“The Prespa Agreement is not amended or abolished unilaterally by the parties, it constitutes a very basic node on which the international relationship of North Macedonia was built”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giorgos Gerapetritis, in an interview with the radio station “Talk radio”.

Mr. Gerapetritis noted that “there is no question of abolishing it at the moment”. He stressed that Greece respects the election result in North Macedonia, but he pointed out that “regardless of the ideological, political differences that the new political leadership may have towards the Prespa Agreement, this is an international treaty that has been ratified”.

“Obviously, the European Union is evaluating the issues of the Prespa Agreement and its full and consistent implementation. And for this reason, I think that the political leadership of North Macedonia will evaluate these issues and comply with the requirements of the Prespa Agreement”, he underlined.

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs mentioned, the Greek side is closely monitoring the issue and the current governing majority as the opposition had pointed out the gray areas of the Agreement, the “serious technical issues, which unfortunately emerged over time”.

“I myself pointed out, as soon as the Agreement became public, the legal problems it had and which create ignition conditions in the future”, he noted.

“For this reason, I am particularly disturbed today by what is said that I allegedly participated in the writing of the Prespa Agreement. Obviously, such a thing was not done even in the mind”, he emphasized to add: “I did not know a single line of this Agreement before it became public. This would not have happened because if I had been invited there would have been no way that I would have understood terms that would have created such issues.”

“Today – for me – the important thing is that we should abide by the agreements, not because we agree with them, but because it is a condition for the continuity and stability which was created, as it was created, and in any case we cannot form a unilateral framework on which to build political careers”, he concluded.

– Condolence message to Iran

The Foreign Minister expressed his condolences to the Iranian people and the Iranian government for the death of President Ibrahim Raishi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amira Bdolakhian.

As he said, President Rashi was apparently the second most important person in Iran, after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“It is obvious that there will be some turbulence in the transition period. Within 50 days the citizens should be called to vote for the new President”, he pointed out and added that Iran has a very closed and strict system, “so the feeling I get is that there will not be a serious upheaval”.

“The reaction of the markets and particularly of the oil markets is obvious, but on the other hand I think there will be a normalization”, he underlined and added that “despite the small transitory fluctuations, there will be no change of foreign policy nor reactions of the regional or international against Iran”.

– We are trying to be able to discuss in tones of decency and understanding with Turkey

Asked about the Greek-Turkish talks, Mr Gerapetritis replied that “there is no appeasement, what exists is consultation in the Greek-Turkish dialogue”. According to him, this type of cheap verbalizations are cheap and when two neighbors necessarily co-exist geographically it is a condition of necessity not a condition of choice.

He stated that what we are attempting is “to be able to discuss, in tones of decency, in tones of understanding, understanding that there are fundamental positions in which there can be no convergence by definition, because they start from different historical starting points and are significantly divergent” .

“On the other hand, to be able to find the points where convergence is possible, to be able to have a framework of understanding that can ensure that we do not reach a point where the tension will create crisis, create war. We are working a lot towards the future, but towards a peaceful future”, he noted.

“Greek foreign policy should be based on the logic that we are developing good neighborly relations, allied relations, which will create conditions of calm and prosperity for our country”, emphasized Mr. Gerapetritis. As he pointed out, “this is especially true in times that are extremely turbulent.”

“One should not ignore the fact that the two wars in our region, but also the great unrest that exists in vulnerable areas of the planet, which are very close to us such as Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, create the conditions, which can to disturb the Greek foreign policy, the Greek diplomacy, the Greek position on the international stage”, he underlined.

