Dendias: Escalation of rhetoric entrenches anti-Hellenism in Turkish society

The grid of Greek foreign policy was unveiled by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, by inaugurating the institution “EKPA Days”, with the theme: “Greece at the Whirlwind of International Developments”, held at the University of Athens. In particular, Nikos Dendias proposed as a compass for Greek foreign policy in its course on the international stage the principles and values ​​that have governed it throughout time: respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states, respect for International Law, the International Law of Sea and International Humanitarian Law.

At the same time, the foreign minister criticized the efforts of revisionist forces, trampling on the principles of International Law.

Outlining the foggy international context after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said that our country is facing the main challenge of our neighbor to the east, Turkey. In fact, he recognized that what constitutes a different reality from other periods is the continuous and long-term aggravation. “No crisis has had this enormous length of time that we are already approaching, if we are not already exceeding 3 years” he said characteristically.

He made special reference to the Bahtseli map, saying that the recent graphic, but no less dangerous, dispute over half of the Aegean and Crete is the last piece of a series of outrageous claims.

Also, referring to measurements inside Turkey, he found that the escalation of rhetoric is entrenching an anti-Hellenism in Turkish society. “If you saw a measurement of the Turkish society four years ago, Greece would not be ranked in the threats, as the Turkish citizen perceived the reality. Today it is ranked, and quite high, in the index,” he noted. It tends to create, as he added, a current and potentially a majority current of anti-Hellenism within Turkish society.

On the contrary, Nikos Dendias objected that Greece takes initiatives, builds or strengthens cooperation bridges, without falling into the trap of practicing an exclusively Turkish-centric policy, reacting to everything the neighbor does, claims or invents. As he expressed the broader goal of Greek foreign policy, he said that it is the consolidation of peace, security and stability in our wider neighborhood, but also beyond it.

In this context, he repeated the analogy of foreign policy to the old circles of the Olympic Aviation logo, six intersecting circles. “In the first, we are strengthening our bilateral relations with our European partners. Relations that have been relatively neglected. The bilateral level is equally important and necessary and also the bilateral explanation is needed to find the necessary understanding of our positions in the countries participating in the EU. Of course, these relations with some, and especially with the most militarily powerful EU member country, France, have acquired a strategic character and have been surrounded by the well-known defense agreement,” he said.

Second, he proposed relations with the US. “We have made strengthening our relationship with the United States an absolute priority. Greek society is seeing the fruits, both in terms of supporting our positions on issues of fundamental importance, and from the executive branch in the US, regardless of party, and from the legislative power, regardless of party”. Likewise, he underlined that “there is no measure of comparison of relations with the USA in relation to the past, when, from the superpower’s point of view, maintaining balances was its main concern”. He recalled our country’s desperate effort to maintain the ratio of 7:10 in the first years after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and urged the comparison with today’s era, “when Greece has access to any US system, and the F35 , and Turkey is trying to achieve the upgrade of the old F16s”.

The third circle concerns a zone of security and stability in the wider region of the Middle East, the Gulf and North Africa. He made special reference to the relations with Egypt, “the closest relations we have ever developed” he pointed out and he also spoke about the relations with the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and most of the countries in the region. At the same time, he stressed, “we are now present in the developments in Libya, but also in Syria” and highlighted the multilateral schemes of regional cooperation together with Cyprus, distinguishing the 3+1 cooperation scheme between Greece, Cyprus, Israel and the USA. “In everything we recommend the peaceful resolution of disputes on the basis of International Law” he announced.

The fourth circle is likened to the Balkans, especially the Western Balkans. “The only way to achieve the stabilization of the region is their European perspective” he made clear and added that Greece is making every effort, on a political and technical level, to achieve this.

The fifth circle corresponds to our country’s relations with emerging powers that have similar or similar positions to Greece, such as Japan and India, but also Vietnam, Australia and Indonesia. He announced that the last three countries are on the program of his visits in August and September.

Finally, the sixth circle refers to Africa, the continent with the greatest economic and population growth on the planet, as he said. He recalled that in the last seven months he has visited seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and that if the war in Ukraine had not intervened, he would have closed the circle of his 14 target countries.

In addition, he noted that Greece is conducting three campaigns within the framework of the UN. The first concerns the election to the UN Security Council for the period 2024-2025. “We already have 106 written supports,” he said and considered the election almost certain. The second campaign is for the Human Rights Council, expressing his optimism for this candidacy. Tuesday is the campaign for Greece’s election to the Presidency of the UN General Assembly in 2035.

At this point, he gleaned that the main element of Greek foreign policy is to highlight International Law, good neighborliness, respect for human rights as the main element of the presence of a modern country in the international arena.

Furthermore, he made extensive reference to the international challenges posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, referring to the threat of a food crisis, “which comes to be added to the energy crisis, which already threatens economies and societies”. According to Nikos Dendias, the food crisis and the crisis in the export of fertilizers can have devastating consequences for societies, cause social explosions, migration flows.

Referring to his visit to Odessa yesterday, the Foreign Minister pointed out that he met with members of the Greek community there as well as Greeks from Mariupol who have taken refuge in Odessa to avoid the tragic consequences of the Russian invasion.

Finally, regarding his visit to The Hague tomorrow to participate in a special event with other European countries on war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he stressed that humanitarian law is an element of our ongoing political direction.

Source: AMPE