“The opinion of the Greek government is that we should enter into dialogue with Turkey. It is important and beneficial for two countries to discuss in good faith, this certainly does not mean that we negate any of our national interests, nor can sovereignty issues be brought to the level of political dialogue.. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giorgos Gerapetritis, in the Parliament, in response to the independent MP Michalis Khourdakis, who in his topical question accused the government of “making wrong readings, while in the name of the policy of appeasement it is implementing, it enters the dialogue with Turkey on the 7 December, ignoring Erdogan’s Turkish expansionist intentions”.

“THE Greece comes in good faith, will discuss at the level of defining the one and only dispute – which can be removed before international jurisdiction – which is the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf, and we hope that the long period of calm over the Aegean will continue. Because it is important, and we should not overlook it, that precisely because of this good, honest relationship that has developed over the last eight months, we had only eight violations of Greek airspace, while in the month of January alone we had 1,000 violations,” highlighted Mr. Gerapetritis and added: “The position of the Greek government is that we must discuss those issues that can be raised for discussion. The Greek government will always remain loyal to serving the national interests, without any concession whatsoever”.

At the same time, he rejected Mr. Hourdakis’ claim that “the ND government has set the bar low in the face of Ankara’s challenges”, stressing that “when we have 1,000 violations in January and 8 violations in the next eight months, it is something important for Greece , just as it is important to be able to discuss at all levels without our disagreements causing crises each time”.

“That means good neighborliness. And we will all agree that the diplomatic capital of the country today is at the highest level ever. And this can be seen in the ability we have to talk, at all levels, with international organizations, but also with all important regional and international countries. The combination of diplomatic power with defense power, which was adopted by the previous ND government, and this policy continues today, has strengthened the country’s defense armor – as has never happened before – at sea, in the air, on land , and this is how we will always continue to act, realizing that our compass is International Law and foreign policy principles”, emphasized the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

At the same time, he said that “the sovereignty of the country is at six miles, but Greece reserves unilaterally, exclusively and without any deduction, the possibility to extend its territorial waters to 12 miles, when and as it deems politically and diplomatically nationally appropriate “, as he said.

Responding to MP Tassos Oikonomopoulos from the “NIKI” party, Mr. Gerapetritis underlined that “there is not and has never been any case of demilitarization of the Greek islands”. “Greece does not accept issues of its sovereignty to be put into doubt or to be put into any form of dialogue”, he stressed.

Finally, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, responding to relevant complaints that the government did not react to Turkey’s announcement that it will carry out an operational exercise in an area that also occupies the Greek sovereignty of the islet of Zurafa, countered that “during the exercise there was absolutely no violation of of Greek airspace by Turkish fighter jets. “Zourafa islet belongs to the FIR of Athens. The Turkish announcement, notam, like all related notams, made no mention of Zurafa, and thus the issue of Greek sovereignty over the islet of Zurafa cannot be questioned. What the notam specified was an area where firing was to take place and which did not include Zurafa, but a part of Greek airspace, and so a notam was issued by the Air Force, which in effect canceled the Turkish advertisement for the part of the overlapping Greek airspace. During the exercise, there was absolutely no violation of Greek airspace by Turkish fighters,” said Mr. Gerapetritis.