For this reason, “we are simultaneously trying to develop pillars of our country’s strength. These pillars are three: The first is the pillar of the economy in which Greece is moving steadily forward. The second is the defense pillar, which we are strengthening after a decade in which, due to the crisis, there was a significant recession in terms of equipment and personnel. The third pillar is that of foreign policy where we build alliances and strengthen the diplomatic capital of the country. We can talk on terms of equality and sometimes power with international actors and with international organizations and for this reason it is a good time to be able to develop our international relations”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

As he noted, in the Greek-Turkish dialogue there is a minor goal, “to maintain a state of calm in our neighborhood, where calm means no violations, no problems with migration flows. We experienced both with great intensity in the previous years. As well as to create a permanent mechanism through which we can decompress with tensions”.

“The differences exist and will exist. It is important to be able to manage them in a way that will not lead to crises. Because the crises cannot lead to extremely unfavorable results for both the country and our region”, he stressed.

“The main thing is to be able to look ahead, which presupposes having an honest and deep dialogue. We understand that we have very different starting points in terms of key positions on major issues,” he added.

– Our ambition to tackle the continental shelf and EEZ issue

Mr. Gerapetritis pointed out that the government has chosen a road, which is based on specific principles, methodologically elaborated. “There is a professional processing, an excellent preparation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overall the political leadership. The logic is that we will grasp the thread of Greek-Turkish relations step by step, starting from the least complex and moving towards the most complex”, he underlined.

“The choice was initially to limit the sources of tension. For this reason, I believe that very big steps have been taken at the level of immigration, violations, calm in the Aegean, and even the rhetoric used by the parties”, he said.

As he added, the second is to build on mutually beneficial measures that benefit the two economies and bring the two peoples together because this contributes greatly to mutual understanding, such as the visa system in the Greek islands.

The third step is to be able to see the demarcation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and the continental shelf.

“It is our ambition to tackle this issue. Of course, we can prolong – and we try to do it as much as we can – to have a calm neighborhood”, he noted to add: “However, the big issue remains and as long as it remains it is obvious that at any moment we may have a regression. The truly peaceful neighborhood, the long prosperity will come when we can manage our big issue, which is demarcation.”

“Our hope is that we will be able to start these discussions. The two leaders will, I believe, give the order in one of their next meetings, so that the two foreign ministers can start discussions on demarcation. It is an issue that has extremely complex legal characteristics,” he stressed.

As the Foreign Minister pointed out, “Greece certainly has the advantage of consistently relying on International Law regarding its arguments and we will continue to do so. I want to believe that it is an appropriate historical moment to be able to soberly discuss this major chapter.”

“We are actively working so that we can also discuss the issue of the continental shelf and the EEZ. And we work actively in the sense that on the one hand we always try to create suitable conditions, through mutual honesty and understanding, always trying to decompress with tensions and control our disagreements”, he underlined. “On the other hand, we are working so that we can manage the complex technical issues,” he added.

Mr. Gerapetritis said that there have been 64 rounds of exploratory contacts in recent years on the issue of demarcation, “which failed. They got nowhere because what was missing was the larger environment of an open and honest relationship in which to develop. A relationship, which would be deliberative. To be able to discuss, to understand the positions of our interlocutor. Obviously to present and argue in favor of our own positions, but to have an attitude that will be more deliberative.”

“Every time we talked, we took a step back, unfortunately, in trying to solve our chronic problem,” he noted. “Due to the lack of mutual understanding, each time we came and presented an argument which diverged rather than converged on our positions. Our effort is to be able to have a spirit, which will bring the discussion a little further”, he emphasized.

“For us – and for me personally – foreign policy has the great value of being able to create conditions of prosperity for the future. It is not something that should create tension and insecurity for the citizens”, pointed out the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “The big goal that I have set for myself is for the citizens to feel safe and confident about their country’s position in the international arena and vis-a-vis their neighbors”, he underlined and added that steps have been taken to consolidate the feeling of security of the citizens citizens.

“At the moment it seems that the Greek citizens want the discussion with Turkey, as the opinion polls prove, but we have reached a level where, precisely because the position of our country has been strengthened on the international stage, they can feel safe for the position of our country”, Mr. Gerapetritis concluded.