Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the situation with the Turkish provocations, during his greeting at the beginning of the 66th Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
“Greece is facing challenges that undermine NATO unity”, he stated.
“The allies cannot cooperate with jihadist groups. They cannot test S-400. These practices undermine NATO’s values and undermine NATO’s solidarity, cohesion, unity and effectiveness as a political and military organization, while undermining the Alliance’s own goals and defense interests”, he said.
“NATO’s success lies in collective solidarity. Our alliance not only strengthens America’s strength, but also secures Europe’s defense. Greece itself has accepted security challenges, which in fact undermine NATO unity. In 2020, this unit was tested very seriously, due to the Turkish challenges and unilateral actions”, he noted, adding:
“In March, we faced the use of migrant flows as a weapon (…) In the summer, we had to put our armed forces on high alert, due to actions against our sovereignty and our sovereign rights at sea. Thus, two allied naval forces confronted each other for 35 days. A situation that endangered the security and stability of the southern wing of the alliance.
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During this period, I urged President Erdogan to develop a spirit of extroversion, to look to the European Union and the West, to commit and resolve our differences in a spirit of cooperation. As I have said many times this year, Greece and Turkey will have to talk and – if we do not agree – then we will have to settle our disputes by appealing to the international court and let the rule of law prevail.
We are sincerely committed to conducting a dialogue in good faith. We have been waiting for a long time for the demonstration of a spirit of reciprocity. However, if our calls remain unanswered, then it will be inevitable for the European Union to take steps to safeguard its strategic interests and the interests of its Member States”.
The Prime Minister’s full statement:
