The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos met at 09:30 with the Leader of the “Nea Dexia” (New Right) political party Failos Kranidiotis, who was accompanied by a group of cadres, and at 10:30 with the independent MP of B’ Electoral District of Athens and Head of the “NEO” (Nea Elliniki Ormi – New Hellenic Impetus) political party Katerina Papakosta, following their request.
With these meetings, the political and military leadership of the Ministry of National defence aimed at briefing them on matters of MOD pertinence, and on the developments in the Aegean Sea and the broader region.
After the meeting, Failos Kranidiotis stated the following:
“We requested a meeting with the Minister of National Defence Mr. Panos Kammenos, due to the situation that is formed as a result of the escalation of Turkish aggressiveness, since the “Nea Dexia” political party is only interested in the national aspects of this issue and not in the “party patriotism” aspect.
I thanked the Minister and the Chiefs of the General Staffs on account of their very detailed briefings. We will always assist anything that promotes the defence of our country’s freedom and territorial integrity. Since it is one of the reasons I visited the Ministry today and sought to stress our distinction, compared to other attitudes, I would like to state that I consider blatant and contemptible the attitude that turns against our national interests and consists in adopting the Turks rhetoric against officials of the Greek state who respond to the Turk islamofascists’ aggressiveness.
There may be other issues we can disagree upon, regarding the economy or the society, however I believe that it is our duty to be undivided in matters concerning the tackling of Turkish hostility and we should defend our own leaders against the Turks’ abusive insults”.
After the meeting, Katerina Papakosta stated the following:
“As, in politics, I believe that when we only focus on problems, more problems emerge but when we focus on our capabilities, prospects get created, I visited today the Ministry of National Defence so as to be briefed on three issues.
The first issue regards the illegal arrest of the Greek Officers; when the other side claims that there is rule of law, there should be an indictment based on which they are detained in our neighbouring country. Since there is no such thing, their detention is illegal and, as a state governed by the rule of law, we should bring this issue out to Europe and to our own country as well, and address it to our neighbour, Turkey.
The second issue relates to the tension in Greek-Turkish relations. As far as this issue is concerned, we should inform friends and opponents, and everyone should hear it, that the issues with our neighbours are not bilateral. They are issues pertaining to our country’s participation in the European Union; therefore Europe – other than just verbally – should see how it will get to European integration, when it has not taken care to establish a cohesive foreign policy and defence. It is an issue that should be set right, rather than settling for verbally defending Greece. In addition, the Alliance should also consider that treating Greece and Turkey on equal terms is not fair, especially since the issues between the two countries are not bilateral. They are issues pertaining to the alliances and to the European Union; therefore, they are also European and Alliance issues.
The third issue regards the NATO Secretary General’s statement which I think was very unfortunate, given the circumstances, as I believe that a rather passive stance was transformed to a policy of impartiality, thus making himself the Pontius Pilate of this situation.
I believe that this should be rectified and restored immediately; otherwise, what is the meaning of NATO’s existence in such circumstances, if it does not bring out Turkey’s commissions and omissions the way it should and lumps together our neighbour with our own country, which only minds its business and only defends itself, without claims and aims.
This is what I came to discuss today, as well as the Armed Forces morale; I was briefed by the Chiefs who are excellent at doing their job and I would like to conclude by saying that the Greek people is right to trust the Armed Forces and consider them an institution which inspires security, confidence and reliance.
As politicians, we should do our part, keep a united and unbroken front, and stop involving the Armed Forces, or our foreign matters, to the political tug-of-war.
Finally, I would like to say that the N.E.O. political party which I represent will do anything possible in the Parliament, so that such issues will be promoted to matters of understanding between the political forces, and not matters of division, which could only damage our country, our people’s morale, our Armed Forces’ spirits and the claim of our rightful matters”.
