In an interview granted by the Honorary Chief of General Staff General Fr. Frankos on the television station SKAI TV on the show “Today” spoke about the developments in the Greek-Turkish
In particular, he referred to the statement of the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk according to which the Turkish President is in decline as the lira has weakened while the inflation rate has reached 80% resulting in a “free fall” in his popularity and reacting with more and more more absolutist way.
He recalled with regard to Kinaro the events of February 11, 2016 where the Agusta Bell 212 helicopter with the code number “PN 28” of the Navy, carrying 3 Greek naval officers, crashed under unknown circumstances. He refined the attitude of G.G. of NATO, Mr. Stoltenberg with which, referring to the event, he stated that it is not the same as the downing of the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 which violated Turkish airspace for 17 seconds on 24-11-2015, wanting to demonstrate the policy of equals distances maintained..
The Honorary Leader referred to a letter with which the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borel, responded to the letter previously sent by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu regarding Greek-Turkish and EU-Turkey relations.
Overflights from above Greek territory, statements questioning Greece’s non-negotiable sovereignty over Aegean islands, as well as the escalation of hostile rhetoric against Greece and the Greek people, go in the opposite direction of de-escalation. Moreover, they create a negative dynamic, from which there is no benefit.
The delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Sea Shelf should be done through good faith dialogue, with full respect for International Law and the UN Convention on the International Law of the Sea.
The only way to promote good neighborly relations is the firm adherence to international agreements and the peaceful resolution of disputes, including recourse to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
He also highlighted the stance of the Greens’ foreign policy spokesman Jürgen Trittin who called for a “more dynamic” policy towards Turkey, including economic measures, stating: “Turkey is preventing NATO from implementing the UN arms embargo on Libya. Drilling in the Greek EEZ. NATO member Turkey is doing more than China to circumvent European sanctions against Russia. Erdogan blocks Finland and Sweden from joining NATO. And now he wants to join the SCO along with Iran. But also from the side of the Social Democrats (SPD), Niels Schmidt, responsible for foreign policy matters, considers Tayyip Erdoğan’s plan a “serious mistake”.
The General estimated that we were not at the point of a heated episode, but no one can rule out a staged accident in order for Erdogan to save himself politically. But what continues to frighten is the dangerous competition of nationalism in Turkey and the slippage of its political system.
In a question received by the general about how far Turkey’s rhetoric can go and whether it will be able to be reversed, he mentioned Erdogan’s recent statement “What we said yesterday is different and what we will say tomorrow” characterizing as bottomless audacity the way which Turkey changes its attitude towards its supposed enemies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
He pointed out that Turkey’s national strategy is described by the term “Blue Homeland – MAVI VATAN” and that they are determined to reach the 25th meridian challenging our sovereignty when we give the right by cracking the national front by political forces and the possibility of politics of government for a long time.
In fact, he mentioned the statement of G.G. of the KKE, who expressed his fear of a heated episode, but as the general noted, when the armament programs came up for a vote, there was no front from the whole parliament.
He emphasized that in all the plans of the Turks, whichever of the islands they target, whether they are the 6 big ones or the intermediate ones, the first target is Kastelorizo, but as stated by the Greek GEETHA, it has taken all the necessary measures.
He said that it was not a mistake that we sided with those who accepted the invasion of Ukraine as Turkey hypocritically does by reminding the military occupation force in northern Cyprus which it calls “peace forces”.
Finally, regarding the Turkish Drones, he repeated that “THERE IS AN ANSWER if the Turks dare, NO ONE WILL BE LEFT, but I am not allowed to reveal it”.
