During his tenure at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the strangest incidents that happened to him, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and candidate for the South Sector of Athens B mentions in an interview on a YouTube channel, Nikos Dendias.

Speaking on Yannis Sarakatsani’s channel, Mr. Dendias initially refers to the large number of trips he made, in order to strengthen Greece’s relations with a series of states, with which we did not maintain contacts or had weakened. “If you are the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States, everyone comes to you, if you are the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, you have to be much more extroverted,” he said.

He also points out the importance of interpersonal relations in the exercise of foreign policy: “First of all, you are not allowed to have bad relations. This is prohibited. It does not serve your work, your duty. Beyond that, however, there are personal ratings. Some you become friends with, others you become less friends with. But it affects a lot to have a very good personal relationship. I changed a lot about how much value that is, coming to this Ministry.”

Mr. Dendias also refers to the great importance of the Defense Cooperation Agreement with France, as well as his completion of the negotiation of the EEZ demarcation Agreements, with Italy and Egypt respectively, after decades of negotiations.

The fight with Cavusoglu

The Minister of Foreign Affairs also talks about the well-known incident with the on-air dialogue he had on 15/4/2021 in Ankara, with his counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, even though he describes him as his “friend”. “We had a fight. But we argued about something that could not be tolerated, you cannot be inside Ankara, hear allegations that are completely against international law and remain silent, just because you are a guest of your friend. These things don’t happen. You know the well-known saying “a friend is a friend, but the truth is a joke”.

It even reveals how “icy” the atmosphere was at the dinner, which the Turkish side gave to the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs after the meeting. “The atmosphere immediately afterwards at the table, forced to sit next to me, was horror. The first twenty minutes were ice, no one spoke.”

Mr. Dendias reveals them difficult times that existed in Greece’s relations with Turkey: “I won’t hide from you that these 3.5 years – and difficult is an understatement – were a nightmare. We have reached the brink of war with Turkey, this is no joke.”

However, he clarifies that he belongs to those who believe that Greece and Turkey have a common interest in resolving the unique dispute. “And if Turkey understands that resolving its dispute with Greece is also in its own interest – the interest of a European, democratic, rich Turkey, not an imperial, backward Turkey, depends on which Turkey we are talking about – then we can we’ll find a way out” he points out.

Ukraine

He also states that “Russia made a huge mistake” by invading Ukraine and that Greece had no other choice regarding its stance on the same issue. “Imagine if Greece, with the threats it receives, supported a notion that borders can be changed by force, when one of the two sides, the stronger one in theory, has an ideology that allows it to do so.”

The Foreign Minister states that Greece may have historically been anti-American, but the United States “is the superpower and will remain the superpower for the foreseeable future. So Greece must have a cordial relationship with this superpower.” And it should have, if possible, a compatibility of interests. That is, Greek interests to be served by American interests in the region. That’s what we’ve been aiming for all this time. And I think we did extremely well there.”

Meeting Biden

Mr. Dendias also talks about his first meeting with the current US President Joe Biden, in March 2009, when he was the Vice President of the US and himself the Minister of Justice of the Karamanlis Government. “I was sent by the Government. You know, they were looking for someone to tell the Americans something unpleasant. Well, the “potato” went to the right, it went to the left, it reached the youngest Minister, which always happens like this, and the youngest was sent.”

Regarding the personal contact he had with their counterparts and leaders, he adds that he has been impressed by India’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaishankar, whom he describes as “an incredible analyst of a side of the planet, with which Greece is not very familiar”. , but with which our country has now acquired “a much closer relationship than the average Greek knows”.

“Lavrov was frying me for 2.5 hours…”

Mr. Dendias also refers to the tactics of… “frying” by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov (“the first time he saw me, he fried me for two and a half hours. To give you an idea, a normal ministerial visit lasts three. She lasted seven” he characteristically declares) and characterizes the President of France Macron as an “impressive leader”.

Among the “oddities” of his tenure he mentions the meeting with… Dendia in Paraguay (a lawyer whose family had left Corfu in 1870), the accidental call to the then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (when the forgotten button was pressed on back pocket of his trousers mobile phone), but also in the attack by the Russians in Kiev with a drone, while his meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart was in progress, as a result of which they were forced to move to the shelter, where the discussions.

“The Ukrainians gave me a gift and what was the gift? A piece of the drone that fell in the city while I was there and which we are exhibiting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the only thing that was launched against a Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs when he was outside of Greece,” says Nikos Dendias.