M.Varvitsiotis | “Greece will not abandon Kastellorizo – Withdrawal of foreign troops from Cyprus”

“You cannot have a unified Cyprus, an EU Member State, with 30.000 Turkish troops on the ground,” said Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of European affairs.

Specifically, answering questions from MEPs in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and in a discussion on the tension in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Deputy Minister, referring to the dialogue on the Cyprus issue, stressed that the condition for the solution is the withdrawal of all foreign troops, noting that “none of you would accept such a thing (presence of a third force) for your country.”

Mr. Varvitsiotis gave the MEPs a text with the chronicle of Erdogan’s threats based on excerpts from speeches of the latter and other Turkish officials who foster hatred and the use of history to create enemies. He even shared a list of events of recent months.

Finally, answering questions, he clarified that a dialogue on the threat of war could not be fruitful. “Dialogue with threats is blackmail,” he said, noting that the same thing happened earlier with the immigration issue, when Erdogan blackmailed the EU into asking for “space” for his own policies in exchange for the immigration issue.

The Minister welcomed the German initiative, noting that “we ask for European solidarity”, but clarified that “we will defend our sovereign rights even if we are alone.”

He noted that Greece will not abandon Kastellorizo and its citizens, but at the same time it will not cause a military incident.

He even pointed out that the so-called “frozen conflicts last for a long time” and that “the one who defends international law is deprived of his rights, while the one who uses violence changes the status quo.” He stressed that this is also the case in the European continent, explaining why Greece has restrained its armed forces.

Also read: Mitsotakis-Macron meeting in Corsica today