone, but a zone of stability, an area of peace which, in close cooperation with alliances and third parties, will manage to bring peace to the wider area of South-eastern Mediterranean.

This cooperation starts as a military cooperation, but it is a cooperation which will expand to the energy sector. As you all know, Investments in energy require the security that cooperating Armed Forces can offer.

Once more, I welcome the Ministers and very soon we will be in Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria to watch similar exercises.

I will inform my colleagues on the continuing illegal detention of the two Greek officers in Turkey against any international law provision. In parallel, I will inform them about yesterday’s statement delivered by the vice president of the Turkish government who announced, violating any moral principle and international law provision, a practically war operation he has already ordered for the abduction, in a foreign country, in a NATO allied country, of the Turkish officers whom Justice decided not to extradite due to the expiration of the 18-month period. I will do the same tomorrow too, in the European Union and NATO.

The announcement of the Turkish vice president was a great opportunity for us to be able to prove, in the simplest possible manner, how Turkey violates the International law, the international treaties and how it tries to undermine the efforts for peaceful coexistence in the wider area.

Namely, how can an ally announce a substantially illegal war operation in the territory of another country of the Alliance”.