The Alternate Minister of National Defence Fotis Kouvelis gave an interview, on Thursday 12 April 2018, to the 247 radio station and the journalists Vasilis Skouris and Aggeliki Spanou and stated among others the following:
About the rising tensions around Syria:
Athens observes the developments with apprehension, in the sense that in no case should we find ourselves facing the folly of a conflict, which will constitute the worst development for the wider region. Consequently, Greece may not be at the frontline but is located in the wider region, hence it has its own reasons to feel apprehensive. Answering if Greece has been asked to participate and what applies regarding the offered facilitations at Souda he said: Up till now there has been no request for a particular function of the Souda Base. There is no particular request. Souda has its own functions, stipulated by contractual obligations, which apply in the context of NATO in general. There is nothing specialised with regards to the threat which dangles over the global community regarding a possible strike by the USA against the particular region of Syria.
About the consequences of such a strike to our country:
It goes without saying that, if we have incidents, conducted war in the wider region, these will affect our tourism even reflectively. If the particular option continues being made, it will constitute at first a mild and then a more intense threat for our tourism. That is the issue, which anybody can register as a probability, but up until now we have no indication of decreasing touristic flows to Greece. No reservations have been cancelled in Greece. On the contrary, we expect, based on our data, that we will have increased tourism.
About the Turkish provocations:
Turkey has chosen escalating tension. Based on that one can observe and evaluate all its actions, with fly-overs, violations, the arrest of two members of our military personnel and their confinement in the high security prison of Adrianople. We must also integrate the recorded incident with the Turkish coastguard helicopter, which of course was not allowed to violate the borderline, to the aforementioned wider context.
On the danger of a controlled conflict in the Aegean:
I do not believe that there can be a controlled conflict. Regarding the probability of a hot incident, I will tell you that an occurrence, which can result from an interception, can heat things up and constitute a hot incident. This cannot be ruled out. However, I must say that our Armed Forces are proficient, capable and resolved not only to defend but also safeguard to the full our national sovereign rights, in the context of our political options, as they are stipulated by International Law.
About the probability of an increase of the military service:
There is no chance of increasing the military service, nor is there such a proposition made by any side. There are various rumours but none of them reflects the truth. Greece has decided, for a while now, to make a change in military structure. The New Recruits Training Centres have stopped functioning and the recruits are assigned directly to their units. This decision was made at a time irrelevant to the tension recorded lately. This change is conducted for the following reasons: The first reason is that we have a better and more effective training of the soldiers, since this is conducted at the units, the battalions. The second is that we have an easier and shorter integration of the soldiers at the units’ activity. There is also a third reason. This change of the training location has also positive financial results, in the sense that the trained soldiers are integrated to another financial function which is different from the one which applied when they were trained in centres, often far away from their units.
On the verbal tension between Greece and Turkey:
The statements of the Turkish leadership are certainly so provocative that they are bound to cause reactions from Greece. In any case, I have to say that we must remain calm, with the necessary stability and keep things at their true dimension which is our readiness, decisiveness but also our constant vigilance. Nothing less, nothing more. And a relevant estimation: Turkey can shout, it can escalate the tension but my estimation is that it has so many open fronts – a new one being the one in Syria with a probable US strike – that it wont dare, it wont choose, for reasons of self-protection to proceed to an escalation of the tension in the field.
About the probability of increasing the expenses for armaments and the issues of F-16 upgrades and the purchase of new frigates:
These issues are examined irrelevantly of the tensions caused by Turkey. The F-16 upgrade is a case which is being discussed for years and remains open while we examine it to see what conclusion we will reach. Regarding the frigates, we primarily have a discussion between the Prime Minister and the President of France Mr. Macron, but this issue is also in development. It is an option unrelated with what is recorded today or yesterday regarding the tensions caused by Turkey. It is a necessary conversation, as much as an option, which based on particular financial data, must be made in order to secure the further proficiency of our Armed Forces.
On the detainment of the two military men at the Adrianople prison:
We handle this issue at the level of diplomatic relations and interventions. This is the kind of pressure we exercise. EU and NATO have also intervened regarding this case. This issue will be discussed at the European Parliament Plenary Session from 16 to 19 April, due to an initiative of the Left Wing group and the European Peoples’ Party along with other forces which also join in to promote this particular issue of human rights which are violated by the particular unacceptable behaviour of Turkey.
Replying to a relevant journalistic comment he stressed that:
Whoever has a different proposal, regarding what the Hellenic Government and the Ministry of National Defence does, is welcome to inform us about it. What is plan B, for which we were informed and heard from people who want to express objections regarding the policy which the country has adopted on this particular issue? What we do is the intensification of our efforts, our activities on the level of foreign policy, so that the two members of our military will return to Greece as soon as possible. However, I cannot say when that will happen. Let the judiciary procedure finally move on, since Mr. Erdogan and other Turkish officials claim that the Turkish justice is responsible for this case. However, I would like to say that the case of our two military men cannot be engaged with the decisions of the independent Hellenic Justice, regarding the granting of political asylum to the Turkish officers located in Greece.
On a comment made about the “independence” of the Turkish Justice he replied by stressing that:
I strongly doubt that there is “independence” in Turkish Justice, because the European and Greek legal culture has no relation in total with what Mr. Erdogan claims justice is.
About the ongoing discussions with regards to the progressive convergence:
I have been claiming since 2015, from the Unitary Movement of European Left, that we must form a progressive pole in our country. Two poles are formed in Europe and Greece. I am not talking about two parties but about two poles. One pole is deeply neo-liberal and conservative and the other pole, the one which must be shaped, is the progressive one. At this point we must have cooperation, convergence at least on major issues, between the progressive forces and all those forces positioned at the centre of the political spectrum, either the centre-left or the social-democracy. I believe that the classification between Right and Left still exists and furthermore with even greater intensity than in the past. This must be calculated by everybody, in order to achieve convergence for the formulation of the progressive pole.
Replying to a comment made by a journalist on the stance of the Head of the Movement for Change regarding Constitutional Reform but also the view expressed by Evangelos Venizelos, the Alternate minister stressed:
The decision by Ms Gennimata is positive and the same stands for the Movement for Change in order to begin the process of Constitutional Reform. This is irrelevant to the partial differences which may arise, regarding the context of the reformed clauses of the Constitution. I believe that common political ground can be found on these points too, at least on basic clauses of the Constitution, which need to change. Some of them and especially the one which concerns article 86 of the Constitution about the so-called criminal liability of the members of every Council of Ministers is an unacceptable regulation, insulting the Greek people and the sense of Justice and must be abolished. My example is indicative. There may be more clauses, the reformed context of which may find more supporters than just the MPs of SYRIZA or the Movement for Change.
Regarding this issue I register Mr. Venizelos’ view, which is negative, as well as that of other members of the Movement for Change and furthermore of some members coming from PASOK, who in no case wish the convergence of the progressive pole. Nobody should worry that the progressive pole can cause the determinism of the Movement for Change by SYRIZA or vice-versa. The progressive pole may arise and function for the benefit of society and the country. The parties and the political groups decide through collective processes and the collective decisions are those which are recorded. If in the context of the collective decisions there are individuals who do not feel that their views are expressed and wish to leave it, these will constitute individual choices, which, in my estimation, may hinder the efforts for the formulation of a progressive pole. However, the collective decisions are those which produce a result or fail to do so.
