The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas, gave an interview on Tuesday 14 March 2017, at the Hellenic Parliament’s TV station, to the journalists Giorgos Gavalas and Kelly Kontogeorgi, answering relevant questions and mentioning the following, among others:
Journalist: During the weekend an escalation occurred in the crisis between Turkey and the Netherlands. Furthermore Brussels and Berlin suspended the procedures for Turkey’s integration. What do you think will be the outcome of this conflict?
D. Vitsas: Making estimations at this point is really risky, with regards to what is going to happen. It is not in our interest to engage in this case, which is characterised by the electoral procedures in the Netherlands and the referendum in Turkey. Furthermore, the whole issue is characterised by a rhetoric of tension, demonstrating what such actions can lead to, under particular conditions. Words like “racists”, “Nazi” etc, are very intense and I do not know if the people using them believe that they will be forgotten after the elections. However, on a level of social and popular conscience, some traces always remain. This fact does not help the peaceful coexistence. A rhetoric of this kind by the political leaderships is bound to cause problems to people of different backgrounds, coexisting in the same city.
We must follow European policy and stay disengaged from the whole affair. The people who consider that Turkey’s geopolitical future must remain oriented towards Europe, a fact in the interests of Turkey, Greece and the geopolitical stability, understand that a situation of this kind harms that future and creates new conditions, which cannot be overcome easily. So, we should be very careful.
Journalist: Has Turkey’s European perspective receded?
D. Vitsas: If someone looks at how Turkey has distanced itself from Europe, one will notice several elements for which the Turkish leadership is responsible. First of all, one should mention the issue of Cyprus which is a member – state of the EU and was one of the main issues causing negative impressions. One would also notice a number of elements having to do with the way which Turkey handled the crises at its southern and eastern borders. A rhetoric of tension is not just words. It has also to do with border violations, an issue concerning our country especially, and generally a provocative stance which due to the management of refugee flows becomes even more evident now. With regards to the refugees’ issue, Turkey has responded to a great degree to the joint declaration of the EU and Turkey, but the fact remains that there are many European forces in the Aegean, in an official role, and they now have a clearer picture of what is happening in the region.
Journalist: But we do not stand idle, do we?
D. Vitsas: The duty of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of National Defence is to have its deterrent force ready. It is clear that possible threats or challenges, will be dealt with in two ways, the first way is the central, the basic, the diplomatic way at which the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the fist say, achieving many things, on the other hand we have the Armed Forces, which must have scenarios based on which they must be prepared. We were always conducting exercises. They are not something we started doing in the last year, but as things stand now we must be even more prepared.
What is clear for us is that Greece does not recognise any grey zones and we consider our sovereign rights a given. We do not claim anything from Turkey, we do not proceed to violations. We do not look for justification for our actions in the ancient times. We respect the treaties. However we have plans for any contingency.
Journalist: We also do not let the flags be blown away by the wind…
D. Vitsas: We have a difference in comparison to the previous years. We believe in the doctrine of soberness, collectedness, decisiveness and we say that whatever happens, there will be a Greek answer. This is our basic principle, because we want to have good relations with our neighbours, because we love our country, because we do not consider other countries our enemies nor do we hate them, because we want to live in peace and for that we must be prepared.
Journalist: Do you believe that the talks for the issue of Cyprus will start again after the Turkish referendum?
D. Vitsas: The talks about Cyprus do not depend just on the referendum, as the rhetoric of tension is not pertinent only to the referendum. I hope that the tensions will ease, but this is not our affair. They have to do with the way that every country manages its position in the geostrategic environment. The talks about Cyprus must have foundations, meaning the UN resolutions and of course the fact that Cyprus as a member of the UN, an independent state of the European Union has several guarantees in order to proceed accordingly.
The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas, gave an interview on Tuesday 14 March 2017, at the Hellenic Parliament’s TV station, to the journalists Giorgos Gavalas and Kelly Kontogeorgi, answering relevant questions and mentioning the following, among others:
Journalist: During the weekend an escalation occurred in the crisis between Turkey and the Netherlands. Furthermore Brussels and Berlin suspended the procedures for Turkey’s integration. What do you think will be the outcome of this conflict?
D. Vitsas: Making estimations at this point is really risky, with regards to what is going to happen. It is not in our interest to engage in this case, which is characterised by the electoral procedures in the Netherlands and the referendum in Turkey. Furthermore, the whole issue is characterised by a rhetoric of tension, demonstrating what such actions can lead to, under particular conditions. Words like “racists”, “Nazi” etc, are very intense and I do not know if the people using them believe that they will be forgotten after the elections. However, on a level of social and popular conscience, some traces always remain. This fact does not help the peaceful coexistence. A rhetoric of this kind by the political leaderships is bound to cause problems to people of different backgrounds, coexisting in the same city.
We must follow European policy and stay disengaged from the whole affair. The people who consider that Turkey’s geopolitical future must remain oriented towards Europe, a fact in the interests of Turkey, Greece and the geopolitical stability, understand that a situation of this kind harms that future and creates new conditions, which cannot be overcome easily. So, we should be very careful.
Journalist: Has Turkey’s European perspective receded?
D. Vitsas: If someone looks at how Turkey has distanced itself from Europe, one will notice several elements for which the Turkish leadership is responsible. First of all, one should mention the issue of Cyprus which is a member – state of the EU and was one of the main issues causing negative impressions. One would also notice a number of elements having to do with the way which Turkey handled the crises at its southern and eastern borders. A rhetoric of tension is not just words. It has also to do with border violations, an issue concerning our country especially, and generally a provocative stance which due to the management of refugee flows becomes even more evident now. With regards to the refugees’ issue, Turkey has responded to a great degree to the joint declaration of the EU and Turkey, but the fact remains that there are many European forces in the Aegean, in an official role, and they now have a clearer picture of what is happening in the region.
Journalist: But we do not stand idle, do we?
D. Vitsas: The duty of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of National Defence is to have its deterrent force ready. It is clear that possible threats or challenges, will be dealt with in two ways, the first way is the central, the basic, the diplomatic way at which the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the fist say, achieving many things, on the other hand we have the Armed Forces, which must have scenarios based on which they must be prepared. We were always conducting exercises. They are not something we started doing in the last year, but as things stand now we must be even more prepared.
What is clear for us is that Greece does not recognise any grey zones and we consider our sovereign rights a given. We do not claim anything from Turkey, we do not proceed to violations. We do not look for justification for our actions in the ancient times. We respect the treaties. However we have plans for any contingency.
Journalist: We also do not let the flags be blown away by the wind…
D. Vitsas: We have a difference in comparison to the previous years. We believe in the doctrine of soberness, collectedness, decisiveness and we say that whatever happens, there will be a Greek answer. This is our basic principle, because we want to have good relations with our neighbours, because we love our country, because we do not consider other countries our enemies nor do we hate them, because we want to live in peace and for that we must be prepared.
Journalist: Do you believe that the talks for the issue of Cyprus will start again after the Turkish referendum?
D. Vitsas: The talks about Cyprus do not depend just on the referendum, as the rhetoric of tension is not pertinent only to the referendum. I hope that the tensions will ease, but this is not our affair. They have to do with the way that every country manages its position in the geostrategic environment. The talks about Cyprus must have foundations, meaning the UN resolutions and of course the fact that Cyprus as a member of the UN, an independent state of the European Union has several guarantees in order to proceed accordingly.
Journalist: The Ministry of National Defence intends to acquire F-35 aircrafts and modernise the F-16 aircrafts. Can we afford these acquisitions?
D. Vitsas: The issue is still under discussion, but as me and the Minister of National Defence have already said any action will be conducted within the financial framework in which we operate. Currently we are examining the cost of a possible upgrade of our fighters’ fleet, in particular scenarios. We have also proceeded to the question about how a study can be drafted and if in the future we will be able to acquire the new technology fighter aircrafts.
Based on our analyses the upgrade of our current fighter aircrafts is within our financial capabilities, taking into account that the payment of all these cases is a decade long project. At the same time I should remind everyone that the Minister of National Defence never said anything about purchase. Anyone would want to have aircrafts with stealth capabilities. The question is if anyone can have them.
I am just stressing the fact that we no longer proceed to purchases based on the logic of the past. We are focused on repairs, upgrade and targeted purchases where we calculate everything. Your obligations towards a new weapon system do not end when you take it out of the box. It has a life cycle. For example in all of the F-16 fleet, various upgrades have been made. What an aircraft may need for upgrades may be three or four times more from what it cost for its purchase. It is foolish not to calculate these issues from a financial and functional point of view. You do not know what you are doing or you do it for other reasons.
