The Minister of State Maki Voridis SKAI hosted on its main news bulletin.

Mr. Voridis spoke as much about the visit of the Albanian prime minister Eddie Rama, in Athens, as well as the issue that arose with the new president of North Macedonia, but also what Athens expects from tomorrow’s meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Referring to Edi Rama’s visit, he emphasized that it was “without added value”, however it could not be banned. He added that Greece, at the diplomatic level, has done what is foreseen for Albania, mentioning the EU accession negotiations and other issues concerning relations with international organizations.

As for its “Macedonia”. Gordana SilianowskaMr. Voridis said that the new president of North Macedonia will have the problem tomorrow, because if she does not like the recognized name of the country, then “she will have a country without a name and therefore a non-existent country”.

Regarding the visit of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Ankara and the meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mr. Voridis emphasized that “no one believes that Turkey has given up its positions” and added that the agreement on immigration and the calm in the Aegean have their importance. “There must be open channels of communication,” he emphasized.

More detail:

“I don’t know why he (S.E. Edi Rama) felt the need to hold this gathering, it has no added value even for him”, was the introductory comment of the Minister of State.

“Possibly his intention – although I don’t know and he himself denies it – was a kind of response to the decision of the New Democracy to include Fredis Beleris in its ballots”, he assessed immediately afterwards. In the end, he added, “the correct wording was that of the (Greek) prime minister, ‘unnecessary'”. On the other hand, “if the presence of Mr. Rama affects in any direction, it is in the direction of the upvoting of Beleris”.

Responding to those who requested the ban on the Albanian Prime Minister’s visit, M. Voridis explained that there is only one justification for the ban, that of public security. “That is, for Greece to show that it is afraid of the gathering that took place.”

But, he then pointed out, “Greece is the country with the largest GDP in the Western Balkans, the strongest defensively in the Western Balkans, the oldest country of the European Union in the Western Balkans. The ban would show me that Greece has something to fear. It turned out that Greece has absolutely nothing to fear. It is possible that Rama’s original aim was the ban,” he estimated on the other hand.

In the end, “all this was de-dramatized” and “Beleris will be a candidate and I believe that there will be a strong message by voting for the New Democracy ballot and, of course, Beleris. A strong message about how we perceive ourselves in Greece and how we prioritize the issues of the rule of law”. While, in “this”, there is “a real issue: that of the rights of the Greek minority in Albania”, he underlined.

At the swearing in of the new President of North Macedonia, Gordana Silianovska, the Minister of State referred to the response of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The obvious was pointed out. If someone denies the name by which the state has been internationally recognized, then obviously the bilateral relations will get worse and there is no way to have a European perspective”, he interpreted and continued with the assessment that “all these are fireworks and fireworks that will end very quickly ».

In conclusion, if someone wants to lead a state with a name other than the internationally recognized one, then “this state is non-existent, it has no legal entity”.

Finally, regarding the Greek-Turkish dialogue, he stated first of all that “we will go to discuss the issues that are the subject of discussion. We can’t silence them, but if it’s something that’s outside of what we’ve agreed we’re going to discuss, yes, you can say that, but it’s not up for discussion.”

After all, he added, “no one is naive, no one believes that because Turkey decided after a long period of unilateral provocations and actions and was forced to abandon this policy and come to the dialogue table, no one believes that Turkey has defected or abandoned the her positions”.

At this point he cited a series of issues in which “some positive results” have been found, such as: “the visa is important, the agreement on immigration is important, the fact that there are no more violations is important.”

He clarified, on the other hand, that this does not mean that “the dialogue is clear, that there are no problems, that there will be no ups and downs in Greek-Turkish relations. The question is, should there be channels and some things moving forward? I think so,” he answered closing.