«What the Prime Minister did yesterday and what we have been doing steadily, all the time, is to monitor with calmness, sobriety, but also with determination the intensification of the provocations from the side of Turkey. We are not complacent and we could not be complacent,» Yannis Economou said in an interview with SKAI.
The government spokesman said that the government is registering the growing tension on the Turkish side and our country has a firm and clear strategy. He said we have a multifaceted diplomacy with our neighbours, with our partners, with our allies, with the major powers in the region and the world, which has resulted in broadening the appeal of our positions. He noted that since the beginning of the week, all countries have had at their disposal the maps issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which deconstruct with evidence the falsehood and untruthfulness of Turkish claims.
«And on the other hand, in the part of our deterrence policy, the country has been steadily strengthening its Armed Forces over the past period and continues in this direction. It has Mutual Support Agreements with important and great powers. It has a presence of important forces here. We have a resolute foreign policy, a confident defence policy, which allows us not to get caught up in last-minute blackmail dilemmas and to send out our own messages. The country is not panicking, it is not being reasserted, nothing and no one can harm our sovereignty and our sovereign rights. We are here as an agent of peace and stability in the Aegean and the Southeastern Mediterranean,» Mr. Economou stressed. He added that the Prime Minister called for national unanimity in the face of challenges.
«Everyone knows the country is right. We don't only have international law on our side. We have the allies on our side, and this has been expressed many, many times symbolically, semiotically, essentially in statements. Recently, the State Department, the German Chancellor after his meeting with the Greek Prime Minister in the context of the extraordinary European Summit, the French President. We all remember the Greek Prime Minister's acceptance of the views of Congress in his meeting with President Biden. There is a unanimous condemnation of the international community against both despotism and revisionism», he continued.
On Tayyip Erdogan's stance, he said that there are many interpretations, and said that Turkey has been dominated by such views over time, in terms of international law and revisionism. He also spoke about the miserable economic situation inside Turkey and the election period in the neighbouring country. Furthermore, he said that Turkey is currently experiencing a series of rejections in terms of its international representation.
«The country is in a position to fully defend any challenge to its national sovereignty and its sovereign rights,» he reiterated, stressing that this tension with Turkey now highlights the need for serious and stable governance. «Is it possible that before someone goes to the ballot box to vote, eight to ten months from now, in 2023, that they do not take into account who should be at the helm in times when storms come one after another?» he added, stressing that «we seek and ask our citizens to trust us, so that we have a self-reliant Greece.».
Regarding what Alexis Tsipras says about the timing of the elections, the government spokesman said that «it is not the first time that his interpretive tools suffer and his predictions are wrong». He also pointed out, among other things, that the country has taken the most support measures for energy in all of Europe.
«The problem continues to get worse and worse. The Government's response and support will be the same, always within the limits of fiscal strength, so as not to blow up the economy. Given that the measures end at the end of June, I think we are not too far away from announcements. We never leave anybody alone and we never ignore the needs and the big problems that citizens face,» he said.
